Mike White lost the number one player in the SEC. Then he loses his best big ans. Then he lost the next big man up and he still manages to win. MW is a very good coach but like they say it's not the x's and o's but the Billie's and Joe's.He wins a lot more than he loses and when we're healthy we're a good team capable of beating anyone. Thanks Mike for making changes to compensate for losing players.
I posted something similar a few days ago. His ability to rally a team during tough circumstances is very impressive. I don’t understand why many choose to dismiss him losing his best player in each of two consecutive seasons. That’s tough for any coach to survive.
Was Castleton available for the Texas Southern game? Maryland? Were we 10-6 with Castleton on the court? Did we have offensive lulls where we went minutes at a time without scoring with Castleton on the court? Those are reasons why many choose to dismiss White losing his best player this year. Even with his best player on the court, we were struggling. I wish the Ole Miss game hadn't been postponed. It was rough starting SEC play with three straight losses. And (expecially for fans) perception is reality. When games don't feel good, and it has been years since we were more than average in the SEC, it is hard to see all the hints that we have a good coach. I still think Mike White is an above average coach, and a great person. I'm not convinced he is the long term answer if we want to compete for conference championships.
Yeah, this seems to be his strength. When his teams play with a "nothing to lose" mentality, they excel. I love the way they've been playing without CC. Hope it will continue when he returns
Love C Castle...but his defense is a real liability. Nice to see other players getting a chance to perform.
I’m neither a Mike White basher, or great supporter. That said, I like Mike. I think he’s tries to do the right thing in a tough & ever-changing basketball landscape. When UF has been good, even pre-Billy ( yes, we did have pockets of success before Billy), we normally had at least one NBA type talent, a mix of good player with special skill sets ( shooter, rebounder, defensive) and a couple of guys developing. What has been a staple, pre Billy & during his tenure was the ability to get up & down the floor, play good defense when needed and good ball movement. That helps off-set a talent deficit, which you run into with the KY’s of the world. That’s basketball 101, you run bigger, more talented teams. You won’t be successful trying to half court, out shoot, out talent them. I watched our best teams, the 04’s loss to TN, with Pearl employing that strategy. I’d just like to see Mike embrace more of that, instead of playing slow, running too many sets thru CC, and playing anyone much more than 25 minutes a game. Fresh legs, ball movement , FT shooting and defense will let you steal a few. We do have the talent to do more of that vs slow down then shooting a prayer of 3 pt attempts.
Well, we started off league play against three ranked teams. Played them all tough… including the now #1 ranked team Auburn. Tough close loss to ranked LSU team. Then we almost beat a ranked Tennessee on the road after losing JJ mid game. That was a winnable game with JJ. The SEC is very good this year and we are playing the tough teams close. Definitely a lot of room to improve but you’d have to think that with a healthy Castleton and an emerging JJ we’d have been very solid. Not even going to talk about possibly the best player in the SEC sitting in our bench in street clothes for over a year.
We beat Missouri. We lost at home to 0-7 Texas Southern when our team was healthy, so let’s keep some perspective. Win one of the two games against Kentucky and I will agree this team can beat anyone but until that happens, I don’t buy it.
UF has shown a continuing tendency to fall into the multiple SEC loss column far to quickly with each passing year. This years addition being ALREADY on the bubble the first three conference games of the season. SEC start was disastrous and Colin was playing during that 0-3 run. Point being, UF seems to either be falling out of contention earlier and earlier in the year, facing an UPHILL struggle to make the tourney. So far CMW's UF teams have managed to work it's way into the tournament but the seeding keeps going down. Having said that I admire that the club was able to pull out a 1 point squeaker on the road yesterday. But that's the point I am trying to make, room for error just gets smaller and smaller each year with "not making the tournament" an ever present devil, now sitting on the teams shoulders. My glass half full is whispering in my ear that the absence of CC and the new shift in personnel and offensive strategy JUST MAY work in UF's favor when / if CC returns. I can't think of any scenario that favors CC not playing if not injured. If UF does not get better upon his return that's on coach. Too talented to let languish on the bench, if he can go, that is.
watching the Mizzou game, the Gators ran a lot of Floppy action designed to get shooters coming off the baseline. They hadn't done hardly any of this up to this point in the season -- leads me to believe they spent some time adjusting their offensive attack in practice after the bigs went out. That takes some serious practice time.
Agree, in the 2nd half, I thought they played within themselves and executed the plan. A part of me does wonder, why we didn’t practice these type of sets, even when CC & JJ were healthy? I went to a game last night, and noticed how differently the first team ( with their bigs, more spacing, more 3pt shooting ) than the 2nd team ( more small ball, cutting to the rim, more FT and pressing defense). The 2nd team actually got the starting center in foul trouble. With our history, I always wonder, if a big can stay healthy. One of the reasons I was wishing we used the bench more. That’s a lot of wear and tear for big guys.
My standard for the program is we should be in the rankings more times than not. That is it. If a coach can't keep us in the top 25 most of the time, I don't think he has the chops to do the job. I don't think that is too high of a standard to have at the University of Florida. I am sure some people may disagree though, and that is fine.
I could post this on a couple of threads. It seems to me like Mike gets into a routine that, at least in live action, doesn't work well. And he gets frustrated that his plan isn't working. Then something big happens (Johnson last year, CC and JJ this year) and he somehow finds the ability to break the routine. I am not going to go all "he is going to be the difference" but the idea that Lane, and even Gatkek for a LONG stretch, wasn't in the discussion is VERY confounding. He does have the ability to cobble together a viable Plan B offense/defense but it seems like he isn't learning and growing, just prepared to get stuck in a routine again. I still say, unless the players revolt (and that would have been in the second half against Oky State) he is going to get his last gasp effort to show us something like real growth next year. And if Stricklin does it correctly, he will insist he has an offensive assistant (likely associate head coach) to get him out of his ruts.
I hope agents aren’t giving advice, CMW either. It is up to Colin to be remembered how he wants it. If he goes conservative , waiting for an NBA pull, that’s okay, announce it. Don’t let your brothers hang, due to thinking you “may”, come back. Be a man and let us know. You don’t have to, but you will be remembered for a bruised shoulder and taking the path that is best for you, if you don’t come back! Ok
White has to be given some credit for the swarming defense that at times is overwhelming opponents, especially lesser opponents. As for the offense, as others have said, there is more ball and player movement right now basically by default. However, if we are going to have to rely on the extraordinary play of Appleby down the stretch of games in order to win them, we are going to lose a bunch of games. That being said, Appleby was spectacular down the stretch of the Missouri game. Unfortunately, he is way to inconsistent to do that on a regular basis.
I doubt that Castleton gets drafted, and I don't see him playing in the NBA. However, he can have a nice career elsewhere.
I think that he will play if he is healthy enough to play. However, I know nothing about the extent of his injury. I also doubt that he will come back next season.
