If Kugel isn’t happy, that’s on him. He had 2 guys wide open on his last fast break and took it himself and got fouled instead of an easy dunk, next possession he went one on three and chucked up a wild silly shot…when that didn’t work he got a T. Then he got the bench. Teams know you’re good and are going to key on you, make the pass enough times for an easy one and teams can’t cheat, then you will get your points. But his approach tonight just wasn’t great. And anyone else find it ironic that Samuel is wearing Lane’s number from last year? Another guy who thinks he’s James Harden offensively when that isn’t remotely his role, and more importantly, not remotely his skill set. That coast to coast attempt by him was the opposite of smart team basketball. Aberdeen is another one, but he will be mostly backing up after tonight.
I don’t blame Aberdeen for pressing a bit. He maybe tried too hard to earn some time. He played hard.
Long way to go for sure, but I like the scrappiness - guys are playing hard, especially the bigs. Regarding sloppiness: Insert Pullin at PG and get Riley to settle and that'll solve most of it, IMO.
Things can change in a hurry, but, right now, the Gators might be only the 10th or 11th best team in the SEC. Also, I have no problem with Kugel’s attitude. He just needs to play better. I also like Aberdeen as the backup point guard behind Pullin.
So, who starts against FSU Friday night with Pullin now ready to go? Based on what I've seen through the first 3 games, I would start Hondlogten, Samuel, Richard, Clayton & Pullin and bring Kugel off the bench. I doubt that will happen, but that's just my honest opinion
Upon further review... I thought the game was, again, a teaching moment, although not in the "nice" way the UVA game gave Golden. Methinks this "teaching moment" will involve losing a couple of shoes getting stuck up inside some players' butts. Nice to see Aberdeen being more than a place-holder. I do hope it leads to more opportunities and learning experiences. That IS what the pre-conference schedule is all about. Clayton is sort of an enigma. He looks the part and he is doing what we thought. But his free throw shooting is baffling. It appears as if his head is spinning a bit too much. Is it the Golden demands for his PG (a la Mike White) because it was HIS position or is it a symptom of too much effort getting meshed that has him somewhat distracted? We shall see. In football, the "ad nauseum" line is, "will the O-line finally get right?". In basketball, the line is, "will we shoot free throws well and make 3s at a good percentage?" And then the sort-of line is "will we have a good assist-to-turnover ratio?", although that could be any team. We have some really nice pieces, Micah and Samuel especially, but in the tough games, we just don't have the pure horsepower to overcome some limitations. Kugel COULD be the pure horsepower guy but until he learns the WHOLE game and not just parts of it, if he is off then he looks like he is going towards the "Reeves mentality". Not good. Welp, the preliminary preliminaries are over. Time to see the shiny, new bauble known as Pullin. I don't want to deify him, but it would be REALLY nice that he IS the guy who gets the deck shuffled properly. Clayton feels like a really nice second violin and not first violin. As long as it works, I don't think anyone will give a damn. The K____ sighting was interesting. Don't think it will lead to anything this year. Rish___ was an enigma. Maybe he was a symptom of the offensive funk the team was in. STILL waiting to see a simple drive and kick out to the open GOOD 3-shooter we have. Otherwise, see the line above.
