My Gator Thoughts Post-Ohio State FWIW

Agree for the most part.

I was shocked at how few assists we had in the Ohio State game. CC led the Gators with three. Maybe that was an artifact of missing a ton of close in shots but getting offensive rebounds for easy scores after misses.

As for SEC talent there are a lot of teams that are really good and not just UK. I think we are playing near the top of them but who will be our competition if we keep it up is a good question. It could be lots of other teams.

 

Like what you said. Gators are definitely a ball-out Nasty Boyz D (@bullish)
So far this season, we have been able to hide our minor scoring woes because the Nasty Boyz defense has been, well, Nasty (Boyz).

At 5-0, and with a butt ton of transfers, we are still a team in progress, especially when it comes to starters and line-ups. We have a lot of guys who can score, so we are still trying to figure that out a little bit.

The take-home is, is that we can rely on our defense (pre SEC season) to determine which combination of players can play defense and also score.

I know it's hard for you, but trust in Mike White!

 

I also think it will be important to extend the bench. The way this team plays, I have to think legs become an issue. I’m happy to see Felder’s role increasing. I’d like to see Kennedy get a couple more contributing minutes, as well as Reeves.
Lane is super frustrating. He had a fantastic off season, but he is so mistake-prone in game.

 

Fleming & Felder are obviously the first two off the bench. Who should be prioritized to make spots 8 & 9? Jitoboh? Kennedy? Reeves? I know we want to see something from Reeves, but he appears not to be ready so far.

 

I know you follow basketball closely and appreciate your comments and observations,..very well done!

 

Baylor and Villanova didn't have extended benches to win it all when they did.

 

Good stuff here TampaJack. I've been thinking after the main 7 contributors the most important answer we need for depth needs to come from Reeves. We have plenty of 6-3/6-4 players to rotate but an athletic 6-6 player that can make a difference off the bench could be very useful depending on the matchups we will face. What a great opportunity for a highly regarded true freshman if he can elevate his level of play. Reeves at the 3 spot could be a good complement to rotate in with Felder at the 4 spot off the bench. Felder is great on defense and seems like a developing offensive threat as the season progresses. If Reeves could get up and down the court with his speed and settle in on defense his ability to hustle will score a few buckets a game as a backup. That said a large big man backing up center is always best but I just don't think we will see much of Jitoboh later in the season.

 

White's face after Lane's 4th TO vs Cal was telling.

 

In Chris Holtmann's press conference after the Gators beat Ohio State he repeatedly commented on how physical the Gators D was and how tough and physical the Gators D was on Ball. He said the amount of pressure the Gators put on his team was as much as they would see all season.

Physical on ball defense and experienced guard play is what Baylor won with last year. This Gator team has the same intensity at the 1-3 that Baylor had last season. If Felder continues to evolve, Florida will have it at the 4 as well. Tampajack's comparison to Pitino and Nolan Richardson's 40 minutes of Hell Defense's appear to be very much in line with what Holtmann took away from his experience with Florida.

As talented/skilled as Kowacie is offensively, very few 18 year olds are able to match the experience and bodies of guys that are 22 and 23 years old. Hopefully he and Kennedy will be given more chances to develop as the non conference progresses. Looks like Kennedy could end up being special as well.

 

Lane may be trying too hard. Once he feels his limit - and court time wiil help - he should be fine.

 

Lane resembles Prather in his early years. He was simultaneously so close and so far. I don't know what flipped the switch for Casey, but I would love to see it happen for Neils.

 

Played some better early games against FSU, Ohio State, Cal. Also have Oklahoma and Maryland on early season schedule. Not as many cupcakes this year on schedule prior to start of SEC play

 

If we are able to get some combination of Kennedy, JJ, Reeves, Lane and Gatkek a combined 20 to 25 minutes per game on a regular basis by the end of the season, that should leave the top 7 guys playing a reasonable 25 to 28 minutes per game. Against Cal, that bottom 5 group played a total of 34 minutes, due to the blowout by halftime, but against OSU only 5 minutes and against FSU only 11 minutes. Five minutes is not going to cut it come tournament time. Of the bottom 5, I think we need JJ to step up the most to keep Castleton fresh and Reeves to get minutes.

 

I think Kennedy and Reeves are the most important potential bench players. We start the game small… With Tyree, Jones and McKissick. Fleming is often the first off the bench, coming in at three spot… But there really isn’t much relief for our guards. I’d like to see Kennedy provide some help minutes. And I think Fleming will become more of a fixture in the lineup. As tenacious as he plays... I’d like ya to have an option of backing him up without necessarily going small.

 

You guys know way more than me about basketball. Ty Tampa for your insight as always. For the last few years I just haven't understood what Florida was trying to accomplish on the court, especially offensively. They seemed so unorganized. Slow pace. Slow ball movement. Little to no off-ball movement. This year is fundamentally different. Love the intensity on the offensive side. Consistently solid movement with and without the ball. Are they perfect? No. Are they so much better? Absolutely. It is fun to watch again. Anyway, those are just my .05 thoughts.

 

In the past, we kept trying to run the DDO which I've never liked. It only seems to work with an elite point guard who is fast. Cheese came closest to that for us. CMW is running more motion offense with a lot of screens this season, with good ball movement, and we're getting more good looks.