By: Brandon Hernandez -- October 6, 2022 Walking into the Hugh Hathcock Basketball Complex around this time of year, you can feel the Golden era leaking in immaculate vibes as the Florida men’s basketball team continue preparations for the impending 2022-2023 season. Wednesday’s practice was just another example of that. With Gators head coach Todd Golden waiting along the sidelines of the John W. Frost II practice court, assistant head coaches vocalized instructions for the players as they work on light shooting drills. The practice itself was more relaxed with a month till UF’s first game of the season against Stony Brook on Nov.7. A majority of it was to polish everyone’s game. Szymczyk and others continue to polish their game with a month left before the 2022-2023 season | GatorCountry.com
The previous buzz about Szymczyk was about his 3-point shooting. This article indicates that the coaches have him working on his inside game. Hopefully his height and weight and weight will make him an inside threat.
I guess I need to explain the joke and then it is no longer funny. He is Polish. Maybe it was never funny.
I know everything is rosy pre-seaon but it is feeling like we have a competent staff who will get the most out of players with a lot of positive energy and good organization. As for the lineup, we have a good combination of youth, experience, and hunger from returning players who are not ego-driven but want to improve and win. It's not an easy task to blend a team in today's CBB world with NBA, NIL, portal and recruiting. November and December are going to be exciting to see how they come together and find roles with a lot of healthy competition. Seems like only one, maybe two, starters known for sure.
He needs to be at least on defense and rebounding. If the guy is an elite shooter (backed up with actual in game shooting %’s, not just what he does in practice) then that would obviously be a huge weapon at the 5 on offense, but that weapon is less valuable if there’s too much of a trade off on inside presence. Obviously with Castleton back I think most assume this guy was brought in with hopes of being a force NEXT year - after a year of development. I assume he’s not “redshirting”, but he probably won’t get a ton of minutes. He’s one of the more intriguing players Golden brought in, so hopefully he shows some spurts of production.
He looks pretty ripped! He has said he wanted to play in the USA and has a connection to Lakeland. He has motivation to succeed. He is a pure shooter with good form. He can run and defend. As he learns from Castleton to play in the middle, he will always be a good option off the bench. I think you are spot on with your assessment, but any injuries could thrust him into more minutes. It’s going to be an interesting year. This year our offense is going to be better as the year commences. Too much talent to not defend and better shooters/scorers to be more consistent on offense. I will be watching every game and making sure I see them in Nashville against Vandy and the SEC tournament live. Excited to see them perform and mold into a cohesive team as we are going to be challenged by a lot of tough teams this season! I have hope that we can surprise with our new group of players that are mostly battle tested!
Denzel and Szymzyzk (or something like that) will be the 12th and 13th players on the team. Golden will not go that deep. It is really unfortunate that these kids will use up a year of eligibility if they even play in one game. The NCAA is a disgrace.
Poland is one of those European places that has rather "contested" boundaries - Did you know that Heinz Guderian (Book - Panzer Leader or Achtung Panzer) was born in what is today Poland but what was then Germany or Prussia of whatever the hell it was. How this relates to basketball, I have no idea...........
Tampajack1, I feel the only guys we are going to worry about shooting threes are Fudge, Castleton and Lofton. These three guys more than likely starters, with Kugel in the and Kowacie, two pretty good three point shooters. so let’s see what happens. injuries have derailed us for three years, short rosters of talent even more. It is a long year with a lot of games, we have already had two people on the sidelines, all thirteen will give CTG a lot of matchup choices. All good. This roster I would take over any in the last five years.
I will be surprised if we don’t, these guys are motivated and have experience and have proven it at various Schools.
I agree with you. My problem is that it is grossly unfair that if we have to play Denzel or Szymzyzk for a few games because of injuries, they use up a year of eligibility. The football guys can play 4 games and still redshirt. That is the equivalent of a basketball player playing 10 games.
These two guys are competitors, practicing and playing their minutes when they get them, and get to see the SEC wars and what it will take to get more time. Both have great attitudes and have already been making inroads in showing they belong. We don’t have the luxury to red-shirt them and certain matchups are going to reveal the need for them as the season grinds down through January/February. I can’t imagine a Florida team without injuries, so I think they are going to get some good minutes and will help the team, help their growth and be experienced enough to make 23/24’s team base solid. Hoping with the NCAA is absolutely fruitless. Look at LSU’s non punishment, they can still play in the SEC tournament if they get picked. I don’t think any college basketball fan is happy with them being lenient on them. Kansas, nothing, just laughing in the NCAA’s face. Don’t get me started, the list is an expanded version!
