SB Nation - Allan Chaney

Exodus Continues: Tyus To Transfer

mlmintampa — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:17:50 -0000

I know something is big when three of my friends contact me this morning about the same thing. From the Orlando Sentinel's Jeremy Fowler;

Florida forward Alex Tyus, Florida's second-leading scorer last season, is transferring from the Gators, Billy Donovan announced this morning. Tyus is Florida's third player to transfer this season and the 11th since the 2003-04 season. Nick Calathes could be the fourth player gone in the last six months if he opts to stay in the NBA draft, and 2009 signee DeShawn Painter already backed out of his letter of intent.

You can either believe the rather large number of guys leaving is a due to Donovan losing his touch, or he is cleaning house. He also sort of throws Tyus under the bus.

"For me as a coach, you know there's a certain vision and a certain path and a certain commitment for the team going forward that you want to have. For Alex, that's not really what he wanted to do."

Tyus leaving is the most surprising of the bunch, considering how much better he got last season. UF is now left with 10 scholarship players with Fowler saying Donovan is looking for another guard and possibly a big man to take Tyus' spot.

Gators End Season With Same Problems

mlmintampa — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:45:05 -0000

It was really no different than previous Gator losses this season. But Florida's 71-62 loss to Penn State in the NIT Quarterfinals ended the Gators' season. In UF's 11 losses, there are been several themes. Among them; a shorthanded lineup, poor shooting, and being shoved around by a tougher team. All of those factors killed UF last night and every night.

Next season, Florida should have Kenny Kadji (out with a concussion Tuesday), Eloy Vargas (out with fitness), Allan Chaney (out with suspension), Adam Allen (out with a knee) and Vernon Macklin (out with a transfer) all on opening night. Florida's front court consisted of Alex Tyus and two guys who never belonged there; Dan Werner and Chandler Parsons. Maybe that is what Billy Donovan meant after saying UF overachieved. He realizes the quality of his bigs never matched Calathes-Hodge-Walker. The man won two National Championships with a front line of three first round draft picks. He knows what the recipe is, but doesn't have the ingredients.

It will be decision time now for Nick Calathes. He can roll the dice and enter the draft or roll the dice and hope Florida's big men will contribute next season. He can only go as far as the other four guys on the floor.

This team finished one game worse than last year's team that got to Madison Square Garden. Hopefully, next year's team won't finish the same way.

Florida @ Kentucky: Pre Game

Truzenzuzex — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:31:09 -0000

Comes now an opportunity for Kentucky. Having wasted so many this year, they need to treat this one like the precious jewel it is.

Florida comes into Kentucky with a one-game lead in the East, just one game ahead of Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky. A victory by the 'Cats would leave a four-way tie for first in the East, but there are a lot of games yet to be played. Even a loss tonight would not doom UK's chances to win the East, but it would deal them a major setback and would substantially increase the success they would need in the rest of the season to make the NCAA tournament at all.

A victory would turn the Wildcats' fortunes back around for the time being, and place them back in good standing, but still with some work remaining between now and the SEC tournament in Atlanta.

Player Stats: Florida

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Nick Calathes	23	32.5	6.0	11.6	51.5	2.2	5.1	42.7	4.0	5.7	71.0	0.8	4.5	5.3	6.4	3.3	1.9	0.2	1.9	18.1
Alex Tyus	23	25.3	5.3	8.7	61.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.8	2.6	68.3	2.0	4.3	6.3	0.7	1.3	0.5	0.7	1.7	12.4
Chandler Parsons	23	26.9	4.0	8.3	48.2	1.2	4.0	30.8	1.2	2.0	57.4	2.2	3.7	5.9	1.9	1.5	1.2	0.4	2.4	10.4
Erving Walker	23	23.2	3.0	6.8	43.9	1.7	4.2	41.2	1.6	2.0	82.2	0.1	1.2	1.3	2.6	1.6	1.0	0.0	1.6	9.3
Dan Werner	23	26.6	3.4	7.4	45.6	1.2	3.5	33.8	1.2	1.6	77.8	1.2	3.3	4.4	2.3	1.6	1.0	0.4	2.7	9.2
Walter Hodge	23	27.6	2.6	5.9	43.4	1.5	3.8	38.6	1.1	1.4	78.1	0.4	1.1	1.6	2.4	1.1	1.3	0.1	2.1	7.7
Kenny Kadji	22	13.1	2.1	4.2	50.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	1.5	47.1	1.0	1.6	2.6	0.2	0.9	0.2	0.7	1.4	5.0
Ray Shipman	23	13.4	1.5	3.2	47.9	0.1	0.6	15.4	0.9	1.3	69.0	1.0	1.3	2.3	0.7	0.5	0.9	0.1	1.2	4.0
Allan Chaney	22	10.1	1.3	2.8	45.9	0.0	0.2	20.0	0.5	0.9	63.2	1.1	1.1	2.2	0.5	0.8	0.5	0.1	1.5	3.1
Eloy Vargas	6	3.5	0.0	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.8	1.3	62.5	0.3	0.5	0.8	0.0	0.3	0.2	0.3	1.0	0.8
Kyle McClanahan	10	3.1	0.2	0.5	40.0	0.1	0.3	33.3	0.1	0.2	50.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.6
Hudson Fricke	1	1.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	23	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.5	1.6	3.1	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Player Stats: Kentucky

