SB Nation - Dan Werner

Seton Hall Basketball: 2011 JSBL Rosters Released

BracketManSHU — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 16:01:00 -0000

As reported last weekend, Seton Hall will field a team in the Jersey Shore Basketball League this summer. In that piece, the rosters were only tentative -- nothing was official. This morning, I received the roster of seven of the eight teams in the league.

Here is the Seton Hall (Seaview Jeep) roster:

Head Coach: Tyler Schmelz (Varsity Boys HC at The Ranney School, NJ)

Aaron Cosby (Seton Hall)
Sean Grennan (Seton Hall)
Aaron Geramipoor (Seton Hall) - Geramipoor is not on the current roster, but I've heard that he will be added.
Brandon Mobley (Seton Hall)
Fuquan Edwin (Seton Hall)
Andrew Feeley 6'9 F (UMBC, 2001-05) - Graduated from my HS (Scotch Plains) in 2000.
Brandon Hall 6'1 G (SPC, 2008-present)
Kyle McAlarney 6'0 G (Notre Dame, 2005--09) - Averaged 15PPG as a senior at Notre Dame.
Jimmy McDonnell 6'10 C (Temple 2010-present) - Red shirted as a freshman.
Matt McMullen 6'6 F (Colgate, incoming freshman) - Saw him play at Hoop Group Tip Off -- very talented. Scored 29 points against Don Bosco Prep.
Rasheed Sparks 6'3 G (Morgan State, 1996-99) - Played professionally in Japan after averaging double digit PPG in three seasons at Morgan State.

Mike Balkovic 6'6 F (Caldwell College, incoming freshman)

For former Seton Hall players on other rosters, the Rutgers team (Steve's Gutter Cleaners) and other notable players, follow the jump.

Jarelle Reischel (Team Shore)- Seton Hall target from Pt. Pleasant Beach that chose Rice over Penn State and Seton Hall.

Dominic Cheek (Investors Savings) - Villanova junior guard. Averaged 5.6PPG last season.

Mike Nardi (Investors Savings) - Villanova guard from 2003-2007. Averaged 11.8PPG as a senior.

Jamar Nutter (Investors Savings) - Seton Hall shooting guard from 2003-2008. Averaged 10.9PPG as a senior.

Wellington Smith (Investors Savings) - Forward at West Virginia from 2006-2010. Averaged 6.6PPG and 4.1RPG as a senior.

Steve's Gutter Cleaners (Rutgers) - Eli Carter, Austin Carroll, Wally Judge, Malick Kone, Austin Johnson, Myles Mack, Greg Lewis, Jerome Seagears, Derrick Randall

Raheem Carter (Sterns Trailer) - Guard at Seton Hall from 2001-2003 after transferring from Monmouth.

Dan Werner (Sterns Trailer) - Forward at Florida from 2006-2010. Was a freshman on the 2007 Championship team.

Ryan Rossiter (T&T Coast) - Played at Siena from 2007-11. Averaged 13.8PPG and 11.1 RPG as a junior and 18.7PPG & 13.2RPG as a senior.

Sean Baptiste (Larson Ford) - guard at Fairleigh Dickinson from 2006-10. Averaged 18.5PPG as a sophomore and over 16.2PPG as a junior and senior.

Ryan Bacon (Larson Ford) - four year forward at Saint Peter's College from 2007-11. Averaged over 10PPG as a sophomore, junior and senior.

Taquan Dean (Asbury Park Recreation) - Four year starting guard at Louisville. Averaged 17.1PPG in his senior season.

For schedule, gym location and other general information, be sure to check out the JSBL Information piece here.

Roster information was kindly provided by Joshua Newman of the Asbury Park Press (@Joshua_Newman)

Alligator Army 2.0: A New Orange And Blue Dawn For Championship Mode

Andy Hutchins — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:45:13 -0000

Hi. I'm Andy Hutchins. You may know me from such venues for pithy sports analysis as SB Nation, or Twitter, and starting as of today (or, uh, yesterday or Saturday) Alligator Army.

You may be asking yourself "Why this guy?" or "WHY ME!?" or "Why not me?" Let's fix that with a bit of introduction and a bit more housekeeping.

