Some Gator-Related Observations

Kenpom has Stony Brook rated at #298 in the country. They had several players out for the Gator game. So, we were essentially playing the worst division one team in college basketball. Considering the foregoing, I wouldn’t put much stock in the individual high-end performances. However, to some extent the low end performances might be telling. One thing that seemed clear to me from watching the game, is that there is a huge defensive drop off when CC gets replaced by JJ. It was also disappointing that Jones played so poorly, but that might have been an aberration. I would not put much stock in Alex Fudge‘s performance until we see him play against a team with inside players who can defend him. Will Richard looked very good, but, again, we need to see him against a quality team. One thing that disappointed me somewhat, was the lack of point guard penetration against the zone. One of my favorite former Gator point guards, Ques Glover, would have gotten into the paint at will against that zone defense. I saw him do that throughout last year against much better teams. It wasn’t necessary to get the point guards into the paint in this game, and we might not see many, if any, zone defenses again, so my observation might turn out not to relevant.

Speaking of Kenpom ratings, some of them seem to me to be off and some look solid. I would put the Gators somewhere in the top 20, instead of in their current number 31 spot. Ques Glover‘s Samford team is, in my opinion, rated way too low at 159. They have four of their five starters coming back off of a third place finished in the southern conference, and their fifth starter is a solid player who transferred in from Georgia Tech. I would put Sanford in the top 80. I am shocked that Ken Palm rated the team I played for, Binghamton University, at number 253. Actually, I am not shocked. That’s about where they belong or a little lower. Dayton at number 24 seems about right to me considering that Anthony Grant’s team has returned almost in its entirety. St. John’s at number 37 seems to meto be too high unless Andre Curbello starts performing to his capabilities. I also thank that LSU at number 46 is too high.

Turnong back to the Gator game, I cannot stand it when the announcers treat the walk ons like they’re clowns and are shouting for them to shoot the ball as soon as they touch it. Alex Klatsky is a fundamentally solid basketball player who can shoot the ball as well as anyone on the team. Klasky should have been in the rotation last year. I think that would’ve helped the team. There’s no reason for announcers to be screaming for Klatsky to shoot the ball when he is going to play fundamentally solid basketball even though he only gets to play two minutes. There’s a difference between people in the crowd or even the Gator players to be shouting and screaming in that situation. I expect more from the game announcers.

The upcoming game against Kennesaw State should be way more competitive than the opener, and the FAU game will actually be against a very solid opponent that might be a top 100 team. As I’ve been saying for the last several months, I think that Riley Kugel is greatly underrated and is one of the top freshmen in the country, as well as being a future first round pick. I would like to see him start getting 20 to 25 minutes a game along, perhaps, with a little more time playing the point. I also would advise the other Gator players to keep their eyes open and their heads turned toward Kugel when he’s got the ball. He is not necessarily going to be looking at you when he throws the ball to you,
and it would be in your best interest to not having basketballs bounce off your head.

As for former Gators, Glover scored 17 points in 18 minutes against a low quality opponent in Samford’s opener. Noah Locke looked pretty solid playing for Providence in a great opener that it had against Rider. Omar Payne didn’t do much against Duke in Jacksonville‘s opener. Tyree Appleby look to be his same old self in Wake Giredt’s opener. Wake might end up having second thoughts about Tyree being its starting point guard. Andrew Nembhard has been getting 20 minutes of playing time per game so far for the Pacers and has been surprisingly good, especially on defense. Cheese, Anthony Duruji, and Chris Walker are all playing in the G league. Scottie Lewis is recovering from a broken leg and will be in the G league once he is healthy. Brad Beal is doing OK, but not quite as spectacular as he was last year. Udonis once again looks like he will be the highest paid player in the NBA on a per minute basis. Trey Mann is coming off the bench for Oklahoma City and does not look like he will have the opportunity to start for that team at any time in the near future. He also clearly appears to be more of a 2-guard than a point guard. That’s about all I can think of right now. Signing off.

 

Take a team ranked 297th in the country and take away from that team several of its best players, and what do you have? If not the worst, mighty close to it.

 

I don’t know whether he can knock down the jump shot like Taurean could. Taurean could also take it to the rim when necessary. We will have to wait and see on Lofton. Let’s hope he can do these things.

 

They played in the America East conference last season, which is a low-major conference in my opinion. Vermont has been the only successful team in that conference for ages although UMBC had the shocking upset of UVA a few years ago. Against the Gators, Stony Brook had only 2 returning players who played any significant minutes the prior year. Those guys averaged about 7 ppg each in that prior year. I don’t know how Stony Brook will do if and when they get other players back, but I doubt that Stony Brook could have beaten last year’s Dr. Phillips team with the players they had on the floor the other night.