by Eric Fawcett
It’s finally here, folks! Sure, there was a moment, or two, or seven thousand where it looked like this basketball season might not get off the ground but alas, here we are! Florida got their first game of the season underway and oof, it wasn’t exactly pretty, but they did get a win out of the way over Army. As you can imagine, with the start of the season and Florida’s first game officially logged I have PLENTY of thoughts. Here are five of them:
1) Normally I wouldn’t panic after one game, but this situation is different.
In regular circumstances I would try to keep anyone from overreacting to what was a rough opening game by the Gators but in this case I think there is legitimate reason for concern. For starters, coach Mike White said again and again that the Gators were going to play fast, and he guaranteed the team was going to press. Well, the transition offense wasn’t there, and the press didn’t work.
When Florida rebounded Army’s misses they didn’t seem to push the ball with conviction or seem to have a clear understanding of what their offensive attack was supposed to be. There were definitely times where they pushed the ball and nothing was there, and that’s fine, but it definitely didn’t look like the team was executing what they have been practicing all offseason.
Then there was the press. Ahh, the press. For those who read my work at Gator Country you’ll know I wrote a couple of times in the offseason that I didn’t think pressing was a viable option at the high major level, citing data for recent seasons across college basketball to support it.
Again, that was saying it wasn’t a viable high major strategy.
Well, Army certainly isn’t a high major team, but they had no problem with the press. When Florida tried pressing Army navigated it with ease, knifing through the defense on their way to layups on open threes. The Gators got out of it rather quickly, but it shows just how difficult it is to press in college basketball.
So, to reiterate, the main offensive change didn’t really work, and the main defensive change didn’t either.
Totally reasonable to have some worry about this basketball team.
2) Tre Mann and Tyree Appleby are bringing something the Gators haven’t had in quite a while.
There were a few things to be down about regarding Florida’s opening game but a bright spot was definitely the offensive game of Tre Mann and Tyree Appleby. Both had absolutely electric moments as scorers, both beating their guys off the dribble for layups or, most excitingly to me, pulling up off the dribble and hitting threes.
Shooting off the dribble is a premium skill in basketball and it’s something the Gators have really lacked in their guards recently. Defense is so good nowadays that you can’t always rely on your set offense to create shots, sometimes you need players to improvise and get an open look on their own. Mann and Appleby hitting big shots off the bounce is encouraging because it means when games are tight and defense is tighter, they have a couple of dudes that can create and make something out of nothing.
In the last few seasons the Gators lacked these types of shot makers put a ceiling on how good offensively they could be and while the Army game wasn’t awfully encouraging the shot making of Mann and Appleby gave a glimpse into how this team can score, and how they’ll have a chance to be really good offensively.
3) Speaking of offense…looks like they’re back to trying the dribble drive.
When Mike White was hired at Florida he was known for playing dribble drive offense, a style of offense that relies on players driving into the paint, drawing defenders, and hitting the open man. You often see dribble drive at the lower levels, as well as the highest of levels, most notably Kentucky who runs it religiously. At Florida, it hasn’t exactly worked well. In the 2018 and 2019 seasons the Gators started the season using dribble drive before realizing it wasn’t working and then switching it out to other offensive systems.
Like clockwork, Florida came out against Army playing dribble drive and over the first few minutes had more turnovers than made shots. They ended up going back to the Princeton offense, something that worked for them well last year after making the switch from dribble drive.
Quite frankly, Florida just hasn’t really had the personnel to play dribble drive. Noah Locke and Scottie Lewis don’t have the attacking ability to create the advantage situations necessary to run the offense and for that reason when the ball moves to them the offense stagnates. It was good to see them switch out of it rather quickly, and now the focus goes to the game against Boston College on Thursday night where I am more than intrigued to see what offense Florida decides to run.
4) Another bright spot was the play of Colin Castleton, who is going to be a very popular player at Florida.
The first surprise of the season came when Florida announced their starting lineup with Michigan transfer Colin Castleton at center, something unexpected considering many thought returning sophomore Omar Payne would be in that position.
Very quickly, Castleton showed why he deserved the starting spot. Defensively he showed great position in pick and roll coverage and offensively he was a terror on the glass and also demonstrated some great hands offensively. He finished the game with 9 points and 8 rebounds and was all over the place defensively with his length. Castleton is listed at 6’11”, and when you see him next to Omar Payne who is listed at 6’9” he looks way larger. Castleton also has a 7’3” wingspan, something that helps him as a defender.
The real winner here is Florida’s center depth which has been abysmal for years. The Gators haven’t had a true capable backup center since Kevarrius Hayes was spelling John Egbunu, and boy does that ever feel like a long time ago. Castleton and Payne look like they’re ready to provide 40 minutes of solid center play and that doesn’t even factor in the two guys who weren’t able to go Wednesday. Jason Jitoboh is nursing a minor injury and JUCO transfer Osayi Osifo wasn’t able to make the trip due to COVID and if those two are healthy they’ll bolster the depth even more. For once, the Gators have frontcourt options.
5) Playing in an empty gym wasn’t as weird as I thought.
You may think differently than me on this one but honestly, watching the game against Army on TV I didn’t really find myself missing fans. The way the court was set up looked great, and I loved being able to hear players and coaches talk way more than you’d normally get on a broadcast. As much as we look to fans to provide energy, it was a different and really cool kind of energy to hear the benches way more than you usually would.
However, it’s one thing for them to play at an event set up nicely for no fans and it will be different when the Gators end up playing in a gym that hasn’t been optimized for it. We’ll find out then, but personally I don’t see myself missing fans greatly.
One thing that was very different than I expected in the empty gym was shooting, or lack thereof. In the NBA bubble shooting numbers went through the roof with empty gyms making for a much better shooting backdrop with less distractions, and I thought that would be the case for Florida. Sadly, they shot the ball poorly, but of course that’s a single game sample.
Thanks for joining along, and be sure to check your invoice every Thursday morning for more of my Florida basketball thoughts!
Really informative! Here’s hoping they figure some things out!