A confession: I was an obnoxious little bandwagon fan as a child. The things in sports I'll root for until I die are the things I fell in love with around 1995 and 1996, which explains being part of Gator Nation, an Atlanta Braves fan who cringes at being called "a member of the tribe," and a Green Bay Packers backer. I'd like to think that growing up on the Space Coast — I was born in Cape Canaveral, and Rockledge High is my alma mater — is slightly more excusable to those who subscribe to Bill Simmons' "Root for the home team!" theory and would deem me a bad fan, but, then again, I don't really begrudge anyone the roots of their fandom: I'm just passionate about their passion.

And, of course, I'm passionate about the Gators.

I remember watching Danny Wuerffel get hit during and after the echo of the whistle, and I remember sleepily watching (I was six years old, give me a break) Wuerffel carve up those same Seminoles in the best 52-20 game I've ever seen. I pretended I was Teddy Dupay and Brett Nelson on the plastic hoop in my backyard; I think Jabar Gaffney really did catch that ball against Tennessee (for a second or so, anyway); I consider Joakim Noah my favorite Gator ever, and Percy Harvin the best Gator athlete of my lifetime; I still like Chris Leak as much as I do Tim Tebow; I've been to Gators volleyball, soccer and baseball games, and I've been trying futilely to get to a lacrosse match. I remember Doug Johnson being Bad Doug Johnson, Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh being the proto-Erving Walker and proto-Kenny Boynton, and Dan Werner being, er, Dan Werner. I remember Taylor Jacobs; I remember Christian Drejer.

My allegiance to the Gators played only a small role in me choosing to enroll at UF in 2007, but though I still screw up the words to "We Are the Boys from Old Florida," the "In all kinds of weather, we'll all stick together" part is one I hold dear. So, yeah, I'm a Gators fan — and, word to the wise, you're a Gators fan, not a Gator fan, signs on The Swamp about recycling be damned.

You probably don't care about my blogging bona fides, but I want you to trust me when I say this: I may be young (I turned 21 last month), but that doesn't make me dumb, and that's not going to stop me from trying to make Alligator Army the best Gators community you can find. I've been with SB Nation since last fall, and previously blogged for Sporting News' The Sporting Blog, at The Big Lead, and, in a brief, amusing series of cameos, at Deadspin. (If you remember either of the latter two, I have an Internet No-Prize for you!) And that covers a little more than half of my blogging career. So, mostly, I've been doing this for a while, and now I'm here.

Now for the fun part: the work to make Alligator Army even better.

I hope your outgoing fearless leader is going to be here as he can be, but his recap of the Orange and Blue Debutwas his last bit of coverage at the helm. I'll be around as much as I can be, and my mother would believe a doctor's diagnosis of a sleep allergy for me, but I'm still just one person; armies need more than that.

If you inquired about helping out, I have those emails and will be contacting you by Friday at the latest. If you missed that call for writers and you want to write for Alligator Army: fire me an email and we'll discuss it. If you saw that call for writers and thought, "Eh, I don't want to write all the time, but...": fire me an email and we'll discuss it. If you hate mailto: links and/or me: fire me a personal email or a tweet and I promise I will read it. And if you want to rake me over the coals (or praise me, for some reason?) on Twitter, follow or mention @AlligatorArmy and we'll do it; same goes for Facebook.

I want Alligator Army to be a few things: as thorough a chronicle of how it feels to be a fan of the Florida Gators as there is; a respected source of news and analysis of Gator Nation's goings-on; a valuable member of the strong and well-populated swamp that is the Gators Internet ecosystem; the single best (read: most fun) place to follow along with every John Brantley dart (or duck) and Brad Beal swish (or clank) as they happen as passionately as Gator Nation does.

But I also want Alligator Army to be what its fantastic community wants it to be, and that's why I want you to comment, write, share, rant, challenge, complain, enlighten, email and more. You know what you want from Alligator Army, and I need to know that; I know you can contribute to this here blog, and I'd love for you to want that. You see Uncle Albert up in the corner: I want you, and I promise I, we, and Alligator Army will be enriched by your input.

The tl;dr version of all this: I like the Gators, will make sure you like Alligator Army, and want to hear what you want to see here or your ideas for pieces you can write here. Oh, and I apologize in advance for the puns. Between that and occasional ALL CAPS moments on Twitter, they're probably my best uses of Championship Mode, and since Alligator Army is forever the home of Championship Mode, I'm going to have to try them out here, aren't I?

This is Alligator Army 2.0. This is a new dawn. And the orange sun and blue sky look pretty good from here.

