Just a few hours after officially announcing that freshman guard Bradley Beal will forfeit his remaining eligibility and declare for the 2012 NBA Draft, the Florida Gators received a bit of good news as three-star small forward DeVon Walker (Winter Haven, FL) officially committed to join the team’s 2012 recruiting class.

A member of the Rivals150 as the No. 142-ranked player in the country, Walker originally committed to Central Florida but changed his mind and gave his pledge to Florida over Alabama, Clemson and Kansas State on Friday. He averaged 23.8 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists during his senior year at Winter Haven High School.

News of Walker’s choice leaked Thursday evening though it was a badly kept secret that he had decided to stay in-state and play for the Gators earlier in the week.

Florida’s pursuit of Walker undoubtedly and understandably intensified once head coach Billy Donovan had an inclination that Beal would leave the program early and got final word of his player’s decision on Monday.

At 6’6” and 187 lbs., Walker has a lot of versatility and will play wing for the Gators though he may also be called upon to help the team in the post in a smaller lineup. He is already solid on the defensive end and will concentrate on improving his shot and overall offensive game in order to become even more of an all-around player.

Walker is the fourth player to commit to be part of Florida’s 2012 signing class joining four-star point guard Braxton Ogbueze (Charlotte, NC), four-star G Michael Frazier (Montverde, FL) and three-star G Dillon Graham (Orlando, FL). The Gators have one open scholarship remaining and are hoping that five-star power forward Anthony Bennett (Henderson, NV) chooses to fill it when he makes his decision in early May.

Tags: Anthony Bennett, Bradley Beal, Braxton Ogbueze, DeVon Walker, Dillon Graham, Draft, Michael Frazier, NBA

It’s official.

Florida Gators freshman guard Bradley Beal announced Friday that he will relinquish his three remaining years of NCAA eligibility and declare for the 2012 NBA Draft.

Beal, a standout first-year player who led the Gators with 34.2 minutes and 6.7 rebounds per game last season, averaged 14.8 points (second-most on the team) on 44.5 percent shooting from the field, 33.9 percent from downtown and 76.9 percent from the free throw line. He increased those averages with a fantastic postseason in which he averaged 16.5 points and eight boards while improving his shooting nearly 10 percent both from the floor and beyond the arc.

“He has all the intangibles to be a great, great pro and to play a long, long time,” head coach Billy Donovan said on Friday. “Besides his basketball ability, the one thing I admire about him more than anything else from the time he stepped foot on this campus, he has been a great teammate. He has been really unselfish. He has worked incredibly hard. Winning is very important to him. Chemistry on a team is very important to him. Coming in and fitting in to a team with an experienced backcourt coming back, the way he handled himself the entire year was really remarkable in my opinion with so much expectations placed on him and him having his own individual expectations. I personally feel like he is ready for this next step in his life.”

He continued, “The one thing that’s great about him is he has a great awareness about what a team needs and there’s not really any area of the game that he cannot inject himself into and make an impact. That’s the thing that’s so special about him. Wherever you play him or whatever you ask him to do, if it’s going to impact winning, he’s going to do those things. That’s why I think he’s a great player because he has such an impact on winning whether it’s rebounding, whether it’s defending, whether it’s getting to the free throw line by taking it to the basket, whether it’s extra passing, whether it’s getting guys shots. He just has a real great understanding for a young kid of what goes into winning not only on the floor but even in the locker room, off the court chemistry-wise. He’s really a special, special kid.”

A consensus first-team All-SEC selection, Beal made his decision over the last few weeks before deciding on Monday. He was “fighting back tears” (according to Florida) when he sat down with Donovan.

“It was just so hard to come in here the other day and tell Coach that I was leaving,” Beal said in a statement. “I got very emotional when I was telling him. I love this place. I love this program. I really bought into the whole experience. I may not have had the best [season] I could have had, but in terms of just fun and enjoying the game it could not have been any better.”

He noted on Friday that moving on to the NBA just felt like the right move.

