I see us with Golden as no worse than finishing 5th place in his first year which for a transition year where he came into a tough spot and could have lost most of the team and put us really behind the 8-ball for a couple of seasons is nothing short of spectacular. I can also see him getting us into the top 3 of the standings. We have ourselves a good one in my view. Already talking about expecting to compete for national titles at Florida. Thoughts?
I can't wait to see what Golden's offense & defense look like. It's easy to be optimistic given the fresh start. Let's get upgrades at PG & PF. That would go a long way toward making us competitive in the SEC, but we just don't know much about how it will look. Every season there is cause for optimism at the start, because they beat up on some lesser teams. Remember how excited we were after the Ohio St win? I'd rank the top factors as: Complete the roster, esp. at PG Install & teach the schemes. Can this take hold in under a year? Motivate the individuals; foster team unity. Will they fight for each other throughout the season? After adversity?
There will be lots of top notch competition in the SEC: i.e, Arkansas (#2 ranked class - three 5*'s), Texas A&M, Tennessee, Auburn(#13 class - one 5*), Kentucky(#25 class - two 5*'s), Alabama(#3 class - two 5*'s), etc. Hopefully, Florida can at least make a return to the NCAA Tournament. Like always, anything more will be gravy! Doing well in the pre-season(i.e, picking up quality wins) will be the key to getting off to a good start before the SEC season begins. It seems like the "lazy" NCAA committee already makes up their minds by then who is good and what the pecking order will be among teams. Florida needs to avoid being on the "NCAA bubble" if they can help it. Just ask Texas A&M if doing well in the SEC Tournament makes a difference or not in your final resume.
I agree. I also think someone representing CBS sits in the unlisted chair at the head of the "committee" table and is mostly responsible for picking teams that will generate ratings, errr, um, the "most deserving" teams. LOL! I'm still shaking my head about TAMU.
I think we are fine at the four. Felder played well when he was healthy and for adequate minutes, and he is a great four in this system because he can shoot and move, but can also be physical. Then we have Fudge and Reed, who both have a ton of upside. I like where we are everywhere but point right now.
SEC going to be so tough next year, I'll go with 5th. And we have a tourney seed for the Dance between 5-8.
I think we're all going to be asking ourselves next year why Felder didn't get a lot more minutes in 2021-2022 season. Felder is going to be an absolute beast defensively, rebounding, and his 3 point shooting should continue to surprise.
I would take that in a heartbeat and run in Golden’s first year. “Wes Chandler was Percy Harvin before Percy Harvin was born.”
With the guys coming back and the guys coming in, we should be pretty good. How good, who knows? Sometimes kids struggle early in a season under a new system.