SEC Basketball - 2010 Recruiting Rankings

Christian D'Andrea — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:50:19 -0000

The signing deadline has come and gone for incoming players for the 2010-2011 college basketball season, and with the exception of a few players we have a solid idea of who will be playing in the SEC next year. Today, John Calipari tweeted his intentions to remain at Kentucky next year - which is as good as an indicator as we'll get in the near future to speculate on whether or not his recruits will make it to UK in 2010. With that, it seemed like as good a time as any (in the spring, at least) to review the 2010 recruiting classes. SEC teams are represented across the national recruit rankings, with highly touted players flocking to teams that made up the upper tier of the league standings last season. Kentucky and Tennessee are making headlines, but teams like Vanderbilt, Florida, and Mississippi are keeping the league highly ranked with an eye towards bringing the SEC up to elite standards.

Even teams coming off rough 2009-2010 seasons can turn to some heralded high school seniors to provide an instant boost. LSU, South Carolina, and even Auburn all boast Top 100 recruits this year. While some players - notably Brandon Knight and his missing letter of intent - can still jump ship, here are the 2010 recruit rankings for the Southeastern Conference. For simplicity, only recruits reported as signed across both ESPN and Rivals databases were included in this analysis. Recorded are each player's rankings, as well as a quick analysis as to whether or not they'll be able to have an instant impact on the court with their new teams:

	Tier One - Highly rated prospects filling positions of need.
		Player	ESPN Rank/Grade	Rivals Rank/Stars	Posi. Rank (ESPN/Rivals)	Instant Impact?
1)	Kentucky	Brandon Knight	#4/97	#6/*****	PG#2/PG#3	Yes
		Enes Kanter	#25/95	#3/*****	C#3/PF#1	Yes
		Doron Lamb	#29/95	#21/*****	SG#6/SG#3	Yes
		Stacey Poole	#51/94	#33/****	SG#16/SF#4	Likely
	Analysis: Calapari hit another recruiting home run, and brings in three recruits who can step in an immediately fill the voids left by John Wall, Demarcus Cousins/Patrick Patterson, and Eric Bledsoe. Of course, if Coach Cal does leave, then UK may have some decommitments to deal with.

2)	Tennessee	Tobias Harris	#6/97	#7/*****	PF#2/PF#2	Yes
		Jordan McRae	#38/95	#47/****	SG#10/SG#9	Yes
		Trae Golden	##/92	#63/****	SG#37/SG#13	Possibly
	Analysis: Harris will have a chance to step in after the losses of Wayne Chism and Tyler Smith. McRae also is in line for instant minutes with the graduations of Bobby Maze and J.P. Prince. Both players were big time signings for the Vols.

Tier One represents what will likely be a pair of Top 20 national recruiting classes from the SEC. Kentucky and Tennessee solidified their status as the league's elite with excellent recruiting classes.

	Tier Two - Strong classes in concentrated rebuilding/reloading efforts
		Player	ESPN Rank/Grade	Rivals Rank/Stars	Pos. Rank (ESPN/Rivals)	Instant Impact?
3)	Florida	Patric Young	#13/96	#27/*****	PF#6/C#5	Yes
		Casey Prather	#35/95	#71/****	SF#8/SF#15	Possibly
		Cody Larson	##/92	##/***	PF#29/##	Possibly
		Will Yeguete	##/84	##/***	PF#144/##	Unlikely
	Analysis: Florida only needs to replace Dan Werner, but the addition of some tough frontcourt help in Young and Larson will add strength where Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin were inconsistent. Whether or not Prather and Yeguete will see significant minutes is up in the air, as the Gators are packed with 3/4 forwards in 2010.

4)	South Carolina	Damontre Harris	#68/94	#64/****	C#6/PF#15	Yes
		R.J. Slawson	#84/94	#117/***	PF#20/PF#24	Yes
		Bruce Ellington	##/93	#96/****	PG#21/PG#24	Yes
		Brian Richardson	##/88	##/***	SG#76/##	Possibly
		Eric Smith	##/88	##/***	PG#56/##	Possibly
		Carlton Geathers	##/86	##/***	C#61/##	Possibly
	Analysis: A big scoring void opens with the graduation of Devan Downey, and Bruce Ellington is a lightning-quick 5'10" guard in the same mold who could immediately fill that role. Harris is a lean big man that can give the Gamecocks an inside presence that they've lacked recently. South Carolina's big class has plenty of holes to fill for a team that has lost their best two players and had notably weak depth behind them.

