Florida Gators forward DeVon Walker informed the team late last week that he had decided to transfer, and the program officially announced his decision on Monday.

Gators head coach Billy Donovan wished Walker well in a school release.

“DeVon has a bright future, and we hope for the best for him wherever he chooses to go,” Donovan said.

Walker played in 24 games as a true freshman but averaged just 4.0 minutes per contest. He scored 20 points in 99 total minutes during the 2012-13 campaign, making just 4-of-22 shots (1-of-7 threes) while grabbing 17 rebounds.

The second Florida freshman to transfer this month, Walker joins guard Braxton Ogbueze as 2012 commitments hoping the pastures are greener elsewhere.

“I’ve grown a lot this year, and I’m grateful to Coach Donovan, the staff and my teammates at Florida for everything,” Walker said in the same release.

Over the last two offseasons, the Gators have added three transfers including forward Dorian Finney-Smith and center Damontre Harris in 2012 and guard Eli Carter on April 30. Finney-Smith and Harris will both be active for the 2013-14 season, while Carter is hoping the NCAA approves a waiver that would allow him to play immediately without sitting out a year.

Florida also has a pair of five-star prospects – point guard Kasey Hill (Clermont, FL) and F/C Chris Walker (Bonifay, FL) – joining the program next season.

Minutes would have been hard to come by for both DeVon Walker and Ogbueze. The Gators will have just 11 scholarship players on the roster for the upcoming season should Hill and Chris Walker both be cleared academically.

Tags: Billy Donovan, Braxton Ogbueze, Chris Walker, Damontre Harris, DeVon Walker, Dorian Finney-Smith, Eli Carter, Kasey Hill, NCAA

Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan met with the media on Wednesday to wrap up the 2012-13 season and look ahead to next year.

A MESSAGE TO THE TEAM: “WE GOT TO GET NASTIER.”

Donovan has not yet met with the Gators as an entire team for a postseason send-off into the summer (that will happen soon enough) but does have plenty on his agenda as it pertains to helping Florida improve in the offseason.

“We need to get better as a team in every area. I thought we did make some really good strides this year on the defensive end of the floor. … We didn’t score the ball as much or as well as I think we’re capable of for whatever reason. We’ve got to continue to try and get better there in that area,” he said. “[I’m] trying to figure out what we can do better in practice, what we can do better coaching staff-wise, what we can do better coaching these guys all the way around.”

One other area in which Donovan stressed that the Gators need to improve is overall team mentality. Basically, he wants Florida as a team to be tougher and more resilient. In other words, he envisions the Gators playing like one of the program’s greatest players did on a consistent, night-in, night-out basis.

“I didn’t create Joakim Noah’s passion, energy, intensity, heart, toughness. I didn’t create that. That was in there. I think as a coaching staff we fostered it. That’s an area our guys need to get better,” he explained.

“We need to be more relentless. We need to be tougher. We need a mental will. We have to be better there. When adversity hits and those things hit, we got to get tougher, we got to get more competitive, we got to get nastier, we got to have more of that internal drive and will in those moments. I think we displayed some of that [this year]. I think there were games where we really displayed that. … I think we got the capability, but we got to be more consistent doing that.”

Read much, much more from Donovan on Florida basketball..after the break!
Continue Reading » 4/10: Donovan wraps up season and speaks about Young, Yeguete, transfers, freshmen & more

Tags: Billy Donovan, Chris Walker, Damontre Harris, Dorian Finney-Smith, Kasey Hill, Patric Young, Scottie Wilbekin, Will Yeguete

A position of relative weakness for men’s basketball over the last two seasons has suddenly become one of immense strength as the Florida Gators officially announced on Monday that center Patric Young will return to school for his senior season.

“I have the chance to finish my degree and play another season for Coach [Billy] Donovan with great teammates and friends at a place I love,” said Young in a school release. “These first three years have gone by in a flash, and I can’t believe it is my senior year already. I have gotten better as a player and better as a man at the University of Florida. I believe God has my future in his hands, so all I am worried about now is getting better this summer and making it the hardest I have trained in my life.”

