(Note from Ray: Welcome to another newsletter exclusively for VIP members. Introducing “Around the Hoop” by Eric Fawcett.
We gotta give Gator hoops it’s due, right? ; )
The first couple issues will be free to all to offer a sneak preview,. Enjoy and stay tuned for more!)
By Eric Fawcett
It’s a new year, a new decade, and a new week so that means it’s time for five new thoughts I’ve been having about our Florida basketball team. Ready or not, here they come.
- Florida has a great chance to right the ship and turn the season around in league play.
There are some of you that are going to be extremely skeptical hearing this and let me be the first to say that I understand that. For some of you this team has done nothing to inspire confidence and it doesn’t matter what games are upcoming on the schedule you’re not going to feel like the team is in a good spot. I can understand that, but hear me out.
The SEC is way down from what it was a year ago and it’s nowhere near as difficult of a league as it normally is. Auburn is looking good at the top, projected to be most people’s favorite to win the league as of now but they’re missing some of the show-stopping pieces that carried them in postseason play a year ago and they don’t have the same terrifying amount of 3-point shooting that made them a constant threat. Kentucky has taken losses to Evansville and a Utah team that’s one of the youngest teams in the country and LSU recently got manhandled by East Tennessee State. Tennessee would have been one of the teams projected to compete for a conference title but they just lost Lamonte Turner, their second leading scorer and a tremendous playmaker on a team that lacks much passing outside of him.
It’s not just the top end of the league that’s hurting as the middle is looking… well, vulnerable, and there are some games that look like they could be cupcakes at the bottom of the standings too with Vanderbilt lacking top end talent and Texas A&M in a serious rebuild on track to put together one of the worst power conference seasons in some time.
Not only is the league not particularly strong but the schedule is quite favorable for the Gators. Their opening four games against Alabama, South Carolina, Missouri, and Ole Miss gives them four teams that aren’t considered to be in the NCAA Tournament picture and that gives them a chance to get their mojo going before some of the more challenging contests. In February they have an absolute gem of a five-game run seeing Vanderbilt, Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and then Vanderbilt again, another great opportunity for them to string wins together.
Despite the tough start to the season most predictive metric tools are predicting the Gators to finish third in the SEC and according to the most popular tools (KenPom, Sagarin, and Massey) Florida is finishing third but only a game behind first place. Given the fact that Florida hasn’t come even close to playing their best basketball but are still predicted to be on that trajectory there really is a good shot they can turn things around in conference play. In most seasons entering the SEC playing the way they currently are would be a death sentence but this is no ordinary season.
I know I’m seriously risking being classified as a sunshine pumper here but go look at the performances of SEC teams right now. I’m not saying the Gators will go and win the league or finish in the top three, but I am saying there is a far better chance than most people would think.
- Kevarrius Hayes was an awesome defender and the Gators miss him a lot.
During his time at Florida Kevarrius Hayes was often criticized and it stemmed from his limited skill set on the offensive end, so much so that I think his work on the other side of the floor was underappreciated.
Now that he’s gone Florida is having a difficult time replacing him and the fact they haven’t been able to compete defensively at the same level that they did last year despite adding Scottie Lewis (arguably the best defensive player in the 2019 class) and Omar Payne (one of the best defensive frontcourt players in the class) should show just how good Hayes was.
His ability to switch out to guards made the Gators versatile and his ability to rotate over and block shots allowed the perimeter players to be ultra-aggressive knowing they had Hayes behind them to clean up any mistakes.
Kerry Blackshear is a fantastic offensive player but defense doesn’t come easily to him. While he shows tremendous effort in moving his feet on the perimeter his frame just simply isn’t built to hang with guards and on the inside he doesn’t have the leaping ability or length to deter a lot of shots. For that reason the Gators have been good, but not great defensively and they are going to need some other players to step up.
I wrote about this and you can find it in the basketball section at Gator Country but Andrew Nembhard is a player that has really elevated his defensive play from a year ago and it’s really helped set the tone for the defense culture Mike White is bringing. His play as an on-ball defender has been solid but where he’s really shown strides is as a help defender where he’s come over and helped teammates on blown assignments.
Will Florida ever be a great offensive team? I’m really not sure, but I think it would be safe to err on the side of, well, probably not, and for that reason they’re going to need their defense to be elite for them to reach their ceiling. They haven’t shown elite defensive characteristics yet and finding a different way to defend without Hayes on the court is one of the things they are still working out.
- Tre Mann continues to be an enigma.
Long Beach State was a blowout win that allowed the Gators to get more minutes for their bench and experiment a little bit and one thing that caught my eye was the way they used Tre Mann as a primary ball handler more often.
This is something that I have been calling for and it’s something we’ve been seeing more of, especially in the Long Beach State massacre where they could let him play through mistakes which hasn’t been the case so far this season.
