Monday, January 31, 2011

February Gator Posts

72 comments:

  1. Somehow I got sucked into following the Gator hoops game vs. Vandy last night. Was following on my phone until I saw that it went to OT and then tuned in.

    This team is AWFUL!!! I love to hate on the Gator Hoops teams cuz I guess I got spoiled by hard-working grinders like Haslem, Lee, Noah, Horford, etc... even if some of them, Haslem most notably, was not as talented. They all had guts.

    This team compounds their poor play with a low hoops IQ. Defense looked pretty steady. Offense and the free-throw line is just something foul. They have no set offensive pieces, or they do and they don't run them. Limited if any ball movement, no low post presence and then a long perimiter low percentage shot. Completely frustrating to watch.

    There is my thesis. Please submit points and counterpoints.

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  2. Updated 2011 Coaching Staff

    Head Coach - Will Muschamp

    Offensive coordinator - Charlie Weis
    Quarterbacks coach - Charlie Weis
    Running back coach - Brian White
    Wide receivers coach - Aubrey Hill
    Tight ends coach - Derek Lewis
    Offensive line coach - Frank Verducci

    Defensive coordinator - Dan Quinn
    Defensive line coach - Dan Quinn
    Assistant D line coach: Bryant Young
    Linebackers coach - D.J. Durkin
    Defensive backs coach - Travaris Robinson

    Special teams coordinator - D.J. Durkin

    Strength & conditioning - Mickey Marotti
    Recruiting coordinator - Aubrey Hill

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  3. I agree with you Peacock. This team is very hard to watch and frustrate me so much. Last night Vandy played zone a lot and the offense had know clue how to play against it. All they did was pass it back and forth behind the three, instead of getting it down low and let the big men work and in return that will open up the perimeter shot. Even if they did do that the guards are so streaky of shooters that you cant count on them to make it and don't even get me started on their free throw shooting. I think the biggest problem is that there is no go to guy you can count on when the game is on the line or to just lead the team when needed. But no matter how bad they may be to watch I will continue to support them and keep watching.

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  4. If you are going to call out people for not being "grinders" I want specifics. Erv and Patrick Young are definitely grinders. Parsons is doing what he can, although I expected more for him this year. He kind of reminds me of DLee when he was here... I bet he goes on to have a some good NBA games. Tyus has been a disappointment, yes. Boynton has not lived up to his McDonald's accolades yet.

    Post presence? Did you guys watch the whole game? Given my comment about Tyus and our only productive post player has been Macklin.. and tell me what his story was during the game.. he was in foul trouble.

    I agree we need to work the inside out game more. Donovan's teams have always been much more effective when they do that. However the only teams I can remember that did that well were the championship teams. All other Donovan teams have a tendancy to take silly shots early in the clock.

    And name a Donovan team that was excellent from the free throw line.

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  5. Oh, and YES... defense did look VERY steady. Has looked steady all year. Especially Boynton, he's always on the top scoring guard. Maybe that's why his shooting is streaky.

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  6. We had a good outside - inside game with Matt Bonner.

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  7. Did we? And to which level of the tournament did that get us?

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  8. Was disproving your point that the only teams that we've had where we've had a good outside-inside team were championship teams.

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  9. I just hate the guards putting up crazy threes that they should not. I do think they are a scrappy team and they do find ways to win but I just wish they had that go to guy. Donovan has missed out on some key recruits the last couple of years. The freshman at ky can't think of his name and looks like Austin Rivers is not coming after he had been committed to UF for awhile then Lucas leaving 2 years ago which he would be an upgrade at PG right now. I think you add an elite PG and this team could easily make the final four.

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  10. An elite PG is not needed. Boyton and Walker are respectable enough. What is needed is more heart, better execution and smarter hoops IQ.

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  11. I think they have heart but they definitely need better execution and better hoops IQ

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  12. I am questioning whether the team you cite had a good inside-out game. If such is as important as you say it is and teams aren't any good unless they make it to the sweet 16, then I deduce that bonner's team made the sweet 16. Is that true?

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  13. Guards putting up crazy 3s is something you should be used to by now... Jason Williams, Brett nelson, Anthony Roberson, Matt Walsh, teddy dupay, taurean green, etc...

