I've never seen such a turnaround in calls. Maybe they huddled and said we're letting this get out of control, gotta tighten up.
The summer workouts. Full team. Navy seal type stuff. And every single game, opponents wilted late…..we seemingly got stronger. And while the coaches created and led them, it was Alijah Martin that led the players in attitude and expectations during these hot summers.
Anyone that has persevered through a tough selection process (like SFAS for Green Berets, RASP / Ranger School, etc.) knows that the physical demands are less than the mental ones. It demands mental fortitude and character to keep doing something that is truly difficult, to persevere when it seems pointless in the moment, to have a desire to tolerate such acute discomfort in pursuit of a precious goal. Everyone has weak moments in this process, and almost all of us can point to one or more peers that stood with us when we fell short. It seemed from the Gator Boys videos that Will and especially Alijah, played that accountability leadership role in those tough workouts. Gainesville in the summer is a sucky time to be doing what they were doing, early morning or not.
Both teams played 8 guys and our bench had 51 minutes vs 48. We wore down Broome in the last game for sure, not sure it was a depth difference in this one. This one was a defensive brick laying battle from the start, which is pretty much what Houston forces everyone into (Duke was also high powered offense like us, and they also only scored 67 in their loss to Houston). Houston did have bigs in foul trouble, that may have been why they went for the win instead of OT.
It takes much greater cost, effort and diligence to approach things this way, but it can produce exceptional people. The selection process for SFO-D ("Delta Force") is very secretive, and deliberately so, but it's designed to find people with the right minds before you start figuring out if they can make it physically. Most Delta operators will walk by and you'll never spot them as physically imposing, but none are tougher, mentally and physically, and they are extremely emotionally stable. Turnover and failure rates are high.
I don’t love the new landscape of CBB, but so far it’s easy to get behind our transfers and you have to say it’s worked to FL’s (and many major programs) benefit. Nothing wrong with guys who transfer once and stick together 2-3 years. It’s definitely a path to win if not preferable to Calimari’s old method of fully restocking NBA 1 and dones, there’s something to be said of experienced players especially when you get a core group of returning contributors. Loved Clayton’s story of being passed over by everyone, playing for Pitino then coming back home to FL to be one of the dominant guards we’ve ever seen. Hell, even the 1 year 1 and done mercenary this year was a local guy who spent 4 years at a smaller FL school, was a final 4 Cinderella already, only to get another shot for a title at the bigger school. That’s the type of story anyone can love. I think what turns people off is the 4 schools in 4 years or those who’d try to just go into the portal to go for new NIL deals every year. Seems like an easy fix to me. Everyone should get 1 free transfer if they want, but transfer #2 means you sit for a year like it always was.
They tried and then continuously got their asses handed to them in the court room. You're not going to see many restrictions on anything until there's an employer-employee relationship, contracts, and a cba.
We were very lucky that it worked out so well as a 1st Team AA is not going to come from the ranks of "under recruited" very often, though it happened twice this year. That model shud get us into the the NCAAt every year, but not going deep on a consistent basis without a star (without a bit of luck).
