***Florida vs George Washington NIT BBALL Thread***

[ATXGator]

The GW fan next to me was even surprised how well they shot - and asked where was our 'big men"?
I had nothing for him other than ... They're in the NBA

Could have gone with "he tore a ligament in his finger and had to have season ending surgery"....

I don't think it was a great year, but I'm not ready to make a call on White. He didn't recruit these guys and we have to see if he can bring in guys that can shoot and coach them up. I'm not thrilled with him, but it is way too early to say he needs to be fired.

I can't believe there is a guy on this thread "Born2be..." who hasn't watched a game all year and then complains... and you wonder why people say we aren't a basketball school... you didn't even know the O'dome was being renovated!!

 

[Gatordiddy]

Could have gone with "he tore a ligament in his finger and had to have season ending surgery"....

I told him that and he asked ...where's the big backup?
Is Egbunu your only center?
Guess he thought because we are Florida we had an unending reserve of talent.

Is it my imagination or does Florida just not attract the big men?

 

[rogdochar]

We have stars?

Sure ... that would be our leaders in scoring, rebounding, blocks, etc.
With Egbunu in, we should have gotten a 12-point swing in our favor i.e. 6 scoring swing and
6 bothered shots & D-rebounds, at least. Next year, with Hill's improvement, Allen's growth,
Egbunu's growth, Hayes' & Leon's advancement we really will be better, much better. And
then there's freshmen we add as pluses i.e. Rimmer & Chiozza kept off the court.
Only a lousy coach can falter with next year's team. March Madness Bound.

 

[GBHOR]

Sure ... that would be our leaders in scoring, rebounding, blocks, etc.
With Egbunu in, we should have gotten a 12-point swing in our favor i.e. 6 scoring swing and
6 bothered shots & D-rebounds, at least. Next year, with Hill's improvement, Allen's growth,
Egbunu's growth, Hayes' & Leon's advancement we really will be better, much better. And
then there's freshmen we add as pluses i.e. Rimmer & Chiozza kept off the court.
Only a lousy coach can falter with next year's team. March Madness Bound.

Let's hope, maybe they'll be "stars" next year

 

[VirginiaGator]

Back home from the Game.....I actually saw Diddy as he was walking out, repping the gatorchatter shirt. First off, I was very surprised at the Gator turnout. Had to be at least 1,000-1,500 fans there. Great support even though it was a NIT game.

The game, very disappointed with the defense. They ate our lunch down low. Larson had his way and all of their bigs got the ball deep into the paint, easy buckets. Our zone was horrendous, no talking whatsoever on screens. They penetraded with ease all night. They did shoot well, but the mental breakdowns cost us. Hill gambles way too much on defense, there were plenty of times when he gambled and they drove for an easy basket.

Offensively, we started out doing well. Hill was hot early, Allen was special and had a nasty dunk. Turnovers were plentiful, coming at key moments in the game. Chiozza was non existent until 11 secs left. Plenty of unnecessary shots, just shooting to shoot.

In the end, it was a frustrating loss to end a frustrating season. Very curious to see how this team takes shape this summer. Very hard to gauge whether it's the players just aren't good or White can't coach. Maybe a mix of both, but I'm willing to give white next year to see what he can do. Very awesome experience being able to cheer on the gators, it's not often they come up this way!

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

 

[GatorTom85]

Back home from the Game.....I actually saw Diddy as he was walking out, repping the gatorchatter shirt. First off, I was very surprised at the Gator turnout. Had to be at least 1,000-1,500 fans there. Great support even though it was a NIT game.

The game, very disappointed with the defense. They ate our lunch down low. Larson had his way and all of their bigs got the ball deep into the paint, easy buckets. Our zone was horrendous, no talking whatsoever on screens. They penetraded with ease all night. They did shoot well, but the mental breakdowns cost us. Hill gambles way too much on defense, there were plenty of times when he gambled and they drove for an easy basket.

Offensively, we started out doing well. Hill was hot early, Allen was special and had a nasty dunk. Turnovers were plentiful, coming at key moments in the game. Chiozza was non existent until 11 secs left. Plenty of unnecessary shots, just shooting to shoot.

In the end, it was a frustrating loss to end a frustrating season. Very curious to see how this team takes shape this summer. Very hard to gauge whether it's the players just aren't good or White can't coach. Maybe a mix of both, but I'm willing to give white next year to see what he can do. Very awesome experience being able to cheer on the gators, it's not often they come up this way!

Good analysis overall. It is not that surprising we were dominated inside since our imposing center was out injured and our most athletic PF (Robinson) was in foul trouble. We do need a lot more polish but we were more competitive than last year. I also think we need to remember this is a very young team and that we were playing on the road against a team full of seniors. Given that, perhaps it is still a bit early to say that these players can't play or that White can't coach. I do however think this offseason and next year's performance are going to be critical to determining whether we can sustain what Billy D built or not. White will therefore not have the luxury of the patience a new coach might get otherwise if we are going to try to stay a top tier Basketball school because it is too easy to slip back to mediocrity.

 

[lagator]

Well GW stars shined, ours did not. But hey, something like 10 for 12 at the FT line was fine.
Different result with Egbunu bothering GW big-men's shots and ensuring rebounds... that
would have been a more honest competition.

There was a huge talent discrepancy in this game. I'll give you a clue, it didn't favor the team that is pigmentally challenged. That was a pretty embarrassing loss to a very mediocre team.

 

[lagator]

Off topic, I had no clue Oregon is a top seed. Guess I'll root for the Ducks against Puke.

