Projecting Florida’s starting five

[Ahab]

The Gators return three starters from a team that finished the 2011-12 season 26-11 — center Patric Young, power forward Erik Murphy and shooting guard Kenny Boynton. The trio have a combined 172 games of starting experience. That should come in handy during the rigors of a tough non-conference and Southeastern Conference schedule.

But Florida still has two spots to fill to replace swingman Bradley Beal and point guard Erving Walker. Here’s a look at the four leading candidates to fill those two spots:

http://brockway.blogs.gatorsports.co...ng-five/?tc=ar

I think we'll go w/ a three guard lineup including Wilbekin and Rosario.

[tupacbiff]

More crap from brockway. This blog post could have been done by someone who barely watched the gators last year. Heck I have seen more insightful analysis on this very topic by woefully uniformed board members.

It's time for the g'ville sun to show him the door. He is an embarrassment to the sun's sports dept which is really something when u see who else writes for them.

[REM08]

Originally Posted by Ahab

http://brockway.blogs.gatorsports.co...ng-five/?tc=ar

I think we'll go w/ a three guard lineup including Wilbekin and Rosario.

With the caveat being that a few other guys will end up with starter-like minutes, I agree.

It'll be interesting to see how Billy spreads out those precious minutes. I'm not a big believer in having a dozen significant contributors the same way I'm not a fan of a team having two quarterbacks. In all likelihood, IMO, a core rotational group will emerge at some point - and that after them, the minutes will fall off significantly. Agree, disagree? In addition to the starters, how many other guys do you think see double digit minutes?

[rserina]

I know Bullis has disagreed with me on this, but in my opinion Wilbekin may be the key to our upside this year. What he brings is a tremendous amount of versatility that in turn gives the coaches plenty of lineup flexibility. Wilbekin has the size, strength, and athleticism to guard three positions, and even defended the four at times last year. While he is limited offensively, he can function both on the ball or off it, he takes care of the ball, he can hit his open jumpers, and he has shown some real craftiness in the lane. He has to get much better handling the ball and creating for others to be a legitimate point guard in this system, but the greatest contribution he makes is enabling us to mix and match with any number of perimeter guys. For instance, you could not play two of Boynton, Rosario, or Ogbueze together unless you had a guy who can both defend the three and run the one (we'll have to see if the latter is ready for that spot as a freshman or not), like Wilbekin.

[tegator80]

Originally Posted by tupacbiff

More crap from brockway. This blog post could have been done by someone who barely watched the gators last year. Heck I have seen more insightful analysis on this very topic by woefully uniformed board members.

It's time for the g'ville sun to show him the door. He is an embarrassment to the sun's sports dept which is really something when u see who else writes for them.

Yeah, that was a silly attempt at journalism. But to the OP, I hope that in the early games, they try starting Wilbekin and Prather and bring Rosario and Yeguete off the bench.

[themistocles]

Well, c'mon guys, it wasn't that horrible. Simple? Yes. Lacking intuition? Yes.

But certainly not an unreasonable way of looking at this question.

Personally, I expect Wilbikin at 1 and either Prather or Rosario to start at 3, but all four of these guys will get lots of minutes this year.

[GatorPlanet]

Right now, I see PG Wilbekin, SG Boynton, SF Rosario, PF Murphy, C Young.

But...these guys could crash the starting lineup: Prather, Ogbueze, Yeguete, and--wait for it--Larson. It could happen, but each of these guys needs major progress in certain areas.

[Osiris_DPM]

Originally Posted by tupacbiff

More crap from brockway.

