By: Eric Fawcett -- October 24, 2023 It’s time for another instalment of the Question And Answer series at Gator Country where I field questions about Florida basketball from subscribers of the site. As is tradition–I will do as many parts as required in order to answer all the questions that come my way. Preseason Q&A Part One | GatorCountry.com
If Thomas and Alex continue rounding out our 8 man rotation, we will probably be one of, if not the biggest team in the country, with 4 guys within a few inches of 7 feet. Believe this will be our biggest team in 17 years-and since the game has gotten so much smaller since 2007, this becomes effectively the most size we've ever had playing. Will be interesting to see how this pans out.
Yup. The game is cyclical. Once, the game used to get bigger and bigger. But in doing so, it was simultaneously getting slower, so some coaches realized they could beat the big, plodding teams with speedy guards. Now there are a bunch of small, speedy teams out there. I'm interested to see how a BIG, speedy team will do. Because I think we've got three bigs that can really run (Samuel, Haugh, and Condon), and a 7-footer that can move pretty well too.
If the bigs (i.e Handlogten, Condon, Haugh and Samuel) are good at finishing in transition in a fast break as well as holding their own in the half-court then Florida will have a very interesting, versatile team indeed. =============================== Say 2005-06ish? : 6'8 Richard -> ?6'10 Samuel 6'11 Noah -> ?7'1 Handlogten 6'10 Horford -> ?6'11 Condon and 6'9Moss/6'10Speights -> ?6'9 Haugh/6'10 Szmyzek? Probably not, lol. Noah(Defensive poy) & Horford were multiple, NBA All-stars, lottery 1st RD picks. Speights was also an NBA 1st rounder and won a NBA championship with Golden State. Richard was a Mr Florida Basketball and also had a short NBA career. And not to put too much pressure on these new players. But the size/type of pieces are at least in a similar universe, lol. ================================ However, if Florida does decide to play small ball which big would play the 5 along with the 4-guards: Pullin, Clayton, Kugel, Richard + ?C? I would want someone who would be an outstanding rebounder & shotblocker at this position as well as finishing around the rim and at the free-throw line. The 7'1 Micah Handlogten would be my first pick there followed by either 6'11 Condon or 6'10" Samuel. In the last 2-3 seasons, Collin Castleton filled that role of a do everything center: i.e, passer, defender, shotblocker, scorer and Castleton shot from the free-throw line well, too at 72.9%. Florida was close in having that big-dominating frontcourt but it did not work out successfully during that time although the Gators did have some good moments here & there. I am going to miss having Collin back there again (Castleton was a great Gator representative while here) but am excited to see how all of these new guys will play together.
