An offseason basketball thread

Good article on former UF assistant Matt McCall. Talk about a great rise from a student assistant under Billy D, to grad assistant, to UF assistant, to head coach at UT-Chattanooga, to head coach at UMass....and he's only 35 years old!

http://brockway.blogs.gatorsports.com/13694/former-uf-assistant-mccall-settling-umass/


Former UF assistant McCall settling in at UMass

Former UF assistant coach Matt McCall felt the time was right to make a move his coaching career.

After going 48-18 in two seasons at Tennessee-Chattanooga, McCall accepted the head coaching job at UMass on March 29 and is eager to try to get the program back to national prominence.

“If you watched the 3o-for-30 for John Calipari, where he had the program when he coached here in the 1990s, fans are hungry to get back to that level,” McCall said.

Calipari, now the head coach at Kentucky, led UMass to a No. 1 ranking in 1994 and a Final Four appearance in 1996 before leaving to become head coach of the New Jersey Nets.

McCall said he feels the pieces are in place to build UMass back into a successful program in the Atlantic 10.

“The resources we have, we just built a $30 million practice facility that’s second to none,” said McCall, who turned 35 last December. “Then you factor in the high school basketball talent in Massachusetts, the prep basketball scene in New England, there’s a lot to build from.”

Certainly, McCall learned the value of program building from his mentor, former Florida coach Billy Donovan, whom he worked for as a student manager, grad assistant and later, assistant coach, from 2011-15. McCall has already been active on the transfer front at UMass, landing guard Jaylen Brantley from Maryland, guard Curtis Cobb of Fairfield, wing player Jonathan Laurent from Rutgers and guard Keon Clergeot of Memphis. Brantley and Cobb can play immediately next season, while Laurent and Clergeot, both Florida natives, will sit out next year and start play in 2018-19. McCall tried to recruit Clergeot to Florida before he signed with Memphis.

“The state of college basketball today, with the number of transfers, you have a chance to build quickly,” McCall said. “We’ve had some turnover, but that’s fine, we want people who want to be here. If you look even later in Billy’s tenure at Florida, we took in transfers and were able to develop guys, Dorian Finney-Smith, John Egbunu.”

As for the Gators, McCall said he remains a fan and has developed a good relationship with Mike White and his staff. He took delight on watching UF’s Elite Eight run.

“Those are my guys,” McCall said. “Especially watching Kasey Hill, who I helped recruit, everything that transpired for him, to begin his career going to a Final Four and to finish his career with an Elite Eight, I was happy for him. Kasey went through some struggles as a sophomore and dealt with some high expectations but if you look at all the records he set at Florida, he had a great college career.”

In taking the job at UMass, McCall will coach yearly in the A-10 against another familiar face. A day after McCall was hired at UMass, former UF assistant coach Anthony Grant left his assistant coaching job with the Oklahoma City Thunder to become the head coach at his alma mater, Dayton.

“Coach Donovan has called and has already set a name for the matchup,” McCall said. “He’s calling it the Billy D Classic.”

InstiGATOR1 said:

I saw that Jerry Meyer picked UF as where Khavon Moore is going on 247 today. That got me to thinking about UF's top candidate at each position. I think they might be:

PG: Devon Dotson http://247sports.com/player/devon-dotson-86263
SG: hard to pick, maybe Elijah Weaver http://247sports.com/player/elijah-weaver-86624
SF: Khavon Moore http://247sports.com/Player/Khavon-Moore-84993
PF: Emmitt Williams http://247sports.com/player/emmitt-williams-85996
C: Moses Brown http://247sports.com/player/moses-brown-90020

Of course this is probably an impossible class and UF may not sign a full class. There are also many fine players with mutual interest who would proably be just as good as the guys I list.

Click to expand...