5)	LSU	Ralston Turner	#70/94	#142/***	SG#22/SF#28	Yes
		Andre Stringer	#72/94	#107/***	PG#13/PG#27	Possibly
		Matt Derenbecker	#88/94	#77/****	SF#18/SF#16	Yes
		K.C. Ross-Miller	##/90	#147/***	PG#38/PG#37	Unlikely
		Jalen Courtney	##/90	##/***	PF#50/##	Possibly
	Analysis: The cavalry arrives after an awful 2009-2010 season. LSU is so excited about their recruits that they've already added them to their online roster. On a team starved for talent, four Top 150 Recruits will get several opportunities to step up in the Bayou - although the point guards will have to wait out Bo Spencer's senior year first. However, where are the big men?

Florida, South Carolina, and particularly LSU all had difficult 2010 seasons, but addressed positions of need in luring in top recruits this spring. Florida, in particular, looks to be a tough opponent after only losing one player and adding several athletic recruits.

	Tier Three - No guarantees, but solid pick-ups that will press for rotation minutes even if they don't fit specific needs.
		Player	ESPN Rank/Grade	Rivals Rank/Stars	Posi. Rank (ESPN/Rivals)	Instant Impact?
6)	Vanderbilt	Rod Odom	#66/94	#92/****	SF#14/SF#18	Possibly
		Kyle Fuller	##/91	#133/***	PG#34/PG#32	Yes
		James Siakam	##/88	#150/***	PF#78/PF#30	Possibly
		Josh Henderson	##/90	##/***	C#19/##	Yes
	Analysis: The 'Dores bring in four solid recruits, but failed to address some of the backcourt depth issues that will affect them in 2010-2011. Henderson brings height in A.J. Ogilvy's absence, but Siakam and Odom fall in at the back of a long line of Vanderbilt combo forwards. Fuller, a bullish point guard from California, should get backup minutes right away and even challenge Brad Tinsley for a starting role.

7)	Alabama	Trevor Releford	#52/94	#90/****	PG#10/PG#23	Yes
		Charles Hankerson	##/92	#99/****	SG#39/SG#38	Yes
		Jason Carter	##/90	#138/***	PF#54/PF#20	Possibly
		Kendall Durant	##/	##/***	##/##	Possibly
	Analysis: Reports on Releford vary, but he'll push Senario Hillman for the starting PG spot right away thanks to his athleticism. Hankerson will also have the opportunity to steal some minutes in 'Bama's rebuilt backcourt, since someone is going to have to score with Mikhail Torrance graduating. Carter will be playing behind JaMychal Green for the next two years.

8)	Auburn	Luke Cothron	#55/94	#45/****	PF#13/PF#11	Yes
		Shawn Kemp, Jr.	##/87	##/****	##/C#14	Possibly
		Allen Payne	##/88	##/***	SF#58/##	Possibly
		Josh Langford	##/88	##/***	SF#59/##	Possibly
		Heath Houston	##/83	##/	PF#160/##	Unlikely
		Adrian Forbes	##/	##/	##/##	Unlikely
	Analysis: Auburn snagged Cothron, their biggest recruit since Korvotney Barber, as well as one of Shawn Kemp's sons in an effort to dig the Tigers out of the bottom half of the SEC in the near future. Auburn lost four starters to graduation this year, and it stands to reason that all four highly ranked recruits could find rotation minutes almost immediately in Alabama. The class is possibly the Tigers' best in a decade.

9)	Mississippi	Demarco Cox	#86/94	#83/****	PF#22/C#9	Possibly
		Dundrecous Nelson	##/93	#89/****	PG#23/PG#22	Yes
	Analysis: A short and sweet recruit list - two four star players. Cox is widebodied big man with decent speed but limited range, while Nelson is a nice rotation piece to help soften the blow of losing Terrico White and Eniel Polynice. Both should help add some ammunition to a team that returns most of their their players in 2010, including Chris Warren.

10)	Arkansas	Rickey Scott	##/89	#81/****	SG#61/SG#20	Possibly
		Mardracus Wade	##/89	#110/***	SG#65/SG#30	Possibly
		Marvell Waithe	##/	##/***	##/##	Unlikely
	Analysis: The Razorbacks needed a point guard to spell the departing and oft-suspended Courtney Fortson, and a true big man to replace Michael Washington, but came away with three swingmen instead. Scott and Wade seem to be nice players, but they'll have to outplay some of Arkansas's returning bench players to stake a claim at a rotation spot. Thanks to his size, Scott seems like the more likely of the two to see immediate minutes.

