Sort of like Nick but as you said not nearly as productive. Should do well overseas. He will not be drafted. 10 years overseas. He will give someone 8 points and 4-5 assists a game somewhere.
I will try to respond to a bunch of these posts later today. Having to work for a living is just unfair. It takes away the time needed to do the more important things. That being said, the Gators looked very good last night. I also was impressed with the size of the Gators; especially the size of the Gator fans in the stands. No wonder the football team is having a lousy season. The offensive linemen are all spending their time at Gator basketball games.
I’ve been critical of mike white but it seems he may have turned a corner. I have never seen a team change it’s personality so much in one year. These guys are downright bullies…that’s the best way to put it. This after being so soft for the past few years. They actually out-toughen FSU.
Locke is shooting 57.9% from 2, 37.5% from 3 and 85.7% from the foul line while averaging 16 ppg while playing 26 mpg. He is a solid player. As for Payne, he didn't develop at all at Florida. He might never become a good player at Illinois, but he already is way more fundamentally sound than he was at UF. He now has a good understanding of how to play at both ends of the floor. He is all over the place on offense setting on- and off-ball screens and rolling to the basket. He is unable to finish plays when he gets the ball, however. He is in way too much of a rush. He needs to slow down, lose the anxiety and do what he actually is capable of doing. If the confidence comes, he will be fine. On defense, he knows how to defend, how to switch, how to guard the on-ball screens. Again, however, he needs to relax and gain confidence. He is a foul machine right now. He has the physical ability, but he still has a lot to learn.
I respect your opinion, but I don't believe that I am engineering anything. In addition to the learning that goes on in practice and the strength and conditioning program that you participate in, you have to have the experience of playing in a rotation and being put in the right position on the floor to excel. You need to develop confidence. Except for the players who have transferred from Florida and then never played anywhere, these transfers have had remarkable success. Okauru is the best player on Wilmington, Nembhard looks like an All-American and future NBA player, Glover is the best player on Samford, Gak was the best player on Cal Baptist, Bassett played well at Weber State, Chase Johnson was excellent at Dayton before quitting the game. Payne is a work in progress, although he is improving. As for Payne, I let everyone know a few years ago that he had really good physical ability, but had a lot to learn to become a good player. Many posters disagreed with me and said that he was better than the Russian kid who started over him at Montverde. Now, those same people have turned against Payne. As for the kids who have transferred in, except for Castleton, they all started elsewhere and had substantial experience before they got to Florida. They are good players, but they are in their 4th or 5th year in college. If you want to give White credit for developing these kids, be my guest. Glover should have been getting at least 10-15 minutes per game at the point while he was at Florida. It didn't happen. When he did get into the games, half the time or more, he was at the wing. That was a recipe for disaster. In just 4 games at Samford, he has established himself as a fine player. Personally, I would take him over Appleby at the point, because he plays a simple game and is not flying all over the court trying to make difficult plays. In 28.3 minutes of playing time per game this season, Ques is averaging 17.8ppg, 4.3 apg, is shooting 52.6% from 2, 30% from 3, and 84.6% from the line. He also has been coming on defensively.
Here's my thoughts. I have only watched 2 games because of this SEC+ crap. I didn't comment after FSU because I couldn't tell whether we were good or FSU was bad. We also stunk it out in the first half in that game. It was the same one-on-one crap that we saw last season. In the 2nd half, we played well. I did watch the Cal game. Our defense looked great, and we were solid on offense. However, Cal is not a very good team. Tonight, we will get some real insight into how good the Gators are. Ohio State is not ranked, but they are a solid team. If the Gators win, I would move them into my top tier in the SEC, which currently includes, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee. Florida, LSU and Mississippi State all also look like they can be very good. If Florida does turn out to be very good this year, it then is important for them not to be one-year wonders. This team is led by 7 transfers with tons of experience. That is not going to be repeatable on a regular basis. Reeves needs to be in the rotation, so he will be ready for next year. The team needs to consistently play up tempo on both ends of the floor, without having ball dominant (ball hog) players dominate the ball while trying to make plays. Ruzhnetsev should have been in the rotation last season. He is very talented. The SEC has become a really good conference, and, based on early recruiting, will continue to be so. Florida needs to do a lot to keep up.
Omar Payne played a total of nine minutes in the two tournament games Illinois played this week, scoring one point in each game. Not sure if he is battling an injury but Kofi Cockburn is back from suspension and Payne is getting minimal minutes.