I don't know who Jerry Meyer is, but I like his optimism regarding Moore as many think he's KY bound. I thought we had a better shot at Little for SF, but I'm definitely not in the know about any basketball recruits. I'll take either one at the SF spot.
Also, your earlier post linking the Crystal Balls shows Days (PF) and Boyce (SF) 100% CB'ed to the Gators. At 6'5", I wonder if Boyce is more of a SG/SF combo-type player, similar to Ballard? Getting Weaver would be a great pickup as it looks like he's leaning toward Nova - we need a solid PG in this class in a bad way (I'd take Weaver or Dotson). Williams would be a huge get. I don't see Moses Brown becoming a Gator, but we can dream I guess. We'll have room for 3 to 5 guys next season. Losing Cheese, Egbunu and Egor for sure, then maybe Allen goes early and maybe we have a transfer.
What position is priority?
1. PG - Dotson or Weaver would be nice, but if we miss on both we may have to settle for Greg Williams (the kid out of Houston); would be nice for Coach White to pull in a elite PG though.
2. SF - Little or Moore - Gotta replace Egor with another SF who can shoot ala DRob and either of these guys would be great (Chase Johnson could be that guy, but hard to tell at this point - he may develop into a step out 4, similar to Murphy, but more athletic).
3. PF/C - Williams is more likely over Brown, and Day seems like a lock to the Gators (do we take two PFs? and if so, what does that say for Bassett and Stokes?).
4. SG - Boyce is listed as a SF, but I'm hoping he's got some shooting skills and translates more to a SG similar to Ballard/Hudson.

Thinking about recruiting next year...how many scholarships will we have?

Chiozza, Egbunu, Egor all will be opening up scholarships. If we get 1 transfer (still thinking Bassett) and 1 leaving early (most likely Allen or Hudson) we could sign 5 in the next recruiting class.

Top of my lost would be:

1. Emmitt Williams- Despite some sites not thinking he wants to stay in state I believe he is our Top target and we will get him.

2. Moore/Little- I think it is a great chance we land 1 of these 2, maybe both?

3. Dotson or Weaver- I think we have a better chance with Dotson

4. Days- If we have a spot it seems like we will take him, but his grades are questionable and we might not be recruiting him as hard

Overall I see it very similar to GatorBart

Seems to be a theme. White identifies some talent early on (Alexander and now Moore) only to be swept away. Still White is doing some great work getting after some top tier talent.

BMF said:

Good article on former UF assistant Matt McCall. Talk about a great rise from a student assistant under Billy D, to grad assistant, to UF assistant, to head coach at UT-Chattanooga, to head coach at UMass....and he's only 35 years old!

http://brockway.blogs.gatorsports.com/13694/former-uf-assistant-mccall-settling-umass/


Former UF assistant McCall settling in at UMass

Former UF assistant coach Matt McCall felt the time was right to make a move his coaching career.

After going 48-18 in two seasons at Tennessee-Chattanooga, McCall accepted the head coaching job at UMass on March 29 and is eager to try to get the program back to national prominence.

“If you watched the 3o-for-30 for John Calipari, where he had the program when he coached here in the 1990s, fans are hungry to get back to that level,” McCall said.

Calipari, now the head coach at Kentucky, led UMass to a No. 1 ranking in 1994 and a Final Four appearance in 1996 before leaving to become head coach of the New Jersey Nets.

McCall said he feels the pieces are in place to build UMass back into a successful program in the Atlantic 10.

“The resources we have, we just built a $30 million practice facility that’s second to none,” said McCall, who turned 35 last December. “Then you factor in the high school basketball talent in Massachusetts, the prep basketball scene in New England, there’s a lot to build from.”

Certainly, McCall learned the value of program building from his mentor, former Florida coach Billy Donovan, whom he worked for as a student manager, grad assistant and later, assistant coach, from 2011-15. McCall has already been active on the transfer front at UMass, landing guard Jaylen Brantley from Maryland, guard Curtis Cobb of Fairfield, wing player Jonathan Laurent from Rutgers and guard Keon Clergeot of Memphis. Brantley and Cobb can play immediately next season, while Laurent and Clergeot, both Florida natives, will sit out next year and start play in 2018-19. McCall tried to recruit Clergeot to Florida before he signed with Memphis.

