Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan and a number of players represented the team at the 2010-11 Florida Media Day on Wednesday in Gainesville, FL. Read on for news and notes about the upcoming season, now from the players.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ON THEIR MINDS

Though Donovan is trying to keep egos in check, that does not mean he wants his team to lower their expectations for the year as a whole. In fact, if you ask senior forward Chandler Parsons and junior point guard Erving Walker, nothing less than a national title is unacceptable.

“They asked me today, ‘What’s your goal?’ I said, ‘National championship.’ I don’t expect anything less,” Parsons said. “We want to win the SEC Tournament championship. That’s our goal. We want to be the best possible team that we can be. If that’s us getting to the Final Four, if that’s winning the national championship, we just want to continue to work hard every day and improve. [...] I think we have what it takes. We’re experienced, we have good guards, we have size, a great coach. I don’t see why not.”

“We don’t really talk about it that much but everybody knows, a goal is everybody wants to compete in a national championship,” Walker added. “But we all know, and I know Chandler knows, it’s a process. We can’t just jump to that. I feel like we can get there. I’d be lying to you if I told you I didn’t. But I know we’re not there yet, there’s no need to jump to March when we’re in October. It’s definitely nice to hear [the talk].”

BOYNTON: THE SHOOTER

Sophomore shooting guard Kenny Boynton improved significantly toward the end of last season but an albatross around his neck all year was his poor shooting percentage. He made a concerted effort to work on that this offseason.

“Last year I never knew when it was going to go in, I was just shooting it,” Boynton said. “Now I know when it’s off and how long it’s going, and I think it’s just a better shot now. I feel like in workouts I’ve been knocking down my midrange shot a lot. That was definitely a big thing I wanted to work at.”

Boynton now releases the ball “more in front of my head”. He has seen an increase in control and accuracy.

“I learned that you gotta put a lot of work into this,” he said. “It’s not just going and taking shots. It’s watching film, it’s studying the guys that you’re playing against. It’s mentally going into the game and being prepared, knowing that it’s more than just basketball.”

Read the rest of this recap of the players’ media availabilities…after the break!
Continue Reading » 2010-11 Florida Media Day: Players speak, too

Tags: Al Horford, Alex Tyus, Billy Donovan, Casey Prather, Chandler Parsons, Cody Larson, Erik Murphy, Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, NBA, Patric Young, Scottie Wilbekin, Vernon Macklin, Will Yeguete

Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan and a number of players represented the team at the 2010-11 Florida Media Day on Wednesday in Gainesville, FL. Read on for news and notes about the upcoming season, first from Donovan.

DEPTH MEANS LESS IS MORE

It was obvious listening to Donovan speak Wednesday that he is excited about his team going into the season. With just a handful of weeks to go before Florida plays its first meaningful game, it is the Gators’ depth that he thinks will be integral to the team’s success. And because the team is so deep, Donovan hopes it will also be molded into an unselfish group, similar to the teams that produced back-to-back National Championships for him in 2006 and 2007.

“Right now today we have depth. And when I say we have depth, we have bodies, we have numbers,” Donovan said. “Can [sophomore forward] Erik Murphy really carve out a role for himself? Can [senior F] Alex [Tyus]? Can our veteran guys? For us to be a better team, some of our veteran guys are gonna have to take less. And that’s what really made that 2006-2007 team special. Because you know what? [Joakim] Noah could’ve scored more points. [Al] Horford could’ve scored more points. [Corey] Brewer could’ve scored. They all could’ve scored more, but they understood that less was better for the team.

“We’re going to have to have some older guys understand that less is better for the team. It’s OK for them to have less provided that we can somehow find a way to utilize that depth. Who is going to emerge out of that younger group? Looking at it on paper, we have depth. But you don’t have depth if you don’t have guys that can get into a role.

“We had depth a couple years ago in our front court but none of those guys could emerge to take control of the role that was out there for them, and then we didn’t have depth. I’m hopeful these guys, just with their mentality and their attitude so far, will take that on and give us the depth that we think we have.”

TWO SENIORS STEPPING UP AS LEADERS

Florida brings back three seniors this year with Tyus, F Chandler Parsons and redshirt F/C Vernon Macklin all coming together to form as a solid frontcourt. However, Donovan expressed that it was Parsons and Macklin in particular who have really stepped up as leaders for this young team through the offseason.

“Verbally right now [Parsons] and Vern are doing a great job, but I think the verbal part only goes so far. When they get on the court their actions have got to back it up,” Donovan said. “Chandler and Vern in particular, those two guys, want kind of that responsibility. It’s good for both of those guys. Vernon probably in the beginning first half of the season was kinda feeling his way through and then he started to show signs of the reputation he had in high school. And then Chandler, coming off of his sophomore year, really felt like he had something to prove and kind of got through that a little bit.

“Both of those guys, to me, they’re in a little bit of a danger zone in the fact that they now gotta take that next step and not get complacent and get comfortable. They’re trying to do all the right things and I would say the best thing they’ve done is with some new faces in our program, they’ve really tried to incorporate the group and make it a team and they’re reaching out and doing some of that stuff. And up to this point in the time with Chandler and Vern I’ve been very, very happy with what they’re trying to do leadership-wise.”