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  14. Boynton and Erv aren't respectable enough at this point. Erv just might not have the tools. They play hard and have played great D though. Beal (commit from DLee's old school) and rosario (already here) could possibly help that position next year Chris.

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  15. The '02-'03 Gators went 24-7 in the regular season led by Bonner, Lee, Walsh, Roberson and Justin Hamilton.

    They lost to Michigan State in the second round.

    That was a good team despite Walsh and Roberson launching dumb shots.

    Bonner was a PF/C that could also shoot well from the perimiter and Lee was a good force inside.

    The Sweet 16 mandate didn't take effect until after we won back-to back and we did lose to Michigan State vs. Penn or BYU so the Sweet 16 Mandate does have some exceptions due matchups.

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  16. We lost 68-46! I remember watching that game. At no point after 10 mins were we even in it. Bonner had 6 points in 35 minutes. I'm sure you went ballistic after that game. Believe me, there was no inside-out game that day.

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  17. Not getting into it about the past but about the present: I think the key is aggression out of Parsons he needs to take more shots hey is they key to this team i believe he is a huge rebounder and needs to take more shot instead of dipping it off. Need Tyus to play stronger he has been weak lately he needs to step it up which i believe he can and did do during the 1st half of this game. I Believe this team has the heart i dont think they have the maturity nor the sustainability i feel they can come off a loss and play decent ball but they cant make a big win one after another this will be a big test going into S.C. if we can win that game it will be huge. although i believe this win over KY will be enough to get us into the tourney. These back to back wins over vandy and ky have given me a little hope to watching this team i didnt even go into the negatives of this team because im trying to focus on the positives to make it easier to watch and keep my mind of of gator football which i dont want to think about right now so theres my 2 cents. It all boils down to Parsons leading this team and tyus turning his game around i believe

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  18. also Parsons never came out the second half of KY game and we are terrible against the zone my only neg.

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  19. Great points mike... well said. The only thing I'd disagree on is Tyus, he's not proven to me he can contribute every night. He made some key plays tonight and we needed it, let's hope he proves me wrong.

    We played great defense tonight again. Boynton was again on the best guard (knight) and played tough d.

    I too am worried about the next game... this team can't handle success. This is maturity and leadership. Hopefully Parsons' leadership qualities are improving. He needs to lock this team down.

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  20. Complete props to the Gators. A complete solid game. I am gladly proven wrong.

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  21. Even keel dude. One game does not a season make. Great win though.

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  22. James, I am even keel.

    My concerns with teams post the '04s has been mostly coaching questioning. Why are we not using our center and why are we not executing set pieces.

    I texted you during the game that even if we had lost, the Gators were playing real basketball.

    After watching the Ketucky game, I now know that Donovan is coaching these guys right. It was just them not executing.

    Players come and go, coaching is what makes the program.

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  23. Didn't realize we signed 2 qb's http://rivals.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/player-Jacoby-Brissett-84272;_ylt=Ap59ddlQk3TXrqLToDheXu5DPZB4

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  24. I like these comments from BD:

    "I don't know if we've necessarily changed a lot, but I think what you do as a coach is just try to get better," he said. "I think there are things you get better at and things you drop off at, but coaching is a constant evolution of trying to get better all around without dropping off too much.

    "That's why coaching this team has been so enjoyable, because they're a bunch of guys that want to be coached and want to get better."

    LINK

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  25. Was just looking at Rivals.com individual player rankings and Parsons is the only ranked Gator, coming in as the 18th ranked small forward.

    As the NBA draft is so much smaller than the NFL and he is ranked 18th at his position, (overall ranking regardless of position were not avail,) not sure if that's good enough to get him drafted.

    However I digress, I obviously want these guys to get paid eventually, but really only care what they do as Gators and he has really been playing solidly for us as of late.

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  26. Great win tonight was expecting a let down but the team stepped up and played a real great game tonight. Hopefully they can keep this play up.

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  27. Heck yeah they did! Parsons was 2 assists away from a triple double! I can only remember 3 triple doubles ever by a Gator.

    They attacked the zone repeatedly with that touch pass from the free throw line. Very encouraging.

    Great team win.

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  28. Who's going to the game on Saturday???? I hope it is a sellout. Go if you can!

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  29. Ugly win, but clutch. Props and Suck it Pearl.