“The state of college basketball today, with the number of transfers, you have a chance to build quickly,” McCall said. “We’ve had some turnover, but that’s fine, we want people who want to be here. If you look even later in Billy’s tenure at Florida, we took in transfers and were able to develop guys, Dorian Finney-Smith, John Egbunu.”

As for the Gators, McCall said he remains a fan and has developed a good relationship with Mike White and his staff. He took delight on watching UF’s Elite Eight run.

“Those are my guys,” McCall said. “Especially watching Kasey Hill, who I helped recruit, everything that transpired for him, to begin his career going to a Final Four and to finish his career with an Elite Eight, I was happy for him. Kasey went through some struggles as a sophomore and dealt with some high expectations but if you look at all the records he set at Florida, he had a great college career.”

In taking the job at UMass, McCall will coach yearly in the A-10 against another familiar face. A day after McCall was hired at UMass, former UF assistant coach Anthony Grant left his assistant coaching job with the Oklahoma City Thunder to become the head coach at his alma mater, Dayton.

“Coach Donovan has called and has already set a name for the matchup,” McCall said. “He’s calling it the Billy D Classic.”

Click to expand...

This is great to see. I hope he succeeds at UMass. Although I really like coach White and hope he stays, if White goes elsewhere, I hope McCall is on speed dial.

http://www.gatorcountry.com/florida-gators-basketball/saddiq-bey-reacts-to-florida-gators-offer/

SADDIQ BEY REACTS TO FLORIDA GATORS OFFER

Class of 2018 wing from DC Premier Saddiq Bey has been turning heads this spring. His versatility and toughness is what is making him a hot commodity so far through 2 UAA sessions. Coaches from all over the country are falling in love Bey’s game as well as his dedication in the classroom. Bey caught up with GatorCountry.com to discuss his recruiting process and his recent offer from Florida.

Bey is one of the more versatile players in the 2018 class who can score the ball in a variety of ways. Bey has a strong work ethic and is always looking to take his game to new heights.

“I would say that I try to be as versatile as possible whether that is scoring from outside, mid-range, or at the rim,” Bey said. “I’ll try to take whatever the defense gives me. I am steadily working on every aspect of my game: strong mechanics, efficiency on the offensive and defensive end, improving on my body, and trying to be as consistent as possible.”

DC Premier has had a solid spring so far resulting in a 6-2 record through two UAA sessions. Bey believes that the team has set a solid foundation to build upon during the rest of the UAA.

“After the first two sessions we finished 6-2,” he said. “We are always reaching for undefeated weekends like in Indy, but I think we played well overall and are really starting to mesh. They were definitely great experiences and definitely help us going forward. I think I was solid, still have a lot of work to do, but was happy that we finished with a pretty good record.”

Bey has received many offers this spring and among those who recently offered are the Florida Gators. The Florida coaching staff offered Bey on Saturday and he was very excited about the offer.

“I am extremely grateful and humbled by the offer,” Bey said. “I have always followed Florida and was really excited and appreciative of the offer. They just made it to the Elite Eight and are headed in a great direction, so it means a lot to be offered by them.”

The Florida coaching staff has made a great impression on Bey early on. Bey told GatorCountry.com that he plans to take an unofficial visit to Florida sometime after July.

“I think that the coaching staff is great and has a great mentality,” he said. “I will get to know them better on the visit, but it is remarkable how Coach White has been filling Coach Donovan’s shoes.

Many programs are starting to heavily pursue the talented wing from Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC.

“I would say Miami, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Florida, Pitt, VCU, Rutgers, and NC State among others are recruiting me hard,” Bey said. “Also have interest from LSU, Missouri, Stanford, Virginia, Cincinnati and others.”

A balance between a great basketball atmosphere and a strong academic environment is a big selling point for Bey.