“It was the right time. Coach just told me, he said whenever I decide, whatever I decide, he said just make sure I’m at peace with it. That’s basically what I was trying to do,” Beal said. “When it came down to it, I just wanted to make sure I was comfortable telling coach and just comfortable with my decision and just make sure I was 100 percent [because] there’s no looking back now.”

Beal made sure to point out that being “one-and-done” was not something he had planned but rather something that just happened after the season.

“Coming in I never thought about [leaving after one year] to be honest with you,” he said. “When I committed, I told myself I’m going to be here for four years because when you go to a college, you don’t just commit for one year. You go for four years.”

He may not be able to look back or change his mind but Beal’s decision to leave the University of Florida certainly did not come lightly.

Continue Reading » Florida G Bradley Beal declares for 2012 NBA Draft

Tags: All-SEC, Billy Donovan, Bradley Beal, Draft, NBA

Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan did not wait long to fill the hole on his coaching staff, hiring Rashon Burno to serve as his new assistant coach.

“I’m excited. I’m nervous. I’m anxious. I’m everything someone would be in a position like this,” Burno said in a team statement.

A standout point guard at DePaul during his playing days and the only three-time captain in school history, Burno finished his career ranked third in steals (201). After a short stint away from basketball, Burno joined the coaching profession when he was hired as the head coach of Marmion Academy High School, a position he served in for three years.

His first college job came at Towson in 2010 under former DePaul head coach Pat Kennedy, but Kennedy resigned following the 2011 season and Burno moved on to Manhattan where he served as an assistant this past season.

Donovan is connected to Burno through St. Anthony’s High School (Jersey City, NJ) head coach Bob Hurley, a close friend of the Gators coach. Burno was the starting point guard for Hurley’s back-to-back national championship teams in 1996 and 1997.

“He’s a great worker and a high-character guy,” Donovan said in a statement. “He’s almost at a point now where he has a chance to grow into something special. He probably has some things he’ll need to learn and grow, but he’s got a great upside. And he’s really invested into our program because of the opportunity being given him.”

Florida redshirt junior guard Mike Rosario also graduated from St. Anthony’s, leading Hurley’s team to a 32-0 record in 2008.

Burno is the fourth assistant coach and fifth major staff member that Donovan has hired in the last two seasons. A vacancy became open for an assistant when Norm Roberts left Florida for Kansas earlier in the week.

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Tags: Billy Donovan, Mike Rosario, Norm Roberts, Rashon Burno

Florida Gators freshman forward Walter Pitchford has decided to transfer after one year with the team in order to play basketball closer to home.

Spending just one year at the University of Florida and only seeing a total of 22 minutes of action in 13 of the team’s 37 games, Pitchford was the last scholarship player on the bench this season and considered a bit of a project. However, he always worked hard in practice and was a productive member of the team.

Pitchford told OGGOA on Wednesday that he and his family decided it would be best that he leave the program and play closer to his home state of Michigan at least partially due to his grandfather being ill.

“It’s definitely the best thing for him and his family, just with some of his extenuating circumstances,” head coach Billy Donovan told the school’s website. “Right now, he just needs to be near his family. They need him home and they want him home.”

Pitchford was pleased with his time in Gainesville, FL and praised both the coaching staff and his teammates for helping make him a better basketball player.

“My time here – I like to say that this was a learning year for me,” he said. “I really enjoyed learning from one of the greatest coaches in Coach Donovan. The assistant coaches – I really loved learning from them. Besides that, I learned a lot from my teammates. I learned something from everybody in the program. Everybody had something to add that I picked up from and will learn from.”

Donovan noticed that leadership was an issue with UF during the season and began preaching communication among the players during games. Pitchford said that is one thing in particular that he will take away from his time with the team.

“Something that clicked for me was being more verbal, being able to help tell [my] teammates what to do, saying good job, picking them up or just keeping the team excited. I learned [how important it is] to bring more energy and extra stuff,” he said.

