As we inch closer and closer to basketball season one word remains steadily on the tongue of coach Mike White as he addresses his team and the media.
Toughness.
You first heard toughness mentioned by Coach White in the non-conference portion of last season when he pinpointed the lack of toughness as one of the major reasons behind a tough stretch of losses to Duke, Florida State, Loyola-Chicago, and Clemson. With a team rich in talent from a skills talent this upcoming season you can bet Coach White isn’t going to let the ability to score lead to some complacency about the physical and mental aspect of toughness within the group. Coach White addressed the media this week in a press conference, and so far, that toughness is still in the development phase at this point in practice.
“Haven’t responded unbelievably well in terms of fighting through fatigue and mental and physical toughness, but guys are trying. I think they understand that’s a deficiency of ours right now. We’re a little bit deeper right now, knock on wood. Skilled team. High character team. We’re going to have some games where I think we’ll score it — we’ve got some weapons — but I also think our guys understand that we’re average defensively, average on the glass, but working to improve those areas.”
Coach White will be looking for some players to step up in the toughness department after the departure of some of the more rugged players on the team last year.
“I didn’t think we were the toughest team last year. I thought the year before we were a tough team, but not as good offensively as we were the year before. And some of it is with who you lose. We lost our two toughest guys from last year — and I would put Kevarrius Hayes in that category as well. Chris Chiozza and Egor Koulechov were guys. Chris was a pitbull. And Egor, pound for pound, was tough as anyone in our league. And, of course, we lost the specimen of size and strength in John Egbunu, who’s not around anymore. Our guys understand it. We’ve got a couple guys who like contact. We need to find some more.”
Not the most naturally talented player on the team, redshirt-sophomore Dontay Bassett (who suffered a rolled ankle last week) likes to make up that talent with sheer tenacity on the floor, throwing around his 6’8”, 240 pound frame into anyone that tries to prevent him from grabbing a rebound or loose ball.
“From a physicality standpoint, he’s probably the guy who likes contact more than anyone on our team.”
If he can help set the tone in practice it could really help raise the bar for physicality on the team.
Redshirt-senior Jalen Hudson certainly sees the physicality taking a step up between what he saw last year and what he sees now. When asked what’s different so far between last year’s team and this one, he had some words that will definitely be encouraging to Gator fans.
“Definitely our depth, our athleticism, our physicality. Those are the three things that stand out the most from last year’s team to this year’s team.”
That sentiment was echoed by Kevarrius Hayes.
“I’ve seen a lot of effort; a lot of guys are playing really hard. The competitive level has gone up a little bit. I feel like we’re all playing really well. Everyone’s been working on their game and it shows.”
Playing 40 minutes of physical ball can be difficult if you don’t have enough bodies available. With the team mostly healthy at this point of the season, Coach White has been really happy with the way he’s been able to run his team.
“I think this group is embracing work, probably a little more than last year’s team, for this early. I think we have more depth and parity, knock on wood with our health. We’re more of a diverse team, which natural when you can have 10, 11, 12 guys practicing, which we haven’t had in a couple years.”
Having that many functional players on the roster should breed a healthy competitiveness for floor time.
“I like that there’s a lot of confusion and parity after our first few guys. I think the seniors have separated themselves a little bit. After that, just about everyone else on scholarship from four to 13 has an opportunity to play. And can you play 13, I don’t know how effectively we can play 13 guys. I don’t know if that’s what we want. It could be where we play 10, you know, but those last couple guys, or 11, and those last couple guys rotate. Could be a different 10th or 11th guy each game, depending on who’s practicing well, depending on injuries. But we’re definitely much deeper than we were this time last year.”
Mental toughness is important for freshman making the leap from high school to the SEC and Coach White spoke highly of how his three freshman (Andrew Nembhard, Keyontae Johnson, and Noah Locke) have made the transition.
“I think the accountability level with those three true freshmen has been a little bit surprising; doing some things that aren’t really fun to do, but making themselves do it. That’s how some people define toughness. They’re three of our most accountable guys right now.”
With the offensive talent looking like it may be the calling card for the Gators, mental and physical toughness could be what takes this team to another level. A talented and deep Florida team that’s getting tougher everyday…basketball season can’t come quickly enough!