NIL - Will Florida hoops compete?

I'm a dreamer too, man. Cheers to the dreamers!

 

I don't get if you are being sarcastic or not, here. I'm sensing that you are implying that I am being unrealistic? I don't think I am being a dreamer to suggest that NIL is not the determining factor of success in college athletics. We have solid evidence in both major sports to backup my assertion.

 

Not sarcastic at all. I have a very different opinion on this, but all good. I also forgot for a moment that you consider CMW a success, so perhaps we're just defining success differently.

All good.

 

That's not really accurately depicting what I said. Mike White was a good coach, IMO. His tournament appearance ratio and propensity to win a game or two puts him in a rare group of coaches in a similar time span. Saying that I called him "a success" is an overstatement, and I don't believe I ever used that exact terminology. It's nuance, but I do think it is important to use the correct words.

 

Mike white could not recruit or develop big men. That’s why he failed. What power forwards or centers did he produce?

 

There is a very high chance that we DON'T make the NCAA tournament for 4 years in a row and that we regularly get bounced from the NIT.

You got what you wanted...Congrats!

Mike White Head coaching record[edit]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (Western Athletic Conference) (2011–2013)
2011–12 Louisiana Tech 18–16 6–8 T–5th
2012–13 Louisiana Tech 27–7 16–2 T–1st NIT second round
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (Conference USA) (2013–2015)
2013–14 Louisiana Tech 29–8 13–3 T–1st NIT Quarterfinals
2014–15 Louisiana Tech 27–9 15–3 1st NIT Quarterfinals
Louisiana Tech: 101–40 (.716) 50–16 (.758)
Florida Gators (Southeastern Conference) (2015–2022)
2015–16 Florida 21–15 9–9 T–8th NIT Quarterfinals
2016–17 Florida 27–9 14–4 2nd NCAA Division I Elite Eight
2017–18 Florida 21–13 11–7 3rd NCAA Division I Round of 32
2018–19 Florida 20–16 9–9 8th NCAA Division I Round of 32
2019–20 Florida 19–12 11–7 T–4th NCAA Division I Canceled* Keyonte COVID
2020–21 Florida 15–10 9–7 5th NCAA Division I Round of 32
2021–22 Florida 19–13 9–9 T–5th
Florida: 142–88 (.617) 72–52 (.581)

 

I only consider 2 of those players to be a "good nucleus'. The fact that you are calling the others part of a good nucleus really shows where Florida is right now.

 

Who are the 2 and how many of these guys have you seen play enough to judge them?

 

I take umbrage at “inmates running the asylum”. If you’re talking about agenda, lawyers, Nike, ESPN etc then I ageee, if you’re speaking of the primarily young black men who are trying to get a piece of a huge pie they’ve been cut out of for years while doing the work… then it’s borderline bigotry. I agree, there needs to be regulations on NIL and one of the main reasons is to protect these kids from sharks. Not sure your intention there but I think calling kids names for just doing what any of us would do is pretty gross for someone who calls them self A fan. You can’t root for these kids but then when they try and get compensated say “nah… that’s just for the old white guys”. None of us complained when coaches were getting
Millions and ESPN was getting billions.

 

I love sentences that start out with “ I take umbrage at.” I don’t take umbrage at what you said, but I don’t like a system in which the deepest pockets can buy a championship caliber team.

 

Kind of a huge leap there in my words. Anyways, the "inmates" I am referring to involves how the whole process was dumped onto major college sports. I get that poor folk get something they did not before. Just realize that in the old system, they were "paid" with a quality education with an agreement that if you show up and put in the work, it would continue, regardless of actual field performance. And, presumably, those players would have an affinity for where they grew up into adulthood. And what we got in return was (and can still receive) an identity of those players playing a game we enjoy watching and live vicariously through them.

What we now have is unabashedly minor league sports without a commissioner. In other words, the wild, wild west. And if I may project in the VERY near future, the money IS going to look ugly out in the open and as I said, it IS going to break down the team if one or two are getting WAY more. But the real issue IMO is that when you have professionals and you are spending money to support the team, it is entirely apropos to boo them for not delivering the product for which you have paid. AND, it is entirely apropos for the HC, who as you state is making a LOT of money, to cut players who can be filled with better ones so that HE/SHE won't be the ones "cut". That is going to be tough for some young men (mainly) who are just beginning out in life.

