Hello everyone! It’s wonderful to see you again! It’s me, Eric Fawcett, back again with your Thursday morning Around The Hoop newsletter where I get to rant, rave, or ramble about just about whatever I want when it comes to Florida basketball!
Usually my thoughts jump around alot from topic to topic, really wherever my mind goes. However, this newsletter is going to be different.
If you didn’t see the news, the Gators lost star center Colin Castleton to injury this past Wednesday. It doesn’t appear like he’ll be able to return, which is truly crushing for him after a great season where he tried to drag his team to the NCAA Tournament.
Today, I think all my thoughts are going to be about Colin Castleton, I hope you don’t mind. Let’s get into it!
“I didn’t see the news–what happened?”
This past Wednesday against Ole Miss, Colin Castleton had somewhat of a freak collision where he ended up breaking his hand. Pretty much as soon as it happened, Castleton and Florida’s staff knew it was a broken hand. At this point of the season every game is pretty much a must-win, so when the Gators pulled him out of the game, you knew it wasn’t precautionary and there was definitely a major injury.
Shortly after the game, it was announced that he would almost certainly be out for the remainder of the season. There is a slight door open to the possibility of Castleton returning if the Gators were to make the NCAA Tournament, but that seems like an extremely unlikely outcome. This was Castleton’s fifth year of college basketball, so his time at Florida is going to be finished at the conclusion of this season.
Just how good was the season Colin Castleton was having?
Castleton was averaging 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and perhaps most notably–3 blocks. Entering the season Castleton was on All-American watch-lists as well as watch lists for the player of the year in college basketball. According to popular analytics tool KenPom, Castleton was a top-15 player in college basketball before the injury. It would have been interesting to see if Castleton would have remained in the mix for an All-American team because individually he has been outstanding, but voters often don’t like to select players who are on teams that aren’t having a ton of success.
Whether it was the offensive or defensive side of the basketball, Castleton was Florida’s best player by a large margin. Offensively he was Florida’s biggest threat and teams played the Gators like that–constantly double teaming him and daring someone else to try to score. Defensively, it was Castleton’s pick and roll defense and work as a help side rim protector that allowed the Gators to play like a top-5 defensive team for much of the year.
Looking at the advanced stats, the Gators have gotten killed all year when Castleton hasn’t been on the floor. Unfortunately, we have seen that played out now that he is out. He was the heart and soul of this basketball team whose work can’t be praised enough.
Will Castleton be an NBA player?
He’ll absolutely have a shot. There were teams willing to give him a G League deal last summer, though no one was ready to give him a full, one-way NBA contract. He has only gotten better, and there will certainly be teams looking to get him on their Summer League roster to see if he can earn a deal. It’s unlikely he’ll get drafted, but he’ll still absolutely get a shot at the league.
Here’s an uncomfortable thought…has Castleton been the most wasted elite talent in Florida basketball history?
This question isn’t really rhetorical–I’d really be interested in your thoughts as readers. I know a lot of you have followed the team for much longer than I have, so perhaps there is a name that comes to mind. But, looking at the last 20-30 years of Florida basketball, I’m not sure the team has been lucky enough to have a player like Castleton only to fall completely flat. Florida has had three really, really good years of play from Colin Castleton–with the past two seasons being near All-American level.
What has that amounted to?
One brief NCAA Tournament appearance–and that was in his first year, before he started to play at a near All-American level. So, for two years the Gators had one of the best centers in the country and didn’t really come close to the NCAA Tournament in either of those years.
This is an area where I am devastating for Colin, who completely kept up his side of the bargain–he played his tail off and was mightily productive on both sides of the floor. However, the team around him, and the coaching staff, weren’t able to keep up their side of the bargain.
For how productive Castleton was offensively, I don’t think he came close to touching the scoring numbers he could have if he was in a better offensive system the last two seasons. He never really got deep post catches, and was never surrounded with shooters that could scare teams away from double and triple teaming him. When he did catch the ball on the block, the Gators seldom ran actions away from the ball to occupy help and make things easier for Castleton to operate one on one.
It’s sad, but when I think about the era of Colin Castleton at Florida I will likely always think of the fact that I don’t think he was surrounded with the right players and I don’t think there was ever an offensive system around him that came close to maximizing his talent. Instead, he had to catch the ball far from the hoop and fight through double teams–and even still he was able to be productive.
Before the season, Castleton guaranteed the Gators would make the NCAA Tournament. He did everything he could personally to make that happen, and I’m crushed that he won’t get to play in the Big Dance this year.
Castleton is going to go down as an absolute fan favorite.
Colin Castleton played the game with a relentless motor. He played the game with intensity. He embraced playing in the SEC against some of the best players in the country, particularly at his position. He also played the game with joy in a way that was clear that he loved the game. Each year he was a Gator he was arguably the most popular player on the team, and that says a ton about his play on the court and his personality.
To Colin–congratulations on a fantastic career and we wish you the best on your professional journey. Thank you for giving everything you had to the Gators, you will always be a fan favorite!
Thanks for reading everyone, see you next week!