FOUR BITS: Rivers, Pouncey, baseball, Dixon

By Adam Silverstein
May 20, 2010

1 » Five-star 2011 guard recruit Austin Rivers decommitted from the Florida Gators on April 8 and named the Duke Blue Devils his new leader a month later on May 5. He went in-depth on why he made this decision just a week ago, but now his AAU coach – Therion Joseph of Each 1 Teach 1 – is adding some fuel to the movement away from Florida and to Duke. “Florida is obviously a very good program but basketball is just one of their sports,” Joseph told Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog. “Duke sells out every game and Florida is fighting to get half their students there. He likes to play with a bulls-eye on his back. He plays better with a bulls-eye. He wants to play at a school that is on ESPN every day, kind of like Notre Dame in football.” Once Rivers decommmitted, OGGOA believed he was all but gone from the Gators for good – now it is looking like they may even be falling out of his top five. To Joseph’s credit, attendance last year was embarassing.

2 » New Pittsburgh Steelers center/guard Maurkice Pouncey sat down with WTAE ABC 4 in Pittsburgh, PA, to discuss his transition to the NFL “This team here is just like college – family here, there aren’t any individuals,” Pouncey said. “Everybody pulls together, so it kind of feels like Florida.” Obviously he is looking forward to getting on the field and competing, but Pouncey is also anxiously awaiting one more perk of playing in the NFL. “Oh man, I can’t wait for that first paycheck, to tell you the truth,” he said. “I’m kind of living the college life still with no money, but whenever that first paycheck comes in, it will be amazing.” You can watch the entire interview by clicking here.

3 » No. 4/5 Florida baseball (38-12, 20-7 SEC) and the No. 6/7 South Carolina Gamecocks (42-11, 20-7 SEC) begin a three-game series on Thursday that will ultimately decide the Southeastern Conference’s 2010 regular season champion. Tied atop the standings, the weekend road series’ pitching match-ups are as follows: Thursday – sophomore Alex Panteliodis (8-2, 3.34 ERA) vs. senior Blake Cooper (10-0, 3.01 ERA); Friday – freshman Hudson Randall (6-3, 2.96 ERA) vs. junior Sam Dyson (5-4, 3.79 ERA); Saturday – freshman Brian Johnson (5-2, 3.53 ERA) vs. TBA. The Gators have won eight of their last nine conference series and are 10-time conference champions (last in 2005). Saturday’s game – perhaps the decider – will air live on Sun Sports at 4:00 p.m.

4 » Former Florida assistant basketball coach Nate Dixon, who was a member of head coach Billy Donovan’s Gators staff from 2003-05, has been hired by the Wyoming Cowboys to a similar assistant position.

8 Comments

  1. alex4r says:

    Basketball will always be #2 at UF, no matter what. It really is a shame because the O-dome is intense when the crowd shows up

  2. SaraGator says:

    I would think that the student body and the Gainesville residences can fill the O’Dome for each game! Nothing against Adam, but I am sick and tired of reading Austin’s comments about Florida.

    On another note — Maurkice deserves that check!

  3. UF_84 says:

    I agree with saragator the Rivers story is really old and tired. He’s not coming here and that’s fine. The only reason we remain on his list at all is probably just out of courtesy for coach Donovan. Good luck at Duke, Carolina, or Kentucky Austin. Hope we meet you in the final four sometime down the road.

  4. Rivers did not make those comments.

  5. npgator says:

    Once he decommited he was gone. We will be fine with the players we have coming in and our future looks bright to me.

  6. Drew 4 Orange & Blue says:

    The coach has a good point….it’s similar to what has to be killing Miami in football when you see home games with the stadium 70% empty

  7. Bruce says:

    The coach has a good point….it’s similar to what has to be killing Miami in football when you see home games with the stadium 70% empty

  8. Bruce says:

    I would think that the student body and the Gainesville residences can fill the O’Dome for each game! Nothing against Adam, but I am sick and tired of reading Austin’s comments about Florida.

    On another note — Maurkice deserves that check!

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