And it isn't pretty.

 

If you don't know the answer to that question, you don't watch Florida basketball.

And if your suggestion is that I haven't seen some of those players that you think are part of a good nucleus - then you haven't seen them either.

But to answer your question, the only 2 players I would remotely consider part of a good nucleus are Riley and Richard. Fudge has some potential but I don't think I want to be relying on him as a starter. Szymczyk is awful. Aberdeen couldn't get playing time as a freshman but hey, I'll give you that he might develop. Is he part of a good nucleus? No.

There is no one else on the team that could even be considered a player that would get minutes at all. Gone: CC, JJ, Jones, Lane, Bonham, Lofton, Reeves.

So, you really think there is a good nucleus beyond those 2? Klatzky going to come in and ball?

In any event, TG is facing a really tough cycle right now. He can't continue to fail to recruit high school kids and then recruit portal kids as starters who have one year left. Yet, he has to take what he can to cobble together a team.

 

You obviously haven’t watched Jarvis. You’re wrong about the German kid. The 2 bigs who have signed are going to be good players. Aberdeen was a very good high school player and has the size, athleticism and skill set to be a solid player. Fudge needs to learn how to be a team player. He has a way to go.

 

Pretty gloomy and doomy stuff there. Like tampa mentioned, you missed on Jarvis, who will be a really nice edition at an area of need. As for Smitty & Aberdeen, ya gotta give them time. Very few first year players are ready to compete at the SEC level. I also don't get the criticism about not recruiting HS kids. We only had two scholarships to work with and filled them.

I think there was plenty of room for gloom and doom at the end of the season and with the exodus. Now that we have Jarvis and Kugel, there's reason to be excited again. Get a PG and a center and we just might have a decent roster.

 

Not wrong about szymczyk at all. No hands and lead feet. Clearly a project and not part of a "good nucleus" lol.

I will say that I didn't take the good nucleus to include players that we were bringing in...I took it to mean kids who were here. And you concede that fudge has a ways to go.

The rest of your good nucleus are players who have no minutes between them. ( Aberdeen has a handful). As for Jarvis, I'm withholding judgment until I see him play in college. But yes, I understand, every 3 star kid we get is highly underrated.

Imo it is far from a good nucleus. I remain concerned about what TG is going to have to do to build this program.

 

I think Aberdeen potentially has a breakout season next year if they give him a shot.

Don't sleep on "Psycho T2" Thomas Haugh!

 

It sure would be nice to see Aberdeen emerge in this soph season. I like Haugh's highlights, esp. in that he has an outside shot. Not sure he will be ready to contribute much in year one, but obviously has some skills.

 

Glad you brought up Haugh, he’s absolutely coming in ready to play real minutes at the 3/4. At the time he committed to us last year, Illinois & Maryland (two tournament teams) were recruiting him to reclass into 2022 and join their team immediately. And he seems to have already taken a big leap since then from what I’ve seen

 

I disagree that all it will take to have a decent roster is a PG and a center.

We had one of the best center's in the nation last year, a solid backup, a very established PG, decent F play and some solid if inconsistent guard play. We don't have any of that and last year, we wouldn't have made the tourney absent basically winning out (yes I know it was a new team). I certainly understand that if we brought that team back in its entirety we have a good shot at the tourney.

Those pieces are all gone. But even more problematic is that the pieces that might well take their place are gone. I believe I'm being realistic. I want TG to be successful. But, this is our roster now.

When someone says we have "good nucleus", to me that means we have some established players across the board to build around. We have 2 and no backups. No depth whatsoever. As far as kids who are on this roster right now, I have some hope for fudge and think aberdeen might be good. But hey I thought KR would eventually be good until he left. You just don't know about a player until he gets starts playing. Szymczyk won't see anything but late bench minutes on this team if we have even a reasonable 5 and a backup. I'm terrified if S is the backup.

To me, that is not a good nucleus. It is a shell.

I want to point out, my response is not intended to be doom and gloom. It is my feeling about the lack of talent on our current roster. It is a response to what I thought was an incredulous post about having a good nucleus.

Emmitt Smith played for the Gators. That did not make us good. I'm looking at our roster NOW. It is not finished. I hope we can do something with the portal this year that gives us something for the future. If we are here next year...

 

LOL. Rude much?