Gator Basketball Basketball Offseason Thread: 7'7" Olivier Rioux, "World's Tallest Teenager", commits to Florida

maheo30

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3rd to transfer

After all the health issues this kid has had to deal with, it is a miracle he made it in the court. He plays with limited vision. It is an incredible story. Still, he can’t play at UF. I wish him the best in life. He was a great Gator.
 

MertzJay26

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Don’t worry, Golden boy has contacted me to play. I may be fat, almost 50, and have bad feet but I got heart.

As long as you try your best many on this board will accept and applaud you
 

NVAGATOR86

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The NCAA BB Tourney is a painful time for us Gator fans. In my head I keep hearing old Funny Face Barbara Streisand singing " The Way We were" when the talking heads mention the last school to win back to back titles. Then watching KJ dropping shots all over UK , but not wearing Orange and Blue. Plus seeing former Gator assistant coaches like Dusty May and even Shaka Smart having success in the Show. I still can't figure out how our AD selected our current coach over other more logical candidates.
I wanted to see an upside and I actually thought that if Castleton stayed healthy we could have had a shot at the Show. We most likely would have finished with a winning Conference record, and who knows a 19 or 20 win season? So Golden gets a pass into 2003-24, and maybe he can use his recruiting talent and knowledge of NIL to be successful.
I ask my GC brothers and sisters who have much more knowledge of our BB program, is there hope for next season and beyond? Do we have the right head coach to make us competitive enough again to get us back in the Tournament? Or to use another old movie title is this "As Good As It gets"?
 

aka

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... don't let me hear you say life's taking you nowhere...
 
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FireFoley

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#4 transferring out

Four? UF is a piker in that game. Wyoming just yawned. See last sentence below.

Wyoming star big man Graham Ike entered the transfer portal Tuesday, immediately becoming one of the most sought-after transfers in the country.

Ike, a 6-foot-9 power forward, averaged 19.5 points and 9.6 rebounds in 2021-22, helping lead the Cowboys to the NCAA tournament. He tallied 14 double-doubles during the campaign, including 33 points and 10 rebounds against Boise State, 25 points and 11 rebounds against Stanford and 26 points and 10 rebounds against Washington.

Ike went for 17 points and nine rebounds in an NCAA tournament loss to Indiana.

For his efforts, Ike was selected first-team All-Mountain West by the media and was picked as the preseason Mountain West Player of the Year in the fall.

However, Ike ended up missing the entire 2022-23 season with an injury to his lower right leg. Initially expected to miss just two months, he shut it down in early February and took a redshirt year.

Ike is the eighth Wyoming player to enter the transfer portal, with starters Jeremiah Oden and Xavier DuSell also leaving in the past week.
 

Egor's Assistant

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I ask my GC brothers and sisters who have much more knowledge of our BB program, is there hope for next season and beyond? Do we have the right head coach to make us competitive enough again to get us back in the Tournament? Or to use another old movie title is this "As Good As It gets"?
Hang in there, Gator. Same story as Napier. Wait and see. Goldie seems less stubborn and more hip than Mike White (not saying much). Can he recruit like Mike White did? We'll see. I give Goldie about a 50% chance of still being here in 3 years. He'll probably make his first tournament in Year 3 and buy himself a Year 4. Fail in Year 4 and we're shopping for a new coach and possibly a new AD.
 

Double Gator Dad

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The NCAA BB Tourney is a painful time for us Gator fans. In my head I keep hearing old Funny Face Barbara Streisand singing " The Way We were" when the talking heads mention the last school to win back to back titles. Then watching KJ dropping shots all over UK , but not wearing Orange and Blue. Plus seeing former Gator assistant coaches like Dusty May and even Shaka Smart having success in the Show. I still can't figure out how our AD selected our current coach over other more logical candidates.
I wanted to see an upside and I actually thought that if Castleton stayed healthy we could have had a shot at the Show. We most likely would have finished with a winning Conference record, and who knows a 19 or 20 win season? So Golden gets a pass into 2003-24, and maybe he can use his recruiting talent and knowledge of NIL to be successful.
I ask my GC brothers and sisters who have much more knowledge of our BB program, is there hope for next season and beyond? Do we have the right head coach to make us competitive enough again to get us back in the Tournament? Or to use another old movie title is this "As Good As It gets"?

Too soon to tell at this point.

We saw things we liked with Golden and also things that we didn’t.

In the past it was all about recruiting talent that fits your system and then focusing on player development to take you to the promised land. The only barometer at this point would have been based upon this incoming freshman class and then watching for subtle signs of improvement as the next season progresses.

The situation is completely different now and the specific barometers and timing expectations are whacked. I have no idea how Golden will maneuver through this nor do I really know if he has the chops to get this done.

All I know is that over half of the schools in the SEC went to the tournament this year and UF was NOT one of them. Two of them had first year coaches so patience is no longer a virtue, it’s a character flaw that I no longer possess so my tolerance clock is already ticking.
 

