Roster Construction Thus Far

If he can significantly improve his shooting from 3 (25.5%) and the stripe (46%), then yes. They say he knocks 'em down in practice, so I have to believe he'll start doing so in games. But it remains to be seen.

 

Maybe he's a tweener, but I see Haugh as a deficit at the four in the SEC and a tough matchup for opponents at the three.

 

Would really be nice to see Hough consistently hit 3s at a good clip and improve as a passer -ball handler next year

 

Defense will be improved. Unclear if offense will be as high powered. Depth and athleticism improved.

 

I guess we can agree to disagree. Without a good PG we will miss the tourney imo.

 

I could see us not making the tournament last season without Pullin. Of course we’ll never know, but I think he was the difference maker

 

If my position projections are accurate, we definitely should use our last 2 spots for a true 1 and a true 3.

Or possibly two true 3s if we trust that bevy of 1/2s we have to handle the ball / run the O.

 

I wonder if people realize that UConn has won back to back championships with Karavan at the 4. Guess how tall he is, 6’8. Haugh is 6’9. Karavan is a really good shooter who is not as athletic or as fluid an athlete as Haugh. There is absolutely no reason Haugh can’t be a really good 4 for us. He needs to shoot it better no doubt, but with just a couple adjustments that are easy to make that can change. As a coach I can tell you he makes so many winning plays. Joakim Noah and Will Yeguette are who I compare him too in terms of making winning plays with his effort, his ability to get his hands on balls, his head first loose ball mentality and all the intangibles. To be clear I am not saying he is Joakim Noah, I am saying as a coach we really value guys who play super hard and make tons and tons of small winning plays that don’t show up in box scores.

I believe Haugh will be a key player for us next year and make a big leap in his sophomore season. He rushed last season a bit on offense as a shooter. That will slow down and with some tweeks and just slowing down a bit his shot will improve.

 

Will Richard is a 3 for us and Brown is a 2/3 as a freshman. Also I will be surprised if Martin plays 0 minutes at the 3 next year. He has done it at a high level before. As I have said here before we want to add another longer 3 and are trying to do that. We will see what happens. Any true pg brought in will be a low profile one if Clayton is coming back. We have already told both Clayton and Martin they will get the chance to at times be the primary ball handler. There just isn’t the minutes or NIL money to bring in a high profile pg.

 

Didn't David Lee bulk up between in freshman and sophomore season only to find that it actually hurt his game? I prefer the bouncy Haugh to the muscular Haugh.

I see Haugh as splitting his time between "3" and "4" depending on Micah's return and whether either Brown or Aberdeen can earn time as part of a 3 guard lineup

 

Teams that play defense as badly as UF cannot also have a middling point guard.

 

Ok I missed that you think we are going to be markedly improved on defense. I tend to think that team defense doesn't just happen by recruiting good defenders, rather from a cohesive philosophy of the team working together, including things like ball pressure, switching, rotation, weakside help, boxing out, and transition offense, which leads teams to play more cautiously on their offensive end. One or two guys playing defense is what we had this season and it was terrible by any measure. Watching someone as athletic as Riley Kugel let his man go by him with ease and trying to reach around behind them and steal the ball was infuriating this season. It's like nobody taught him how to play defense.

So I will admit that better defenders allow for better defense, but you still have to coach it. Color me cautiously optimistic.

EDIT: I still think we are gonna be sorry for not getting a good PG from the portal.

 

Curious, did you think Aberdeen played good defense? Kugel and him have had the same coaching for probably 6 years as the played HS ball together too...

 

Exactly what Jacob Rudner at 247 says for the starting lineup.

"While it could change depending on Florida's final additions to its roster: Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin, Will Richard, Sam Alexis, Alex Condon.
It's a real toss up for me between Alexis at the four and Chinyelu at the five with Condon at the four. It will in part depend on how quickly Chinyelu acclimates after playing mostly reserve minutes in 2023-24 as a true freshman at Washington State. I think if he gets to campus and proves he can hang quickly, he'll get the job. Thomas Haugh could also be a candidate to occupy a starting spot with a strong preseason."

 

He played OK in a couple of games. Kugel actually had a couple of decent games defensively when he would get a steal or two and actually try to rebound a little. I'm not sure what you are getting at because my point is that we are going to take a huge step back at the point guard position, and mostly I am talking about running the offense. Defensively Aberdeen may be close to Pullin, we will see how good he is defensively when his minutes go up. A guy can come into a game fresh and give his team a spark, but towing the load all day is a different animal. It is really hard to tell how good any player is when you are not playing good team defense.