“I’m looking for Balance in both basketball and academics,” he said. “Somewhere that I can develop as a player and person to ultimately try and help me reach my goals to be the best basketball player, student and person I can be. I have aspirations for playing for as long as I can, so wherever gives me the best opportunity to develop and grow in my game with the best impacting fit would be some points that I look for.”

Bey and his DC Premier teammates are gearing up for UAA session 3 this weekend in Los Angeles.

http://www.gatorcountry.com/florida...gators-basketball-latest-offer-for-llewellyn/

FLORIDA GATORS BASKETBALL
LATEST OFFER FOR LLEWELLYN

Team Loaded(VA) has been one of the hottest teams in the Adidas circuit, and a lot of that has to do with the strong play from point guard Jaelin Llewellyn. The Canadian point guard has been very efficient and has made a statement through 8 games in the Adidas Gauntlet. Llewellyn caught up with GatorCountry.com to talk about his spring and his reaction to his recent Florida offer.

Llewellyn prides himself on being a playmaker. Not only can he set up his teammates to score, but he has the ability to score at a high rate himself.

“I’m a point guard that loves to get teammates involved and in positions to succeed,” Llewellyn said. “I’m quick, athletic and can get to the paint easily with a good and improving shot. I can finish at the rim at an effective rate. I have to work on floaters, finishing with contact, shot consistency and getting more active defensively.”

Through 2 sessions in the Adidas Gauntlet, Llewellyn has averaged 8.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 4.1 assists a game, while leading his team to an 8-0 record overall. The AAU season has been a blast for him because of the unselfish nature of his Team Loaded squad.

“The first two sessions were great,” he said. “We are 8-0 and I played quite well. I also had a lot of fun because our team is very unselfish. My personal goals for the rest of the season are to just continue putting my name out there and showing everyone I can play at a high level.”

The April live period gave Llewellyn the chance to showcase his abilities to coaches from all over the country. The Florida coaching staff watched Llewellyn during the live period and liked what they saw. The gators staff offered the talented guard on Thursday.

“I am definitely excited about it,” Llewellyn said about the Florida offer. “I’ve seen the campus with my old school (Orangeville Prep) and it’s a nice place and of course a great school. It’s an impressive program.”

Things are starting to heat up on the recruiting front for Llewellyn. He has received over 10 offers since the first April evaluation period.

“Wake Forest, Creighton, Stanford, Cincinnati, Harvard, Penn State, and Virginia reach out very often,” he said. “Mostly all of the teams that have offered are recruiting quite hard.”

Strong academics are a key factor that Llewellyn is looking for in his choice of school. He realizes the importance of having a solid education for when his basketball career comes to an end.

“Factors that come into play when making a decision is going to a place with great academics, knowing that I’ll be set for when the ball stops bouncing,” Llewellyn said. “A place where I know I will develop each year I’m there. Also, a place where I will have the opportunity to play right away.”

Llewellyn is focused on getting better each day and leading Team Loaded to more wins in the Adidas Gauntlet.

Price plans to visit Florida Gators basketball soon

http://www.gatorcountry.com/florida...lans-to-visit-florida-gators-basketball-soon/

Guard Marvin Price a 2019 prospect has had an impressive spring for the DC Blue Devils in the UAA circuit. Price is already a highly coveted prospect who many schools are prioritizing early on. Price caught up with GatorCountry.com to talk about his recruiting process and the upcoming Florida visit he has scheduled.

Price plays a physical style of basketball. Being in attack mode is a normal thing for Price who always looks to be the aggressor.

“My playing is very physical,” Price said. “I have a high motor. I attack the basketball well and rebound good for my size. I need to work on my body more which I have been and finishing with my off hand.”

The first two UAA sessions went according to plan for Price and the DC Blue Devils. The team has an 8-0 UAA record and is relying on the great team chemistry that the players have from many years playing together.

