CHOMPING On: What to do about Dan Werner

Covering the Florida Gators as close as I do every day, I sometimes find the need to vent regarding some of the coverage, news, opinions and general sentiments surrounding the program. In those instances, OGGOA presents CHOMPING On:

That is the question on every Florida Gators basketball fan’s mind Thursday morning: What can head coach Billy Donovan do about senior forward Dan Werner? While the question is very straightforward, the answer is actually just as simple: Nothing.

Read the rest (trust me, there is plenty more) after the jump!

Donovan’s hands are tied. Before I explain why, let us just go over how awful Werner has played so far this season. In addition to shooting a career-low .336 from the field (was previously .433 as a starter), he is .279 from beyond the arc (down from .333) and has a 1.19 assist-to-turnover ratio, the lowest in his career. He is averaging two turnovers a game and has given up the rock three or more times in eight of 24 outings this season.

Werner is shooting 3-for-34 from downtown since Dec. 10, has five baskets in his last 223 game minutes played (20 points) and has put up the following shooting efforts: 0/3, 0/4, 0/4, 1/8, 0/4, 1/6, 1/6, 2/8, 2/7, 1/5 and another 1/5. The most heartbreaking stat for Gators fans? He is playing his worst when it matters the most: Werner is only shooting .161 (5-for-31) since Jan. 12.

Perhaps worst of all, he has lost any shred of confidence he once possessed. Athletes across the world have to deal with criticism; the good ones or those who are strong in mind are able to either ignore or overcome it to play at a respectable level. Werner has proved incapable of doing so. He now appears nervous every time he touches the ball and will even triple-clutch before shooting.

It has gotten to the point where he is a liability on offense, not only because of his inability to score, but due to the fact that opposing teams are no longer devoting defenders to cover him. Every time Werner was on the court Wednesday against the South Carolina Gamecocks, he was ignored by the defense, who used the extra defender to man-up whichever Florida player had the ball.

Though the Gators shot perfectly fine Wednesday, the extra on-ball pressure provided by the Gamecocks was part of the reason for Florida’s season-high 20 turnovers. Some miscues came as a result of sloppy play, but the Gators were forced into a solid amount of them due to increased and consistent pressure on the ball.

So how can someone playing so poorly remain on the court for an average of 24 minutes a game since Jan. 16? Simple: his coach has no choice in the matter. With sophomore center Kenny Kadji out for the season, junior F Chandler Parsons excelling in Werner’s old starting role and freshman F Erik Murphy already getting nine minutes a game, there are no more big bodies on the roster for Donovan to use as substitutes.

You may argue that Donovan could give Parsons and Murphy each five more minutes on the court, effectively limiting Werner to 14 a game. But Parsons is still recovering from a knee injury and both junior F Alex Tyus and redshirt junior C Vernon Macklin need to be spelled, too. Werner has to play and, defensively, Florida could do much worse than a guy who works his tail off, takes charges and is a big body in the middle.

So while Werner may be a nice guy with a good heart, has solid defensive skills and a desire to do anything humanly possible to help his team win (traits that are all respectable and should be appreciated by Gator Nation), the fact is that he is not capable of playing at this level of basketball anymore.

This is not meant to come off as disrespectful or insulting to Werner. Heaven knows I probably would not have held up this long in his shoes with the heavy criticism he has received throughout his career. However, the reasons to “get off his back” are diminishing with each passing game and ignoring the detriment he is to the team game-in and game-out would be an ignorant stance for me to take.

I’m just curious as to who it is exactly that votes for the “Mr. Basketball” award in New Jersey…or in Florida for that matter (Ray Shipman, 2008).