Dragging them kicking and screaming

Interesting...thanks Franz!

Is Billy really just figuring this out? Erv is not a vocal leader. His demeanor has never been one of Passion. Our emotional leader on this team is Will Yegutte. He plays hard and with passion on every play. Unfortunately, he's out and this team is a bunch of guys who crumble when things go wrong.

He will be badly missed the next two games

The leadership void is showing now ... I keep saying that Bradley Beal has to take that step forward and become this team's vocal leader. He is already the leader by example on the court. Now it's time for him to become the guy who gets in people's faces, too.

I've had my doubts about this team since before the season began. At the time I was concerned that we weren't really good/deep enough in the front court, and that it wouldn't take teams long to figure that out. Initially my concerns were confirmed but once Yeguette began to develop I started to think we might be OK. But then they started to display what I considered a lack of passion and started losing games they should have won. If you think of it, the only win that might be considered a "signature" win was against FSU, and even that was at home. They should NOT have lost to Rutgers, much less to Tennessee twice and now the Georgia fiasco. All the talk is about Walker, and that may be justified, but Murphy had a terrible game on both ends, as did Prather.

I just hope We get some GOOD big men to compliment the guards we have returning and coming in. I miss guys like Horford and Noah. I know they are NBA caliber but why can't we get some more like them? We get great guards but struggle getting really good big men.
Ning

saw this commentary elsewhere, makes a lot of sense in my mind:

"This is what happens when you have zero depth. no competition between guard or forward play. no alternative but to play the same three guard trio, Murphy, and Young. With Yeguette out, there is no one to contribute at the forward position. I have said this about UF since their back to back championships, but yet it still gets pushed to the side. No bigs, No championships. This is lies squarely on Donovan's shoulders that he can't recruit bigs. Looking ahead, we have four commitments-all point guards/shooting guards.

We will always be second to Kentucky until this is resolved. More power dunks in our face and shots blocked is what the future holds.

As far as our players lacking passion and not coming out strong, that is a lack of preparation. This also falls on the coaching staff. Just sub for those players right? Uh oh, can't. Prather, Larson, and Pitchford's stats together are not even close to Yeguette's. What ever happened to a team that had Horford, Noah, Speights, and Richards at bigs. Come on Donovan, you are getting paid 3.5 million a year. Why do you keep whiffing on bigs?

There was lots of talk about Young one and done after this year. He is nowhere near ready. He is all-right handed and has about as many moves as a 7th grader.

Donovan has turned Murphy into a three point shooter. Consequently, he is no threat to score. Lately, Murphy does not take it strong and dunk it, he does a reverse layup? Center/power forward prospects see this and understand right away they don't fit in this system where 45% of the offense comes from behind the arc."

Once again, I'll point out the fact that Donovan has sent more coaches to become head coaches in the past five years than any coach in the country. Yes, he lost Anthony Grant, who had been with him since the days at Marshall. Then he lost Donnie Jones a year later. And he's lost Shaka Smart, Lewis Preston and Larry Shyatt, who are all head coaches, and Richard Pitino and Rob Lanier to be head coaches in waiting.

Billy is no less a coach now than he was then. But when you lose coaches that have been with you for years, there is a dropoff particularly in recruiting. Staff continuity is still and always will be important.

As for transfers, have you checked the number of kids who have transferred from Duke?

For all the talk about recruiting big men, I think the greatest recruiting shortcoming in the past five years is the inability to find another Taurean Green. We can talk all we want to about Noah, Horford and Richard, but the single most important player on that team was Taurean Green, who never fouled out of a game and never missed a game with injury. This was Taurean's team for two years and Florida hasn't had a point guard with that kind of ability to take over the team since.

One of the chief reasons the Gators were so tough when they won the two national championships was Taurean Green. He set the tone with his work ethic, with his ability to get in the faces of teammates and the fact that no matter how hard he got hit he got back up and wouldn't let an injury keep him out of the lineup.

i admit winning breeds turnover w/ staff...saw it w/ urban also....BUT its on the head coach to account for and build a staff that has some permanence....dont bring in ricky jr because dad is in hot water so he can hide out for 1-2 yrs and then go back to louisville, bring in a younger guy who will stick 3-4 yrs vs a guy who is on the verge of making the move to HC as his clear next stop etc

Im not knocking Billy just to knock Billy....im trying to discuss gator basketball on a fan msg board .....whats the alternative? we all sit in a circle and sing kumbya and proclaim all is great in gator nation?

this squad / roster has had some major deficiencies last 3-4 yrs ....these are high class problems as we have still had relative success....but if we want to advance UF into the discussion of the truly elite, non blue bloods (UNC, KU, UK, etc) and be considered on par w/ Zona, Cuse, UConn etc....we got to be highly critical of EVERY mistake made on the recruiting trail etc

look at our football program....it was apocalypse on the msg boards after NSD....u'd think we had an unranked class vs consensus top 3-4 class