“The first two sessions were very good,” he said. “We went 8-0. I felt like I could have played a lot better but I pick it up on defense so I feel good about it. We are playing good though. Our starting five had played together since 8th grade, so we just try to go out and have fun. I love my team and every single person in the team contributes. We like playing at a fast tempo and playing our type of basketball.”

Price has recently planned a couple of summer unofficial visits and both happen to be in the state of Florida. Price will check out Miami on June 3rd and then Florida on June 6th.

“I am very excited about visiting UF,” Price said. “I’ve always been interested in this school since I was young. I can’t wait to see the campus. I like the UF coaching staff because they are very nice and seems like they want the best for the players. I like the Florida playing style a lot because it seems as if Coach White just lets you play and create a fast tempo.”

Many schools have been keeping an eye on the physical wing from Patterson High School in Baltimore. Several Big Ten teams have done a great job recruiting him early on.

“Some offers I have are from Virginia Tech, Kansas State, Texas A&M, DePaul, and Georgia tech,” he said. “The schools that are recruiting me hard right now are Maryland, Iowa, Miami, and also Rutgers.”

A coaching staff that feels like family is something that Price would love to have at the school he decides to attend. Price looks to have another solid weekend in Los Angeles this weekend for UAA session 3.

Okay, send each recruit a film of his highlights on our "jumpotron" with a packed Gator crowd cheering. Remind them that our back-to-back NC team is the only school atmosphere in NCAA history to attract an entire team of NBA-ready starters to return for their senior year. Send summed highlights of those guys (esp Noah) having so much fun. Send film of coach White's calm demeanor in guiding his players. Like a Powerpoint presentation.

BMF said:

http://www.gatorcountry.com/florida...gators-basketball-latest-offer-for-llewellyn/

FLORIDA GATORS BASKETBALL
LATEST OFFER FOR LLEWELLYN

Team Loaded(VA) has been one of the hottest teams in the Adidas circuit, and a lot of that has to do with the strong play from point guard Jaelin Llewellyn. The Canadian point guard has been very efficient and has made a statement through 8 games in the Adidas Gauntlet. Llewellyn caught up with GatorCountry.com to talk about his spring and his reaction to his recent Florida offer.

Llewellyn prides himself on being a playmaker. Not only can he set up his teammates to score, but he has the ability to score at a high rate himself.

“I’m a point guard that loves to get teammates involved and in positions to succeed,” Llewellyn said. “I’m quick, athletic and can get to the paint easily with a good and improving shot. I can finish at the rim at an effective rate. I have to work on floaters, finishing with contact, shot consistency and getting more active defensively.”

Through 2 sessions in the Adidas Gauntlet, Llewellyn has averaged 8.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 4.1 assists a game, while leading his team to an 8-0 record overall. The AAU season has been a blast for him because of the unselfish nature of his Team Loaded squad.

“The first two sessions were great,” he said. “We are 8-0 and I played quite well. I also had a lot of fun because our team is very unselfish. My personal goals for the rest of the season are to just continue putting my name out there and showing everyone I can play at a high level.”

The April live period gave Llewellyn the chance to showcase his abilities to coaches from all over the country. The Florida coaching staff watched Llewellyn during the live period and liked what they saw. The gators staff offered the talented guard on Thursday.

“I am definitely excited about it,” Llewellyn said about the Florida offer. “I’ve seen the campus with my old school (Orangeville Prep) and it’s a nice place and of course a great school. It’s an impressive program.”

Things are starting to heat up on the recruiting front for Llewellyn. He has received over 10 offers since the first April evaluation period.

“Wake Forest, Creighton, Stanford, Cincinnati, Harvard, Penn State, and Virginia reach out very often,” he said. “Mostly all of the teams that have offered are recruiting quite hard.”

Strong academics are a key factor that Llewellyn is looking for in his choice of school. He realizes the importance of having a solid education for when his basketball career comes to an end.