Originally Posted by tupacbiff

This blog post could have been done by someone who barely watched the gators last year.

i.e., Brockway

[jeffphillips21]

I like a starting 5 of Young, Murphy, Yeguete, Boynton, Wilbekin with Rosario the 6th man. Beal was able to rebound and defend so well and he's 6'5 that the 3-guard line-up made sense last year. I don't think we can do the same with Rosario. JMO

[Apeman]

Originally Posted by jeffphillips21

I like a starting 5 of Young, Murphy, Yeguete, Boynton, Wilbekin with Rosario the 6th man. Beal was able to rebound and defend so well and he's 6'5 that the 3-guard line-up made sense last year. I don't think we can do the same with Rosario. JMO

Agreed

[rserina]

Originally Posted by jeffphillips21

I like a starting 5 of Young, Murphy, Yeguete, Boynton, Wilbekin with Rosario the 6th man. Beal was able to rebound and defend so well and he's 6'5 that the 3-guard line-up made sense last year. I don't think we can do the same with Rosario. JMO

The problem is that Yeguete can't play the three in our system. He doesn't shoot, handle the ball, or pass very well and those are the three most important things at the wing in Donovan's offense.

[Ahab]

IMO if Wilbekin starts, then we need another shooter in the starting 5 to spread the floor.

[tupacbiff]

Originally Posted by Ahab

IMO if Wilbekin starts, then we need another shooter in the starting 5 to spread the floor.

Don't understand this. If Scotty starts we still have 3 shooters on the floor with him, kb and Murphy. How many shooters do we need 4?

[rserina]

Originally Posted by Ahab

IMO if Wilbekin starts, then we need another shooter in the starting 5 to spread the floor.

Like Tupac said, you already have Murphy and Boynton. If you mean we can't really run Wilbekin and Prather together for extended stretches, then I tend to agree. But because of Wilbekin's versatility, you don't have to: he can play with Rosario, Ogbueze, or even Frazier, all of whom should be able to space the floor just fine.

[gatordd]

3 guard... Wilby Boynton Rosario Murph and Pat

[Ahab]

Originally Posted by tupacbiff

Don't understand this. If Scotty starts we still have 3 shooters on the floor with him, kb and Murphy. How many shooters do we need 4?

I still don't consider Scotty a "good" shooter. He's improving and he can knock down open looks but I don't like pairing him with Prather.

[your_perfect_enemy]

I think we have to remember that age wise Wilbiken is entering what would be his sophomore year, so I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities for him to make a siginificant jump at least from the standpoint of a strength and maturity (not that he was lacking in maturity).

I also think the light bulb went on for Prather late last year and really expect him to build off that. He may not be a primary scoring option, but I think he gained some much needed confidence to at least be somewhat of threat and facilitator so we wont feel like we're playing 4 vs 5 on offense.

[rserina]

Originally Posted by your_perfect_enemy

I also think the light bulb went on for Prather late last year and really expect him to build off that. He may not be a primary scoring option, but I think he gained some much needed confidence to at least be somewhat of threat and facilitator so we wont feel like we're playing 4 vs 5 on offense.

He is a real wild card. The irony is that he took off last year at the four, not the three, where he had a ton of space to work with defenders playing off him. Can he translated that into improved play at the three? Can he be active moving without the ball and get his points off baseline cuts to the hoop or offensive rebounds? Can he be effective flashing to the high post against zones and getting that elbow look to drop? He can get to the rim from 15-18 feet, but can he make the post entry passes from there or the occasional jumper? Can he make clean, crisp passes and avoid turnovers? Those are the big questions. Defensively, Prather is solid. He runs the floor well. He is a good kid and unselfish player. But he won't get significant floor time if he is a liability offensively.

[GatorPlanet]

A lot will be revealed. We have very good depth. But when I think about some of the guys, I see them being better off the bench than in a starting role. Like Prather...tremendous explosiveness and athleticism, which should translate into some quality minutes and big plays for us...when he comes in off the bench. If he's a starter, it's a different world. Coaches will scheme to stop him, and he just doesn't have the all-around game to overcome that. At least not yet...sometimes guys just keep developing and surprise you.

[GatorPlanet]

As for Scottie, the point guard spot is his to lose. He improved his shooting last year through excellent shot selection, so I'm not worried about his points. What concerns me most is his ballhandling. If he doesn't show improvement there, Braxton could pass him in the lineup.

The good news at the point is that defensively it'll be much better with Scottie. Plus he might be able to grab a few of the Beal rebounds we'd otherwise be missing.