With the start of its season less than four months away, Florida announced its roster numbers on Thursday afternoon. Returning guard Myreon Jones (No. 0), forward CJ Felder (1), forward Colin Castleton (12), guard Kowacie Reeves (14), guard Jack May (20) and center Jason Jitoboh (33) retained their numbers from last season. Two returners, guards Niels Lane (4) and Alex Klatsky (21), will wear new numbers this season after wearing No. 44 and No. 3, respectively, during the 2021-22 seasons. The Gators also announced the numbers for each of their six newcomers, guard Trey Bonham (2), forward Alex Fudge (3), guard Will Richard (5), guard Denzel Aberdeen (10), guard Kyle Lofton (11) and guard Riley Kugel (24).
Can't overstate how important the retention of Castleton, Jitoboh, & Reeves were. I really hope Lane can develop into a Casey Prather type player (albeit at a guard position). He showed some great signs late last season.
When Aleksander and Tony Livingston are on the sidelines with this roster, CTG is going to have a full compliment of players. Early games will be tryouts to see who is going to be productive. With this level of talent it might take till the end of season like Kentucky does, to see who can deliver the San Francisco treat! LOL
Lane seems just as big as Prather, might be bigger. Hopefully he can make that kind of leap in terms of production. He showed some things late last year, whereas up to that point I thought he was sort of stiff on offense even for a 3. He’s still probably a defensive specialist, but if he can chip in more offense his role can keep growing. Thats definitely some length at the 2/3 between him and Reeves. The Prather comparison is interesting. Prathers career path was sort of slow developing (you could see the raw athleticism) and then boom: all of a sudden he was a pretty dominant force at his position at the end of his UF career.
I really like this team. I am excited about the season and the new coaching staff which will have a lot of players to work with. We will be a tough out this year.
That would be something. Prather's jump was about as big as I've seen from one season to another outside the 04s. Here's to hoping
Injuries, illness, suspensions... those things hit every team. This season we shouldn't be as vulnerable to them as we have in the past. I believe we have quality depth at every position.
We have also had our share of those things in the past. So hopefully, our allotment of mishaps has been distributed.
We have 13 scholarship players, by definition you can’t get any deeper. I do think the 5 spot is the one where we need Castleton to stay healthy (hope his shoulder is 100% healed), all other positions you can shuffle guys around - but as our 4’s are more 3/4 tweener types (as opposed to 4/5 tweener types), it’s a big ask if we need major minutes at the 5. Castleton is very solid and Jitoboh behind him should continue to be a quality backup, on paper we are good, but of course Jitoboh historically had his own health issues. So while on paper we are good, there is also probably an “on paper” elevated risk of the injury bug. That German player might also be in the mix as a 5 as necessary, but I’ll guess we’ll see if he’s ready physically or might need a year.
