In anticipation of Florida basketball’s season starting shortly I reached out to the Gator Country community for questions they had about the team. I already did one article answering some of the questions from our Gator Country users but since there were so many outstanding questions I knew this was going to turn into a multiple part series.
If you haven’t yet read part two, you can do that here.
If you have a question you’d like to have answered you can head to the message boards and post it there.
Here’s part three of the Gator Country Preseason Q&A:
How do you see us doing record wise & tournament wise?
Juggernautz
I mentioned the KenPom and BartTorvik analytical predictions in the first part of this series and how I thought they really nailed the approximate range for this team and I’ll reiterate that again.
KenPom, the lower of the two on Florida, has the Gators going 17-12 entering postseason play with a 9-9 record in the SEC.
BartTorvik, the higher of the two on Florida, has the Gators going 19-10 entering postseason play with a 10-8 record in the SEC.
I promise I do have original thoughts about Florida basketball and don’t just look at analytical projections but I do think somewhere between 17-12 and 19-10 entering postseason play is where I have this team. When predicting a team’s record it’s important to note the quality of competition and the Gators are playing a very difficult schedule. The SEC is going to be a top-2 league in college basketball this season and in non-conference play the Gators could end up playing a monster slate at the PK85 in Portland. Their first game is against Xavier, and if they win that game it’s likely Duke, and then regardless of the outcome in that game they could end up playing Purdue. Florida could end up winning their first game and finishing the tournament 1-2, or LOSE their first game against Xavier and end up playing Oregon State and someone else at the bottom of the pool and end the tournament 2-1 even while not playing particularly well. Florida won’t have many cupcakes this year and even at 17-12 it could be a very successful season.
In terms of the NCAA Tournament, it’s hard to predict exactly how well this team is built for postseason play. I think defense and length could end up being a strength which should travel well for a neutral site game, but they do lack the go-to scorers that normally dominate March. Time will tell, hopefully.
What would be a realistic yet best class for next year?
Candymanfromgc
I talked about 2023 recruiting briefly in the previous Q&A but to reiterate–I don’t think the Gators are going to go after big high school names in 2023.
They currently have one commitment, a three-star named Thomas Haugh. That makes the 73rd ranked class in the country.
Truthfully I’m just not sure if the Gators look to add much more in 2023 from the high school ranks, so their class ranking may end up being just whatever Haugh ends up being ranked. I do think Haugh ends up as a 4-star, and if the Gators do grab another name it will be someone they think can play, and since most 5-stars are off the board it would probably be a 4-star. If the Gators ended up with two solid 4-stars that would probably put their class in the 30-ish range.
Don’t be discouraged by that, though. The days of high school recruiting being the most important element of college basketball are long, long gone. And if you are concerned, just wait until 2024 when the Gators will probably land a few huge names.
Eric, who do you project as the starting five?
GatorRev
Man, I have really struggled with this one and I feel like my personal opinion is going to be different than the coaching staff’s. This is who I want to start:
Kyle Lofton
Niels Lane
Kowacie Reeves
Alex Fudge
Colin Castleton
Who I think the Gators will start is one name different:
Kyle Lofton
Myreon Jones
Kowacie Reeves
Alex Fudge
Colin Castleton
Todd Golden has spoken highly of Jones ever since coming to Florida and he has had a good summer followed by a solid showing against Miami in the scrimmage.
Jones had an unfortunate year in orange and blue, struggling to shoot the ball which is really his best skill by a large margin. The thing with Jones is that he’s not a plus ball handler (though he has had some success in pick and roll) and he’s not a good defender, so there is a large opportunity cost to having him on the floor and if his jumper isn’t falling then I believe he becomes a negative.
The battle for the power forward position should be interesting as I’m sure Golden has some desire to stick Will Richard there who would make the offense look a lot better but would be giving up a lot of size.
I’d also have zero problems at all with starting CJ Felder next to Castleton as I’d love his defense and rebounding. He was another guy who had a bad first year at Florida due to injury, but he was dominant defensively and on the glass at Boston College and was an entirely different player than what people saw last season with the Gators.
We won 20 games last year. Are we not better at every position this year with more depth? Who is your surprise player of the year?
Tjgators
It’s always interesting to compare teams from one year to the next and think about who would play over who and hey if you want to have some fun, play the game of “who would beat who.”
I definitely think Florida’s depth is better this season. This is the best I have felt about point guard depth in a long time and more than anything, this team FINALLY has wings. It’s a wing’s world where you need length and athleticism from the 2-4 positions that allows you to compete athletically. Last year’s team was undersized and under-athletic and I definitely feel alot better about this year’s team in those categories.
There were certain players on last year’s team that played regular shifts that I do think Florida has improved on, though I don’t want to sound like I’m kicking dirt on guys on their way out. But yes, I do think Florida has improved both in quality and depth at a few positions.
I will say that I think Tyree Appleby was a much better player than a lot of people gave him credit for, and the poor situations he was put in contributed a lot to his turnover issues that had some fans furious with him. The offense didn’t put many players in positions to be successful and it meant Appleby, the only player who could create a shot one on one, had to go to work at the end of shot clocks and while that sometimes meant turnovers he also hit some huge shots. Trey Bonham might have a similar skill set, but if he doesn’t the Gators will certainly miss some of Appleby’s instant-offense capabilities from a ball handler as Lofton doesn’t have that element to his game.
Phlandrous Fleming is also a player that I think will be missed. While his minutes at the four weren’t best for him, or the team, he was an excellent defensive player who also was one of the best downhill drivers on the offensive end. He would have still been a very valuable piece if he was on this year’s team and would have commanded a lot of minutes.
I share some of your optimism though. I think the talent, athleticism, and length was upgraded considerably and I am expecting a much better finish than last year’s team who was 61st in the NET Rankings.
In terms of surprise player of the year I’m saying CJ Felder. Does he qualify as a surprise player? You be the judge.
I’ll he’ll be a surprise player because he has so, so much more to give than he did last year at Florida due to being injured all season and it has made him an afterthought, but if he’s the player he was for two seasons at Boston College that had NBA scouts seeing him as a possible defensive stopper at the highest level he’ll be a massive boost for this roster and I definitely think that would surprise some people.
As always, thanks for the questions! If you have some you want to ask you can do so on the Gator Country message boards.