I will never understand why you believe being the "best player" at Samford, Cal Baptist or Wilmington automatically translates into be a productive player at a Power 5 program. It doesn't. And the fact that each of the mentioned players had to go to such schools in order to find the desired playing time . .. speaks to that reality. Nembhard is the only player who has left to a bigtime program and has excelled. And this really isn't a surprise to anyone who watches basketball. He was a very good player at Florida... among the conference leaders in assists and assist:turnover ratio each of his first two seasons. He is playing for an excellent program and coach - and has absolutely matured and developed. But i never expected otherwise. If you want to bang on White for something . . . and you clearly do . . .it is that he recruited some these players in the first place. Most were simply not good enough. If, as you insist, they were good enough... a high D1 would have scooped em up. Instead . . . Webver, Trinity, Samford . . . or for many, out of the game entirely. White doesn't necessarily deserve credit for developing the recent transfers - but he does deserve a nod for recruiting them, and substantially upgrading his team. That said- players like Duruji, CC and Appleby have improved and developed, imo. And suffice to say, I think you are looney . .. opting for Glover over Tyree. I am not sure how much of what you write reflects what you actually believe, versus an undying dedication to a rapidly eroding position. On another note - and I mean this sincerely, as I think you are a great fan: let go of the agenda and try to enjoy the season. Your posting pattern remains very, very heavily slanted toward defending past positions, discussing players who left, and who we should've played in years prior. Thru 5 games - this has been a really fun team, yet it has totally evaded your posting topics. This may be a really enjoyable season . . . allow yourself to partake.
Let's be clear on my agenda. It's that I want Florida to be a top-20 program. That's my entire agenda. I have been a Gator fan since 1972. I have been to more Gator practices than most fans have been to games. I used to play against plenty of former Gators. I think that I am capable of recognizing coaching strengths and weaknesses. I also believe that I can evaluate players pretty well if I get to see them play under the right circumstances. Just to finish for now, Ques Glover, who you keep saying is not a high-major player, just started a college game for the 5th time in his career. Samford beat North Carolina A & T by one point today led by Glover's 25 points and 7 assists. He also was 12 for 12 from the free throw line. There is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that he could have been an excellent player at Florida if he was used the right way.
I didn’t say Ques isn’t necessarily a high major player, or at least didn’t intend to... But he wasn’t going to be a starter at Florida. He is not as good as Tyree and would again have been buried by better players. I liked Ques a lot, but I would never swap him for any one of mckissic, Tyree or Jones. Would you? And every other P5 coach in the country seemingly felt similar about their roster, as Ques was apparently not identified as a player to pursue. He is a good player who could find some type of role at a bigger program, but seemingly wanted more. And Samford was a good place to find it. And as for your agenda... Mike has got ‘em where you want ‘em. Be happy!
What are your thoughts subsequent to the OSU game? I'm thrilled they won, but there was def some struggle there. Not sure I agree with all of this. The current landscape is largely about one & dones (not common for FL) and transfers (very common for FL). I have less confidence in Reeves at this point and feel he should only get mins in the non-conf or blowout games. I accept that he needs experience, but not at the cost of the team. Def agree with the tempo part. At any rate, I'm glad to see you posting in-season. It's a fun early start!
I started a separate thread with my post-Ohio State thoughts. Please read it and let me know what you think. Thanks.
Kofi is back for Illinois and had a monster game tonite. This hasn’t been good for Omar’s opportunity. He went 0-2 today, recording only a rebound.
In today’s win over Maryland, Noah Locke recorded 12 points, 2 rebounds and ..... wait for it............................................................ 1 assist! Yinka Dare’s nba stats may be safe!
Some of you guys seem to root for former Gators to perform poorly elsewhere. I don’t. As for my man, Ques Glover, the guy that some of you think was not good enough to play for the Gators, he led Samford to a win over McNeese today with 24 points, 6 assists and 11-11 from the free throw line. So, in the last 2 days, Glover has 49 points, 13 assists and 23-23 from the free throw line. Not bad for a guy who should be playing division 2 basketball and who can’t make a free throw (if I remember some of your posts from last season).
Don’t think you should expect an inexperienced HS kid to come in and bump a Tre Mann from minutes at PG. This is not a Knox RB rotation. In BB, your best players get the majority of the minutes. Q was not a great player at UF, especially on D. Glad he has turned crud corner and is doing well against lower tier programs. Big difference in SeC quality talent, height, speed, athleticism, …. Paint points for a PG hard to come by in the SEC
Glover never had a chance at Florida. He never knew when he was getting into the game, most of the time he was in he was playing the wing, and he would get pulled if he made a bad play. None of that was conducive to success. I know plenty of you would disagree, but I would take Glover over Appleby right now, and Glover has only started 5 games while Appleby is a 5th year player who has started almost 90 games. As for the competition, Glover had a great game in the upset of Oregon State the other day. Oregon State just lost by about the same score to unbeaten Wake Forest on a neutral court. Glover also had a great game against 8-0 San Francisco which looks like it will be a really good team this season.
I guess it’s worth directly asking: Would you trade any one of Mckissic, Jones or Tyree for Glover? That answer may root out our disconnect.
