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

It took 15 seasons with the Florida Gators for head coach Billy Donovan to earn his first conference coaching honor despite winning two national championships, coaching in three title games and leading his team to three-straight SEC Tournament victories. Coming off his fifth league regular season title (third outright), Donovan learned Tuesday that he has won his second conference coaching award in the last three seasons as he was chosen as the 2013 SEC Coach of the Year by his peers.

Donovan’s Gators (24-6, 14-4 SEC) opened the SEC slate with eight-straight victories and a 27.75-point margin of victory in those games. Though Florida slid a bit and lost four of its final 10 games in-conference, the Gators still won the league title outright and were the only team in the SEC to remain in the top 25 polls all season long.

UF finished 15-0 at home in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on the season, the second-best home record in school history (18-0 – 2006-07) and fifth time Donovan has led his team to an undefeated record in the O’Dome.

Florida also helped Donovan achieve his 15th-straight 20-win season dating back to 1999. He has the third-longest active streak of 20-win seasons behind Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (17) and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim (16) and fifth-longest all-time.

Donovan is now known as the dean of SEC coaches despite being younger than five of his other 13 peers. In his 17th season with the Gators, he is the longest tenured active head coach in the league and has seen 28 coaches come and go through the SEC while he has remained at Florida.

He also this season became the third coach in SEC history to win 400 games and heads into the 2013 SEC Tournament with 410 wins, just 38 behind LSU’s Dale Brown (448) and many more back of Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp (875).

Florida also had a number of its players honored Tuesday by the league’s coaches:

Senior forward Erik Murphy was chosen for the First Team All-SEC with senior guard Kenny Boynton, redshirt senior G Mike Rosario and junior center Patric Young each earning Second Team nods. (Rosario and Young tied in voting; ties are not broken.)

Young, who was named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Monday, and junior point guard Scottie Wilbekin were named to the SEC All-Defensive Team, and freshman G Michael Frazier II won a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team.

Other league awards went to Georgia’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (SEC Player of the Year), Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel (SEC Freshman of the Year, SEC Defensive Player of the Year) and UK’s Kyle Wiltjer (SEC Sixth Man of the Year).

Photo Credit: Unknown

Tags: All-Defensive, All-Freshman, All-SEC, Billy Donovan, Coach of the Year, Erik Murphy, Kenny Boynton, Michael Frazier, Mike Rosario, Patric Young, Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Scottie Wilbekin, SEC, Stephen C. O'Connell Center

Sophomore center Patric Young confirmed Thursday in Omaha, NE that he intends to return to the Florida Gators for his junior season, according to multiple reports on the scene for the team’s second-round match-up in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

The Gainesville Sun’s Kevin Brockway confirmed Young’s declaration in a tweet. The player had previously told The Independent Florida Alligator’s Matt Watts on March 9 that he would be staying for his junior season before reversing course and saying he would make a final decision after the season was over.

Young, a full-time starter for Florida in his second season with the team, is averaging 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds in 26.3 minutes per game. He is shooting 60.8 percent from the field (all on dunks, layups and short hooks) and 60.5 percent from the line but has been relatively inconsistent for the Gators this year.

Though he has been a strong low-post defender when he keys in on that end of the court, Young is averaging fewer rebounds than many would expect. Scouts believe he should be pulling down double-digits in that category each game.

He also remains a work-in-progress offensively, getting discouraged and failing to continue posting up if he does not receive a fair amount of touches. Head coach Billy Donovan has discussed his player’s maturity and effort level, hoping he can improve as he realizes what it takes to be successful at a higher level of competition.

“There’s a level of requirement that you have to have as a player that, when you step into practice, you’ve got to work on a regular basis to get better,” he said referring to Young. “It’s that up-and-down-ness of, ‘I’m tired, I’m sore, my knee hurts, my foot hurts.’ You can’t one minute say that and then the next minute jump up and tomahawk dunk. That doesn’t make any sense. That’s part of any player growing, and I think Patric is still scratching the surface of understanding who he can be and what he can be on a consistent basis.”

Donovan also hinted that he thought another year at UF would serve Young well.

Continue Reading » Patric Young returning to Florida for junior year

Tags: Billy Donovan, Bradley Beal, Draft, Kenny Boynton, NBA, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, Patric Young, Scholar-Athlete of the Year, SEC, Will Yeguete

Three members of the 2011-12 Florida Gators basketball team earned recognition from the Associated Press on Monday for their efforts this season.

Guards freshman Bradley Beal and junior Kenny Boynton were named to the All-SEC Second Team, and senior point guard Erving Walker received an honorable mention though he was not placed on a team.

Beal and Boynton were named to the All-SEC First Team last week by the conference’s coaches with Walker earning a spot on the second team. Beal was also added to the SEC All-Freshman Team, and sophomore center Patric Young earned recognition for his activities both on the court and in the classroom (3.37 GPA in telecommunications) with the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

Those four Florida players are not the only ones to receive special recognition after this season as sophomore forward Will Yeguete was placed on the 2012 SEC Community Service Team last Monday.

Tags: All-Freshman, All-SEC, Bradley Beal, Community Service Team, Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Patric Young, Scholar-Athlete of the Year, SEC, Will Yeguete

Four members of the 2011-12 Florida Gators basketball team earned year-end recognition on Tuesday for their efforts over the past season as voted on by the 12 Southeastern Conference coaches.

Guards freshman Bradley Beal and junior Kenny Boynton were named to the All-SEC First Team with Beal also being selected to the SEC All-Freshman Team. Senior point guard Erving Walker was placed on the All-SEC Second Team, and sophomore center Patric Young earned recognition for his activities both on the court and in the classroom (3.37 GPA in telecommunications) with the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

An All-SEC Second Team member in both his sophomore and junior campaigns, Walker has now received the honor three seasons in a row. Beal becomes the only men’s basketball player in school history to earn All-SEC First Team and SEC All-Freshman honors in the same season, and Boynton was also named to the unit for the first time in his career after being placed on the second team as a sophomore.

The Gators have been honored with having a SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in uniform in four of the last seven seasons as Young joins Lee Humphrey (2006, 2007) and Ray Shipman (2010) on that list.

Those four Florida players are not the only ones to receive special recognition from the SEC this week as sophomore forward Will Yeguete was placed on the 2012 SEC Community Service Team on Monday.

Tags: All-Freshman, All-SEC, Bradley Beal, Community Service Team, Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Patric Young, Scholar-Athlete of the Year, SEC, Will Yeguete

Florida Gators freshman guard Kenny Boynton, sophomore point guard Erving Walker and sophomore guard/forward Ray Shipman each took home separate 2009-10 Southeastern Conference season honors on Tuesday.

Boynton, named to the SEC All-Freshman team, averaged 13.3 points in conference play. Walker, earning second-team All-SEC honors, averaged 14.1 points in league action. Shipman was given recognition as the SEC’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year due to his excellent work in the classroom.

The Kentucky Wildcats raked in honors with John Wall being named Player of the Year and DeMarcus Cousins listed as Freshman of the Year. Three Wildcats (Wall, Cousins and Patrick Patterson) were placed on the All-SEC first team. Also on the first team are Trey Thompkins (Georgia), Jarvis Varnado (Mississippi State), Devan Downey (South Carolina), Wayne Chism (Tennessee) and Jermaine Beal (Vanderbilt).

Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings won Coach of the Year honors, and Varnado was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Tags: All-Freshman, All-SEC, Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Ray Shipman, Scholar-Athlete of the Year, SEC