After months of waiting, Florida’s basketball season is officially here as the Gators tip off Monday against Stony Brook.
This will be fans’ first opportunity to see the new-look Gators under Todd Golden and it’s certain to be a special night.
If Stony Brook sounds familiar to you it’s because the Gators also played them last year and came away with a 87-62 win. Phlandrous Fleming led the Gators with 20 points, and the story of that contest was a potent offensive effort that ultimately ended not being indicative of what was to come for the team. Of course, with the transfer portal era being what it is, this year’s team will be a lot different than last year’s squad.
This game was scheduled before Todd Golden came to Gainesville, in part due to a connection that Stony Brook head coach Geno Ford had to the Gators. Jordan Mincy was an assistant to Ford back when Ford headed the Kent State program and the relationship led to the Gators scheduling a couple of buy games with the Seawolves.
Stony Brook finished fourth in the America East conference a year ago but was controversially not allowed to compete in their postseason tournament. They had announced their intention to leave for the Colonial Athletic Association, the league they’re in now, and citing a league bylaw the America East Conference banned Stony Brook from postseason play. Finishing fourth and playing some of their best basketball at the end of the season the Seawolves would have had an opportunity to compete for a title but unfortunately had their season ended before the America East tournament.
Now in the CAA, Stony Brook was picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll. Their top end talent has largely cycled out and with a lot of new pieces local media don’t seem to be particularly high on the Seawolves. While unproven, Stony Brook will be a veteran team with six seniors in their rotation and that could make them a tough out in the first game of the season.
Leading the way for the Seawolves is guard Aaron Clarke, a transfer from Sacred Heart who brings a track record of low-major production. Averaging 16 points and 4 assists last season as a fourth year player he’ll be tasked with leading the way offensively for the Seawolves, a task he’ll be happy to take on. Hailing from New Jersey, Clarke is a physical guard who has done well against high-major opponents in the past and he’ll relish the opportunity to go head to head with Kyle Lofton and Trey Bonham.
Joining Clarke in the backcourt is Dean Noll, a transfer from Cornell. Perimeter shooting has always been an issue for Noll but he can get into the paint and create shots for his teammates. Stony Brook’s offense might even be at its best with Noll handling the ball while Aaron Clarke works away from it looking for a clean catch in a scoring position.
While transfers remain a key part of Stony Brook’s makeup, they do have a few key returners. Tyler Stephenson-Moore is a sniper from deep hitting 45% of his threes last year making him one of the best shooters in the country. The other elements of his offensive game might leave a little bit to be desired but he knows his role and he plays it perfectly.
Giving Stony Brook a bit of length is returning forward Frankie Policelli who started his career at Dayton before heading to Stony Brook two seasons ago. At 6’7” he’s one of the longer 3-4 hybrids in the league and the Seawolves will need that length to hang with a team like Florida.
Unfortunately for the Seawolves they were dealt a horrible injury blow when it was announced that JUCO transfer Sabry Phillip would be missing the season. Phillip battled stress fractures in his shins over the summer and when he finally was able to perform at 100% he sadly tore his achilles in Stony Brook’s secret scrimmage, effectively ending his season before it began. Phillip began his career at San Diego and is a big-time athlete at 6’4” who would have been relied on to compete with Florida’s bouncy wings.
An interesting element of Stony Brook’s roster makeup is the fact that despite being quite small in recent history they were able to pull two 7-footers onto the roster this season. Keenan Fitzmorris is the first name to be aware of as he is in his third season of college basketball, coming to Stony Brook by way of Stanford. Standing at 7’0” and with high-major experience Fitzmorris will almost certainly be used against the Gators in their attempt to slow down Colin Castleton.
Joining that battle is freshman Rocco Muratori who might be playing with a chip on his shoulder. Muratori played at IMG Academy, and despite being 7’2” at a program with all the exposure a player could ever want, he went generally underrecruited. Now playing against the Gators, he could be trying to show that he could have gone to a higher level out of high school.
Generally speaking, Stony Brook is experienced in the backcourt but young in the frontcourt. The experience at the guard positions is going to be huge, but with the athletes Florida is rolling out in the frontcourt there might be a big advantage in the Gators’ favor.
Last year Stony Brook was much better on the offensive side (155th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency) than the defensive side (321st). A lot of the pieces have moved on, but Geno Ford’s offensive mind is still there and with a full offseason to prepare for this game he might have some interesting concepts dialed up to try to keep his team competitive with the Gators.
For Florida, one of the big questions comes with the various lineups they could employ. They’ve had practices and a couple of “secret” scrimmages to see what starting lineup could be best and what combinations of players have the best chemistry but until real games start you can never fully know what rotation is going to work best. For a group of players that is largely new to each other, chemistry is definitely going to be something to watch for.