Vanderbilt heads up the third tier despite three Top 150 recruits, partially in part to their inability to find additional backcourt help. Auburn, despite having one of their best recruiting classes in years, still falls in eighth in the SEC pecking order.

	Tier Four - Tough sells, but these could be diamonds in the rough, but they don't address current roster problems.
		Player	ESPN Rank/Grade	Rivals Rank/Stars	Pos. Rank (ESPN/Rivals)	Instant Impact?
11)	Georgia	Cady Lalanne	##/90	##/***	PF#45/##	Possibly
		Donte Williams	##/88	##/***	C#43/##	Possibly
		Sherrard Brantley	##/	##/	##/##	Unlikely
	Analysis: Georgia made strides under Mark Fox, but it may take a while for his recruiting to catch up with the transformations he's made for the Bulldogs on the court. Fortunately, the Bulldogs' two best players are only going to be juniors this year, and they'll have plenty of opportunities to lure their potential successors to Athens in 2010-2011.

12)	Mississippi St.	Jalen Steele	##/87	##/***	SG#87/##	Yes
		Brian Bryant	##/	##/	##/##	Possibly
	Analysis: Not much to crow about for the other Bulldogs, as Dee Bost unexpectedly left for the draft and Jarvis Varnado graduated. MSU looks to be understaffed next season - maybe the recruits have heard about how obnoxious Rick Stansbury's wife is.

Georgia and Mississippi State round out the rankings, and while Georgia still has the returning players to absorb a weak freshman class, Mississippi State will have to deal with the loss of three of their top four scorers and what seems to be little help on the way. It seems unlikely that their 2010 recruits will be able to fill the voids left due to graduation and early entry to the NBA Draft.

The SEC had a solid recruiting period that will bring a new generation of great players into the league. It will be especially interesting to see which team jumps into the league's top tier based on the play of their newcomers. While these rankings will have a limited impact on the pecking order of the Southeastern Conference next year, the addition of a few dynamic players will likely prove to be the difference between the NCAA and NIT Tournaments for a couple teams next March.

Happy April Fools' Day: Pick The Most Foolish Gator

mlmintampa — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:19:52 -0000

April Fools' Day is a day for those who have a sense of humor. If you don't have a sense of humor, I suggest you leave now before you're offended by this post.

Now that those people are gone, here are a few Gators who have done some foolish things lately. Also, if you are a fan of Sidd Finch, here's my lame attempt at a Gator version of Finch in 2008. On to the fools;

Gainesville City Commission: In a move to end Ladies' Night at several Gainesville bars, the City used their discrimination ordinance to call the promotions unfair. There's a huge problem, however. If Ladies' Night is unfair, so are discounts for students, military members and seniors, which exist at numerous businesses that aren't trying to get a chick so drunk that she ends up passed out in the Jimmy John's bathroom, eating a Big John (sandwich, not a guy).

Urban Meyer: Thought it was a good idea to confront a reporter in front of cameras and reporters. Hey, it took attention off of Tim Tebow's draft stock for a while. Oh wait...

Deonte Thompson: The First Commandment of Florida Football: Thou shall not speak unkindly of Tim Tebow's throwing motion. Even if you aren't trying to be rude and call the guy a legend five minutes later.

Tim Tebow: He graduated from UF reportedly as a virgin. I don't know how I feel about our society when the children of the Republican ticket are sexually active but the best quarterback in the SEC isn't. Joe Namath and Rex Grossman do not approve.

Erving Walker: 7 turnovers and 4 of 16 shooting in the BYU game. I know UF rallied from a 13 point second half deficit, but it got there because Walker started the half by literally throwing the game away.

Dan Werner: This is more of a career achievement award. But the own goal against Vanderbilt was a nice touch.

Poll

Who is the most foolish?

Gainesville City Commission

77 votes

Urban Meyer

24 votes

Deonte Thompson

10 votes

Tim Tebow

39 votes

Erving Walker

14 votes

Dan Werner

75 votes

239 votes | Poll has closed

Gators Run Out Of Gas In 99-92 Double OT Loss To BYU

mlmintampa — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:21:23 -0000

The Gators showed their guts, but turnovers and bad possessions did in Florida in their 99-92 double overtime loss to BYU in their NCAA Tournament first round game. Florida had two chances to win, once each in regulation and overtime, but could not convert.

