I had this conversation with a friend the other day. White has consistently had “good” teams. Not great... good. And good teams sometimes pull of great wins, but also will more frequently have bad losses. So what appears as year-over-year inconsistency ... I see as “good teams” doing “good team” things. And every year his team ends as ... “good”- tourney bid and a win. That said- White has hovered at this level for a few years. And while pro-Mike white folks (like me) will point out that Florida isn’t historically good..... I will concede that he needs to make the jump.
I really hope he does. I thought at the beginning if the year, he had. Now - not so much. There is still a chance though, but if I were in Vegas, I would bet that it is more of the same.
Well, a plus was that they shot 40% from 3 which was a huge improvement from previous games. Unfortunately, they shot 38% overall.
I don't want to bash coach White, I'm trying to stay as positive as possible this year after letting my frustration with the guy impact my ability to enjoy Gator basketball the last few years. That said, AKA, it's not like there's some other person who's responsible for putting together the teams and coaching them up from "good" to "great" or even just "better." Mike White is ultimately the guy responsible for UF's continual flirting with mediocrity over the past seven years. I hope this team can get back to their early season form and make a run this year that can inspire me to a little bit of confidence in our head coach.
I've been pro-White for the most part all along but this season needs to show some progress IMO. Last night's loss was palatable due to it being close right up until the end, but the loss to TXSO not so much when you take into consideration how bad of a loss it was.
I think most of us agree that this season should be a factor in what to expect going forward with White as head coach. He’s in his 7th season, these are either guys he recruited or pursued via the portal. This is the type of players that he desires for the style of play he prefers. If this team doesn’t make the dance, this is on White. The head coach gets the glory when the team succeeds and he catches hell when things go bad. That’s just the way the business works. He’s had enough time so throw that excuse in the garbage. Time to show us that he can coach or that we need to look for someone else.
He’s definitely making me have to eat some crow. But… it’s a long season. If Jones could just hit some shots, we’d be 9-1.
I agree on most, but two things: 1) white has never offered excuses, even during times he had plenty at his disposal. 2) he isn’t gonna be able to show “us” ... you quit watching.
I wasn’t necessarily speaking of White using the excuses, there are several that do that for him. I will still be checking to see the results of the games that I don’t watch. After all, one can only subject themselves to so much torture before it becomes too much.
I saw something I had not seen from CMW during the Maryland game. Makissic made a bad turnover and then there was a timeout. White gave Makissic a mean, ugly stare when he was walking toward the huddle. I had never seen that before.
You’re butchering the guy’s name, but, that aside, White has pulled players from the game several times after mistakes. Last year in one game, Glover had just come into the game, Appleby started dribbling the ball up the right side of the court unguarded and threw a 3-quarters court pass diagonally to Glover who was all the way downcourt on the left wing. Glover did not have his head turned and didn’t see the ball until the last fraction of a second, which led to a turnover. Glover was immediately pulled from the game. He had been in for around 40 seconds. If I was the A.D., that would have been White’s last game coaching at UF.
I am glad you are not the UF AD. Not looking at least from the corner of your eye to the ballhandler is a mistake. So no look passes are always bad passes?
Appleby threw a 75 foot pass for absolutely no reason, but that’s not my point. My point is that you don’t go around destroying the confidence of your players. I love Glover, but I didn’t want him on the floor at any key moment at some point last season. His confidence was shattered. Now if White took Glover out of the game, told him that you have to look back even when it’s not a situation where you would expect to get the ball, and then immediately sent him back in, that’s fine; or you tell him at a break in the action. Glover played only 40 seconds in the game. There’s a reason why almost no high school signees stay at UF nowadays. Was Hayes the only one who stayed since White took over, or am I missing someone!
Two completely different stories. Calipari sells players on going to the NBA after one year. White presumably sells players on getting a good education and having a nice basketball career at UF.