“Factors that come into play when making a decision is going to a place with great academics, knowing that I’ll be set for when the ball stops bouncing,” Llewellyn said. “A place where I know I will develop each year I’m there. Also, a place where I will have the opportunity to play right away.”

Llewellyn is focused on getting better each day and leading Team Loaded to more wins in the Adidas Gauntlet.

Click to expand...

Llewellyn and Bey look like solid players and are good Plan B options if we miss out on our main targets at their positions (Dotson/Weaver at PG and Little/Moore at wing). Great to see Coach White using good recruiting strategy - maybe learned something from getting burned by the Alexander flip to KY.

Florida to play Baylor in B12/SEC Challenge on January 27:

http://www.gatorsports.com/article/...-Big-12-Challenge-UF-to-host-Baylor-on-Jan-27

SEC/Big 12 Challenge: UF to host Baylor on Jan. 27

The Florida basketball team will host Baylor on Jan. 27 as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge, the school announced Thursday.

Times and networks for the 10 games will be announced at a later date, but all will be carried on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU, and ESPN’s College GameDay will originate from one of the Challenge sites.

The Bears add another prime opponent to the Gators’ 2017-18 home schedule, which already includes games vs. Florida State, Kentucky, Georgia and Vanderbilt.

Other Big 12/SEC Challenge Matchups

Oklahoma at Alabama

Georgia at Kansas State

Texas Tech at South Carolina

TCU at Vanderbilt

Oklahoma State at Arkansas

Kentucky at West Virginia

Ole Miss at Texas

Tennessee at Iowa State

Texas A&M at Kansas

BMF said:

Florida to play Baylor in B12/SEC Challenge on January 27:

http://www.gatorsports.com/article/...-Big-12-Challenge-UF-to-host-Baylor-on-Jan-27

SEC/Big 12 Challenge: UF to host Baylor on Jan. 27

The Florida basketball team will host Baylor on Jan. 27 as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge, the school announced Thursday.

Times and networks for the 10 games will be announced at a later date, but all will be carried on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU, and ESPN’s College GameDay will originate from one of the Challenge sites.

The Bears add another prime opponent to the Gators’ 2017-18 home schedule, which already includes games vs. Florida State, Kentucky, Georgia and Vanderbilt.

Other Big 12/SEC Challenge Matchups

Oklahoma at Alabama

Georgia at Kansas State

Texas Tech at South Carolina

TCU at Vanderbilt

Oklahoma State at Arkansas

Kentucky at West Virginia

Ole Miss at Texas

Tennessee at Iowa State

Texas A&M at Kansas

Click to expand...

Hide your women...

Introduce the Baylor players to the GPD. Baylor recruiting in all athletics should suffer in this immediate future.

Coach White on the Paul Feinbaum show at SEC Meetings:

http://brockway.blogs.gatorsports.com/13704/white-thrilled-egbunu-back/


Florida coach Mike White said he didn’t know what to expect when John Egbunu called him on May 19, five days before the deadline for underclassmen to keep their names in the NBA draft.

“Very much 50-50,” White said at the SEC spring meetings in Destin. “I thought it would go down to the wire with him already having the degree in hand. He didn’t just have the one option – he had several options.”

So White was thrilled when 6-foot-11, 255-pound Egbunu told him he was coming back for his senior season.

“It obviously adds a lot more firepower to our already pretty experienced frontcourt,” White said. “John calling and saying he was excited about being a Gator for another year was as big a recruiting call as I’ve gotten.”

Egbunu averaged 7.8 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds as a redshirt junior last season before his season came to an end on Feb. 14 after suffering a torn ACL against Auburn. Offensively, it was a struggle for Egbunu for much of last season, but he had posted his first double-double of the season (11 points, 10 rebounds against Texas A&M on Feb. 11) just before the injury. His physical presence and defensive ability was missed despite Florida’s run to the Elite Eight last season, and the added bulk inside he provides will be essential to compete in an improved SEC next season.

