Gator Basketball B-Ball Transfers: Stone, Okauru, and Ballard

[rogdochar]

it would be nice for us to at least walk into a Burlington every now and then!

Aren't you sugar-coating it there, on-fire foley?

 

[Double Gator Dad]

Unplanned, did not even realize it. Yes I know that Marshall had success at Winthrop and some very good years at Wichita, but I am not high on him. He needs great talent to win. He does not strike me as the type of coach whose teams play with high IQ and fundamentals. Speaking of that I found LSU to play with low IQ last nite and was not impressed with their coach. They have very good talent but I think they could flame out at any time. I don;t trust them but they are plenty good enough to make a run.

You are correct.
Will Wade is Mike White with much better talent. LSU should be mopping the floor with us but their whiney a$$ coach doesn't really know what he is doing either.
He came within an eyelash of being swept by our average team.

 

[rogdochar]

Can't be over-mentioned = A team can only reach great heights by developing big men inside.

 

[-THE DUDE-]

This is already his team and he’s got 4 seniors that constantly wilt with a lead against good competition. That’s coaching and lack of development. Allen has regressed, Hudson has regressed, Hayes is the worst offensive big man I’ve ever seen play in Div 1. We have not recruited a decent big man or developed any of the big men we’ve had. I’d be ready to cut white loose now but I bet he gets another year. We have some talent coming in as we should have 3 5* players on the court but none of them are big men and that will continue to be our undoing

 

[rogdochar]

90% of 17 year old kids coming from high school type ball, are not developed yet.
Even the ones that are shoo-ins for the NBA expect their coach to develop them to improve in prep for the NBA.?? Coaches who do benefit youngsters with betterment attract the best recruits. So, how did White get these top star recruits. Well, it isn't because they saw White's track record for developing. He can't even develop a team playing style.

There's zero UF belief/effort at acquiring big men or in using or building that segment of team play. You don't gather 6'8"+ guys and then not develop their big-man playing style. All the good coaches "drive" their tall players to battle inside, to succeed as a 'big' so the entire team can compete at a higher level. Gator basketball is not competitive and that's inexcusable.

 

[gatorev12]

This is already his team and he’s got 4 seniors that constantly wilt with a lead against good competition. That’s coaching and lack of development. Allen has regressed, Hudson has regressed, Hayes is the worst offensive big man I’ve ever seen play in Div 1. We have not recruited a decent big man or developed any of the big men we’ve had. I’d be ready to cut white loose now but I bet he gets another year. We have some talent coming in as we should have 3 5* players on the court but none of them are big men and that will continue to be our undoing

I don't think it's much of "regression" as it is a lack of progression.

Allen is an undersized SG who started off much like Locke did: a great 3pt shooter as a freshman who could blow up off the bench at any given point. Still learning defensively and not expected to be a leader or focal point unless he was "on." As you get more experienced, expectations change: you're expected to be more vocal, supposed to be organizing the defense or calling out shifts/plays, etc. Allen isn't that player and never will be. When there's less pressure or expectation: he's a valuable cog; but he's not a take-charge leader on either end of the floor.

Same with Hayes: a great defensive blocker of the ball...but little else. He's not a great post defender when forced to defend another team's big man; he's not going to be more than a 6-8ppg offensive threat on average; and he's not the in your face type of Big Man presence that physically imposes his will on a game. He's always been a good backside blocker of the ball even going back to his freshman year...but never developed more.

Hudson? Not sure if I even need to go there: but he's a 6th man and nothing more. A streaky shooter and can dominate a game when he's "on"...but a liability in pretty much every other area; which is even more glaring when he's "off."

White is the coach and he's paid good money to figure things out--but I ultimately think this is more on the players than the coach. It reminds me a lot of our 08 bball team when Donovan lost the 04s: no good upperclassmen leaders and while we had a decent crop of freshman that year, our inexperience cost us. Donovan tried lots of different things and nothing worked with that group...we ultimately missed the tournament.

Just illustrating the fact that even Hall of Fame college coaches struggle when there's a lack of leadership on the court and the offensive burden falls on freshmen.

 

[gatorev12]

Yesterday was irritating to lose a winnable game with poor focus/execution on two occasions: letting LSU drive unopposed to tie it up in regular time; and having piss-poor court awareness from a senior to not take a shot when there's less than 1.5 seconds on the clock and to dribble into the teeth of their defense in false hope of getting an easier shot.

Even more irritating was our inexplicable loss to georgia at the weekend: that was poor focus and execution.

White still probably makes the Dance because there's a lot of .500 teams in major conferences who haven't been seizing their chances to impress (like us) and because the SEC is seen as a strong conference this year with a lot of top teams. Not only that: but he's the son of Duke's AD and his brother is UCF's AD...with those types of connections, the committee probably gives the benefit of the doubt to a school like Florida over, say Colorado (especially given our tradition and White's past performances at the Tournament).

 

[Mornengswede]

Not only that: but he's the son of Duke's AD and his brother is UCF's AD...with those types of connections, the committee probably gives the benefit of the doubt to a school like Florida over, say Colorado.

Being the son of Duke’s AD, I get that’s a good connection. But being the brother of UFC’s AD?? A coach at the University of Florida is propped up by a connection with Central Bithlo College for Drunks?