After spending his first year with the Gators as a reserve, Young has served as Florida’s starting center over the last two seasons, averaging 10.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per game in each campaign. Donovan has chided Young for his consistency on occasion in order to get the absoulte most out of him on a game-to-game basis but the two have a great player-coach relationship.

“We’re excited that Patric will continue with us for his senior season,” said Donovan in the school release. “This was Patric’s decision to make, and he ultimately had to do what he felt was best for himself and his future.”

Young likely would have been a second-round pick in the upcoming 2013 NBA Draft had he declared and left school early.

Though stretch-four Erik Murphy (6’10″, 238 lbs.) had started alongside him, Young (6’9”, 249 lbs.) has been the Gators’ true big man and the only player on the team who could legitimately play center for an entire game.

That will not be the case next season as, with Young returning, Florida will boast arguably the best frontcourt in the nation.

Joining Young, the two-time SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, will be junior transfer Damontre Harris (6’10”, 228 lbs.) and five-star freshman Chris Walker (6’9”, 220 lbs.). Forwards Will Yeguete (6’7” 240 lbs.) and Casey Prather (6’6”, 208 lbs.) will both return for their senior seasons, and Florida will finally get to see sophomore transfer Dorian Finney-Smith (6’8”, 205 lbs.) in action.

The Gators will be able to rotate at least six players in their three frontcourt positions but will need to develop the backcourt after losing starting guards Kenny Boynton and Mike Rosario to graduation. Point guard Scottie Wilbekin will be the only other returning member of Florida’s starting five aside from Young.

Photo Credit: David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Tags: Billy Donovan, Casey Prather, Chris Walker, Damontre Harris, Dorian Finney-Smith, Draft, NBA, Patric Young, Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Scottie Wilbekin, SEC, Will Yeguete

1 » According to Mike Max of Minnesota CBS affiliate WCCO, former Florida Gators wide receiver Percy Harvin is on the Minnesota Vikings’ trading block. As was speculated previously, Max reports that “the No. 1 reason Percy Harvin left the team this season was not his injury, but it was motivated by a blowup he had with Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier.” Harvin, who reportedly got in a verbal argument with former Minnesota head coach Brad Childress and once reportedly attempted to choke former Gators wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales after the two got in an argument during practice, supposedly “had an embarrassing tirade directed towards Frasier, disrespecting the coach during the season when Harvin was sidelined with an injured ankle.” Shortly thereafter, the Vikings put him on injured reserve. A MVP candidate during the 2012 season until he got injured, Harvin is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He will likely command a second-round pick with some additional compensation but not the first-round selection his talent deserves as front offices have concerns about his injury history and demeanor within a team environment. Harvin can be traded when free agency begins for the 2013 league year on March 12.

2 » Two players Florida would love to have in uniform right now while the team’s roster is under siege by injuries are transfers junior center Damontre Harris and sophomore forward Dorian Finney-Smith. Unfortunately for the Gators, the two are sitting out their NCAA-mandated redshirt season; fortunately for UF, the duo is forming a close bond and preparing to contribute in 2013-14. Harris, who is still recovering from surgery he had on a torn labrum, told Florida’s school website that “the worst part” of the whole situation is “put[ting] in the work everybody else puts in, but you don’t get to show or perform or demonstrate all that work.” He added, “I think about it every day…actually wearing a Gator uniform. I’ve even had dreams about it but then I wake up knowing I still have to wait ‘till next year.” Finney-Smith is equally anxious. “I just wish I’d signed with Florida out of high school,” he said. “Can’t do nothing about it now, though, but practice hard and wait for my time to get here.”

CLICK TO EXPAND and read two more BITS in this post.

Tags: Baltimore Orioles, baseball, Damontre Harris, Darren O'Day, Dorian Finney-Smith, Eddie Lovett, field, Husky Classic, Marquis Dendy, Minnesota Vikings, MLB, NFL, Percy Harvin, Taylor Burke, track, Virginia Tech Elite Meet

With just one day until the Florida Gators‘ 2012-13 basketball season gets underway, the first half of OGGOA‘s series – The Countdown – takes a look at those scholarship players on the roster wearing jerseys ranging from No. 33-11.

