By Eric Fawcett
Ole Miss didn’t have themselves a very good time on their trip to Gainesville as the Gators hammered them as the Rebels’ best player, Breein Tyree, watched from the sidelines with a back contusion. Offensively the team was really humming, in a way we haven’t seen a lot of this season, and it adds to the rocky up and down nature of the team up until where we’re at this season.
As you can imagine, this is resulting in me having lots of thoughts. Here is five of them.
1. Omar Payne has an NBA body, and how long he stays at Florida is extremely difficult to predict.
When Omar Payne goes up for the game’s opening tip he contacts the ball six inches above anyone he’s matched up with. When opponents think they have an open layup because they beat a guard off the bounce, Payne inexplicably always gets his fingertips on it. When something thinks they have a passing lane through the heart of Florida’s defense, newsflash, they probably don’t because Payne is in the area with his ridiculously, almost comically long arms.
Omar Payne has the wingspan of a condor. Or, maybe several condors. I’m not entirely sure the wingspan of a condor, but I believe they are quite large and intimidating and when it comes to protecting the rim and playing defense Payne is just that. At 6’10” he’s been reported to have a wingspan in the area of 7’5” and when you see him simply walking with his hands down at his knees that assessment seems correct.
Not only does he have these physical tools but he knows how to use them. His anticipation defensively is excellent and he can also time his jump perfectly on rebounds. For that reason, he has turned into quite an important piece of Florida’s core rotation.
With the physical tools he possesses the next question has to be “how long will he be at Florida?” You see, pretty much every player with his measurables ends up on an NBA roster (or at least G League roster) at some point and for Payne it’s just a matter of when he wants to take the jump and see what team wants to gamble on his length and leaping ability.
There are two schools of thought here. If he stays at Florida until he’s a junior or senior he has the opportunity to develop his game and become a well-rounded big man. However, if he leaves sooner there are going to be teams fascinated by the “what if” game when they see his physique. Historically, elite athletes with great frames have been drafted high as underclassmen even when they have had mediocre or even bad college careers. The “mystery box” element of taking a raw player with tons of potential intrigues a lot of front offices and every NBA development team thinks they can turn anyone with physical tools into an all-star.
I’m going to enjoy Omar Payne while he’s at Florida because I really have no idea how long he’ll be there.
2. Somehow the Gators’ zone offense is awesome.
There has been a boatload of criticisms lobbed towards this basketball team so far this season and many of them have to do with a lack of offensive execution at times. There have been some, well, maybe one or two more than some, lackluster offensive performances so it’s easy to see the root of some of this vitriol.
Here is a strange stat about Florida basketball.
Against man defenses they are scoring 0.9 points per possession.
Against zone defenses they are scoring 1.25 points per possession.
That is a wild swing, and you don’t need to be a huge analytics geek like myself to see how vast the difference is.
This was put on display against Ole Miss as the Gators gouged their 2-3 zone for bucket after bucket on their way to a convincing win. Watching the game, I wondered if Rebels coach Kermit Davis or anyone on his staff was privy to the numbers I’m aware of as they stuck to their 2-3 zone despite the Gators getting open layups of three-point looks galore.
How can this team be so much better in zone than in man defense? Anecdotally, I have a theory.
The way Florida’s roster is constructed they don’t have a lot of individual playmakers off the dribble. There aren’t shifty guards who use dribble moves to get all the way to the hoop, and for that reason the Gators can be a bit easy to guard against teams aware of Florida’s deficiencies. Teams like Florida State, Butler, and UConn chose to take away all passing lanes and make Florida’s ball handlers play one on one and since that’s not a strength of Florida’s they struggled.
When playing against man defenses you need someone who can make a play one on one and the Gators just don’t have a lot of those guys.
They do, however, have some really good passers. Kerry Blackshear Jr. can see over the top of defenses and make good reads, Keyontae Johnson is a master of the bounce pass, and Andrew Nembhard, well, I think he might be a wizard to be quite honest.
Beating zone defenses is all about using the pass. The whole defensive scheme is about taking away dribble drives and making you pass the ball. The thing about Florida is that they aren’t great at dribble drives and are skilled at passing the ball and therefore playing zone against them plays right into the Gators’ hands.
We’ll see what SEC teams realize this, but if you ever see an opponent go zone you should be ecstatic.
3. Florida’s overall defense hasn’t been as good as what we’re accustomed to, but they’re still forcing a ton of turnovers.
Mike White has had elite defensive teams at Florida no matter what players have been on the roster but this year seems to really be challenging him. Florida is currently 58th in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric which is far and away higher than it’s been at any point over the last four years (the Gators have been living in the top 25 of this metric) and that has to be concerning for the coaching staff.
Even though Florida’s overall defense hasn’t been great they have started to crank up the pressure defensively and it has resulted in them turning over the ball a great amount, something they’re going to need to do if they’re going to compete for an SEC title despite not having great first-shot defense.
