By Will Miles
Kelly Rae Finley Hired
By all accounts, Kelly Rae Finley has done a fine job this season as the interim women’s basketball coach. The Gators are 20-9 overall and 10-6 in the SEC after failing to win more than 5 SEC games over the last 5 years.
In a vacuum, she’s clearly deserving of being promoted to full time head coach. That’s what happened on Monday as Athletic Director Scott Stricklin announced first to the team and then publicly.
But nothing should be evaluated in a vacuum. There were some very serious allegations that came to the fore this offseason about former Gators head coach Cameron Newbauer and how those were handled by Stricklin. After botching the initial response, Stricklin then held serve with a select group of reporters – notably omitting the reporter who broke the story – and didn’t really have any significant answers. While Finley was not accused directly of wrongdoing, she was accused of helping to quell discontent when it bubbled up under Newbauer.
I’d like to think the best of Finley. She may be a fine person and a fine coach. Perhaps all of the issues that plagued the program are in the past, and this is the appropriate move. But the fact that Stricklin hasn’t dealt with the allegations directly and the public doesn’t have much clarity about what is true and what is not is an issue when you then promote someone to be in charge.
It’s unfair to the players who made the allegations. It’s unfair to fans who cover the team. And it’s unfair to Kelly Rae Finley.
Men’s Basketball win over Georgia
Florida did what it was supposed to do by beating the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens 84-72. This was an absolutely must-win for Florida given the Bulldogs 6-23 record and the Gators hanging on by a thread for an NCAA Tournament bid.
Georgia isn’t a good team – and is particularly a bad defensive team – and Florida took advantage, making 52% of its shots and 45% from three. That included 4-9 from three for Phlandrous Fleming in a 27-point performance in what amounted to a homecoming.
Tyree Appleby also went 5-9 from three, helping the cause with 21 points of his own. This was the second of the last three games where Appleby has been extremely accurate from three-point range. He also hit 5-10 in the Gators recent win over Auburn.
But Appleby faltered from three (3-9) against Arkansas in between these two, as did the entire team (8-25). That’s the reality of this team. Win the three-point battle decisively and they win the game. Clank a bunch from distance, and it’s hard sledding.
Men’s Basketball win over Vanderbilt
When Scottie Pippen, Jr. made a layup to extend Vanderbilt’s second half lead to 65-56 with 8:58 in the second half, things looked bleak. When Pippen and Trey Thomas made back-to-back threes with 3:50 left to again extend the Commodore’s lead to 76-68 with 3:50 left, it looked even worse (93% win probability, according to ESPN). And then when Pippen drained a jumper to put Vanderbilt up 78-73 with 44 seconds left, it looked like all hope was lost.
But to their credit, the Gators kept battling every time Vanderbilt had them on the ropes. And then it became the Phlandrous Fleming show as he first blocked a layup attempt by Pippen and then buried the game winning three off of a pass from the post from Colin Castleton.
That was a fitting end, as the Gators shot 48% from three in the game, including 2-4 for Fleming and 3-5 for Appleby. Vanderbilt also shot 52% from three, which is why they were in the game in the first place and should be concerning considering it took 82 points to win this one.
The win moves the Gators to 19-11 (9-8 SEC) and likely two wins away from the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky is the only team left on the schedule (a likely loss), which means it is going to take two wins in the SEC Tournament.
We’ll see if Mike White and Co. can get it done.
Baseball up to 6-2
After a rough 1-2 start against Liberty, the Gators baseball team is on a roll. After its 11-2 victory over North Florida, the Gators’ record now stands at 7-2.
Perhaps more importantly is how the Gators got those wins. Over the six game win streak, the Gators have surrendered one run four times and the most they’ve given up is 4. That’s after giving up 5 and 6 runs in the two losses to Liberty.
Hunter Barco continues to shine, striking out 12 in 6 innings against Georgia State. But Nick Ficarrotta has also been a major contributor, throwing 9.2 scoreless innings since surrendering 2 runs to Liberty in his debut outing against Liberty. Blake Purnell, Brandon Sproat and Ryan Slater have all pitched well and Timmy Manning has recovered from an opening 3 inning, 4 run performance against Liberty to surrender one run in his last 5 IP.
That’s the recipe. You can try to outscore your opponents, but that rarely works consistently. The fact that Florida is getting great pitching – and that it’s coming from different sources – is a welcome sight. Certainly there are tougher opponents on the schedule than Georgia State, but you can only win the games in front of you.
This past week the baseball team did just that.
Softball 16-0
Speaking of winning the games in front of you, the Gators softball team is now at 16-0 after winning all four games in the UCF Knights Classic.
The last game was a 12-11 barnburner against the Knights and required two runs in the fifth and sixth innings for the Gators to pull ahead. The 27 hits between the two teams is the most action I can remember in a Gators softball game in a long time.
And that leads to my biggest concern if I’m a Gators softball fan. Elizabeth Hightower was a dominating force last season. When she pitched, the Gators shut down the opposition and were able to win. When she didn’t – or when she faltered – the Gators were much more pedestrian.
Hightower hasn’t pitched since February 18 against Duke and there has been some scuttle about an injury. If the injury turns out to be manageable, this might actually help Florida as they seek out options other than Hightower to trust when the stage gets hot. But if this is a lingering or debilitating injury, that is a problem for a team that has high hopes heading into the spring.
Grantham joins Alabama
Gators former defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is joining Nick Saban at Alabama as an analyst.
I’m actually fascinated by this. Grantham has significant holes in his resume as a defensive coordinator, but there’s really nobody better to learn from than Nick Saban. Add to that the current DC at Alabama – Pete Golding – is a disciple of Ron Roberts, and I’ll be interested to see what adjustments Grantham makes when he gets another shot as a coordinator.
