Welcome Gator fans, from wherever you may be joining us! First of all, I want to say that I hope everyone is safe and healthy, and that I’m wishing the best to all of you, as well as your family and friends. I love basketball, but in the grand scheme of everything going on right now it’s not secondary, actually it’s realistically what comes after tertiary or quaternary, but even though it’s nowhere near as important as the health and wellbeing of humankind, I’m glad you joined me for some quick hoops talk. Here are my five thoughts:
1. Mike White never had a chance to help his cause.
The college basketball season ending abruptly was bizarre for every team in the country but I would say comfortably that it was stranger for Florida than for most teams. For most programs in the country they could say with relative accuracy what trajectory their team was on. Yes, there are usually some teams that get hot in their conference tournaments and yes, there are occasionally Cinderella teams in March, but relatively speaking most fan bases can say with certainty whether their team in second weekend material or not.
For Florida, that isn’t the case.
Let’s be honest, if the Gators got bounced in their first game of the SEC Tournament and then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, no one would be surprised. Based off how the season has gone, two losses there wouldn’t be a shocker.
At the same time, it wouldn’t be surprising if they went on to win the SEC and then go deep in the NCAA Tournament on some wild run, because they have shown they can beat the elite teams in college basketball. It also wouldn’t be crazy if they lost their first game in the SEC Tournament only to go on a streak in the Big Dance, or won the SEC Tournament and get blown out in the opening round of March Madness, or literally any combination of possibilities. Nothing would be surprising.
When looking at Florida’s postseason possibilities there is one interesting element of the season ending, and it relates to perception of Mike White.
You see, I don’t really think general consensus of him could have gotten much worse this season. What I mean, is that if Florida were to have lost out in the first round of the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, I’m honestly not sure perception of White would be any worse than what it is now.
(I’m talking about general consensus, or at least among the loud criticism of White)
However, there was every possibility for White to totally shift the narrative in the positive direction by getting hot in postseason play. Even if the Gators made a Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight the general fan base wouldn’t have forgotten the bad losses earlier, but it certainly would have shown that White could win and that would help consensus of him.
White could have been playing with house money a little bit. Slander on social media couldn’t have gotten much even if Florida ended the season with two more losses, but going on positive streaks could have won back some positivity.
2) I absolutely appreciate Dontay Bassett’s time in Gainesville, but him moving on is the best for both sides.
Completely unsourced, I called early in the season that Bassett was going to be on his way out after the year and it looks like I was right. I won’t toot my horn too loudly, however, as I think it was fairly obvious. You see, when a player has the ability to graduate transfer it opens up all kinds of possibilities for them, and it’s always likely that the college basketball world at large offers a better possibility than the program that player is currently at.
For example, Keith Stone this past offseason. Was he angered or upset at the Florida program? No, he simply had the ability to go anywhere and with multiple options available, one happened to be better for him than Florida.
When it comes to Bassett, his departure is best for both sides. For him personally, I’m not sure he would have gotten much bigger of a role, even with Kerry Blackshear Jr. leaving. Omar Payne and Jason Jitoboh with a full offseason would likely be the players getting the looks for the starting role, with both of them possessing frames Bassett unfortunately wasn’t blessed with.
For the Gators, they likely need someone in that scholarship spot that they know is going to be healthy. Florida has been severely hampered in the last couple of seasons by players with injury histories taking up roster spots, and considering Bassett has never been able to put together a full campaign healthy you probably can’t expect him to do it in his final year.
I wish Dontay the best, and his toughness and effort made him a fan favorite at Florida and he will certainly be a fan favorite wherever he goes. I can’t wait to watch him in his next destination.
3) Florida is going to be active in the transfer market, again.
Even though the season just ended there are so many players in the transfer portal that the CDC is recommending it’s capacity be restricted to 50% and the rest should stay home and social distance.
Sorry for the horrible joke, I’m getting awfully bored sitting in my apartment.
But, just like past years, there are tons, and I mean TONS of players looking to transfer and the Gators have already gotten in the mix with potential true transfers, as well as grad transfers. Kevin Marfo, Joshua Morgan, Landers Nolley, and others have already heard from Florida’s staff, and I’m sure they’ll reach out to many more.
Most of Florida’s interest so far has been in the direction of big men, though it’s worth noting than many of them would be true transfers. Right now the depth chart at center is just Omar Payne and Jason Jitoboh, though I’m sure the Gators would enjoy playing small with incoming JUCO transfer Osayi Osifo at the 5. You’d think the Gators would be interested in a graduate transfer 5 who could help right away, but they might feel good about the sophomores being okay there.
Though it’s been bigs they have looked at mostly I definitely think they should keep their eye on some wings as well, and here’s why…
4) I think we’ve seen the last game Keyontae Johnson is going to play in orange and blue.
Keyontae Johnson was fantastic this season and honestly, I think he was so great that his time in college is going to be finished. Not only was he productive, but he has a style of game that’s perfect for the NBA. He can beat a defender in space, he can shoot the three, and he can switch 1-4 defensively. Plus, whenever he steps on an NBA floor he’s already going to be one of the most athletic players out there, which is quite a feat.
I predicted last season that he would be a two-and-through player and after seeing what he did this year, I’m sticking to it, even though I don’t want to be right. If he were to return he would be a solid pick for preseason SEC player of the year and he could be a star the likes of which the Gators haven’t seen in some time (yes, we thought Kerry Blackshear Jr. would be that, but I digress).
Covid-19 is going to make it’s presence felt in the NBA Draft, however, and that could make things very, very different than how they would normally go. In a normal offseason, teams would be giving pre-draft workouts to a boat load of players, and if that were to happen, I’d be sure some teams would fall in love with Johnson’s game and you know he would dominate the physical testing.
However, none of that is going to happen. Without the chance to do individual workouts teams will be relying only on film, and that totally changes the pre-draft process.
Even if Johnson isn’t given the chance to go wow teams in individual workouts I think a team is going to either draft him or give him a guaranteed contract and for that reason I think his time at Florida is done, but truthfully I hope I’m wrong.
5) Tre Mann is going to be a much-improved player as a sophomore.
Mann’s freshman season didn’t go how we would have expected it and for much of the season he struggled to do the thing that made him a 5-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American and that’s score. However, later in the year we saw some of the touch that he exhibited in high school, and he did it in big games against quality opponents.
All year I said that things were going to click for Mann at some point and he was going to explode offensively. Did things click? Yeah, I would say they mostly did and he was a valuable contributor late, but he didn’t have the offensive explosion I predicted. I was wrong on that one, and I’ll hold that L, but I’ll also double down on my take and say that he is going to be an excellent scorer in a year, and here are some of the reasons why.
One of the things that hurt Mann as a freshman was his sleight frame, something I’m sure will be improved between now and next season.
He also struggled with a lack of confidence early, but as a returner I think he’ll approach the game with a bit more of the ego that scorers need.
As well, I think Mann will get the chance to have the ball in his hands more often, something that he needs to be effective. When he was cooking dudes in high school it was always him with the rock, getting a ball screen and then attacking from there. As a freshman, he was almost always away from the ball. This whole season was an experiment offensively as the coaching staff was finding out what works and what didn’t and I think in 2020-21 they’ll have a much better idea of how to use Mann.
I said all season that Mann was going to turn into a spectacular player and I was wrong, it didn’t happen this year, but I’m saying next year he takes a huge step.
That’s all, my friends. Stay safe, and go Gators!