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.
Well I am brand new here, but not to UF boards. I basically agree with you on White's first year. This team was scheduled like Donovan and Foley felt it would be good. I know Donovan left before much of the schedule was set, but still Donovan was the one who got St. Joe, Purdue and at Miami which is what beefed up the schedule. I am not sure how at Michigan St go on.
The bottom line is that this team did enough, barely enough but enough to get an NCAA bid. So it goes to the committee with UF on the bubble and teams like 'Cuse with the same number of wins and a worse RPI and strength of schedule get in and the 7th best team in the PAC12, Big 12, and Big 10 get in. So White now is a guy who can not get a bid with a bubble team AND HIS FATHER ON THE COMMITTEE. I am sure that will not be used against him in recruiting ever. It did not help that the SEC opted for a committee rep who spent 30ish years at an ACC school, i.e. Duke. Of course if the fan base does not care, it is certainly easier for the committee to leave you out. UF could have been in the 'Cuse slot which could have really helped White's situation at UF and in recruiting.
As for other points about UF on this thread:
1. Everyone struggles some to get bigs and UF is essentially big man U in basketball. UF has Haslem, Lee, Noah, Horford, Speights, currently in the NBA not counting semi-bigs like Miller, Brewer and Parsons. In addition UF had many fine college bigs over the last several years including Young, E. Murphy, Richard, ect. White did not have much of a reputation for bigs coming in, so in my view his work with Egbunu was very important this year. I would say that was a pretty solid success. Throw in good play of Hayes late in the season after Egbunu's operation and I think White has done enough to continue this tradition.
2. I agree UF should have beaten GW. Of course this was not a team that often played 3 good games in a row. There were lots of places this game was lost including on defense, but missing 3 layup in the last 4 or 5 minutes is another place you could point to. The Hayes miss was a head scratcher, the Hill misses were just Hill.
3. The rules about declaring for the NBA a much different this year. Almost every college player has nothing to lose by declaring so we may see a large number of UF players declare but later pull their names out. I do worry that someone like Egbunu might get a promise from a team for a second round guaranteed contract and bolt.
4. I think UF will return a nice core of players next year. Hill did seemingly have the light come on a bit the last few games. Many of his flaws were still there including screwing up a high percentage of fast break opportunities. I hope if he has a bad game early next year he can maintain his confidence. I am not sure what the deal with Chiozza is? He could be a good college players, but really regressed the second half of the season. Allen had a good Frosh year, but must build on it. He was too easy to take out of a game and rarely hit a big shot late in games. Hopefully Leon can replace Finney-Smith's scoring at least and part of his rebounding. I think Stone too could help at the 3. Robinson and Murphy if he gets a 6th year at the 4 can be a solid duo and Robinson can help at the 3 if needed. That leaves Egbunu and Hayes a center who are a solid combination in my view. It seems it will come down to mature smart guard play again next year. If these guards can progress and be consistent White should be able to get off the NIT treadmill. I do agree that if White can not get this group to the NCAAs next year, his tenure at UF is shaky at best. Good thing McCall seems to be showing promise at UT-Chattanooga.
