TWO BITS: Parsons helping Macklin; DC Austin

By Adam Silverstein
February 23, 2010

1 » At the start of the 2009-10 Florida Gators basketball season, the team was led by the triumvirate of sophomore point guard Erving Walker, freshman guard Kenny Boynton and junior forward Alex Tyus. As the season has worn on, junior F Chandler Parsons and redshirt junior transfer center Vernon Macklin have taken over and led the Gators to victory through their efforts in the frontcourt. Speaking with the big man, Florida Today determined that Parsons has had a big hand in Macklin’s emergence. “[Parsons’] pause button is kind of broken on his remote control, so we’ve got to use my room,” said Macklin about going over game tape. “So we hit pause and rewind a lot. We watch a lot of break down plays, how a team boxes out or what guy doesn’t box out, we watch a lot of things like that. […] We watch a lot and we talk about a lot of plays like during practice and during walk-thrus. We talk about a lot of things together, we’re close friends off the court so we talk a lot about basketball.”

2 » Brand new Gators defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is still finding his way around Gainesville, FL, but he wanted to set one thing straight as some compare his temperament to that of the guy he is replacing, Louisville Cardinals head coach Charlie Strong. “He has been a great defensive coordinator,” Austin. “But I’ve got to find my own way. I think the big thing is you come in and be you. I can’t be anybody different. If I tried, it would show. The coaches would know, the players would know. I’m just me. Everywhere I’ve been, that seems to have worked well for me. I’m going to continue to do that — be me. A lot of things we’ll probably kind of mesh with what was done here before. We’re not going to overhaul it. Charlie had a great defense in place, a great scheme. To change just to change is not always good.”

5 Comments

  1. Aligator says:

    he said he wanted to see what his personnel were like before he decided on the type of defense we were going to play ie man to man or zone. i hope he knows this is the sec and we have the athletes, the best in the country, to play man up all day.

    I hope he does not spend half of the season trying to “find his way” by figuring things out the hard way like addozio did, by seeing what works….when he already has Heater and McCarney in the house. God knows we do not need to lose a couple of games because he is getting his feet wet.

  2. brlgator says:

    A little early to panic. He is just evaluating his personnel. We lost haden at corner and wright at safety. So he needs decide whether press coverage is worth it. Plus even the effect of losing starting LBs and DL effects a teams ability to play press coverage and its not necessarily the best defense.

  3. Aligator says:

    no joke though, any time we have played in a zone defense in the past 20 years, on a consistent basis, we always end up playing not to lose. period

  4. Wingtee says:

    Must agree with aligator

  5. Drew 4 Orange & Blue says:

    These days the top defenses play a mix of man and zone….I would think personnel affects more of playing 4 3 vs a 3 4…I think the depth and talent on this team will allow us to play either but certianly with the depth we have at D-line you would think we will run mostly 4 3

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