Against Ole Miss the Gators forced 18 turnovers and in their last win prior against South Carolina they forced 14.
In their blowout loss to Missouri they still managed to force 11.
Florida has the athletes to create havoc with Scottie Lewis, Keyontae Johnson, and Omar Payne, and Andrew Nembhard has shown how his incredible basketball IQ lends itself to coming away with steals. Noah Locke has also contributed with some timely steals, especially the key interception at the end of regulation against Alabama that allowed Florida to push overtime and ultimately come out with the win.
If Florida is going to struggle to play straight up defense and force misses creating havoc and hoping the opponent isn’t ready for it isn’t a bad way to go. Auburn, the team Florida is about to play on Saturday made a Final Four a year ago playing a scrambled defense that confused opponents and forced turnovers and it may not be a bad strategy for Florida to adopt.
They will need to be able to convert some transition opportunities if they’re going to force so many turnovers. They’re still working and slowly improving in that area, but that’s something to be addressed in a different newsletter.
4. Dontay Bassett has been an excellent reserve player.
He doesn’t get a lot of burn in Florida’s deep frontcourt but whenever Bassett gets on the floor he always seems to make winning plays and when I see him getting subbed off I’m usually thinking to myself that it was a fantastic shift.
Bassett’s ability to take charges shows not only the toughness this young man possesses but also his intelligence, something I don’t think he gets enough credit for as he gets picked up off the floor after sacrificing his body to draw an offensive foul.
You see, there are two ways to protect the rim in basketball and protecting the rim is the number one role of the center on defense. The first way is to jump straight up in the air and either get a fingertip on a layup attempt or deter the driver who is scared of getting blocked enough that he misses his attempt.
That’s what you’d normally think of when you hear rim protection.
The thing about that is that if you’re not really tall or really long or a really great leaper… you’re not going to get your hands on a lot of balls.
Dontay Bassett is listed (perhaps generously) at 6’9” and he’s not particularly long or a particularly great jumper. He realized that early in his career and figured out he could protect the rim in a different way.
Taking charges.
It’s really similar to the conventional way of contesting shots. When blocking shots you want to get into good defensive positioning and then explode upwards with hands raised. When taking charges you still get in that great defensive position but instead of jumping you plant. You use your hands to protect whatever parts of your body you deem valuable and you prefer to get ran over by a sprinting perimeter player.
Bassett gets a lot of deserved credit for the toughness he shows in sacrificing his body to take charges but I think he deserves equal credit for showing great intelligence too. It’s not easy to anticipate exactly when to step into position on a slicing guard and if you’re not in perfect position refs are going to call a blocking foul with great enthusiasm.
Bassett gets the charge a lot more than he gets called with a blocking foul and he deserves a ton of credit.
5. Florida’s current redshirt transfers are going to be exactly what the team needs in 2020-21.
The Gators currently have two true transfers sitting on the bench in their redshirt campaign and that’s Tyree Appleby, previously of Cleveland State, and Anthony Duruji, previously of Louisiana Tech. Appleby is a 6’1” speedster with a dizzying handle and a dangerously accurate jumper and Duruji is a 6’7” super-athlete who would measure better than most NBA players in leaping ability.
As a fun little project, I went back and watched a few hours of each player from the season prior with their original teams. This is something I did when both committed, but a refresher was necessary.
Something struck me right away when watching them play.
They are PERFECT for what Florida needs.
First of all, they’re going to be veterans. Each of them played two seasons at their previous schools so when they take the court, they’ll be fourth year players, something Florida hasn’t had much of in their main rotation recently. The Gators are currently 344th in the country in experience, something that has probably bit them a few times this season. Getting older in the one-and-done era of basketball is hard to do but the Gators are going to have two older players playing key roles next year.
Currently the Gators are thin at the forward spots and don’t have a lot of conventional options behind Keyontae Johnson and Scottie Lewis. Anthony Duruji plays both of those positions perfectly. He has the size and length to handle anyone at the power forward position and he’s easily quick enough to hang with any small forward. Versatility hasn’t been a strength of the Gators recently and Duruji is going to bring it.
Remember how I mentioned earlier that the Gators lacked individual scorers?
Let me introduce you to Tyree Appleby, individual scorer extraordinaire.
Appleby torched the Horizon League while at Cleveland State, a team that quite frankly wasn’t very good and didn’t have many offensive options. For that reason, Appleby saw double teams every single game but that didn’t seem to bother him at all. Using his incredible handle, he’d create space around defenders and once he felt he was finished toying with them he’d pull up from deep to hit a jumper. Not only was he a great individual scorer but he was one of the best passers in college basketball too, posting a top-20 assist percentage that was higher than even Nembhard’s.
These aren’t just two outstanding players, they’re two outstanding young men with fantastic personalities the team, the school, and the community are going to love.
Oh, and they happen to fill the gaps in Florida’s roster perfectly, too.