With him playing extended minutes we got to see both sides of the Tre Mann experience. On a few occasions he glided to the rim with an ease you don’t often see from college players, showing immaculate touch to get a bucket.
Then, you saw him over-dribble and throw away the ball on a routine play.
Additionally, he hit a tough shot but also went 1-6 on threes that were almost all open shots.
This summed up what has been going on with him so far. There has been some good with him showcasing the offensive flare that elevated him to McDonald’s All-American status but also some mindless turnovers and numerous wide-open shots that clanked out that make it tough to keep him on the floor.
I still think the Gators need a microwave-type scorer that can improvise and go get a bucket on their own and Mann is really the only piece on the roster that fits that mold, and for that reason I think they need to allow him to play through some mistakes as he refines his skills. This may make for some frustration in the moment but if he can become the scorer the Gators need it will be best for both him and the team.
- Playing big could be a great option for this team.
Scottie Lewis missed the Long Beach State game with a concussion suffered in practice and that left the Gators without many options at the wing and for that reason they were forced to play jumbo lineups with two centers on the floor at once.
This is something we saw the Gators do earlier in the season but they got away from it in the last few games as intelligent offensive teams like Butler and Utah State found ways to exploit matchups with Omar Payne and Dontay Bassett and the power forward spot.
Playing big allowed them to pound the glass coming away with 16 offensive rebounds, and while Long Beach State isn’t a particularly big, long, or athletic team it still showed just how effective the Gators can be on the glass when they get big and crash the boards with two centers.
As we have seen so far this season, the Gators are going to have some poor shooting nights. I don’t think this team is as bad of shooters as they have been so far but any team that is reliant on the three is going to grow cold at times. When that happens, having offensive rebounding to get extra possessions and second chance opportunities is huge. On those nights when shots aren’t falling the Gators will need to be able to be get scrappy and fight on the glass so getting reps now with the big lineup could really pay off in the future.
This is probably a decent time to address the news that Gorjok Gak has decided to step away from the team. He was one of many centers the Gators had on the roster and the Long Beach State game showed that he was probably last on the depth chart. Injuries have plagued him during his time at Florida and he was never able to be on the court for long stretches at a time and develop his skills. He’ll continue to attend class and become a graduate transfer in the offseason. We wish him all the best in whatever is next.
- Samson Ruzhentsev will be the fourth 5-star recruit Mike White has brought to Florida.
For those of you who may just now be catching up on basketball now that football is done, Samson Ruzhentsev is one of Florida’s commits for the 2020 class. A 6’7” wing originally from Russia but playing at Hamilton Heights in Tennessee (the same school that produced Jason Jitoboh) he was ranked 55th in the class at the time he decided he would be a Gator.
After tracking him for the past two months I’ll tell you this, there is no way he’s not majorly climbing up these rankings and in my opinion he’s going to be a 5-star by the time all is said and done.
First of all, Ruzhentsev is a 6’7”-6’8” (6’7” if you look at the programs, 6’8” if you ask Samson) wing who is an explosive leaper who also is one of the best shooters in class.
When you look at recent recruiting history any player who is that tall with his shooting ability is already likely to be a 5-star. Add in his athleticism and ability to play above the rim and I’m not sure how someone could keep him out of that status.
Adding to his case is the fact that his Hamilton Heights team has been awesome, ranked in the top-10 nationally so far picking off other great basketball teams. Not only has Hamilton Heights been racking up wins against great opponents but as they’ve been doing it Ruzhentsev has been leading the way in points and rebounds and doing it with great efficiency.
So, if you’re keeping track at home, he’s got excellent position size, tremendous athleticism, a polished shooting stroke, and he’s being productive for a winning team that’s knocking off top programs from all around the country.
Sounds like a 5-star to me, and sounds like someone who could be a McDonald’s All-American as well.
If he does end up with 5-star status he’ll join Andrew Nembhard, Scottie Lewis, and Tre Mann as 5-stars Mike White has brought to Gainesville which shows the level he and his coaching staff has been recruiting at.
Even if Ruzhentsev doesn’t end up as a 5-star he’s going to bring 5-star skills and intensity to Florida. The Gators are going to have minutes at the wing available next year and Ruzhentsev is going to command minutes. He even could slide to the power forward spot if the Gators want to play small, and if they want to go supersized he could play the shooting guard position with ease. Even at 6’7”-6’8” he’s a solid ball handler and his shooting is top-notch so he wouldn’t look uncomfortable at all in that position.
Florida is going to lose some talent in the offseason but they’ve got a good one coming in with Samson Ruzhentsev.
Well, those are the things occupying my mind these days. I’ll talk to you next week with what will be five fresh thoughts.