Hello, loyal Gator Country subscribers! It’s time once again for me to share my thoughts about Florida basketball. To be quite honest, I’m not particularly looking forward to this one, and you’ll find out why in just a few sentences. Let’s get into it.
Colin Castleton’s career at Florida is finished.
I’m currently writing this at around 8:45 PM ET time on Wednesday night, and I was just tipped off by a source something that you will know by the time you read this on Thursday morning.
Colin Castleton has broken his hand, and his season is finished.
This is truly devastating for a player who has put together a tremendous season and a tremendous career at Florida. Despite a lot of things going wrong for the Florida basketball program this season Castleton has played his absolute heart out and has found a way to be extremely effective considering that the offense on a whole has struggled and he hasn’t had the right complementary pieces around him. Castleton has always been a tireless worker and my heart breaks for him with this situation of having his college career finished.
Let’s also remember that Castleton could have been playing professional basketball in some capacity but instead decided to return to Florida for one more year, guaranteeing that the team would make the NCAA Tournament. I’m gutted that after he poured his all into the Gators the season the team on a whole couldn’t keep up their side of the bargain, and that he had to suffer such an unfortunate injury. We have seen Casleton in orange and blue for the last time which is something that, quite frankly, I am struggling to process as I type this.
Florida’s chances to make the NCAA Tournament were extremely slim even with Colin Castleton, and now any chance they had is probably cooked.
I am of the opinion that to even have a shot at the NCAA Tournament the Gators would have to win every game remaining in the SEC regular season and then rattle off a couple of wins in the SEC Tournament if they wanted to make the Big Dance. Winning the rest of the reglar season games would put them at 4-9 in quadrant-1 games, with only one of those wins being truly marquee (against Tennessee). That would likely have them in the high forties of the predictive metrics and the ever-important NET Rankings, and I just don’t think that would be good enough to get into the dance. You could disagree with me on that one, but even if you think that would get them in the dance–it would be at an unfavorable seed.
Now, factor in the Colin Castleton injury. Will the Gators be able to get the wins they need, even if you think they can take a loss against Arkansas or Kentucky and still make the dance? I’m not so sure.
Florida’s frontcourt depth is shaky at best without Castleton.
Entering the season, Florida’s coaching staff was not high on the depth of their frontcourt and were actively looking to add another body that could help that out. That was, of course, before they knew they’d lose their star in Colin Castleton, and it was before they knew CJ Felder would be stepping away from the team. So…you can see why the Gators are in a tough spot. CJ Felder is back with the program but it doesn’t seem like the staff has been in a hurry to play him, though the injury to Castleton may change things considerably.
This is a chance for Jason Jitboboh to prove that he can play at the SEC level. I’ll be honest with you–I have always been skeptical regarding his fit at the SEC level, anyone at Gator Country who has read my work throughout the years will know that. When you look around the league you don’t see many 6’11”, 300 pound centers–and I think there is a reason why.
Jitoboh will have a major opportunity to prove me wrong as he’ll be playing huge minutes down the stretch. Does that sentence terrify you? Fair enough. This is not a good situation for the Gators.
Let’s try to end on a positive note.
Riley Kugel has been excellent in recent games and gives the Gators a player they can pencil in for a huge season (on the assumption he returns…which you simply just never know these days). After 12 points against Ole Miss this is now three games in a row with double figures for Kugel, and it’s not just the production–he is doing it in style. Kugel plays the game with flare and explosiveness, and the glimpses of elite shooting and finishing for a bouncy 6’5” shooting guard ooze pro potential. There haven’t been a ton of positives in Florida’s season but the potential of Kugel has been one of them.
Sorry for the negative tone, my friends. We’ll see you next week. Go Gators!