TWO BITS: Rivers dominating, Gonzales working
1 » For as bleak as the rest of this season may look for the Florida Gators basketball team, its future is as bright as ever. That is because head coach Billy Donovan has already received verbal commitments from two five-star shooting guards for 2011 – Bradley Beal (St. Louis, MO) and Austin Rivers (Winter Park, FL). Though Rivers is also being pursued heavily by the Duke Blue Devils, he has reaffirmed his commitment to the Gators and continues to show Florida exactly why they want him so bad. Leading Winter Park High School in the 38th City of Palms Classic on Wednesday, Rivers was named the tournament MVP (for the second straight year), totaling 72 points in the two final games (45 points in the semifinals and 27 in the championship). In last year’s event, Rivers led his team to three upset victories over top 10 ranked teams and scored 46 points in the third-place game. He averaged 28 points per game in the 2009 CPC.
2 » Former Gators wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales has already gotten to work at his new job of passing game coordinator with the LSU Tigers, and he is implementing some of Florida’s strategies in order to make LSU’s spreading the field more smooth and efficient. “We’ve already kind of changed some of the concepts for what we do – pass concepts,” Gonzales told The Shreveport Times. “Any way we can make the pass game a little bit smoother. How can I help [offensive coordinator Gary] Crowton with the development of getting our players on and off the field quicker and making sure to expedite the play call. Anything I can do to help them in the process to make sure everything is a little bit quicker, a little bit smoother.”
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University of Florida men’s basketball head coach Billy Donovan will be honored with the John R. Wooden “Legends of Coaching Award” in April 2010. This award recognizes successful coaches who exemplify Wooden’s high standards of integrity on the court. Winners are selected based on character, success, student-athlete graduation rate and coaching philosophy. Donovan will be one of only four active coaches who have both guided teams to multiple NCAA National Championship titles (20006, 2007) and received this honor. The others are the Duke Blue Devils’ Mike Krzyzweski (3), North Carolina Tar Heels’ Roy Williams (2) and Connecticut Huskies’ Jim Calhoun (2). Donovan is 310-126 (.711) in 13 seasons as coach of the Gators with 11 consecutive 20-win seasons, nine NCAA tournament appearances and three SEC Championships.
Two Florida Gators defenders have been nominated for the 2009 Rotary Lombardi Award. Given annually to the nation’s top college football lineman, the trophy is awarded for not only on-field ability but also discipline resembling that of Vince Lombardi. Middle linebacker Brandon Spikes and defensive end Carlos Dunlap were nominated this year in a group that is very defense-heavy. Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is considered the overwhelming favorite to win.