Double Gator Dad

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Hang in there, Gator. Same story as Napier. Wait and see. Goldie seems less stubborn and more hip than Mike White (not saying much). Can he recruit like Mike White did? We'll see. I give Goldie about a 50% chance of still being here in 3 years. He'll probably make his first tournament in Year 3 and buy himself a Year 4. Fail in Year 4 and we're shopping for a new coach and possibly a new AD.

I hope Golden succeeds but if not, my real is what you mentioned which is that Scottie will be leaving with him.

I have said it before but it warrants repeating, if Scottie was a CEO, like we all pretend that he is, he would have been fired already for the multiple bad decisions and the quality of the product we see.
 

Towels 'N Sporks

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The NCAA BB Tourney is a painful time for us Gator fans. In my head I keep hearing old Funny Face Barbara Streisand singing " The Way We were" when the talking heads mention the last school to win back to back titles. Then watching KJ dropping shots all over UK , but not wearing Orange and Blue. Plus seeing former Gator assistant coaches like Dusty May and even Shaka Smart having success in the Show. I still can't figure out how our AD selected our current coach over other more logical candidates.
I wanted to see an upside and I actually thought that if Castleton stayed healthy we could have had a shot at the Show. We most likely would have finished with a winning Conference record, and who knows a 19 or 20 win season? So Golden gets a pass into 2003-24, and maybe he can use his recruiting talent and knowledge of NIL to be successful.
I ask my GC brothers and sisters who have much more knowledge of our BB program, is there hope for next season and beyond? Do we have the right head coach to make us competitive enough again to get us back in the Tournament? Or to use another old movie title is this "As Good As It gets"?

I think the Bball program has been slowly dying since Billy left, which shouldn't be surprising because it was almost always pretty bad before he got here other than a spare year here or there where we got lucky. Heck, we used to hang freaking NIT banners in the o'dome before Billy came along, and I'm not talking just championships, I'm pretty sure there was an "NIT finalist" banner and even one with the various years we made the NIT written on it. The student section is pathetic now compared what it used to be when Billy first got here.

I think that atmosphere is a huge recruiting tool for these players, and it is pretty obvious that there is a huge gap between our program and a program like Kentucky (or even Tennessee and Arkansas). Some people might say, "oh well they have bigger/louder crowds because the team is better or it is more exciting." I don't find that to be true at all. If our team was ranked 25th in the nation you would see our stadium at 70-90% capacity for nearly all the games based on my personal experience from going to games in years that we were "pretty good." Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky (obviously), would be filling their arenas up for every single SEC game or other big game and the students would be going wild in these games. And even in the more minor matchups you would see a bigger and more raucus crowd.

I don't know what the core issue of it is, but I truly believe we have fans that are much more apathetic towards basketball. Maybe if we suck for long enough people will get excited about finally being just "pretty good" again. Maybe that's why Tenn has such rabid football and basketball fans, they have sucked so long and for so hard that they will latch onto any sliver of hope that they can find. We are sort of the antithesis of that. We were at the top and now it's hard to be excited about a barely above par team.

Anyway, TLDR: Our basketball program has had a sucky atmosphere for a long time (compared to better basketball schools) and that hurts our recruiting.
 

Bernardo de la Paz

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Anyway, TLDR: Our basketball program has had a sucky atmosphere for a long time (compared to better basketball schools) and that hurts our recruiting.
It's because Gainesville is a small metro area. Hard to drive in for a weeknight game.

Places like Raleigh-Durham, Lexington, and Knoxville have an easier time filling an arena on a weeknight.
 

LeeForThree

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The NCAA BB Tourney is a painful time for us Gator fans. In my head I keep hearing old Funny Face Barbara Streisand singing " The Way We were" when the talking heads mention the last school to win back to back titles. Then watching KJ dropping shots all over UK , but not wearing Orange and Blue. Plus seeing former Gator assistant coaches like Dusty May and even Shaka Smart having success in the Show. I still can't figure out how our AD selected our current coach over other more logical candidates.
I wanted to see an upside and I actually thought that if Castleton stayed healthy we could have had a shot at the Show. We most likely would have finished with a winning Conference record, and who knows a 19 or 20 win season? So Golden gets a pass into 2003-24, and maybe he can use his recruiting talent and knowledge of NIL to be successful.
I ask my GC brothers and sisters who have much more knowledge of our BB program, is there hope for next season and beyond? Do we have the right head coach to make us competitive enough again to get us back in the Tournament? Or to use another old movie title is this "As Good As It gets"?
Lots of hope potentially and Golden can do it. Future looking bright, but the next 2 seasons will be make or break in the long run. If we get recruiting momentum soon things will flip to super positive
 

Egor's Assistant

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Lots of hope potentially and Golden can do it. Future looking bright, but the next 2 seasons will be make or break in the long run. If we get recruiting momentum soon things will flip to super positive
i agree with this sentiment. Golden is way more exciting than Mike White. He brings some energy and ideas. I like the bounce in his step. We'll see real quick whether or not he can land talent. Year 1 was a bust no matter how you measure it. Same for Napier.
 

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