In five previous seasons at Florida Gulf Coast, head coach Dave Balza never had fewer than 22 victories. In their first season in Division I, the exhausted Eagles had 21 losses.

To label the 2007-08 campaign a letdown would be extremely short-sighted, however. The Eagles won 10 games, lost seven others by 10 or fewer points and never quit, even during a season-ending 67-37 thumping at Marquette.

"They were competing right to the end. We just didn't have as many weapons as some of these guys did -- certainly not as many as Marquette did," Balza told the Naples Daily News. "We were a little short on gas in the tank both (against Marquette) and down the stretch in the season."

Florida Gulf Coast has three more seasons to improve before they are full members of Division I and become eligible for the conference and NCAA tournaments. Balza knows exactly what the Eagles need to become more competitive.

"We'd like to become a little more athletic, first and foremost," he said. "Athleticism was the biggest difference between us and a lot of those teams," he said. "We really struggled with the dribble drive and penetration. We couldn't keep the ball in front of us and we had trouble getting by anybody."

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