10 – Dorian Finney-Smith (Portsmouth, VA)
Sophomore transfer forward
6’8” 205 lbs.

Quick Bio/2011-12 Season: A former four-star recruit and the No. 31 overall player in the country, Finney-Smith spent his freshman season playing for Virginia Tech. He made 30 starts and played in all 33 of his team’s games, averaging 6.3 points and 7.0 rebounds. For his efforts, Finney-Smith was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team. He chose Florida over a list of possible destinations including Memphis, Louisville and Iowa State. He is from the same town as Vernon Macklin; the two are friends.

2012-13 Outlook: Due to NCAA transfer rules, Finney-Smith will be ineligible to play this season and will instead take a redshirt. He will, however, be able to practice with the Gators. “I think Dodo is a guy that creates a level of competitiveness,” head coach Billy Donovan said. “Dodo’s played in the ACC, so he has an idea [of what it takes to play at this level].”

5 – Scottie Wilbekin (Gainesville, FL)
Junior point guard
6’2” 176 lbs.

Quick Bio: A two-star recruit coming out of high school, Wilbekin skipped his senior season and accepted a scholarship to UF as a junior. A lifelong Florida fan, Wilbekin proved to be a capable backup point guard as a freshman. He posted the best assist-to-turnover ratio on the team (2.2), led the Gators in assists five times, earned one start and was the first player to come off of the bench in 16 of the team’s games.

2011-12 Season: Wilbekin again backed up Erving Walker at point guard but had a much more impressive campaign, improving his shooting by 10 percent and three-point shooting by nearly 20 percent. He only averaged 2.6 points, 1.6 assists and 1.5 rebounds in 15.2 minutes per game but shot 45.7 percent from downtown and proved that he could be a capable player for Florida.

2012-13 Outlook: Moving into the starting lineup, Wilbekin is being counted on to play the majority of the minutes at point guard even though he will be spelled at times. Donovan praised the way he played during fall practice, noting that the team is going to try to take advantage of his size and athleticism. “In practice I’ve been shooting a lot more than I did the last two years. It’s coming pretty natural,” Wilbekin said a few weeks ago. Donovan was not so keen on Wilbekin one day before the team’s season opener as he learned of some news early in the morning and decided to suspend him indefinitely beginning with Friday’s game against Georgetown. Donovan said Wilbekin feels remorse for his mistake, and the coach expects the player to be better in the long run when he learns to take responsibility for his actions.

Read about FOUR more players in The Countdown…after the break!
Continue Reading » The Countdown: Florida Gators roster (10-1)

Tags: Billy Donovan, Damontre Harris, Dorian Finney-Smith, Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, Scottie Wilbekin

With the Florida Gators beginning 2012-13 fall practice, head coach Billy Donovan and the entire team met with the media Wednesday to discuss the season ahead. Below are links to the four stories that have already been published as well as all of the odds and ends that did not make it into a separate post.

RELATED STORIES

» Upping Boynton’s leadership, Murphy’s versatility
» Has Mike Rosario turned a corner? Time will tell.
» Patric Young’s chance to shine in year three
» Larson now a walk-on; Donovan joins Gators

THE GATORS’ NEXT STARTING POINT GUARD IS…

There was no question going into any of the last three seasons that Erving Walker would be starting at point guard for Florida. But with Walker graduating last spring and the Gators’ options relatively slim at the position, Donovan has an important decision to make for that starting roster spot. Though he did not officially announce his choice on Wednesday, comments he made about replacing Walker in the starting five intimated that the job would go to junior Scottie Wilbekin.

“I think you’re going to lose guys every year,” he said. “That’s just part of basketball. I think this is a new team, a new identity. Erving was as senior and Brad [Beal] had the opportunity to go early in the draft, so that’s kind of what happened. I don’t think our guys are sitting around saying they need Erv or Brad to be back. We got to create our own identity and some other guys got to step up. I’m not asking anybody to be Erving Walker. I’m not asking Scottie to be Erving; I’m asking Scottie to be Scottie. I’m not asking anybody to be Brad Beal. I’m asking whoever it may be to be their own guy and to provide for our team what we need.”