Read the rest of this 3,000-word recap of Donovan’s presser…after the break!
Continue Reading » 2010-11 Florida Media Day: Billy Donovan speaks

Tags: Al Horford, Alex Tyus, Billy Donovan, Casey Prather, Chandler Parsons, Cody Larson, Corey Brewer, Erik Murphy, Erving Walker, Joakim Noah, Kenny Boynton, Kyle McClanahan, Mike Rosario, Patric Young, Richard Pitino, Scottie Wilbekin, Vernon Macklin, Will Yeguete

A day before the football team was set to begin fall practice, Florida Gators senior forward Chandler Parsons and sophomore guard Kenny Boynton spoke with members of the media about a number of topics including the extremely deep incoming freshman class. Click below to read what each player said about his new teammates.
Continue Reading » Parsons, Boynton talk about incoming freshmen

Tags: Casey Prather, Chandler Parsons, Cody Larson, Kenny Boynton, Patric Young, Scottie Wilbekin, Vernon Macklin, Will Yeguete

1 » Though the New England Patriots three draft selections garnered the most attention from Florida Gators fans, the team actually added four University of Florida products in the offseason after signing former Gators defensive tackle and 10-year NFL veteran Gerard Warren. Warren, who is backing up Vince Wilfork, recounted to ESPN that new Patriots linebackers Jermaine Cunningham and Brandon Spikes, along with tight end Aaron Hernandez, were all doing the Gator Chomp during rookie camp on Thursday. “Hey man, it’s Gator Nation,” Warren said.

2 » Speaking with The Gainesville Sun early this week, Florida head basketball coach Billy Donovan said he is “always concerned” about agents and their runners contacting his players. “The solution for it is the NCAA and the [NBA] players association are going to have to somehow get on the same level,” Donovan said. “Because we have more rules and restrictions against us as coaches in terms of communication and what we can do than the agents do.” He also touched on a number of other topics including the upcoming season. “I’m excited about our depth,” he said. “I think we’ll obviously have size now. I think we add a little depth with Scottie [Wilbekin] in the backcourt. But I’m anxious to work with this guys.”

3 » Former Gators wide receiver Louis Murphy struggled to progress much during his first NFL season, mostly because the Oakland Raiders’ quarterback situation was unresolved the whole year. With former Auburn QB Jason Campbell now in the fold, Murphy thinks he is just what the team needed. “I see a lot of similarities between Jason Campbell and Tim Tebow,” Murphy said. “They’re both really driven.”

4 » No longer on the sidelines with the Florida State Seminoles, Hall of Fame head coach Bobby Bowden has been taking part in a number of speaking engagements. During one Friday in Elkhart, FL, Bowden said that he will not miss having to deal with Florida every year. “They’re pretty good, but I don’t worry about them anymore,” Bowden said. “They’re not my problem anymore.”

Photo Credit: John Biever/Sports Illustrated

Tags: Aaron Hernandez, Billy Donovan, Bobby Bowden, Brandon Spikes, Florida State Seminoles, Gator Chomp, Gerard Warren, Jason Campbell, Jermaine Cunningham, Louis Murphy, NBA, NCAA, New England Patriots, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Scottie Wilbekin, Tim Tebow, University of Florida, Vince Wilfork

Athletes care about their uniform numbers, and now that Florida Gators basketball has begun meetings for the 2010-11 season, it was time for the team’s newest members to choose theirs. Below is the list, according to the University of Florida:

» No. 4 – Patric Young (Jacksonville, FL), four-star freshman power forward
» No. 24 – Casey Prather (Jackson, TN), four-star freshman forward
» No. 3 – Mike Rosario (Jersey City, NJ), four-star redshirt sophomore transfer guard
» No. 34 – Cody Larson (Sioux Falls, SD), three-star freshman power forward
» No. 15 – Will Yeguete (Melbourne, FL), three-star freshman power forward
» No. 5 – Scottie Wilbekin (Gainesville, FL), three-star freshman point guard

Rosario is ineligible for the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer rules; he will begin competing as a redshirt junior in 2011-12.

Tags: Casey Prather, Cody Larson, Mike Rosario, Patric Young, Scottie Wilbekin, University of Florida, Will Yeguete

Faced with rebuilding his program, Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan had been dealing with one final obstacle – having enough scholarships to sign his six-player 2010 recruiting class. That issue has now been resolved.

Donovan, who finished the 2009-10 basketball season with only two commitments for next year, signed four more players in just under a month’s time – Rutgers’ four-star transfer guard Mike Rosario (Jersey City, NJ), three-star forwards Will Yeguete (Melbourne, FL) and Cody Larson (Sioux Falls, SD) and three-star point guard Scottie Wilbekin (Gainesville, FL). Unfortunately, the Gators only had two remaining scholarships to offer with four-star forwards Patric Young (Jacksonville, FL) and Casey Prather (Jackson, TN) already taking up two other spots.