Florida would not have been in position to win had it not been for Kenny Boynton's 27 points and fantastic defense against BYU's Jimmer Fredette. Boynton locked Fredette down, including holding the BYU guard scoreless in the first overtime. Boynton had a chance to win at the end of the first OT, but ran out of time and space and was forced to shoot a wild shot that had no chance of being made or rebounded. Boynton fouled out in the second OT with three assists, two rebounds and five turnovers.

Turnovers was the reason why UF found themselves down 13 points with 9:13 remaining. Florida followed great defensive possessions with Erving Walker throwing the ball out of bounds to start the second half. Chandler Parsons had the nerves get to him as he had five turnovers, including two traveling calls. Parsons would get a third walk when BYU's Noah Hartsock pulled a Darnell Dockett and jumped on Parsons' exposed leg for a loose ball, spinning Parsons over to earn the traveling call. Parsons finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. His turn around jumper at the end of regulation was off the back of the rim.

UF did a good job guarding Fredette, but allowed bench player Michael Loyd to get 26 points. Tyler Haws and Jackson Emery each got 10 points. Loyd's first half play sucked the momentum away from Florida as the Gators started the game strong. UF led by seven, before BYU rolled back and ended the first half with a 35-33 lead.

Alex Tyus struggled today, shooting 3-11 for six points and nine rebounds. Vernon Macklin had 16 points and seven rebounds. Erik Murphy had seven points as he finishes the season on a high note. Dan Werner finished his final game as a Gator with four points and five rebounds.

Florida ends the season 21-13.

Notes and Quotes: Gators vs. Cougars

sroufe — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:00:25 -0000

**Reminder** - There is still time to sign up for VTF's Yahoo!'s College Basketball Tourney Pick'Em. It's free and we currently have about 50 members. Come join!

"Cougars expect tight games" - Deseret News

"The bottom line is players need to make plays, if it's a defensive play, a loose ball, if it's a shot, an open shot they have, that's what needs to happen to finish off games and win, especially close games." - Dave Rose

"Donovan's Just Rewards" - Gainesville Sun

"Our work ethic on defense, we have five guys every possession, bought in. Of course there are going to be some mistakes throughout the game, people slipping up but you know with the struggles we've had offensively, we haven't let it that really control our defense and we're just a much better and tougher team." - Chandler Parsons, Florida forward

"Fredette: A Good Start Is a Big, Big, Big Key" - Provo Daily Herald

"A good start is a big, big, big key. It's easy for teams to get down on themselves once they get hit. We've come back pretty good both years, but we've come up short. It's so hard to come back and get a lead, and sustain it, once you've given up a big one. You just get really tired. All of the other teams are good teams, and they're going to hit some big shots." - Jimmer Fredette

"Fredette: "New Team, New Time" - KSL

"Wow, after seeing [BYU in] the last four or five games...terrific. They play the game the right way, so skilled on offense....the best passing team I've seen in years ... If this game gets out of control in the 80s and 90s, that's probably not a good thing for the Gators." - Larry Shyatt, Florida assistant coach

"Gators' Defense Must Step Up" - Florida Today

"This game with BYU is going to be a game where our front court is really going to have to do a good job because (Jonathan) Tavernari and some of their other big guys up front are really good players. They're skilled, they can shoot, they can put it on the floor and post up. We're going to have to really do both in this game. Vernon (Macklin) and Erik (Murphy) and Dan (Werner) and Alex (Tyus) are going to get caught playing a little one-on-one probably, because I don't think with Fredette, you want to drop off him. He's too good." - Billy Donovan, Florida Head Coach

More after the jump...