Wilbekin, an incredibly solid defender who came out of nowhere to shoot 45.7 percent from downtown last season after hitting 28.3 percent of his attempts in 2010-11, has never averaged more than 17.1 minutes or 2.6 points per game in his career. That should all change this season, and one would be hard pressed to argue that he does not deserve the opportunity considering how much he has done for the program.

Other options at point guard during the year include senior Kenny Boynton and freshman Braxton Ogbueze, who was considered one of the best point guard prospects in the nation last season. Boynton has yet to truly play point guard at the collegiate level, and Ogbueze does not have the experience one needs to take on such a task right away, especially with so many tough tests early in the season.

TRANSFERS CAN’T PLAY BUT WILL CERTAINLY HELP

Read the rest of this post…after the break!
Continue Reading » Florida basketball 2012 media day wrap-up

Tags: Billy Donovan, Braxton Ogbueze, Casey Prather, Damontre Harris, DeVon Walker, Dorian Finney-Smith, Kenny Boynton, Scottie Wilbekin, Will Yeguete

Junior center Patric Young, one of the top frontcourt players in the country and a huge returning asset for the Florida Gators, has missed the last three weeks of workouts while suffering from mononucleosis, head coach Billy Donovan told ESPN on Tuesday.

Young, who started 32 of 37 games for the Gators in 2011-12 and averaged 10.2 points along with 6.4 rebounds, is scheduled to begin working out again on Wednesday and expected to be on the court for the first day of team practice on Oct. 12.

“I think he’s going to be fine, but there’s going to be some stamina issues with him because he hasn’t done anything for three weeks,” Donovan told ESPN. “We’ve got plenty of time where we can get him back to that point.”

Young expressed his frustration with being out of action via his Twitter account one week ago. “Do i still play basketball? Havent touched a basketball in forever,” he wrote in two consecutive tweets on Sept. 11.

Florida bolstered its frontcourt in the offseason though both players it added to the fold – transfers sophomore forward Dorian Finney-Smith and junior F/C Damontre Harris – will not be eligible to play this season as they must sit out a year per NCAA rules.

That leaves the Gators with Young, junior F Will Yeguete, senior F/C Erik Murphy and redshirt sophomore Cody Larson as players capable of spending extended time inside.

Considering Florida is set to open the season on Nov. 9 against a top-notch opponent for the first time since 2001-02, getting Young back healthy for the start of the 2012-13 campaign is of paramount importance to the team.

Tags: Billy Donovan, Cody Larson, Damontre Harris, Dorian Finney-Smith, Erik Murphy, NCAA, Patric Young, Will Yeguete

With his 2013 recruiting class already stacked with a pair of consensus top-10 prospects, head coach Billy Donovan secured another big man on Sunday when three-star power forward Schuyler Rimmer (Boone, FL) committed to the Florida Gators.

Rimmer, a 6’9” 233 lbs. burgeoning prospect, chose Florida over Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Stanford (among others) and told Rivals in July that academics would play a big part in his recruitment.

An underrated prospect heading into this summer, his performances at multiple AAU events drew strong reactions and seriously increased his offer count.

Rimmer will be a redshirt candidate during his freshman season due to the Gators’ suddenly deep frontcourt. He can play both in the post and on the perimeter and is a developmental player along the lines of Chandler Parsons and Erik Murphy.

Rimmer joins five-stars point guard Kasey Hill (Clermont, FL) and PF Chris Walker (Bonifay, FL) as a member of Florida’s 2013 class. The Gators will have at least five players stepping on the court for the first time that season as transfer forwards Damontre Harris and Dorian Finney-Smith will be coming off of their redshirt years.

With three seniors – Murphy and guards Kenny Boynton and Mike Rosario – set to graduate after the 2012-13 season, Donovan does not appear to have additional space to add to his 2013 class unless he anticipates that players will either depart early (junior center Patric Young, for example) or transfer.

Rimmer’s commitment was first reported by Alex Kline of Rivals’ The Recruit Scoop.

Tags: Chandler Parsons, Chris Walker, Damontre Harris, Dorian Finney-Smith, Erik Murphy, Kasey Hill, Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, Patric Young, Schuyler Rimmer