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  30. Great win and Peacock you are right very ugly win but any W is good W.

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  31. Boyton is damn lucky we didn't lose close. Stupid stupid technical foul throwing the ball at that guy when he it was gonna be a foul on them. Pfft.

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  32. That was a GREAT battle. We showed a lot of toughness. Hope Parsons heals quickly... I think we have a week off, so that is good timing.

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  33. For all the questioning of Billy Donovan's coaching... this is a phenomenal stat:
    13 straight seasons of 20 wins or more --- most in SEC history

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  34. Wow --
    This is a streak that is 4th all time - behind Dean Smith, John Wooden and Coach K

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  35. I was trying to look that stat up after the win to see where it stacked up with other teams did not realize it was that high.

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  36. I only see Wooden having won 20 games 9 years straight.

    Coach K has 15 including this year.

    Dean Smith at 27

    Where you get that stat James?

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  37. "With the Tennessee victory, Florida is one of five schools with 20 wins in each of the last 13 years (Kansas, Duke, Syracuse and Gonzaga being the others). And Billy is only SEC coach ever to have reached that plateau."

    Look at history and then these teams.

    Bill Self of Kansas has 13 includin this year, yet not all at same school. Also includes Illinois and Tulsa.

    Gonzaga has 13, but not same coach.

    Jim Boeheim of Syracuse has 14 straight seasons.

    So Billy D is 4th behind Smith(27), Coach K (15) and Boehiem (14).

    That is what the almighty Wikipedia just spat out when I did coaching searches.

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  38. Coaches with at least 13 consecutive 20 win seasons. (Billy D listed only as 12 below to gauge some sort of win percentage to compare the four. Donovan is only coach with one year at exactly 20 wins - 2003-2004.)

    27 completed years record - Dean Smith - 714-183 - 80% win percentage. 2 National titles during this span (2 overall)

    14 completed years record - Coach K - 419-80 - 84% win percentage. 2 National titles during this span (4 overall)

    13 completed years record - Jim Boeheim - 327-121 - 73% win percentage. 1 National title during this span (1 overall)

    12 completed years record - Billy Donovan - 304-107 - 74% win percentage. 2 Natonal titles during this span (2 overall)

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  39. Wow, Donovan and Dean Smith have the same number of titles.

    Others of note:

    Wooden: 10
    Rupp: 4
    Knight: 3
    Calhoun: 2
    Roy Williams: 2
    Pitino: 1
    Izzo: 1 (Lonely)

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  40. The Gator moved up to 14th today in the polls if they can finish strong maybe they can pick up a 3 or 4 seed in the tournament and if they can win the SEC tournament I dont see why they cant get a 2 seed or 3 at worst.

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  41. Chris, the key is getting the 3 seed cuz in round 2 you'd play the 6 seed at best. A 4 or 5 seed are pretty much interchangeable as if they both win in round one, they face each other in round 2.

    Better not lose to crappy #5 West LSU this weekend and then only 4 games left before the SEC tourney where we would have to be very pathetic to lose a first round bye.

    After LSU on Sunday we close at home vs. #3 East Georgia and then @ #4 East Kentucky only two days later. Close at home vs #1 West Alabama and last game @ #2 East Vandy.

    Tough last four games.

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  42. Side note: So sad that Corey Brewer is such a bum of an NBA player and he has been a starter all year. :(

    I think this is an accurate rank of current Gator NBA players:

    1) Noah (injured)
    2) Horford (All-Star)
    3) Lee
    4) Miller
    5) Haslem (injured)
    6) Bonner
    7) Brewer
    8) Speights

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  43. Left off Jason Williams the Grizzlies just picked him up a few days ago but he would be number 9) on the list. I agree with the list though.

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  44. Great data mining Peacock. I can't compete with that. I think I should be more appreciative of Billy D looking at these stats. 13 straight 20s is amazing considering the "one and done" nature of college basketball in this era.

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  45. Yeah, those last 4 games are tough... this will be our second Thurs/Sat/Tues this year. Not good scheduling. I think we go 2-2 in those last 4.

    And that's a great NBA list!

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  46. I say we finish off going 4-1 with the lost to KY. Hopefully I can make the game against Vandy.