"Gators Remind Cougars of Lobos" - BYU Daily Universe

"You can compare them to a couple teams in our league. [The Gators] play like the good teams in our league play. They are athletic, they have good guards and shoot the ball well. They are very similar to New Mexico." - Dave Rose

"It's Now or Never for BYU" - Salt Lake Tribune

"We can't really focus on what happened in past years. It's different now, we're all different guys with different experience. For the most part, we've done a good job of focusing on what's ahead of us. We'll feel fairly loose. All of us have heard for the past couple of years that we can't get past the first round. We haven't in years. We know that can't go on forever. We're just ready to go. We're ready to take it one game at a time. We're going to prepare for Florida, give it our best, and come out, hopefully, with a victory." - Jackson Emery

"NCAA Tourney Rewarding for Gators" - Orlando Sentinel

"It's been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences I've ever gone through. To take a group of guys that have absolutely no clue, no idea what goes into any of this stuff, and see them grow and get to that point. What these kids have done, and the changes and growth I have seen, it will go down for me as one of the most special group of guys I have ever coached." - Billy Donovan

"Quality over Quantity from 3-Point Range for BYU" - Florida Times-Union

"The one thing is they don't take a lot of threes," UF coach Billy Donovan said. "It's not like Auburn, who was taking around 27 a game, and Mississippi State, who was taking over 25 a game. This is not a high-volume 3-point shooting team. What it is is a high-volume making team. It's pretty impressive when you're looking at the stats, and they're making a little bit more than eight threes a game on the number of attempts they're taking. Forty-one percent is an incredible number." - Billy Donovan

"Who will be this year's breakout star in NCAAs?" - Sports Illustrated

"...Fredette is the safest bet to get a mention in a David Letterman monologue next week. It helps that the 6-foot-2 guard from Glens Falls, N.Y., has a name that lodges itself in the brain and won't let go. He's also capable of dropping 30-plus on an opponent. Fredette has seven 30-plus point games this season, including a 49-point outburst against Arizona and a 45-pointer last week against TCU. As Arcenaux , Curry and Dembo would attest, scoring in bunches is one of the two easiest paths to sudden mainstream fame and tourney immortality." - Andy Staples, Sports Illustrated

"UF Hoops Not Satisfied to Just Show Up" - Gainesville Sun

"We want to go like we have something to prove. We want to go with a chip on our shoulder, with a hunter mentality and like we're the underdog. We want to shock the world." - Chandler Parsons

Poll

Other than Jimmer Fredette, which Cougar needs to have a great game against Florida for BYU to advance?

Jackson Emery

8 votes

Noah Hartsock

1 votes

Tyler Haws

6 votes

Jonathan Tavernari

11 votes

Other (Leave Comment)

1 votes

27 votes | Poll has closed

Gators In 2010 NCAA Tournament: Chandler Parsons Needs To Be The Captain

mlmintampa — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:21:18 -0000

When the Oh Fours left Gainesville, no one knew who was in charge. Walter Hodge was the oldest remaining player, but he could never get through as a team captain. But that wasn't his fault. The team wasn't mature enough yet. There were reports at the time of Al Horford and Joakim Noah coming back to Gainesville to workout in the summer and talk to the team. Rather than listen to successful players, a few chose to keep their iPods in and space out. Those players soon left for the NBA and Europe, leaving a group of guys who worked hard enough to limp into the NCAA Tournament.

The Gators still lack a captain, either a single player or by committee. It would normally be the senior, Dan Werner, but that is not in his personality. Chandler Parsons could be that guy. He was always a tall kid, but has bulked up, knowing that he needed to handle more of the scoring responsibilities in 2010. Parsons calls for the ball on the floor and is going to the bucket more. His shooting percentage is 50% and his free throw percentage went from 56 to 67%. Parsons has demonstrated that he knows what his flaws are and has worked hard to erase them.

The problem is that Parsons probably has never had to have been a leader. Parsons played much of his schoolboy career with Nick Calathes, who was always the star of the show. Parsons could be successful as a role player, as he was last season. This season, Parsons personality remained that of a role player, even though UF is a totally different team when he is taking 10-15 shots a game. He can create shots and he needs to let everyone on the floor know that.

Too often, Parsons will run out to the wing as Erving Walker tries to set up Vernon Macklin for a roll to the hoop. The problem is that Walker isn't a good enough shooter to take advantage if the double team follows Macklin, and Macklin is too inconsistent. When UF rolls Parsons and Alex Tyus, it finishes with a Tyus dunk or Parsons bucket. That is the other gain Parsons has made; he is the best passer on the team. Parsons height allows him to see the floor better than Walker or Kenny Boynton, even if Parsons lacks some of their ballhandling skills.

Against BYU on Thursday, Parsons needs to light a fire under the Gators the same was he did in the SEC first round game against Auburn. If not, with buckets, by getting in the face of his teammates.