Of course, the first goal for Egbunu is to rehab from major offseason knee surgery. Florida trainer Dave “Duke” Werner and strength coach Preston Greene will play a vital role in Egbunu’s recovery. The timetable is for Egbunu to return by mid-January.

“I don’t think Duke’s going to release him until he’s 100 percent,” White said. “If it was a rush job, NBA Finals, Game 7, maybe he plays earlier, I don’t know. He’s made that comment to me that he thinks he’ll be 100 percent by January, and that’s when he’ll play. Now that he’s back, Duke and I haven’t met since John made his decision. We’ll look at it a little bit closer as that time approaches. But the plan will be to slowly work him in, depending on what the rotation is at that time, whether or now we even have a rotation at that time. We’ll throw him out there and evaluate him physically a little bit closer than the other guys.”

Other notes:

— White said redshirt freshman forward Dontay Bassett has been cleared for non-contact drills. “We haven’t done any contact this summer because guys have really been beat up in the weight room,” White said. “We’re trying to take advantage of the weight room, especially with our front-court guys right now. Probably three to four weeks from now, maybe five to six weeks from now, the last two or three weeks of Summer B, we’re going to do some contact, full-court stuff, and that will be his first time doing it in 10 or 11 months.”

— White said that guard KeVaughn Allen has had an excellent spring from a strength and conditioning standpoint. “He always had this threshold that he can’t get through,” White said. “We’ve all been on him, led by Preston of course. KeVaughn just blew right through it this spring and would go out and get extra shots, and then would want one of the managers to work him out and then ask Preston to work him out. He’s had a big-time spring, hopefully that will carry over.” White said Allen could see time backing up Chris Chiozza at point guard next season if incoming freshman Michael Okauru doesn’t develop as quickly as expected.

— With Justin Leon’s departure, White said the power forward position is “wide open” and mentioned Keith Stone, incoming graduate transfer Egor Koulechov and even sliding Kevarrius Hayes down from the center to power forward spot (with Gorjok Gak and then Egbunu playing center). Koulechov is only 6-5, but at 210 pounds played power forward at Rice and averaged 8.9 rebounds last season. “In our league he’s probably better off guarding the 3s (small forwards),” White said. “But that remains to be seen, too. I’ve never even put him through a drill, so maybe he plays a little bit bigger and stronger than I even envision right now.”

— White, on Chiozza’s big shot against Wisconsin and taking over for Kasey Hill at the point next season: “We don’t want Chris to fall into a trap. He made a huge shot and he had a great probably last six weeks to the season. He played as well as most point guards in college basketball in that stretch, but the instant fame that comes with all that can’t change who he is. We’ve had these conversations and we’ll continue to have them. He can’t forget how hard he worked and the mentality he had that put him in that position to play as well as he did late in the season.”

— With grad transfer Canyon Barry benefiting Florida as the SEC’s sixth man of the year last season, White said he’s all for the rule on immediate eligibility for graduate transfers to remain the same. “I’d like to give a guy the benefit of the doubt,” White said. “If he’s already graduated, he’s already done his deal. He went to school and got his degree, he’s got another year. I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

Gators will play Stanford in Portland, Oregon tournament:

http://floridagators.com/news/2017/...cket-revealed-gators-to-open-vs-stanford.aspx

The Gators will square off against Stanford in their opening game of the Phil Knight Invitational on Nov. 23 in Portland, ESPN announced on Wednesday. The 16-team PK80 commemorates Knight's 80th birthday and kicks off on Thanksgiving Day.

In addition to the Thanksgiving showdown, the Gators will play Ohio State or Gonzaga on Friday, Nov. 24, and wrap up the event on Sunday, Nov. 26, against one of the following: Duke, Portland State, Butler or Texas. Games will be staged at both the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and all games will be broadcast on ESPN networks.

Florida's 2017-18 non-conference schedule already features Baylor in the Big 12/SEC Challenge in addition to the PK80.