Oregon is a one seed but has 6 seed talent. Duke's not that good this year so it will probably be close but Duke probably pulls off the "upset".

 

[lagator]

Could have gone with "he tore a ligament in his finger and had to have season ending surgery"....

I don't think it was a great year, but I'm not ready to make a call on White. He didn't recruit these guys and we have to see if he can bring in guys that can shoot and coach them up. I'm not thrilled with him, but it is too early to say he needs to be fired.

I can't believe there is a guy on this thread "Born2be..." who hasn't watched a game all year and then complains... and you wonder why people say we aren't a basketball school... you didn't even know the O'dome was being renovated!!

FIFY. It's too early but not way too early. That was a failure of a first season. Not total failure, but a failure none the less. The team was poised to make the tourney and could have played into a good seeding but instead had a total collapse leading to White's usual, the NIT and this loss to a bunch of dorks.

There's no way around it, he needs to make the NCAA next year. If we don't he probably won't get fired but he should be. We don't have time to give him 4 or 5 years to get his guys in place. By then we will have lost everything BD built.

 

[stephenPE]

There was a huge talent discrepancy in this game. I'll give you a clue, it didn't favor the team that is pigmentally challenged. That was a pretty embarrassing loss to a very mediocre team.

Mediocre? They beat UVA. They had all the parts. They had almost all seniors. They had played together for 4 years. Shot lights out and like someone said, no Egbunu to offset the big and Robinson sat most of the night. That was a good team playing at home and we were played with them the entire game. Monmoth was regarded as a good team team that shoulda been in the NCAA. They beat them easily.

 

[ATXGator]

I told him that and he asked ...where's the big backup?
Is Egbunu your only center?
Guess he thought because we are Florida we had an unending reserve of talent.

Is it my imagination or does Florida just not attract the big men?

Florida has always had trouble getting big men. It surprises me. Billy had trouble getting them. He did get Noah and Hortford, but Noah was a project. After that he got Speights who left earlier than he should have (although he has had a solid NBA career). He got the transfer Macklin and Patrick, but he has never had the steady stream.

He did have the one year where he got the two big guys Kenny Kadji who ended up transferring to Miami and the other one who went to UK (can't remember his name), but he was never able to get anybody after Patrick. That always surprised me because UF big men (Haslem, Lee, Noah, Hortford, Speights) all had successful NBA careers.

I am not sure how well White will be able to get big men since he runs a guard heavy offense and is known for his development of guards. That will be a key for him... if he can recruit and use big men.

 

[Alagator]

Ain't nothing wrong with being great at playing with sticks....

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

Mediocre? They beat UVA. They had all the parts. They had almost all seniors. They had played together for 4 years. Shot lights out and like someone said, no Egbunu to offset the big and Robinson sat most of the night. That was a good team playing at home and we were played with them the entire game. Monmoth was regarded as a good team team that shoulda been in the NCAA. They beat them easily.

That team was a 4 seed in the NIT. It doesn't get much more mediocre than that. They shot the lights out because we didn't bother to contest their shots.

 

[GatorBart]

My takes on the game:

• We are not good enough offensively to give up 80 points and win - Poor defense lost this game
• It was understandable that Hayes/Rimmer would get dominated underneath by Larsen (I think we would have won if we had Egbunu), but there's no excuse for the poor perimeter defense and giving them open shots all night
• The two freshmen played well - very happy to see Hayes having success and hoping that rolls over into next season
• Kasey Hill seems to have found some swagger (aggressively driving and making better decisions), though still needs to work on his shooting
• It was a fitting end to the season to see Hill miss the final layup of the year - classic!

 

[MidwestChomp]

[QUOTE="GatorBart, post: 290257, member: 21" It was a fitting end to the season to see Hill miss the final layup of the year - classic!
[/QUOTE]

Coach White needs to be introduced to the Mikan drill and variations on the Mikan drill.

 

[Gatorbait25]

very disappointed giving up that 3 ball to make it a 4pt game.. Simple pick and roll leaves the big wide open. That was the game right there. Most important defensive possession and we leave their best player alone. Definitely outplayed by GW. They earned the W.

 

[MidwestChomp]

very disappointed giving up that 3 ball to make it a 4pt game.. Simple pick and roll leaves the big wide open. That was the game right there. Most important defensive possession and we leave their best player alone. Definitely outplayed by GW. They earned the W.

If you watch the reply, DFS was pointing at Allen to take Cavanaugh on the roll. Allen didn't get the memo on a freshman mistake. I suspect DFS should have said something instead of pointing if he call it out.

 

[Gatordiddy]

To add insult to injury - the hot dog I had at the game last night is causing major gastrointestinal distress as well as emotional distress with several other employees.
I have destroyed our restroom here at work on three different occasions this morning.
I'm apparently creating an unsafe place with my triggers much like Trump at Emory Univ.

go Gators

 

[VirginiaGator]

Maybe it's just me, but it seemed like we stayed in our defensive sets too long. I'm not saying you switch to a different D each time they score, but I would have thrown the kitchen sink at them, man, 2-3, 1-3-1, press, just continue to mix it up. Keep them guessing and have them change their offensive scheme.

No doubt having John E. would have helped, if not win that game. Larson was just a beast down low against a young Hayes and a slow rimmer. I'm seeing a bunch of players transferring already. Maybe we can add one or two. This could very well be a tourny team next year if they can just get it right between the ears. A lot of mental breakdowns last night. I'm still very impressed with the Gator turnout.