Well, the season is finished and there is no way around it, that loss to Oral Roberts hurt. I’d love to tell you the loss was bittersweet or something like that but there wasn’t really anything sweet, it was just bitter.
On a lighter note, I have greatly enjoyed hitting your inboxes every Thursday with some hoops musings from my brain. This may be the last of the season, but I’ll be back!
Go Gators!
Florida’s loss to Oral Roberts was embarrassing, and not just because it was to a 15-seed Summit League team.
There are going to be people who find the loss embarrassing because Oral Roberts was a 15-seed but the fact of the matter is that Florida was up by 11 points well into the second half and you should be able to hold that lead against any team. It doesn’t matter who the game is against, to blow that lead is embarrassing. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time we have seen this happen under Mike White and it has become a sad trait tied to his coaching ability. I wish it could be defended, but White made some tactical errors. Florida’s starters, who had been great, didn’t see the floor for the last 9:30 of the game and instead White went to a lineup that featured Scottie Lewis and Osayi Osifo that got exposed. However, the bigger note is probably that…
Playing fast is not in Mike White’s DNA.
When Mike White came to Florida he said he wanted to play fast. After not playing fast for a couple of years he said he wanted to ACTUALLY start playing fast, saying it was “in his DNA.”
Well, the DNA test has returned, and playing fast is not present.
You can look at a number of factors throughout the season to support that, but nothing is a truer look at reality than in the last 12 minutes of the game where Mike White decided to slow the game down to a crawl. This ultimately didn’t work for the Gators who squandered the double digit lead and lost.
You can really tell a team and a coach’s identity by how they play in the biggest moment of the biggest games. Well, in the biggest minutes of the biggest game of the season for Florida, Mike White decided that his team should play as slow as possible.
What does that tell you?
It tells you that he’s more comfortable playing slow than fast. Will the Gators play fast next year? Well, maybe? But you can’t say with certainty, as playing with pace is not in Mike White’s DNA.
Mike White needs an offensive coordinator on his staff.
I wish I could say this was an original thought but it actually came from my good friend Neil Blackmon from Saturday Down South. He was the first to say that Coach White needs an offensive coordinator on his staff, and it’s an idea I can’t shake.
There are plenty of coaches around the country who have an assistant taking offensive or defensive coordinator roles, and for White he could definitely use help on the offensive end. White has always been a defense-first coach, and offense has never really come easily to him. The Gators have found ways to score decently well the last few seasons, but that has largely been due to their raw talent and not because the Gators are running any particularly great stuff.
Assistant coaches Darris Nichols and Jordan Mincy are both rumored to be in a bunch of mid-major coaching searches this offseason and I’m nearly certain at least one of them gets one of those jobs. If that is the case, White needs to find an assistant who can really help out his offense.
Tre Mann might be a better pro than a college player.
Tre Mann announced on Wednesday that he’s heading to the NBA Draft and that he’ll be signing with an agent, so he’s gone for sure.
And, understandably so!
He had an outstanding sophomore season where he really showed what he was made of and why he was a 5-star out of high school who had NBA buzz. While Mann was a great player at Florida, his game of individual shot creation is more suited to the NBA than college and for that reason I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he ended up having an NBA career that was even better than what he did at Florida.
For whatever it’s worth, the ESPN mock draft (which has historically been the most accurate) currently has Mann getting drafted 15th overall. Getting drafted in the first 30 picks means a big guaranteed cheque and considering he looks to be comfortably in that position, he’s making the right choice to go pro.
This season was still fun.
There was some heartbreak to start the year and some very angry fans ending the year. I get that in a lot of ways it was an extremely rough season.
However, there were still a lot of great moments. Colin Castleton surprised everyone and played amazing. Tre Mann showed his NBA potential and hit some of the biggest shots the Gators have seen in a number of years. Tyree Appleby blossomed as a fan favorite due to his tenacity and tough shot making.
The Gators were able to beat West Virginia in a highly entertaining game. As was the NCAA Tournament overtime opening win against Virginia Tech. Hammering Tennessee down a bunch of starters was objectively amazing.
There are definitely reasons to be down on what occurred over the last few months but there were also some amazing moments and some great memories that shouldn’t be forgotten.
Man, I’m going to miss basketball over the next few months.
Take care of yourself and if you can, someone else too.
Go Gators!