Crap, Alexis and Aberdeen to the portal [Aberdeen To Kentucky]

100% it was a different ball game and I think that is the crux of the new college sports. The name on the jersey used to mean everything. It is what made college sports different than pro sports. The name means very little, if anything, now. It is free agency without the salary caps or contracts.
As for my kids....we have a a strict rule in house. No FSU, UGA, or UK.

 

Hearing AJ Brown will be in Gainesville tomorrow. I predict he will pull the UF trigger.

Hope it works out for DA in Ky unless he is playing against UF.

 

He went from a hero to a villain to the students. If Kentucky visits the Odome next year, the Rowdies will be relentless. Lol.

 

Florida fans sure seemed to show up in Raleigh, San Fran, and San Antonio in droves. And most of those traditional blue bloods haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire lately (North Carolina, Kansas, Indiana, UCLA).

 

It's wings thing. He likes to disregard the most recent 30 years of success under multiple coaching regimes while heavily weighting the pre-airconditioning days of yesteryear...

 

I laughed reading this. So true. Wing isn’t even a NBN OG. Put him back on the baseball board!

 

Concur.

 

To be fair, he remembers those blue bloods before integration!

 

I was going to reference that but figured I'd keep it simple haha. Wing just likes to stir things up. No hard feelings although I do believe he sells us short on what we are in basketball a good bit. Final fours with Kruger, Donovan and Golden. Several elite 8s and final 4s. 3 titles under 2 coaches and 2 other runner ups. Even under White florida wasn't a bottom feeder just mid.

 

As they should. If anyone doesn’t mind our 3-year future starting giard going to a hated rival, why even be a fan? If it seems fine to not only bolt for money but go to a hated rival, then what is it you’re cheering for as a fan? THIS is why Golden says he goes after guys that “want to be a Gator”. Because in today’s NCAA, at least there’s a fighting chance he’ll want to stay. Martin turned down more money to be a Gator. He will always he a Gator legend. I’m sure Cal Ripken Jr, Tim Duncan and countless other pro athletes that stayed with one team their whole lives will always be legends, not only because of their greatness but also their LOYALTY. I’m sure they were all offered a boatload of money to go somewhere else, but didn’t. Loyalty doesn’t have a price tag. Loyalty is earned over time. He was a champion here, but he pissed away legend status by going to a hated rival for more money. Was it worth it? I don’t think so

 

DA slumming it isn't what I expected.
At least leave us for a basketball program with more than 1/3 of our success in the last 20 years.

 

Bingo.

He was even getting national attention during the national telecasts for his patience and loyalty, when he could have transferred. Kind of crazy for him to transfer just weeks later.

To be fair, that was a different scenario. He was indeed patient, but if he’d transferred previously it likely would have been for playing time, rather than some big $$$ payday. He’d been getting more and more attention, so that probably raised the $$$ considerably. First time his actual “loyalty” was put to the test. I don’t like it, but nobody knows the exact $$$ disparity so it’s hard to judge. If it’s just 10% or 20% then it makes you wonder, but if he doubled his $$$ then maybe it’s something not many would pass up.

 

I would hate to lose a UF player to any rival.

Regarding Florida's last loss, Georgia's win over Florida did cost them a share of the regular season 2025 SEC Title {doesn't that sound familiar?} with Auburn. Florida did come out flat in that road game and that was costly.

Previously, Florida had won (a program best) 12 in a row over the bulldogs and sort of kept Georgia under control before the loss in Athens. Florida Gators Men's Basketball History vs University of Georgia


You are right about Kentucky being the top rivalry for Florida in basketball, Florida has won only a couple of games in the last 13 games or so.
Florida–Kentucky rivalry - Wikipedia

Florida also has basketball rivalries with Tennessee, LSU and FSU. Tennessee actually celebrates Don Devoe on one of their basketball sites. After Sloan was dismissed, Devoe tried to destroy the Florida basketball program who were defending SEC Champions before being fired himself. Tennessee Volunteers basketball - Wikipedia

 

If he got paid, I'm not mad. Just sad at the state of the game.

If he didn't get paid (a lot) more, then I'll feel different.

I'd need hard proof to convince me of the latter.

"Loyalty" is easy to talk about if you're already wealthy - it's short sighted to expect anyone to turn down life changing money.

 

Where/when did Urban redshirt?

 

The SEC has been screwing UF for half a century or more. Screw the SEC.

 

If I may opine, do you honestly believe they spend that much money throughout the decades, with some less-than-elite results, just because they have SO much to give to the poor athletes who are running around shirtless and hungry? REALLY!?!

They are patently college basketball's version of the New York Yankees. They honestly believe that they can win championships by buying all the best players while preventing those players from playing against them. If this were a corporate business, they would be dinged for anti-trust violations. But since it is "sport" then it is strictly for entertainment purposes. Yeah, kind of like sports betting today is "strictly for entertainment purposes."

The main problem with the NYY and Kentucky model is that sports is passionate and dedicated rather than banal and pure financial horsepower (see Exxon). Now let me say that Duke may have won the NC IF the ACC were a much better conference. Talk about buying a team. Stop with the silly talk about their freshmen wanting to be the next Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill or Christian Laettner. There is NO WAY they all collectively got together and said "if Florida and the '04s can do it, then so can Duke". It was a power move of the highest caliber (same as Kansas) but using an outdated model.

THAT to me is going to be Golden's legacy; building a better mousetrap using "A" level talent and promoting them to "AA" but with a bit of eligibility left (Martin was a HUGE outlier). And to that, the players have to believe they are good at their craft and are going to prove to the doubters that they can achieve great results. That is the passion and dedication element that is lacking in the current Blue Blood era. Own that fact, or should I say conjecture that is damn factual.

Listen, I won't poo poo Aberdeen's desire for "something better", if what he is talking about is a much bigger paycheck for he and his family. That is the way it works, or should I say "should" work. Perhaps he realizes his path to the NBA is fraught with huge land mines and so he is getting what he can before the clock strikes midnight. Probably no different than Emory Jones in football.

I guess the only thing I have against all this mess, and recall that Donovan pretty much checked out because of the Kentucky bullcrap (especially Brandon Knight), is basically what did Kentucky get out of it? Not a damn thing, except to say "see Florida, we are SO much better than you that we can afford to buy prevention of your NC success." Big whoop. I call it being too stupid to know what to do with your wealth. And the players are going to take stupid money each and every time.

 

Answer: never lol