Honest Q: What did you see from Reeves early in the season? I saw a helter-skelter player who was lost on defense with a good form on his shot, but who wasn't making them. And I thought he was in the rotation from day one. There were some games he didn't get in (ex. FSU, OSU) but some of the missed games were due to covid. It's also time to drop the Omar Payne bit. He's not doing anything of consequence for Illinois - not when they got blown out by Maryland - scored zilch in the o/t loss to Purdue - scored 2pts in a 15pt win against Michigan. Illinois is my second favorite team and I really liked Omar Payne. Wanted to see him have a great Gator career, but he probably made a mistake in transferring. Just for giggles, let's compare Payne with Jitoboh: Player.......min.....pts.....rbd.....blk.....fg%.....ft% Payne........8.3.......1.9......1.9.....0.8.....57.1.....61.1 Jitoboh......9.3.......3.7......2.3.....0.6.....58.5.....68.8 Either Jitoboh is a more talented player, or the folks developing him are doing a better job than the folks developing Payne.
Reeves very clearly was not in the rotation. Like, Mann, Glover, Jitoboh, Gak, Payne, Hester, Okauru, Ruzhnetsev and others over White's 6+ years, Reeves would get into some games and not get into others and would never know when he was going to get in. White has a scattershot approach to his substitutions. It is really difficult to figure out when he is going to play someone. This is not conducive to a player performing well when he gets into the game. As for Payne, he left UF with the same exact game that he had at Montverde. Freshmen with talent and athleticism are supposed to improve over the course of their college careers. That did not happen to Payne in 2 years at UF nor did it happen to Glover, Jitoboh and others. Payne is starting from scratch at Illinois. He gets into every game around the 4 minute mark of the 1st half. Contrary to your statement, he actually has played well in some games against solid teams. When he does play well, he gets more minutes in the game. When he doesn't play well, he doesn't get the extra minutes. His stats were better at UF, but he wasn't learning anything, and he made a lot of ill advised plays. I doubt that Payne starts next season for Illinois, but as I have said many times, he is finally learning to play college basketball. As for Jitoboh, he is finally getting a chance to play, and he is playing pretty well. Nevertheless, he has not learned much in his 2 and 1/2 years at UF. He still has not learned how to use his size and strength to be a force on offense. That is unfortunate because he has the talent. I blame that on a coaching staff that has not developed the offense of a single high school big man who has gone to Florida since White has been the coach. Contrast that with the 2 bigs (Dickerson and Mooney) who committed to Florida but went elsewhere after White became the Florida coach. Both of them became stars elsewhere. Was that a giant coincidence or was it better coaching at Washington and Notre Dame, respectively? I am going with the latter.
If you don't see improvement in Jitoboh and think Mann was not in rotation you know even less then I thought.
Payne is not good. He had better stats at Fl but learned nothing then the coach at Illinois must be terrible. He sure messed up Mann only a first Rd pick.
MM, stop being so nasty. I consider you to be one of the top 1,000 posters on NBN. I might have to reconsider. Mann was not in what I consider to be a rotation during his freshman year at UF. He got plenty of playing time, but you never knew when he was going into the game or what position he would be playing. It negatively affected his game and his development. The kid has tons of talent. He was going to be an NBA player. It’s still unclear whether he will be a point guard or a 2-guard. As for Jitoboh, he came into college as a huge kid with a good sense of how to play the game. He is playing well right now, but it’s his junior year, and Castleton is injured. I’m surprised that he didn’t transfer to another school, and I think that he would have had more success elsewhere. As for Payne, I have explained many times why he is better off at Illinois. I do give lots of credit to White for the successful careers that Noah Dickerson and John Mooney had in the Pac-12 and ACC conferences, respectively. I also give credit to White for AN’s success at Gonzaga.
Mann wasn't physically ready to play in year 1. When he got to work in the gym & studied film, his game improved. But you're right, I'm sure he wasn't receiving any coaching from White or his assistants while he was here ... And your Omar Payne take is laughable at best.
How about explaining your take on Omar Payne? As for Mann, he was ready to play, but as I said a few years ago, it would take him awhile to adjust to the point guard position. He still hasn’t adjusted, and he might end up as a 2-guard in the NBA. Mann should have been playing the 2-guard spot in both of his years at UF. Put him at that spot with Nembhard and Glover getting him the ball, and he could have been a double figures scorer as a freshman and a 20 ppg scorer as a sophomore. It didn’t happen, but when has this coaching staff ever maximized the talent of its players? Castleton maybe by default after KJ’s health problems. KJ? Probably not.
C'mon. Chiozza got a lot better with White's coaching. Of course you will claim the opposite in spite of the fact that he did get a lot better. Any attempt to claim he was great as a freshman is laughable even though you did try to make such claims then.
