After coming out of the first weekend of the 2013 NCAA Tournament with two big wins, the three-seed Florida Gators chose to remain in Texas – travelling from Austin, TX to Arlington, TX on Monday – rather than fly home only to be forced to fly back out a few days later. Head coach Billy Donovan has participated in two media availabilities since then and the team has been doing plenty of work on and off the court as well. Here are a few odds and ends that would not fit into some of the other posts here on OGGOA.

» Former Florida center Joakim Noah will be in attendance on Friday. The Chicago Bulls happen to be playing against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday afternoon, so Noah will be in town and able to attend the Sweet 16 game.

» The Gators had a pair of celebrity visitors as guests in practice this week as Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle took in the team’s first workout on Tuesday and Texas Rangers catcher A.J. Pierzynski wound up in Cowboys Stadium on Thursday to watch the team’s shootaround. Pierzynski is a life-long UF fan.

» Donovan and Carlisle were both members of the 1987-88 New York Knicks though both were just bench players on the team. Also on that squad? Sidney Green, the father of former Florida point guard Taurean Green. Donovan and Carlisle also played with Patrick Ewing, Kenny “Sky” Walker, Bill Cartwright, Gerald Henderson, Mark Jackson and Gerald Wilkins among others. Donovan and his Gators coaching staff actually went out for dinner with Carlisle and his assistants when Florida got into town on Monday. The Gators then went to the Mavericks game on on Tuesday and saw Dallas pull off an exciting 109-102 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

» According to Florida Today’s David Jones, junior forward Will Yeguete had been approached in the past to leave Florida early to play professional basketball in France. He declined. “Not happening. My parents want me to graduate,” he said.

» Students from Florida and Florida Gulf Coast will be featured on NBC’s The Today Show on Friday morning. There will be a live spirit competition between the students on a split screen. Gators fans should wear orange, blue and gear with the team logo and arrive at Gate 1 of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center at 6:30 a.m. sharp. The segment will air on NBC at approximately 7:15 a.m.

» Senior guard Kenny Boynton on trying to get to the Final Four after consecutive losses in the Elite Eight: “Basically you need to remember, but you don’t think about it. We remember the pain it caused for us last year. I think we used it to learn for the next few games. We’ve been close, and our goal is to get further this year.”

» Donovan on being forced to suspend junior point guard Scottie Wilbekin before the first game of the season: “I’ll never forget this. It was one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever experienced as a coach when I told him in my office, ‘We’re not taking you on this trip. You’re not playing.’ And all of our team is on the bus and we’re driving to Jacksonville. And he’s got his book bag over his shoulder and our bus is leaving and he’s walking down past our facility to walk back to his dorm. He’s obviously very emotional and he’s crying. I think those kinds of events sometimes really change you. … I think there’s no question that situation with Scottie helped him.”

Continue Reading » Odds and ends from Florida Gators in Texas

Tags: A.J. Pierzynski, Billy Donovan, Cowboys Stadium, John Pelphrey, Kenny Boynton, Matt McCall, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, Scottie Wilbekin, Will Yeguete

1 » Coincidence led to an impromptu speaking engagement from former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow , who found himself at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport on Sunday when his private jet was forced to stop in order to refuel. Also on the runway were the nine-seed Wichita State Shockers, which had just boarded their team bus after a flight home. When Tebow learned of this being the case, one of his representatives asked head coach Gregg Marshall if he would allow Tebow to address the team, which he did. Tebow stepped off his jet, onto the team’s bus and delivered a short address to the players telling them to make the most of this time in their lives and that if they continue working hard, positive results will follow. You can check out a snippet of Tebow’s speech by clicking here.

2 » A large number of Florida fans likely also root for the Orlando Magic, which means they probably are not too fond of Dwight Howard. So Howard sending a veiled threat to a former Gators basketball player – power forward David Lee of the Golden State Warriors – is unlikely to rub more in a positive way.