I was so disappointed with yesterday's game that I decided to wait more than 24 hrs to post. I didn't want to say things out of anger. As for the game. This is not the Maryland team you lose to if you are a legitimate top 25 team. Another pitiful offensive performance saved by Tyree Appleby hero ball making the stats look a little better. This game felt like an L most of the game and White continues to have no ability to adjust the offense in-game. Appleby is a good place to start. Right now he's not a very effective pg and he has to start being more of a facilitator and stop turning the ball over. For the season Appleby is averaging 2.5 apg but 2.4 TO's/ game. That is terrible from your pg. In Florida's 3 L's, Appleby has 10 TO's with just 5 assists. Jones has been talked about by many on here but to me his slump is just strange. Career 40% 3-pt shooter and is in a deep funk. Kind of like K. Allen his Sr. year. Jones has to start scoring if the team is going anywhere. Think AKA said that maybe Jones should come off the bench till he finds his shot. This is a pretty good idea and maybe it will get him going. Also, McKissic shot close to 43% from 3 last year and this year is at 29%. I get tougher competition but he's also missing open looks. Castleton and Duruji have to stay out of foul trouble. It's starting to become a real problem for Duruji. Only played 16 minutes vs Maryland. What is up with Castleton's ft shooting? He shot 78% last year and this year is at 59%. That is a lot of free points he's leaving and some of the misses are the front end of a 1 on 1. CJ Felder mystery. Only played 13 minutes and was having his best game of the season. Where was he in the 2nd half as he didn't play that much and with Castleton & Duruji in foul trouble, why exactly wasn't he playing more? Also, imo the staff needs to start working with Felder on his inside game. Felder is a tank and no reason he can't learn some inside moves and post up. Be great to have another option. Jitobah mystery. Also, had by far his best game and only played 9 minutes. The total minutes isn't as big of an issue as to why Gatkek played 3 minutes instead of Jitobah. Gatkek is 6'9 172 lbs and not physically ready yet for big time college basketball. This to me also made no sense. Finally as for Mike White. How has this team regressed this early in the season? Over the last 4-5 years, the thought was first it was a poor first class but once recruiting is better things will turn around. Then recruiting improves but we have the wrong pg for the offense White wants to run. Nembhard transfers and White brings in 2 McD AA's. Then it was we're just too inexperienced, but now White has 6 Sr transfers and nothing feels different at all. I really thought this team would be better but now I'm wondering if the Gators will go 500 in conference. I'm guessing they will but probably not by much. The most frustrating part is White similar to Mullen failed to address the biggest coaching difficiency in the offseason. There was staff turnover and it was the perfect time for White to swallow his pride and bring in an offensive guru type coach. To help him make in-game & halftime adjustments and someone helping him with the line-up. Someone who can say "Coach, why is Felder not in the game...maybe Jones should sit for a little...Maryland is defending us this way, maybe we should try"...etc. I hope this is being looked at by Stricklin when evaluating White at the end of the year. This particular issue is my biggest gripe. Instead we have the same offensive issues. As soon as they take away CC, our offense becomes chuck and pray. It's the same inconsistent & for large amount of times stagnant offense, lack of in-game adjustments and inability to properly manage the bench. I really hope Stricklin is paying close attention. My guess is he won't do a thing as long as we make the tournament (maybe even not then). Not sure how much Stricklin cares about Gators basketball, but if these same issues persist and changes aren't made in the offseason, than we will know where he stands. At this point, what exactly can White do to show that the program is moving in the right direction? Can the offense actually become functional for a change? What is the offensive game plan ouside of CC? Right now I'm not seeing how this will happen. Love my Gators and will always root for our boys, but to me the rest of the year feels like make or break for White.
White is who he is. UF’s teams will be about what they have been under him for 7 years now. In ‘theory’ this was supposed to have been one of his best teams according to some. Now, foregoing a miraculous evolution, this will simply be another White led team that struggles for an offensive identity and CONSISTENCY. I strongly suspect that the verdict is in. If this team ends up middle of the pack and even an early exit from the Dance the only question is going to be will the Admin and fan base continue to tolerate being a middle of the pack program? I said to a buddy of mine, that is a Bama first gator second follower, that if UA could become strong at basketball there was absolutely no reason that UF should not be a strong program. He wholeheartedly agreed. If this Season goes the way I believe it will then what needs to be done ought to be done. Finally.
