What could possibly justify not playing Riley Kugel tonight?

He’s just not good. Supreme athlete. Bad team basketball player in his current state. Least of my concerns.

 

We need to spend some money on a name coach. Hiring HC with less than 5 years of HCing experience and that have not made or have limited tourney experience is a non-starter.

 

Well, Billy Donovan was hired by UF after just coaching for 2 years at Marshall. That worked out pretty well for us and Billy even has his name on our court.

 

^^^ and Billy played in a final 4 in college, was an all Big East first team selection, was drafted and played a year in the NBA, was an assistant coach at Kentucky under Pitino for 5 years in Final 4s, and did well at Marshall (1995 conf coach of year award). Things neither Mike White or Golden did to create credibility. We seem to be attempting to be attempting to replicate that Marshall Donovan success in our HCing hires with very limited success. More often than not this approach fails to create a winning brand or program. Billy has been gone a long time since 2015. UF had a lot of brand recognition under Billy that has now disappeared. No longer thought of with top winning college basketball programs nationally.

 

I have a hard time understanding Richard’s minutes also. I questioned the 0-8 against Kentucky. With our talent, after 0-4 someone else is playing. He doesn’t give us much else beyond shooting and when not giving that need to play someone else.

 

I thought Kugel had been commended by Golden for his defense. Unless he was injured, we certainly could have used his defense in the second half

 

he played with his head up his ass. He had 4 touches, as I recall, and none ended well, jacked up 2 3's as soon as he caught the ball, lazy layup against their big that got blocked, and passed up a short jumper to pass into traffic ending in a TO. Basically 4 touches = 4 TOs and you want him playing MORE?!!.

This teams has as many warts as it has potential, CTG's future may be decided in which one defines the team. This far in, I don't see the talent potential overcoming the warts. For one, they just don't value the BB, way too many sloppy/lazy passes that's not getting better.

 

Kugel did play 4 minutes without a single stat (outside 3 missed shots). Zero points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks...you get the idea. I don't know how that warrants more playing time

 

Meanwhile, has anyone commented on Condon's 10 offensive rebounds? I don't think I've ever seen a Gator get double-digit offensive rebounds in a game.

Not to mention, the kid just gets it:
“We’re not sticking to our defensive principles. There are too many times when guys just go off and do their own thing. We have to establish ourselves by being strong on the defensive end. Have some pride and not be happy taking the ball out of the net every possession.”

We were plus 16 in offensive rebounds as a team, shot 9 more FGA and 6 more FTA and lost by 18. That's what happens when they shoot 59/40/85...and we go 41/29/69

 

I think that's a result of having so many new transfers, they want to go and do their thing and do not value the team play.

Condon needs to be starting.

 

Assuming there's no injury or illness going on, I think Golden's trying to get Kugel to play the right way. Hopefully a little short term pain with long term gain rather than another Reeves situation. Kugel is very talented, and he was a joy to watch last season. I have no reason to think he can't be an important contributor to this year's team. Hopefully they get it worked out.

Also, potentially, a little hangover effect after losing a tough game to Kentucky. Should be a good crowd on Saturday, hopefully they can put a notch in the win column.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Condon was certainly a bright spot last night. Holy cow does this kid just keep getting better and better. He WANTS it, has the size and athleticism to get it, and he's picking up the skills needed to do just that.

Did anyone ask CTG about Kugel in the post game?

 

Easily the worst outing of the season. Having said that, Ole Miss looked pretty dang good. Much better than I expected.

 

Sadly, it's hard to disagree with this. Basketball and Football at UF have both slipped into mid to low level SEC mediocrity. I tend to stay away from the AD threads but Stricklands hiring decisions have been a huge disappointment, throw in the recent womens basketball head coaching controversey and his tutilage as AD is begginning to appear more and more unattractive.

 

Agree - Condon is the constant battler and hustler, but our defense was horrendous. Late switching on defense, lazy efforts all around. Very disappointing because this team has a lot of individual talent, size and depth. They're just not playing well together. Still a long way to go, but they need to flip the switch very soon if they expect to have a respectable season.

 

Inconsistent effort is one thing but taking low percentage shots and making low percentage turnovers are another. Kugel has to stop treating our games like an NBA tryout and start playing in the team concept.

 

kugel and Samuel. Throwing the ball in to Ole Miss, just passing without scanning the court, made me nauseous. Five turnovers for Samuels alone. He should not start unless he quits being so dumb with the ball.

 

kugel and Samuel. Throwing the ball in to Ole Miss, just made me nauseous.