Speaking with the media on Monday after a 109-103 loss, Howard vowed revenge against Lee and the Warriors for an unintentional shot he took in the mouth during the first half as Lee was going to the rim for a layup. Howard actually got called for a technical on the play. “He got away with a shot,” Howard said per ESPN. “I will remember this game. I will remember that shot. He said he wasn’t trying to do it. You can look at the play and see it for yourself. I will take care of it later.”

3 » The Gainesville Sun’s Kevin Brockway caught up with assistant basketball coach Matt McCall last week and asked him about Florida’s incoming five-star commitments – point guard Kasey Hill and power forward Chris Walker. McCall, who “spearheaded the efforts of recruiting both standouts” according to Brockway, is pleased that Hill can score but is not a “shoot-first point guard” and thought Walker put together a “second-to-none” performance in the recent state championship tournament.

4 » The reality show “What would Ryan Lochte Do?” is set to premiere on E! on Sunday, April 21 at 10 p.m. The network released an extended trailer (4:30) for the show this week, and you can check it out below. This show will either be absolutely awful or downright hysterical to make fun of each week. There is likely no in-between.

Tags: Chris Walker, David Lee, Golden State Warriors, Kasey Hill, Matt McCall, Ryan Lochte, swimming, Tim Tebow, Wichita State Shockers

The Florida Gators officially announced Wednesday that two of the top high school basketball players in the country – five-stars point guard Kasey Hill (Clermont, FL) and power forward Chris Walker (Bonifay, FL) – have signed and submitted their National Letters of Intent to play for Florida beginning in the 2013-14 season.

Hill and Walker, each ranked in the top-10 nationally by all of the major recruiting services, are a huge 1-2 punch for the Gators as they look to replace at least three players who are set to leave following the 2012-13 campaign. The players are close friends and have been AAU teammates over the last few years.

“How they rank to the rest of the country, doesn’t really matter to me because there are so many things they bring to the table,” head coach Billy Donovan told Florida’s website. “Being in-state guys, I’ve had a chance to watch them grow over a three-year period and I understand what we’ll be getting. They’re athletic, with speed and quickness and competiveness. They both have a chance to have tremendous careers here.”

Walker is the first big man the Gators have signed out of high school since Florida added a trio of players, including center Patric Young, as part of its 2010 class.

“The best frontcourt players to come through here — the Horfords, Haslems, Bonners, Noahs — they could all really run,” assistant coach Matt McCall said. “And Chris Walker can really run.”

Donovan, a former point guard, is equally excited at what Hill (a former teammate of freshman guard Michael Frazier II at Montverde Academy) brings to the table as the highest-rated floor general signed by the Gators since Anthony Roberson in 2002.

“He’s just a presence on the floor. Great vision,” he said of Hill.

Most exciting for Florida fans is that Donovan and his staff are not done just yet. Though the Gators will not add another player as part of the early signing period, Florida is in the running for a trio of uncommitted five-star players including forward Jabari Parker (Chicago, IL), PF Julius Randle (Plano, TX) and C Dakari Johnson (Montverde, FL). The second National Signing Day is set for April 17, 2013.

Tags: Billy Donovan, Chris Walker, Dakari Johnson, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle, Kasey Hill, Matt McCall, Michael Frazier, Patric Young

Having to hire his fourth new assistant over the last two seasons, Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan brought in an unfamiliar face with a lot of potential and promoted a current assistant to the second position on the bench.

On Tuesday, Florida released the assistants’ 2012-13 salaries in compliance with a records requests obtained and published The Gainesville Sun’s Kevin Brockway.

A look at the coaching staff’s 2012-13 salaries:

Pelphrey’s salary will help offset the $1.8 million Arkansas owes him for firing him with three years remaining on his head coaching contract. The school was set to pay him $600,000 annually for three years but will instead contribute just $420,000 per season.

Contract notes:
- Donovan will earn a loyalty bonus of $500,000 this season.
- Donovan receives a $60,000 expense account.
- All coaches receive a $10,000 bonus from Florida’s contract with Nike
- All coaches receive a car and other tangible incentives.
- All coaches are eligible for multiple performance-based bonuses.