Sophomore guard Ray Shipman had previously decided to transfer (or else the team would have only had three total scholarships), but Donovan needed some help in order to get his program to the NCAA-mandated maximum of 13.

As OGGOA initially projected, the extra vacated scholarships ended up coming from redshirt sophomore forward Adam Allen (who gave up his so the team could sign Wilbekin) and now freshman point guard Rod Tishman (who has decided to remain in Israel instead of returning to the team).

“For [Tishman], coming the distance he came and not getting and opportunity to play much here was a part in his decision. I think part of him wanted to come back again, but I don’t think he wanted to come back if it was going to be the same situation as last season. Coming over here to play in the States was an adjustment period for him. He’s got some opportunities in Israel right now that he’s going to probably pursue professionally,” Donovan said. “I loved coaching him and I still have a good relationship with him and his family, but he’s going to stay back over there. We certainly appreciate him coming here and giving it a shot. For him coming all the way, the distance that he did and not getting the opportunity to play as much as he would like too [was difficult].”

Donovan informed the media of Tishman’s decision Monday, one that was assumed by many but not previously confirmed. Tishman barely got on the court last season, playing a total of 16 minutes in seven games. He played his last game on Jan. 16 against LSU and did not step onto the floor again the rest of the season.

Allen has qualified for a Bright Futures academic scholarship but may instead decide to take a medical hardship. He could also decide to transfer if he feels he can get healthy and play for another program. Either way, he will open up an additional slot.

“Adam hasn’t played ball in two years. I want to give him every opportunity to come back and to play and that’s what he wants to do,” Donovan said. “There’s such an uncertainty about where he’s going to be at physically when our season starts. […] He realizes he has a tremendous uphill battle, his skill level and more. There are a lot of unknowns.”

Other topics covered by Donovan:
Continue Reading » Tishman’s decision opens up 13th scholarship

Tags: Adam Allen, Alex Tyus, Billy Donovan, Casey Prather, Cody Larson, Mike Rosario, NCAA, Patric Young, Ray Shipman, Rod Tishman, Scottie Wilbekin, University of Florida, Will Yeguete

1 » Tuesday evening was all about freshman first baseman Austin Maddox. Going 4-4 with five RBI and a two-run home run, Maddox powered No. 4/5 Florida Gators baseball (38-12) to a 9-3 win over the North Florida Ospreys (29-23) at McKethan Stadium in Gainesville, FL. Maddox’ 17th blast of the season set a new Florida freshman single-season record while also giving him the team lead in homers. Making his first start since having facial surgery, sophomore starter Tommy Toledo (3-1) collected the win in only two innings of work. Tuesday’s victory marked the Gators’ 12th in their last 13 games and fifth in a row. Tied atop the Southeastern Conference standings with South Carolina, Florida travels to Columbia, SC, on Thursday for a three-game series to determine the regular season champion. The Gators must win two of three games as they would otherwise lose the tiebreaker due to their greater number of canceled SEC games due to inclimate weather.

Four more BITS on Wilbekin, Tebow, Haden and Donovan…after the break!
Continue Reading » FOUR BITS: Baseball tops UNF, Wilbekin signs

Tags: Austin Maddox, baseball, Billy Donovan, Chris Richard, Chuck Heater, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Draft, Jerome Henderson, Joe Haden, Kyle Orton, McKethan Stadium, NFL, North Florida Ospreys, Patric Young, Rob Lanier, Scottie Wilbekin, SEC, Tim Tebow, Tommy Toledo, Vance Bedford

1 » Three-star point guard commitment Scottie Wilbekin (Gainesville, FL), who is leaving The Rock School a year early as a junior to join the Florida Gators‘ 2010 recruiting class, remains a mystery to many fans who are curious as to what he can bring to the program right away. Reggie Rankin, who covers basketball recruiting for ESPN caught a glimpse of Wilbekin at the second session of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) and came away impressed. “[Wilbekin] has added about 25 pounds and his confidence and swagger on the court is tremendous,” Rankin wrote. “He may not be a star for the Gators, but he will provide them with a lead guard that possess a high basketball IQ, can run the team, get others involved and makes open shots. He also is an excellent defender that is alert in the passing lanes. He will provide Billy Donovan with a steady hand at the point position. […] It is great to see a kid have these options not only because he is a good kid and player, but most importantly a good student.”

Wilbekin’s school also went ahead and published a video with his coaches profiling his game and some of his accomplishments. (h/t Orlando Sentinel)

2 » Speaking of Florida basketball and its recruiting, former four-star 2008 commitment center Eloy Vargas has transferred for the second time in as many eligible seasons. This time, Vargas is leaving Miami Dade College for none other than head coach John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats. Vargas averaged 25 points and 15 rebounds last season and hopes to make a quick transition back to the Southeastern Conference.

Tags: Billy Donovan, Eloy Vargas, John Calipari, Kentucky Wildcats, Miami Dade College, Nike, Scottie Wilbekin, SEC