If you could look back at last year’s roster and see one hole, it was in the frontcourt. Mostly due to injury Gator big men on the whole didn’t produce they way they, and the coaching staff, hoped for and it often lead to them playing undersized and without the ability to go inside offensively at all. The Gators were 268th in the country in scoring around the hoop which, though not entirely, says a lot about the production of the frontcourt offensively. They didn’t do much better on the glass, as often playing 6’5” Egor Koulechov at power forward made them a poor defensive rebounding team, 256th to be exact.
Fortunately, both starters in Keith Stone and Kevarrius Hayes are back a year more experienced and further help is on the way. Gorjok Gak and Dontay Bassett who both lost games to injury are both expected to play a full season (I’ll still have to see it to believe it with Gak, but I’m hoping he’s ready on day one) and Chase Johnson and Isaiah Stokes will be activated after redshirting their first college years. With the experience of the returning players and the talent of the incoming guys, the frontcourt should be far less of an issue. Hayes, now a senior, has been stepping in as one of the leaders of the group according to Coach White.
“You’d like to see it [leadership] happen somewhat organically, and it remains to be seen who will step up in some of those leadership roles. Kevarrius, I think, it started a little bit more so last year, and it’s carried over.”
Hayes had his own bit on that role too.
“I’m going to take more of a leader role instead of just leading by example. I want to be vocal and keep our healthy guys motivated by bringing energy to practice. I’m definitely trying to stress the mental effort.”
Hayes wasn’t the only frontcourt piece to be named a key piece of the leadership, either.
“So the contributions from our senior wings, from Kevarrius Hayes, and then a couple of the other older front court guys, Keith Stone, and Gorjok Gak will be very important for this team.”
Hayes spoke again on what role he and fellow veteran Keith Stone can help communicate as tenured players.
“We have the experience and we’ve been around longer so we can pass on that knowledge to the younger guys to help them understand the game. I haven’t seen everything, but I’ve seen a lot. I’ve been to a lot of places.”
With the team sporting 8 underclassmen the frontcourt is actually the most veteran of any other position group and their ability to help the guards along with contributions on offense and anchoring the defense could be what helps get the team going, especially early in the schedule. Hayes was one of the best shot blockers in the country last season with 2 blocks per game, Stone is a versatile piece who can guard anyone on the floor, and Gak has the length to be extremely disruptive in the lane and all those tools mean the frontcourt needs to be the anchor defensively.
Another area the big men will be relied on heavily for? An improvement in the toughness category.
“Yeah, I beat our guys up a lot last year with questioning their toughness. And in their defense, we didn’t make the run that we would have liked to make in the NCAA tournament, but in league play we ended up being in league games only, the number one defensive efficiency team in a in the SEC in a big-time SEC year. So our guys really sold out late in the year to defending at a high level. And we had some big-time defensive performances down the stretch.”
Trying to preach toughness in practice while now over-taxing a group that was pretty banged up all year was a challenge, something that they should be able to do a bit more of this season.
“We’ve done way more physicality while holding our breath tightly this summer and this fall. We’ve competed, for the most part, I would say half of the time. Though we haven’t done a lot of full court stuff. We’ve tried to keep stuff in the half court to deal with some of the stuff that we just talked about, getting healthy. But also promoting somewhat of an atmosphere of physicality and intensity so we’re not reaching those levels, those desired levels in February. Hopefully we’re reaching them in November.”
Keith Stone commented on the heightened physicality in practice already.
“Less calls during practice. No more complaining about getting hurt or stuff like that, sometimes you have to fight through adversity. It will toughen us up a lot more, and that will just let us play a lot harder.”
Chase Johnson is seeing it too.
“From last year, practice is a lot more physical. Everybody is more competitive and wants to win. It’s a lot of fun out there playing together. I like it.”
One place you’ll see toughness manifesting itself is in the rebounding department, somewhere where Chase Johnson will be using his size, jumping ability, and nose for the ball.
“I’m a really good rebounder, not just defensively but offensively. I can run the floor well. I can score, get guys open, and set good screens.”
When it comes to expectations for himself, playing for his teammates is number one.
“Coming in and helping the team as much as possible. Rebounding and running the floor, and getting guys open that can score.”
Dontay Bassett’s sights are set on winning just as much.
“I want to do anything that helps the team. I want to win games. If that’s playing more minutes or being the guy that comes off the bench, it doesn’t matter to me as long as we’re winning.”
A player who we hope can contribute to winning this year is Isaiah Stokes, though his health coming off a major knee injury is still a question. Coach White updated his status.
“He’s not up to par with the rest of the team in conditioning. He’s trying. He’s battling. He’s in way better shape than he was two months ago. I don’t know what the number is as of today, but he has lost a lot of weight — I’ll have it for you next time — a lot of weight. So there is a lot to be proud of. He’s cleared. He’s competing in the half court at a hundred percent. But I know that when we start going full court consistently he’ll be able to just play in spurts, of course, and we don’t want to risk anything, of course, when he’s not in great shape either. So it’s a work in progress. When he does get to the point when he’s in as good of shape, he’s still going to have to go through the learning curve that all of these young guys go through in terms of what we’re asking offensively and defensively, his responsibilities on the glass, ball screen defense, transition defense. Just understanding what we’re trying to do. I think he did have a year to sit and listen and learn, but it’s different when you’re going through it live. But the positives that he could bring us immediately are his hands, his girth, his skill level, and not only shooting it, but passing it, decisions. He’s a very talented offensive player.”
One of the most skilled big men you’ll see when it comes to footwork in the post, soft hands to catch passes, and shooting ability, the sky is the limit for Stokes once he gets healthy and too a manageable playing weight. A final injury update came from Gorjok Gak on how his knee is feeling.
“It’s good. It’s getting better. Taking it day by day right now. They haven’t set a timeline for the day I’m coming back.”
Though there still a few questions when it comes to health this is a frontcourt that has a lot of different pieces. Defense from Hayes, the ability to attack closeouts by Stone, the open court speed of Johnson, the grittiness of Bassett, the length of Gak, and the offensive touch from Stokes should give Coach White a full box of tools that he has never had before. With the guard and wing group looking as talented as ever, this frontcourt unit providing above-average play could be what pushes Florida to one of the top teams in the nation.