Throughout the year we have been doing Q&A articles for our subscribers here at Gator Country, and since Florida has finished up the roster for the 2023-24 season and we’ve entered the dog days of the summer, it’s time for another one!
If you haven’t already read part one of the offseason Q&A, you can do so here.
All questions have been submitted by our subscribers at Gator Country, so if you’d like to ask a question and have it answered you can join today!
Let’s begin.
407king: What role do you think Tyrese Samuel will take this season? I feel his toughness is something that we’ve been missing the past few years in the paint.
You’re definitely on to something with the toughness–Samuel brings it in a huge way. The Big East not only has been the best league in college basketball in recent years, but a lot of the league’s talent has been concentrated in the frontcourt. Samuel has had to bang with some huge bodies throughout his career and he hasn’t just put up with it, he has relished in the physicality of the game. What makes the 6’10”, 235 pound Samuel special is the fact that he has the size and strength to hang with the bigger centers in the SEC, but the fluidity and lateral movement to hang with guards when needed in switching situations. Last year the Gators had a fairly conservative defensive scheme, which has generally been the strategy employed by Todd Golden in his coaching career, but with Samuel the Gators have someone who can be played at power forward or center (I personally think having him at center would be most advantageous) who can switch out and guard some perimeter players without being immediately cooked.
There is also a possibility that Samuel will bring some shooting to the center position that the Gators haven’t had in recent years. In his four years at Seton Hall Samuel went 39-124 from three which is 29%–below league average, but it’s enough attempts to show that there are times he’ll knock down a deep jumper which is more than the Gators have had from their centers the last few seasons.
Getting back to the wording of the question, I think his role will be a complimentary piece on offense who sets big screens and presents himself as a lob target on rolls. At Seton Hall he was a post up player and I’m sure he’ll get some of those opportunities at Florida, though I don’t think the Gators will want their offense to run through him on the block–it will go through the guards.
Defensively is where Samuel will be more of a focal point with his frame, motor, and experience.
GatorRev: Will we make the NCAA tourney, and if so what will be our seeding?
I essentially addressed this question in the first part of the Q&A series so if you haven’t read that yet I’d encourage you to go do so. But yes, I think this is absolutely an NCAA Tournament team. Honestly, I think last year’s roster was an NCAA Tournament team (until Colin Castleton got hurt, but even when he was healthy the team was not close to making it) and I think the outcome of the season was a disappointment. This year’s team is better than last year’s team, with some evaluators suggesting the Gators had one of the top transfer classes in the country. I mentioned in part one of the Q&A that T-Rank (Bart Torvik’s analytics tool) has the Gators as the 16th best team in the country and while that is a little bit high for me, I have them in the early 20’s.
Quite frankly, if the Gators miss the NCAA Tournament this year I think it’s beyond a disappointment, it’s a problem. This is a talented, versatile, and deep roster.
Gatormaine: Do you think Kugel can be a first round pick? I have seen him as a 2nd round pick in some mock drafts.
Yes, I think he’ll be in the mix for a first round selection. When talking about where players will get selected in a draft, context is important. Important context for the 2024 NBA Draft is the fact that it is a down year in talent, with many evaluators calling it the weakest draft class in a number of years. I truly think this could be part of why Kugel decided to come back to Florida for another year. If he entered the 2023 Draft he may have been selected late in the second round or been given a two-way contract–and a lot of that is due to how talented this year’s draft class was. With weaker competition in the draft next year Kugel could easily go much higher, and that’s not even factoring in the improvement everyone is expecting to see in his game.
With more talent on the roster and a coaching staff that is hopefully much more comfortable with what’s going to work at the SEC level Kugel could be headed for an even better performance than what we saw from him in the last few weeks of the season where he put himself firmly on the NBA radar. Kugel is extremely creative offensively, he makes tough shots, he has athleticism, and he is tall for the position–all things that contribute to a quality NBA resume. I’d love to see him add a bit of weight to his frame and continue to get more savvy as a defender because I think he is already tremendously developed on the other end.
Jcmiller910: We lost a huge piece in Colin Casleton who was a staple for us for several years. Who do you see replacing his production or will it be by committee? In your opinion what will be the biggest difference in our team from last season to this season?
Replacing the production will have to be largely by committee. I don’t see any of the frontcourt players the Gators brought in being built to handle the kind of offensive load that Castleton did, and while I think Samuel is a solid defensive player, he’s not the shot blocker that Castleton was.
Offensively, the Gators have a lot more scoring punch in the backcourt this year than last year. Quite frankly, the starting backcourt of Kyle Lofton and Myreon Jones provided very little scoring punch, and you saw teams defending the Gators like they had very little respect for the individual scoring ability of these two…and in fairness, it was for good reason. This year with Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton joining the mix alongside a well established Riley Kugel, the Gators will be getting a lot more offensive production from the backcourt as opposed to relying on one center in Colin Castleton to provide points.
Defensively the Gators will have to be tighter with their perimeter defense because there isn’t a Colin Castleton level shot blocker to mop up mistakes. Yes, I know there are going to be some Micah Handlogten believers here who will say he’s going to be the next Castleton level shot blocker, but I don’t see that–particularly in his first year at the high major level.
Get used to a lot less post ups this season than last, and expect the offense to go through to guards as opposed to the center this year.
That’s all for today but I’ll be back to answer more questions from Gator Country subscribers soon, so if you’re a member and want to have a question answered you can post it on the message boards.