FOUR BITS: Noah, Foley, Mizzou, Donovan

1 » You will be seeing plenty of center Joakim Noah on ESPN during the 2013-14 NBA season and not just because the Chicago Bulls are expected to be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Noah was chosen to star in one of ESPN‘s comical NBA on ESPN tour bus television advertisements, which you can check out below.

Though Noah has recovered from the plantar fasciitis that forced him to miss large chunks of the last two seasons, he was recently shut down for the remainder of the preseason due to a groin injury. According to the Chicago Tribune, he is in “serious jeopardy” of not being available for the Bulls’ season opener, though the player is not concerned. “I want to be out there,” Noah said. “We’re looking good. But I have to be healthy. It sucks, especially this early in the season. … Of course I would rather be playing right now. But we have to do the right thing. This is the right thing to do. Just move forward and let it heal. I’ll be back in no time.”

Read three more BITS of Florida Gators news…after the break!

2 » Columnist Pat Dooley of The Gainesville Sun caught up with Florida Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley following his team’s devastating 36-17 road loss to the Missouri Tigers. Asked about the future of head coach Will Muschamp, who is 22-11 overall and has lost five of his last six games against ranked opponents, Foley was defiant that no one was leaving any time soon. “[Muschamp’s] not going anywhere, and I’m not going anywhere,” Foley said, according to Dooley. Muschamp is signed through the end of the 2017 season and has received a pair of one-year contract extensions since being hired prior to the 2011 campaign.

3 » Credit the Mizzou student section for not just pulling off a quality Gator Chomp taunt but doing so both in unison and in time with Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”

4 » According to ESPN’s Andy Katz, Florida basketball will be holding its annual “secret scrimmage” on Oct. 26 but will actually play away from home when the team travels to Valdosta, GA, to take on Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Gators hosted Rollins College – featuring former UF players Adam Allen and Kyle McClanahan – last season and squared off with UCF (and former Florida assistant Donnie Jones) the year prior. College basketball teams are allowed to play a combination of two total scrimmages or exhibition games though head coach Billy Donovan has always opted for one of each. He will not be able to discuss Saturday’s scrimmage. The Gators will face Florida Southern in an exhibition game on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in Gainesville, FL.