His departure opens up one scholarship for the Gators to utilize in 2012-13. The team may wind up with two available slots should freshman guard Bradley Beal decide this month to declare for the 2012 NBA Draft.

Florida has targeted five-star power forward Anthony Bennett (Henderson, NV) to fill that remaining scholarship, but he will not make a decision until early May and is also considering a number of other schools including Kentucky, Oregon and UNLV.

The Gators’ 2012 recruiting class currently consists of three guards. With Pitchford planning to leave the team, Florida will have only three players over 6’7” on the roster next season (as of press time) – sophomore center Patric Young (6’9”), junior F Erik Murphy (6’10”) and redshirt freshman F/C Cody Larson (6’9”).

Tags: Anthony Bennett, Billy Donovan, Bradley Beal, Cody Larson, Erik Murphy, Patric Young, Walter Pitchford

1 » Following up on the Sporting News report published Monday on the end of head coach Urban Meyer’s tenure in Gainesville, FL, The Gainesville Sun’s Pat Dooley dedicated the opening segment of his most recent column to dropping a few tidbits corroborating the investigation done by Matt Hayes. In the paragraph, Dooley calls former wide receiver Percy Harvin “the most coddled athlete in the history of Florida football” and provides one damning detail about the meeting between new head coach Will Muschamp and former cornerback Janoris Jenkins following his second arrest for possession of marijuana in less than 90 days last summer.

When Muschamp told Jenkins he would have to be suspended, Jenkins replied, “Do you know who you’re talking to?” And that was the end of his career at UF.

2 » Something that is probably either a promotional video by or class project at the University of Florida, a new clip appeared Monday on YouTube called “The Gator Grind – Day In the Life.” It depicts a number of Florida Gators athletes including sophomore center Patric Young, junior running back Trey Burton and senior centerfielder Michelle Moultrie (among others) basically doing what they do during a normal day set to music. You can check it out below:

Tags: Janoris Jenkins, Michelle Moultrie, Patric Young, Percy Harvin, Trey Burton

For the second time in the last four months a prominent Florida Gators assistant coach has left the school to take a job with the Kansas Jayhawks. Just like offensive coordinator Charlie Weis moved on from the football team at the end of their regular season in December to become head coach at Kansas, assistant Norm Roberts has left the Florida basketball team following their successful postseason to accept the top assistant job under KU head coach Bill Self, according to InsidetheGators.com.

One of three new assistants to join head coach Billy Donovan‘s staff for the 2011-12 season, Roberts will leave the Gators after spending just one year with the team. Like the others, his reasons for moving on from Florida are well-intentioned.

Roberts and Self have a relationship that dates back to 1995 when Self first hired him as an assistant at Oral Roberts. The two spent a total of nine seasons together with Self as the head coach and Roberts as his assistant at Oral Roberts (1995-97), Tulsa (1997-2000), Illinois (2000-03) and Kansas (2003-04) before Roberts left to take over the St. John’s program as head coach from 2004-10.

His last year at St. John’s came just as his son Niko Roberts was deciding where to play basketball at the collegiate level. He will be entering his junior year as a walk-on with the Jayhawks next season and will now have his father as an assistant coach.

A spot opened up on the Kansas bench for Roberts as former KU No. 1 overall pick Danny Manning, an assistant with the Jayhawks since 2006-07, was officially announced as Tulsa’s new head coach on Wednesday.

“I’m thrilled,” Self told the Lawrence Journal-World on Monday. “We were together for nine years. My family helped raise his kids. His family has helped raise mine. We’re close. Certainly we hate to see Danny go, but Norm coming back will be a big bonus to our program.”

Donovan now must hire his fifth new prominent staff member in the last two seasons. He replaced three assistant coaches and a strength and conditioning coach last year and will now have to find a suitable candidate to fill Roberts’s shoes going forward.

Florida has since confirmed Roberts’s departure from the program.

