Preseason praise means nothing to Florida Gators basketball

The Florida Gators enter the 2017-18 season ranked inside the top 10 in both the USA Today Coaches Poll (7) and the AP Top 25 (8).

It’s great for the program, as it receives its 12th preseason top 10 ranking in the last 17 years, but a preseason ranking means just as much as a weather forecast two weeks out. No one has seen any of these teams play in a real game yet. It’s simply based on what’s on paper, not production.

“I don’t what to be disrespectful, but it doesn’t mean anything,” said head coach Mike White. We’re not going to put any stock into any of the external pressure. We put enough internal pressure on ourselves, not to be ranked something or beat a specific team, to get better ourselves. And that’s it.”

Actually, he doesn’t think his team deserves that kind of recognition at this point at all. The Gators recently played in a secret scrimmage against Florida Gulf Coast, and according to White, did not perform up to their standard.

He was not pleased with transition defense, ball-screen defense, half-court defense, defensive rebounding or shooting in that game. While he took away some positives, he did not come away feeling like this team is where it needs to be, or where anyone on the outside probably thinks it is right now.

“I don’t think we’re a top 10 team right now,” he said. “I don’t think we’re a top 25 or even top 50 team right now, but I’m hoping there are a lot of other coaches thinking the same thing. It’s just so early. I guess it’s neat in a certain regard for our fans and for our recruits, for our guys, but if they are thinking about that, then they are thinking about the wrong stuff.”

While the fundamental issues are disappointing, the biggest reason White is down on his team is lack of mental toughness. He has not seen enough to prove that Florida would be able to play through 40 minutes of a grueling back-and-forth game if it had to.

Much of that was lost with the departures from last year’s team. The Gators made an art of communication, leadership and toughness in adverse situations last season, and that pushed them to an Elite Eight run.

Despite being older, this team hasn’t developed that yet. That could be the difference between maxing out and underachieving.
“If you compare our team right now to our team last February, it’s not even close,” White said. “That team would’ve beaten this team by 30 right now. That said, last year’s team this time of year wasn’t very good either. It’s just so early in the season and there’s so much to learn and get better at. We’ve got to develop roles, we’ve got to develop leadership, we’ve got to develop some grimey-ness to us.”

The veteran who is trying to help that is senior guard Chris Chiozza. In his time at Florida, he’s learned first-hand just how little preseason rankings indicate how a team will finish the season.

He has been a part of a team that started high and finished low, and most recently a part of a team that did not even touch the rankings until the fourth week of the season, but finished among the top teams in the country.

Chiozza reminds his teammates, especially the freshmen, of that every day, because he knows there is still a lot to prove.

“My freshman year, we were No. 7 and we didn’t have a winning record,” Chiozza said. “I just don’t want this year to be a repeat of my freshman year. That was the worst year of basketball in my life, so I don’t want my last year of college to be like my first year. I’m going to make sure everybody does what they have to do so we don’t have that repeat.”

Bailiegh Carlton
A lifelong sports fan, Bailiegh Carlton knew from a young age that she wanted to work in sports in some capacity. Before transferring to the University of Florida to study journalism, she played softball at Gulf Coast State College. She then interned for Gator Country for three years as she worked toward her degree. After graduation, Bailiegh decided to explore other opportunities in the world of sports, but all roads led her right back here. In her time away, she and her husband welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world. When she isn't working, she can almost always be found snuggled up with sweet baby Ridley, Cody and her four fur babies.