 

[Frozen Gator]

This is already his team and he’s got 4 seniors that constantly wilt with a lead against good competition. That’s coaching and lack of development. Allen has regressed, Hudson has regressed, Hayes is the worst offensive big man I’ve ever seen play in Div 1. We have not recruited a decent big man or developed any of the big men we’ve had. I’d be ready to cut white loose now but I bet he gets another year. We have some talent coming in as we should have 3 5* players on the court but none of them are big men and that will continue to be our undoing

+1, That's what I've been harping on for a while. A big doesn't have to be a great scorer, he needs to keep the other team honest on offense and balance the floor for our little guys. I'll take a John Egbunu all day.

 

[no1g8r]

+1, That's what I've been harping on for a while. A big doesn't have to be a great scorer, he needs to keep the other team honest on offense and balance the floor for our little guys. I'll take a John Egbunu all day.

Seeing how things turned out for Egbuju, he probably wishes that he had petitioned for that sixth year of eligibility. We sure could have used him.

 

[rogdochar]

I would have loved to have seen Egbunu without any injury deficit. Who can accurately assess all the various muscle-tendon-ligament aspects called on to navigate against opposing bigs in basketball. Who are you once your components start betraying you? Never the same.

Gak has a blah skill level before, but his torn-up knee cancels all chance of progressing, adding skills. So, there's a need for prevention of knee injury: wraps, braces, scientific shoes? conditioning exercises? ... somethings got to be scientifically found. And is there a player of ours who has had knee surgery that worked? If knee surgery works in the pros, find out what those doctors are doing. IDK.

 

[gatorev12]

Being the son of Duke’s AD, I get that’s a good connection. But being the brother of UFC’s AD?? A coach at the University of Florida is propped up by a connection with Central Bithlo College for Drunks?

UCF has a lot of pull with the non-Power 5 conferences who are looking for more chances to upset the bigger schools and get a bigger slice of the pie. While ultimately, White's brother probably wants UCF to get a high seed themselves; getting UF in probably doesn't hurt the family brand either.

Just saying that the White family has some serious connections in the NCAA landscape and our Coach White will likely get more of the benefit of the doubt when it's between us and a school like Colorado or Minnesota.

 

[LeeForThree]

Basicially it comes down to next season. Succeed in a big or get replaced

 

[Gatorbait25]

Update: Lunardi has us as an 11 in Tulsa. Actually not a terrible draw matchup wise with Nevada,
and Old Dominion vs Purdue as a 3V14. Just need one more W. I don't care who it is against.

 

[NVGator]

Update: Lunardi has us as an 11 in Tulsa. Actually not a terrible draw matchup wise with Nevada,
and Old Dominion vs Purdue as a 3V14. Just need one more W. I don't care who it is against.

Nevada would smoke Florida.

 

[rogdochar]

Nevada would smoke Florida.

So what's that prove?

 

[NVAGATOR86]

Our lack of dominant big men is ridiculous and inexcusable. That to me is one huge negative that is clearly on Coach White.
My opinion is that he will keep his job , but will have to make some coaching changes. I think he still has the same staff he brought over from La Tech. He needs to replace some or all with coaches with more experience and recruiting expertise. He needs an older assistant coach who can recruit and help in game manage.
Look no further than the Semis who seem to every year bring in productive big men from Africa, or from the former Soviet Union. Hamilton is no Coach K by any means but he was smart enough to keep Stan Jones as his Assistant HC. From what I read Jones is the recruiter who brings in the big men. These are not one and done 5 star divas, but rather 3 star guys who are coached up when they get to Tally.
As posters have said here we don't need a huge scorer inside just someone who can play defense and disrupt the paint. Big men recruit more big men. Hell the Semis have a 7 4 guy and he is not even their most productive. Kabengele who is 6 10 or 11, is very good and oh by the way the nephew of a guy named Mutombo. These guys go to FSU because they know their history with developing and coaching big men. We have to go all the way back to Horford and Noah to get any kind of history. That is absurd.
It sucks to see FSU's BB program pass ours in quality but it can be fixed. But we need to over haul the coaching and recruiting staff, and priority number one is to get productive post players. Don't know if we could ever pry Jones away from Hamilton but there are others like him out there. I know we are in the running for a big kid out of Tennessee, but with UT''s success that will be a tough get.

 

[Double Gator Dad]

UCF has a lot of pull with the non-Power 5 conferences who are looking for more chances to upset the bigger schools and get a bigger slice of the pie. While ultimately, White's brother probably wants UCF to get a high seed themselves; getting UF in probably doesn't hurt the family brand either.

Just saying that the White family has some serious connections in the NCAA landscape and our Coach White will likely get more of the benefit of the doubt when it's between us and a school like Colorado or Minnesota.

More importantly, the White family clearly has a lot of pull with our AD Emeritus or whatever they call him these days.

 

[rogdochar]

NVAGATOR covers the main point for UF = get 6'10" or taller the better. I checked other SEC rosters. They've got plenty of bigs coming up now as sophs & jrs. Plus the height of incoming freshmen. That area of recruiting and development. I don't think White shops deligentley for 'bigs'. White definitely hasn't the means to develop 'bigs'. He's got us where we'll never outdo those heads-up coaches' teams.

Going overseas you find 'bigs' who as youngsters worshipped soccer. So they developed excellent coordination, body control, good stamina and running speed. Then they grow to 7'. Make sure they have large hand-spread. Payne & Stokes & Stone (& Gak?) will have to be our inside game next year ... along with White's inspiration.

 

[rogdochar]

Any info on whether Gak is doing any jumping, running. Progress? Hope?.....
.... or has he filed a lawsuit against his knee surgeon?