Tags: Billy Donovan, John Pelphrey, Matt McCall, Rashon Burno

Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan won the 400th game of his career on Monday when Florida routed Stetson 96-70 in Orlando, FL. Following the game, Donovan was hit with a Gatorade shower in the locker room and got to celebrate for a short while with the team and visitors Chandler Parsons and Jason Williams. In his post-game press conference, Donovan spoke at length about reaching 400 victories and his coaching career.

On what winning 400 games means to him: “One, I’m definitely clearly getting older. A guy like Jason Williams is here at the game, and he was obviously a part of it when it first started, coaching him. Chandler came in the locker room [and I thought about] his time here. Joakim Noah has been on campus a lot with the lockout. The Brent Wrights of the world. The [Udonis] Haslems. I think more about the time here and the guys that have come through. There have been a lot of special guys. Not only the guys that people get a chance to watch that are in the NBA, because those are obvious guys, but the Justin Hamiltons, the Brent Wrights, the Major Parkers – that first recruiting class. Anthony Roberson, Matt Walsh, Brett Nelson, there have been so many guys that have come through that were close to making the NBA that maybe didn’t make it that had a huge significance and impact on our program. It’s not just the NBA guys, it’s a lot of really good quality kids I’ve coached for a period of time. It’s hard to believe you see Jason Williams. The guy is married, he already has a couple of kids and is retired from the NBA. It’s definitely a reflection that time is moving on and you’re getting older.”

Read everything else Billy Donovan had to say…after the break!
Continue Reading » Billy Donovan talks about hitting 400 wins

Tags: Anthony Grant, Anthony Roberson, Billy Donovan, Brent Wright, Brett Nelson, Chandler Parsons, Donnie Jones, Jason Williams, Jeremy Foley, Joakim Noah, John Pelphrey, Justin Hamilton, Major Parker, Matt McCall, Matt Walsh, Norm Roberts, Shaka Smart, Udonis Haslem

It has been a long offseason for Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan. In addition to serving as a court coach for USA Basketball, traveling across the country recruiting some of the nation’s best high school players and preparing for the 2011-12 season, Donovan had to hire four new staff members including three assistant coaches.

“The only guy that liked me half way decent was our trainer [Dave Werner]. That’s because I take him fishing a lot,” Donovan joked during Florida basketball’s media day on Wednesday.

“In hiring, there [were] a couple things that were concerns for me. One, I felt like I needed some familiarity. People around me that knew me, knew Florida, knew the way we were going to do things here. It can be very time consuming when you have to train three new people. When I say ‘train,’ I’m not talking about coaching train them, but terminology on the court, how you go about recruiting, dealing with players, individual workouts, breaking down tape, scouting reports. All those things are things that need to be taught because it’s their first time doing it this way, not the first time in their career.

“The other thing too is, I talk a lot about our team chemistry, how we play together, chemistry on the court, chemistry off the court. I think it’s really hard to sit there and talk to your team [about that] when your coaching staff doesn’t have chemistry. Players see that stuff. I wanted to try to hire a staff where we all were going to try to make each other better, there were going to be great relationships, great respect and great passion.”

Donovan first reached out to an old friend and a familiar face for fans of Gators basketball. John Pelphrey, fresh off being fired by the Arkansas Razorbacks following five years as the team’s head coach, decided to return to Gainesville, FL where he was an assistant under Donovan from 1996-2002.

“From a familiarity standpoint, bringing John Pelrphey back first was very helpful to me because he had been with me for quite some time,” Donovan explained. “He knew me, knew Florida. I knew he could help the other guys.”

Next up was hiring another experienced assistant. Though there was no direct connection to Donovan, former St. John’s Red Storm head coach Norm Roberts became a top candidate. Like Donovan, Roberts is a native New Yorker, and the two had crossed paths as players and on the recruiting circuit. Roberts had been out of work for a year after being released by St. John’s in 2010.