That’s also interesting because Florida DC Patrick Toney is a Roberts disciple as well and are likely to run defensive schemes similar to Alabama and Baylor.
I watched a recent video on CoachTube where Billy Napier was talking to a bunch of high school coaches, and he stated that nothing he was going to tell those coaches was his; he’d stolen it from everyone and so had no problem sharing it in that forum. That shows an openness to changing when warranted.
Not being open to adjusting schematically with new information is a criticism that has followed Grantham around for as long as I can remember, certainly since his days at Georgia. He has no excuses now, as he’s with the premier coach in the country and should be able to learn a ton.
We’ll see what he learned next time he gets a DC job.
Recruiting cakes
There was a big of a kerfuffle over the weekend when 5-star 2023 recruit Cormani McClain’s mother posted Happy Birthday videos made by the Florida staff and the FSU staff. There was a significant difference between the two.
The Florida video clearly had been produced by someone, getting multiple staff members and coaches to stand in front of Happy Birthday balloons and send a personal message to McClain. The FSU video had Mike Norvell holding a cake while he and his staff sung Happy Birthday, some with looks on their faces like they had been taken hostage and would rather be anywhere else.
Little things matter. In the grand scheme of things, the birthday videos probably don’t move McClain towards Florida or away from FSU. But what it does show is that Florida’s staff is operating with an enormously high attention to detail. From the outside, all I can do is look at that and assume that they are operating with a similarly high attention to detail when it comes to issues that are critical to recruits: NIL, facilities, official visits, phone calls, texts, etc.
And if they’re operating with that level of attention to detail when it comes to a birthday video, what kind of attention to detail will the Gators have on the field?
Cormani McClain
None of that organization or attention to detail really matters all that much unless Napier and staff actually deliver on the recruiting trail. That’s why the level of attention being given to Cormani McClain is so important.
It’s not just that McClain is a 5-star recruit (though that’s important). It’s not just that McClain is the best cornerback in the 2023 class or that 247Sports’ Andrew Ivins has him pegged with a first round NFL Draft projection (though that’s important). To me, the most important thing about McClain is that he hails from Lakeland, Florida.
Tim Tebow, Marcus Gilbert, Brandon James, Wondy Pierre-Louis, Jermaine Cunningham, Jim Barrie, Riley Cooper, James Wilson, Deonte Thompson, Major Wright, Chris Rainey, Jaye Howard, Maurkice Pouncey, Mike Pouncey and Ahmad Black. Those are just a few of the players from the 2006 and 2007 classes from the state of Florida who signed with the Gators under Urban Meyer. A bunch of those guys are from Lakeland.
Napier mentioned it last week, but I think it bears repeating: Florida historically has been good when it has kept home-grown talent in the Orange and Blue. Kamari Wilson was the first step in that process, bringing in the IMG prospect instead of having him go up to Athens. McClain is the next domino in that process, as under the McElwain or Mullen regimes, he would have been headed to Alabama.
We’ll see whether Napier can close the deal and keep him home.
Defensive Improvement?
For those who watched Florida’s defense against LSU, it won’t come as a surprise that the Gators weren’t good at all against the run in 2021. But it was worse than I thought, with Florida ranked 85th in yards per rush allowed against FBS opponents. Conversely, the Gators were actually really good against the pass, ranked 18th overall in yards per attempt against FBS opponents.
The success against the pass surprised me, and I think it bodes well for improvement in 2022.
Think about who was playing in the secondary last year. Two of the Gators top-3 tacklers were Trey Dean and Rashad Torrence, both of whom are back this year. Tre’vez Johnson, Mordecai McDaniel and Jadarrius Perkins also got meaningful playing time and are back as well. And while Kaiir Elam is gone to the NFL, Jason Marshall started the entire year and played really well at corner as a true freshman.
My point is that if you’re going to hang your hat on experience, Florida has that in the secondary. And if you’re going to hang your hat on past performance, Florida has that in the secondary as well. There is still plenty of work to do up-front, and if Florida isn’t more physical against the run, none of this will matter.
But with a little bit more toughness up-front, the bones of a good defense are there for 2022.
Spring: what to look for?
With that in mind, I think the place to focus on in the spring is on defensive line, specifically freshman Chris McClellan and sophomore Desmond Watson.
Gervon Dexter needs some help. He had 50 tackles last year and 4.5 tackles for loss in the middle of the defense. But he didn’t get much help from any of the other young defensive tackles. Watson had 7 tackles, Dante Zanders had 6, and Lamar Goods had 1. One of those guys, or McClellan, are going to have to aid in the middle with the departures of Antonio Valentino, Tyrone Truesdell and Da’quan Newkirk.
Spring is always a weird time to compare lines, because you never know whether a defense is lights out because it is good or because the offensive line is bad. But in the case of Watson, we kind of do know what to look for.
When he came to campus, he was over 400 pounds. The Gators own website has him listed at 415 right now. It’s incredible how well he can move at that weight. But you don’t have to look too far from Gainesville to see what losing a little bit of weight might be able to provide.
Former Georgia Bulldogs Jordan Davis is about to be drafted into the NFL. He is listed at 6’6” (an inch taller than Watson) and 340 pounds. He is still an enormous man, but he was able to both move fast enough to compete in the SEC and be in good enough shape to spend a lot of time on the field.
If Watson comes into the spring slimmed down, I think that bodes well for his 2022. Because even at his weight last year, he showed flashes of being a difference maker on the line. And Florida really needs some difference makers up-front to turn around the run defense from last year.