Bringing in overseas less athletic white bigs that take several years to develop or some portal transfers from lower division schools will not cut it. Get it that he was desperate to fill a bare cupboard White left him but he lost two highly rated big commits to Indiana and LSU. Need more Kugels from HS that are top 50/75 players that can have an immediate impact. Need more speed, athleticism and jumping ability on team. Also, this team can’t shoot from 3. Need to find a great 3 point shooter
The 2 White recruits that we lost were Reed and Reneau. Reed averaged 3.7 ppg and 3.2 rpg for LSU while shooting really poorly. He looked to me like a below the rim player when I saw him in high school. Reneau averaged 6.4 ppg and 3.8 rbg for Indiana. He should eventually become a solid college player. That’s who we lost after White left. We kept Aberdeen who has a chance to become our starting point guard. He is a talented kid. We added Kugel, who floated under the radar but was actually a top-20 high school player. A few people, but not many, saw how good this kid really was. As for the German kid, he looks to me like he will become a really good player. He has a big body that should mature and become stronger. He has a high basketball IQ. He can shoot. I also like Thomas Haugh. He has decent size at 6’8” or 6’9”. He also has a high basketball IQ. He handles the ball like a guard. He can shoot. He is a good passer. He is an aggressive defender without fouling. He looks to me to be a stretch 4 who can get into our rotation immediately if he builds up his body between now and next season. He has the frame to do so. I don’t know anything about the Australian kid. As of right now, we have one available scholarship for next season. This will change if and when players leave our program. Bonham and Fudge can’t transfer without having to sit out a year; same for Felder unless he graduates first. Lane, Reeves and JJ can all transfer without sitting out a year. Reeves, Fudge and Bonham are all talented athletes who had low basketball IQ’s this past season and ended up on the bench because of it. Felder started 7 or so games early on and did nothing. So, he ended up on the bench. JJ was way too heavy, but he is a really smart player. Most of the transfers who have helped the power conference schools were previously excellent mid-major players. We missed on Broome and a few other bigs, and it hurt us. I don’t see the cupboard as bare as some others see it because we should see improvement in several of our returning players, and I like Haugh and the German kid, but Todd Golden is no dummy. I will wait and see what he does.
Thanks TampaJack for assimilating all this info. We have to get a fast good shooting pg and a physical athletic center who can get inside and score/rebound. If Reeves leaves, we need another wing with size, ball handing ability and can shoot the three. Hopefully Riley and Will come back. If we are to be competitive with the top tier SEC/ other conferences good teams CTG is going to have to get used to getting help from NIL and any other associated group aligned with the Gator sports programs. Also get acquainted and get help where possible with the Academies everywhere. We, as a program should be working with agents like Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, to help facilitate getting top fifty players every year. maybe an office in the practice facility for them like Alabama in football. You have to be aggressive. Just getting to know these top players most times is not enough, you have to have help from agents, AAU handlers, and means to get NIL help, at all times. Chandler Parsons, Hugh Hathcock, NIL, there should a room/office for these groups in our facilities to stay connected at the hip. Win some big time recruiting wars. Experienced, big time coaches are already doing this now. Now is not time to be crawling along, slinking around but focused on getting the connections in place to help be more consistent with big time recruiting. CTG cannot do it by himself.
Haugh is an American and pretty skilled, I hear. Condon is Australian, and though unpolished, very athletic, I hear. I think we'll be happy with them, but I agree that both will probably not help much until their sophomore seasons.
Aren't you allowed 13 on scholarship? I thought we only had 11 on scholarship and 3 have graduated. Giving us 5 spots of which two are taken.
I DO NOT feel like TG's first year as a Gator was in any way "like an extension of the Mike White era." I think CTG is going to be here for years. Book it!
I think this team could have been 5 wins better - we should never lost to FAU. Oklahoma and west Virginia were not good teams. And losing to Vandy twice. could have been 21-11 - and strong bubble team for sure. i always wish they spoke to Ryan Odom -- he's taking 2 different teams to the NCAA tourney now and will get picked up by power 5 school. Especially if they manage to pull another upset and beat Mizzou.
I agree with this…I expect little help from either next year. Not sure why 2023 high school recruiting was pretty much non existent outside of som development guys. Maybe it was too late in the cycle? Seemed plenty of time to me though. we are in it for a lot of top 2024 talent, including #3 rated player in the country. Hope we can sign some of them.
Also should have beaten Texas A&M one of the two and should have beaten Auburn. Disagree on FAU. They had 31 wins this season. That means that besides us, there is 30 other message boards with posts saying we should not have lost to FAU. Former Mike White assistant Dusty May has FAU 31-3 as a #9 seed playing Memphis in the NCAA tournament.
I agree FAU is dangerous, but we should never lose to a Satellite school in hoops. Shouldn't happen. Period.
It shouldn't happen that SEC sends 8 teams to the NCAA basketball tournament and Florida is not one of them.
You can argue a satellite school should never be better in hoops… and I’d agree. But fau was better this year, and as such… we lost.
Dusty is getting a big promotion after this season. Let's hope we aren't a bigger dumpster fire when he gets ready for the next move. You know what they say about coaching graveyards....
Yikes is all I can say. Coach Golden is going to have to put in a lot of work to get this ship headed in the right direction.