Billy is a great coach, has done amazing things for UF bball....my frustration stems from the fact that the momentum from the 04ers magical run has completely sputtered out....AND IMO its all due to just missing 1-2 pieces over last 3-4 yrs ...last 2-3 yrs all we needed was a elite PG w/ size and now a SF/PF hybrid and we'd be in the thick of Final 4 talk vs fighting to make it out of round 1 of NCAA talk

Of course you want to knock whomever you are knocking in a particular post. You never discuss basketball. You never discuss:

1. where UF has favorable matchup with up coming opponents.

2. the development of Young's offense this year.

3. whether UF should play Larson over Prather or why you would stick with Prather.

4. how surprised you are about Boynton's shooting and all around game this year.

5. why Beal has not shot as well as expected, but has rebounded better than expected.

or any number of other topics concerning UF basketball. With you it is what UF does not have, what Donovan has done wrong, how all UF's players are deficient.

Now I can hardly be accused of singing "kumbaya" about UF basketball, but I can discuss the good with the bad. I am highly critical of Walker, but I have noticed how Boynton has broken away from his bad influence this year and have suggested that Wilbekin play more and given reasons why I think that would help UF. I have been critical of the fall off in Murphy's rebounding rate, but I also noticed his surprising defense and shot blocking not to mention his shoot that has been solid all year until very recently. I have been concerned about the smaller drop in Young's rebounding rate and that he tends to play big only against name opponents, but I have also noticed that he has developed an actual offensive game in a year, when a year ago it was slam dunk or little else. I have criticized Donovan's recruiting some, mainly at the 3, but I do know he took Prather over other players and for whatever reason the switch has not yet come on for Prather. I have worried about bigs in the current class because Pitchford was the only big in UF's last class, but I have also recognized that a year ago UF had so many bigs Kadji left and that just two years ago UF had a class that included Yeguete and Young who are already contributors and Larson was in the same class and has shown flashes of being able to play. I also look at upcoming opponents looking to see who has UF over matched at the guards and how UF's bigs match up with opposing bigs. For example you might post about how Beal matches up with Taylor tonight or Young and Murphy and the Vandy bigs or how Walker has not had as much trouble with the Vandy PG over the years, how the Boynton/Jenkins matchup is of two of the leading SEC scorers and SGs.

I could go on all day not being "Pollyanna" about UF basketball, but discussing it without being only negative.

Agree.

I dont know what needs to be discussed.....stuff u are highlighting is pretty obvious....didnt know this was kindergarten and every kid gets a gold star for using a kleenex vs rubbing snot on their sleeves

Signing 3-4 true 4/5 bigs in last 3 classes is not good period ....especially when it was known 3 yrs ago our entire frontline would graduate at same time (CP, Macklin, Tyus) and with 2 of them are long-term projects who likely would need a Rs and/or 3 yrs to develop into serviceable SEC bigs

1. not sure what matchup is favorable for UF upcoming....see a Vandy team putting it together and peaking at the right time w/ size/length at all 5 spots (esp w/ Dia-Jon Parker and Ked Johnson getting more minutes) and a UK team focused on NCAA records, not SEC matchups

2. PY development? kid hustles goes extremely hard AND I believe is incredibly limited due to his injury but not sure seeing great offensive development on his part....he was incredibly raw coming in out of HS , so its not surprising to me that it is taking him time, patience is key with him....and I think the hype got ahead of him / went to his head in many respects (reason he dropped off twitter post U19 worlds) -- another case of guys extrapolating a 40 min per stat line for the kid last yr based on him playing 5 min per game

3. Larson looks lost out there....that is a consensus view...that Gator faithful on twitter and beat writers who comment during the game have adopted a #poorCody hashtag when he is on the court, Prather seems to be doing more on defense but on offense things seem to be going way too fast in his head and he is probably nervous about getting yanked the second he makes a mistake so everything is just going wrong.....neither has gotten much run and neither seems to have been mentally ready for major minutes....too bad they had not gotten more garbage minutes in blowout wins etc to help ease them into rotation

4. KB is playing great no question, the 3pt shooting % is amazing ....only thing not thrilled with is that since vs better opponents he cant get his 3pt shot off as easily ....resulted in a lot of misses and only once a game is out of hand does he get hot....hope he sticks around and develops a mid range game -- kid could be a poor man's monta ellis maybe if he did

5. Beal has exceeded all expectations -- kid has a NBA body and plays hard and wants to win, its obvious...yes he hasnt lit it up from deep but he has done everything else well and most importantly has improved and learned from his early season mistakes and TO issues