Click to expand and read the remainder of this post.

Tags: Arkansas Razorbacks, Billy Donovan, Clemson Tigers, FAU Owls, John Pelphrey, Matt Herring, Matt McCall, NBA, Norm Roberts, Preston Greene, Rick Pitino, San Antonio Spurs, St. John's Red Storm

Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan is set to hire the fourth new member of his basketball staff this offseason.

A source close to the team told OGGOA Tuesday morning that Donovan will hire Preston Greene as the the Gators’ basketball program’s new strength and conditioning coach.

Greene will replace veteran strength and conditioning coach Matt Herring, who left Florida to take the director of athletic performance job with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs last week.

A Clemson graduate, Greene has spent the last three seasons with his alma mater as its assistant strength and conditioning coach who led the efforts for the men’s basketball team. He has 10 years of experience running strength and conditioning programs with prior stops at both Stanford (2008-09) and Charlotte (2003-08).

Herring was the fourth member of Donovan’s staff that he has been forced to supplant in the last few months. All three of his assistants left after the 2010-11 season for other jobs and were replaced with former Gators assistant and Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey, former St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts, and former Florida director of basketball operations and Florida Atlantic assistant coach Matt McCall.

Tags: Billy Donovan, John Pelphrey, Matt Herring, Matt McCall, NBA, Norm Roberts, Preston Greene, San Antonio Spurs

1 » Not only will members of the Florida Gators basketball team have to get used to a new trio of assistants this season, those assistants also need to build chemistry and get to know each other. The Gainesville Sun’s Kevin Brockway, in Lake Buena Vista, FL for an AAU tournament, got a chance to catch up with them and see how things are going. “I feel very fortunate to be part of that staff,” assistant John Pelphrey said. “Those guys are tremendous, both Matt [McCall] and Norm [Roberts]. I just want to play my role to make us be the best we can be and help Billy [Donovan] be the best he can be.” The youngest of the bunch agreed. “It’s been terrific,” McCall added. “[They are] two guys that are hard not to get along with. Just great people, and terrific coaches too.” Roberts explained how the trio has been trying to build a bond. “We’ve done a lot of things with our families,” he said. “We’ve all gotten to know each other in that way, and then being on the road together, talking constantly about recruiting and those things.”

2 » Four-star 2012 shooting guard commit Michael Frazier (Tampa, FL) is as confident as ever in his decision to play for the Gators next year. Also speaking with Brockway, Frazier reiterated that he made the right decision making his pledge two years before he graduated. “My dad told me that I don’t need to waste other people’s time if I know where I want to go,” he said. “I didn’t want to do that because they could be recruiting other guys to help their program. So I just went ahead and committed early because I wanted to be a Gator.” The No. 82 player in the country according to Rivals, he has recently become close with fellow 2012 commit point guard Braxton Ogbueze (Charlotte, NC), the No. 57-ranked player. “I think we could be a great combo, him at the one, me at the two,” Frazier said. “He can really shoot it. It probably will take some pressure off of me, and we’ll be able to open each other up.”

3 » Just one day after setting a world record and winning his second gold at the World Swimming Championships in China, former Florida swimmer Ryan Lochte went on to win two more in the 200-meter backstroke and as the anchor for the United States’ 4×200-meter freestyle relay team. He has now won four medals during the event to go along with his world record time, which marks his third on the international stage.

4 » Just days after her Gators teammates won the 2011 World Cup of Softball as members of Team USA, sophomore shortstop Cheyenne Coyle was named to the 2011 USA Softball Junior Women’s National Team. “Representing the USA has always been a dream of mine from a very young age,” Coyle said in an official release. “I am extremely grateful to have this opportunity to represent my country on and off the field. I look forward to being able to compete with and against some of the best young softball players from all over the world.”

Tags: Billy Donovan, Braxton Ogbueze, Cheyenne Coyle, John Pelphrey, Matt McCall, Michael Frazier, Norm Roberts, Ryan Lochte, softball, swimming, USA