Fiery, high-strung, emotional, and admittedly hilarious with his entertaining sideline theatrics, Florida National head coach James “JJ” Thatcher is making good on the school’s vision and dream to incorporate athletics just six years ago.
Though he tends to make enticing local prospects a priority, Thatcher has scoured the globe for talent. The result has been an uptick in international flavor and a daunting increase in strength of schedule.
“With four national tournament berths in a row the program is looking to make it five this year,” said Thatcher, whose coaching style oozes of passion.
“Making the jump to the NAIA Division-I level, it looks like there is no slowing down for us. We’ve got players from all over the world this year–Serbia Montenegro, Italy, France, Colombia, New Jersey, Chicago, and so on. Players from the NCAA, NJCAA, NAIA and all levels of play have been recruited to put the program on the map and put it at the level it is at today.”
The mainstay and primary source for this year’s core is a high-scoring local product in Kenneth Santos. Santos is a glaring example of an under recruited and forgotten about prospect who took the less popular route to prolong his career. At FNU, Santos has established himself as a veritable 3-point ace who can engineer scoring onslaughts.
There are a certain rarified caliber of shooters capable of seizing the hot hand simply refusing to relinquish it. Santos, as Thatcher noted, is one of those shooters.
He falls into this category guys who can spark a personal 15-0 spurt, on the strength of five straight treys, and still appear hell-bent on hitting no.6.
At that euphoric moment, when the hype hits a crescendo, it is simply in sharpshooter’s veins to desire one more. That’s the mentality ingrained Santos. The product of nearby Doral High piled up an event-best 54 points in last month’s HoopMia JUCO Cookout.
The generously-listed 6-foot-1 Puerto Rican guard’s superior catch-and-stick game erupted thoroughly. Santos’ confidence never dwindled or even tailed off slightly throughout the course of the event. The boisterous eruptions from FNU’s maniacal head coach are sure to erupt following each momentum bolstering trey from Santos.
There are handfuls of shooters who can break open a game with a hot hand. There’s another core of guys who can set the nets ablaze during one juncture of the season, only to fall into a maddening swoon which balances out their shooting percentage. Santos is differentiating himself.
“We consider him the best shooter in the state,” Thatcher said.
“I’ve never seen a shooter like him. There is not a day or an hour that goes by when this kid doesn’t want to be in the gym. He’s one of the most dominant shooters in the game. When all is said and done, he will go down as one of the best shooters in FNU history.”
Possessing sneaky vertical explosiveness, Nico Rojas has been as effective. The transfer from Utah State Eastern (JUCO) had 19 points, seven boards, and four blocks during a recent 88-74 win over Keiser University of West Palm Beach.
Freshman Jeffrey Hernandez has provided an instant impact.
“He’s one of the most versatile guys on the team,” Thatcher explained. “He can play the 1-3. He can shoot the ball from outside but most importantly, he creates mismatch nightmares for anybody on the court. As a freshman, he plays with the veteran know how and poise of a senior.”