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  47. Hope you're right Chris! I hope you make the Vandy game too. Keep us posted.

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  48. On the topic of one and done, the torment that was the past few years has lead us to where we are now.

    Of our starting 5, three are seniors. I guess enough years of mediocrity is the recipe of success. Rotating the younger players into the mix keeps that steak going.

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  49. Here is the whole interview. Really good inside stuff.

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  50. I fixed that link if any of you tried to click on it since last night. Try again now.

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  51. Some good stuff there but mostly fluff, but thanks for posting James.

    There were too many "I think" lines in there. His opinions on us should have been a pure pro-style offense, his stating that "Brantley can just sit in the pocket and kill you with his arm." Granted the O-line was terrible and Brantley got way too much pressure on him making him have to make a quick throw, but imo he has poor pocket presence and reads defenses poorly.

    Basically this article in some areas just points from an insider to what I have opionated to what happened last year with coaching.

    And as you said when we spoke James, that interview was very poorly done. They never elaborated off a statement he made. He'd start talking about if the criticism of Brantley was unfair and then the next question was like "What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

    Made for a difficult read, but thanks for the post.

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  52. Well I liked it. It confirmed some speculations. The stuff about the freshman was very good too.

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  53. And it's not just "fluff"... it's straight from one of the horses' mouths.

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  54. By fluff, I mean information I do not care about. His days at USC, transfer info...

    He sure made a lot of comparisons and contrasts between USC, Pete Caroll etc... and Florida and Meyer when he was just there for one year.

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  55. Wow, there are a lot of comments about our coaches not working as a team, scheme issues, freshman disobedience, recruiting deceit, etc. You are missing a lot.

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  56. I thought it was a great read a lot of incite into things we normally dont hear about. I thought him talking about all the injuries during two a days was good info and how that led them to abandon the pro style offense. Peacock I read it twice and nowhere could I find him get asked what his favorite ice cream flavor was. If I had to take a guess I would say cookie dough.

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  57. Correct, I didn't even read it, because A)I already know what went down last year, B) I don't care about his personal opinion that we should have been a straight Pro-Style Offense last year, C) The article was poorly performed and then transcribed with questions all over the map and no follow up and D) I have ADHD!!!

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  58. What I said to you was that they asked great questions, but they could have followed up and went for the jugular on some of them. The interview was great. If you would have taken a double dose of your medicine you could have gotten past the USC and pro-style offense part. It's a shame.

    And you alredy "know what went down" last year because I put an unsubstantiated theory in your head. How do you know I'm right without facts such as these?

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  59. Great first half and not so great second half but were able to hang on for the win. Also saw a stat during the game showing the Gators have the 8 toughest schedule and 10th in RPI. Did not realize they were that high.

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  60. Agree with your points Chris.

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  61. NBA note - Corey Brewer was sent to the Knicks in the Carmelo trade.

    Obviously not gonnna be starting anymore, but a huge improvement from being on the Timberwolves. He is a happy man today.

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  62. Yeah saw that last night I think it will benefit him greatly now that he is around some quality players maybe he will be able elevate his play now. Also of NBA note- Noah is back from his thumb injury and his first game should be on Wed I believe.

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  63. Awesomeness, Noah, Horford and Brewer are all now in the Eastern Conference and will face each other at least three times a year.

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  64. Great 2nd half. Big win.

    Gators clinched at worst a tie in the SEC East, meaning they will have a bye in the first round of the SEC tourney.

    Awesome stuff Gators. Keep proving me wrong!!!

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  65. Great game I thought Parson was huge in the second half was glad to see him back and playing well.
    I hope they keep playing well.

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  66. Big game today I think we are going to pull this win out. Last week I thought this was a sure lost but KY has not been playing well and I think they will give Calipari's his first home lost as a wildcat.

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  67. Great first half. I think our d let up in the second half and UK started making everything. Boynton played well. BIG game on Tuesday in gville for at least a share of the sec regular season title.

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  68. Wasn't able to watch most of the second half, but it was south from the very get go. Good first half and to lose to Kentucky at Rupp when they have 8 losses and were playing that game for a major seed position is not that huge of a loss. Lax D was not good, but the loss was sort of expected.

    We can't lose these last two though.

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  69. Good comments Peacock. Agreed.

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