Finally, we got to see the Gators take the floor again! After such a long break, man did it ever feel like a breath of fresh air to see Florida basketball again.
And, of course, flipping over from the disastrous start to the football game certainly helped, too.
Florida opened their SEC season with a decisive 91-72 win over Vanderbilt, one that showed a bit of what this team could accomplish if they stay the course and continue to improve in the second half of the season.
Now that football is finished up, I know that means some of you will start paying a bit more attention to basketball. If that’s you, welcome! We’re happy to have you checking in to the basketball side of orange and blue!
And if you’re a regular, it’s great to see you once again.
Here are some thoughts I have to close off 2020 and enter what is hopefully a tremendous 2021 year for, well, everything…but for the sake of this newsletter, Florida basketball.
Florida basketball post-Keyontae Johnson is, well, still to be determined.
Against Vanderbilt the Gators looked really good, but we’ve got to remember that Vanderbilt could very well be the worst team in the SEC. However, you’ve got to be encouraged with how the Gators looked without their star in Keyontae Johnson.
Here’s the thing with Johnson–even though he was Florida’s best player, it’s not like he was some mega high usage stud who the Gators ran everything through. Really, that’s kind of what made Johnson so special–he was someone who got almost all his production in the regular flow of the game without Mike White having to run plays for him to get loose.
On Wednesday night the ball moved well and players like Tre Mann and Tyree Appleby showed they had some juice off the dribble and the ability to create. Scottie Lewis and Anthony Duruji had ridiculous length and jumping ability to create deflections and get the ball going the other way. You saw the Gators be pretty scrappy, and now that they’re without a significant piece of talent that very well could be how they play going forward.
Colin Castleton is pretty unmistakably the starting center.
This isn’t a huge surprise as he has started every game for Florida so far this season but minutes have been somewhat similar with Omar Payne and there has been some push and pull as to who White has trusted in big moments. However, if the game against Vanderbilt was any indication, Colin Castleton has grabbed the number one center role by the horns and isn’t letting go.
First of all, Castleton has legitimate size at 6’11”, something even more noticeable when the Gators go to Payne he is considerably shorter. For that reason Castleton is a fantastic rim protector, and he’s also been the better of the two on the glass.
What really sets Castleton apart, however, is his ability to handle the ball. With so many centers, when they get the ball behind the three-point line the defense relaxes. That isn’t the case with Castleton, and it isn’t because he can shoot the three. It’s because he has shown the ability to bounce the ball and attack before either finishing himself (which he did against Vanderbilt for a couple of dunks) or finding a teammate for an easy bucket (which he did for an Anthony Duruji dunk).
Omar Payne is going to try and push for a bigger role, but he has shown some deficiencies in pick and roll defense and simply doesn’t have much of an offensive game past throwing down alley-oops. At least for Florida they have two centers that look pretty good, and they haven’t had a serviceable backup center since Kevarrius Hayes was backing up John Egbunu. This year it looks like they’ll have 40 minutes of competent center play a game, which is a blessing.
Scottie Lewis is playing drastically improved basketball.
Look, if you’ve been following my work at Gator Country over the last year you know I’ve been hard on Scottie Lewis.
While he doesn’t lack for effort, his defensive game often lacks substance and he chooses bizarre times to be aggressive.
Offensively he has lacked offensive decision making ability and the skill to get to his spots on the floor.
Of course, I’ve mostly been hard on him because I can see the raw talent–the potential that has followed him over the last four years of his basketball career.
During his freshman season, and his first few games as a sophomore, I truthfully didn’t see much improvement from the day he stepped on campus. However, if the last two games are any indication, he is finally starting to break out. Sure, there have still been some of the errant double teams, or ill-advised drives that turned into losing the ball, but overall he is playing much improved basketball. He has taken good shots, understood when to drive, and generally just been a more in-control basketball player.
For the Gators to reach their potential, whatever that might be this season, they’ll need Lewis to be a dominant player and he’s showing improvements that are getting him closer to that point.
Mike White’s trust of Tyree Appleby seems to be growing, and his trust for Noah Locke might be slowly waning.
To close out the Vanderbilt game the Gators had four starters in the game–Tre Mann, Scottie Lewis, Anthony Duruji, and Colin Castleton, and one bench player–Tyree Appleby. Absent from the starters was Noah Locke, who hit some shots in the second half to salvage what was a tough start to the game for him. Of course, this also comes after Locke had arguably the toughest game of any Gator against Florida State. Locke was incapable of doing much against Florida State who bothered his shooting with their length and simply ripped the ball away from him with their strength any time he tried to dribble the ball.
Against Vanderbilt we once again saw some of the limitations to Locke’s game who continues to struggle when it comes to dribbling the basketball. It was clearly in Vanderbilt’s scouting report to let him try to go one on one as every time he had the ball on the perimeter the Commodores went to deny one pass away and took away their help defender, challenging Locke to make a play on his own. On several occasions, that meant a bad shot or a turnover.
Not liking what he was seeing, White took out Locke and went to Appleby. Not only was Appleby able to create in these one on one situations but he was also able to easily get out of Vanderbilt’s full court pressure, a defensive strategy they employed when Locke was on the floor.
Locke is an interesting player. He could very well be the best shooter in the country, but the opportunity cost of having him on the floor is that the Gators lack offensive creation whenever the ball is in his hands but he isn’t in a position to let it fly. Locke is an unselfish player who is willing to move the ball and it’s not like he wants to be playing hero iso-ball, but opposing teams are going to try to make it so that’s the case. When that happens Coach White has a decision on his hands and it’s looking like he might prefer Appleby next to Tre Mann in these scenarios.
LSU will really tell us where this team is at.
I was plenty happy watching the Gators whip the ball around and get good shots against Vanderbilt but let’s face it, the Commodores aren’t a great team and while they might have been just what the doctor ordered for Florida to get their feet back under them it’s tough to say just how good the Gators are right now after playing them.
LSU is a much better team who has size and athleticism and can score the ball in a way Vanderbilt can’t. Freshman Cam Thomas is a stud who might very well be one of the best players the Gators see this year and he’ll challenge their defense in a way they haven’t been challenged yet this season.
After LSU the Gators see Alabama, a team that has fallen short of expectations so far but is still a solid ball club. That means by the time you read next week’s newsletter, we should know a lot more about the Gators.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to you again next week. Go Gators!