Tags: Billy Donovan, Charlie Weis, Kansas Jayhawks, Norm Roberts

1 » There was plenty of good news to go around the Florida Gators football program over the weekend but one player in particular – junior long snapper Drew Ferris – may have received the best news of all when head coach Will Muschamp told him that he would be put on scholarship for his final two years with the team. Ferris, who walked on to the Gators in 2010 as a five-star long snapper (a designation given by Chris Rubio Long Snapping), played the position full-time on field goals and punts in 2011 and returns to that role this season.

2 » Florida point guard Erving Walker is unlikely to be selected in the 2012 NBA Draft later this year but is still doing his best to raise his stock by participating in the 2012 Portsmouth Invitational Tournament from April 11-14. It is the second-straight year that a former Gators player will be in the event as forward/center Vernon Macklin was a standout performer in 2011 and wound up being picked in the second round of the draft by the Detroit Pistons due in part to how impressive he was in the PIT.

3 » Houston Rockets F Chandler Parsons was credited for his defense on Kobe Bryant last time his team faced the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant, asked about him after the game, first joked that he did not know Parsons before saying he thought he had a great future in the league. This past week Parsons and Bryant went head-to-head again with the former producing a highlight Kobe-esque play on the offensive end.

4 » Florida junior guard Kenny Boynton announced on Twitter this week that he will be returning to the team for his senior season. GatorZone.com’s Chris Harry caught up with him following the announcement to inquire about the decision to which Boynton mostly said that his family and head coach Billy Donovan both agreed it would be more beneficial for him to stick around for one more year. Boynton also noted that “coming back and playing more of the point guard position” could help him overall in his quest to play in the NBA. Should freshman G Bradley Beal leave for the draft as many expect him to, Boynton may not have many opportunities to play point with sophomore Scottie Wilbekin returning and frosh Braxton Ogbueze joining the team for 2012-13. Should Beal return, Boynton could be shifted to point guard with redshirt junior Mike Rosario moving into the starting five (or he could split the duties with one of the other two).

Tags: Billy Donovan, Bradley Beal, Braxton Ogbueze, Chandler Parsons, Detroit Pistons, Draft, Drew Ferris, Erving Walker, Houston Rockets, Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, NBA, Scottie Wilbekin, Vernon Macklin, Will Muschamp

Florida Gators junior guard Kenny Boynton made it official Thursday morning, announcing on Twitter that he has decided to return to school for his senior season.

To confirm the questions being ask lately I have reached a decision and I am returning to Gainesville for my senior season #go gators

— K.B (@K_Boynton1) April 5, 2012

The Gators’ leading scorer this past season, Boynton averaged 15.9 points per game while also registering 2.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 0.8 steals in 31.6 minutes. He shot 44.0 percent from the field, 75.4 percent from the line and 40.7 percent from downtown, making strides in his overall game play and improving his stroke from beyond the arc by 7.6 percent compared to his sophomore season.

Boynton registered 15 or more points in 20 of Florida’s first 28 games but struggled towards the end of the season, only eclipsing that figure once over the team’s last nine contests in a third-round NCAA Tournament game against No. 15-seed Norfolk State. He shot 33.0 percent from the field and 26.8 percent from three over that nine-game stretch and would undoubtedly like to end his career on a higher note.

With Boynton returning to the Gators, he has the unique opportunity to become the school’s all-time leader in a number of major categories including (among others) scoring, games started, minutes played and three-point field goals made.

Boynton is the third non-senior to commit to returning to Florida for the 2012-13 season, joining sophomore Patric Young and redshirt junior G Mike Rosario. The Gators are still waiting to hear from freshman G Bradley Beal, who could reportedly take until April 29 to decide whether or not he will enter his name into the 2012 NBA Draft. Beal is considered a consensus lottery selection and potential top-five pick who has been projected to go as high as No. 3 overall in the draft.

Photo Credit: FOX Sports Florida

Tags: Bradley Beal, Draft, Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, NBA, Patric Young