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Jodie Meeks	23	34.1	7.6	16.0	47.3	3.7	8.3	44.0	6.3	7.0	90.6	0.7	2.8	3.5	1.7	3.0	1.3	0.1	2.0	25.1
Patrick Patterson	23	33.0	7.2	11.0	65.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.9	4.8	80.9	2.4	6.8	9.2	2.0	2.1	0.7	2.0	2.6	18.3
Perry Stevenson	23	27.7	2.9	5.1	57.3	0.1	0.4	33.3	2.0	2.6	75.0	2.0	4.7	6.7	1.7	1.9	0.7	2.2	2.7	7.9
DeAndre Liggins	22	20.0	2.0	5.2	38.6	0.5	2.0	22.7	1.6	2.3	70.0	0.2	2.6	2.9	3.3	2.9	1.0	0.5	2.0	6.0
Ramon Harris	18	20.9	1.9	3.5	55.6	0.2	0.9	17.6	1.2	2.2	56.4	0.6	2.4	3.0	1.3	2.2	0.7	0.3	1.5	5.3
Josh Harrellson	22	11.0	1.7	3.7	46.9	0.2	0.5	36.4	1.1	1.5	72.7	1.2	2.0	3.2	0.4	0.9	0.3	0.6	1.1	4.7
Darius Miller	23	20.1	1.4	4.0	35.5	0.3	1.5	20.6	1.0	1.3	76.7	0.9	2.5	3.4	1.9	1.8	0.7	0.7	2.3	4.2
Michael Porter	23	21.8	1.1	3.4	31.6	0.6	2.1	27.1	0.7	0.8	89.5	0.3	1.7	2.0	2.9	2.2	0.8	0.0	1.7	3.5
Landon Slone	10	8.8	0.6	2.0	30.0	0.4	1.4	28.6	0.6	0.6	100.0	0.5	0.9	1.4	0.9	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.6	2.2
A.J. Stewart	20	6.1	0.7	1.6	41.9	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.5	0.5	90.0	0.5	0.7	1.1	0.3	0.7	0.3	0.6	1.3	1.8
Kevin Galloway	18	6.7	0.4	1.1	42.1	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.3	0.7	46.2	0.3	0.9	1.2	1.2	0.8	0.3	0.2	0.4	1.2
Jared Carter	7	3.7	0.1	0.7	20.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.9	66.7	0.3	0.6	0.9	0.4	0.4	0.1	0.6	0.6	0.9
Mark Halsell	6	1.7	0.2	0.2	100.0	0.2	0.2	100.0	0.2	0.3	50.0	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7
Dwight Perry	6	1.8	0.2	0.3	50.0	0.2	0.3	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.7	0.5
Mark Krebs	8	2.6	0.1	0.5	25.0	0.1	0.5	25.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.4
	23	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.6	1.4	3.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0

Team Stats Comparison (Courtesy of Kenpom.com)

	Kentucky		Florida
Category	Offense	Defense	Offense	Defense	D-I Avg
Adj. Efficiency:	107.1 [86]	88.4 [14]	114.8 [20]	95.6 [72]	100.7
Adj. Tempo:	69.7 [58]		67.5 [141]		66.9
Four Factors
Effective FG%:	54.2 [16]	43.1 [9]	55.8 [7]	49.3 [179]	48.9
Turnover %:	24.5 [326]	20.2 [196]	18.3 [44]	22.7 [71]	20.8
Off. Reb. %:	34.9 [115]	30.2 [67]	33.6 [159]	31.9 [125]	33.1
FTA/FGA:	43.0 [38]	31.7 [76]	32.5 [263]	30.9 [60]	36.4
Miscellaneous Components
3P%:	34.6 [143]	34.4 [188]	36.8 [69]	34.2 [175]	34.1
2P%:	55.3 [10]	38.8 [1]	56.2 [4]	48.2 [183]	47.8
FT%:	79.2 [4]	67.6 [114]	68.8 [161]	61.1 [3]	68.6
Block%:	8.1 [130]	17.9 [3]	8.2 [134]	7.6 [218]	8.9
Steal%:	10.9 [259]	9.0 [234]	9.2 [111]	12.2 [36]	10
Style Components
3PA/FGA:	30.3 [236]	33.4 [202]	36.5 [78]	34.5 [234]	33
A/FGM:	62.3 [24]	43.3 [8]	61.0 [41]	52.4 [130]	54.1
Point Distribution (% of total points)
3-Pointers:	22.0 [292]	32.0 [43]	30.1 [96]	30.1 [82]	27.5
2-Pointers:	54.1 [121]	48.1 [289]	53.2 [147]	53.8 [116]	52.1
Free Throws:	23.9 [32]	19.9 [194]	16.7 [318]	16.1 [322]	20.3
Strength of Schedule
Components:	102.4 [100]	100.8 [173]	100.4 [198]	100.8 [170]	100.7
Overall:	0.5446 [127]		0.4886 [188]		0.5
Non-conference:	0.4297 [240]		0.3372 [303]		0.5
Personnel
Bench Minutes:	29.2% [216]		29.8% [203]		31.10%
Experience:	1.34 yrs [270]		1.12 yrs [314]		1.66
Effective Height:	+1.6 [74]		+2.2 [46]		0
Average Height:	78.7" [3]		77.2" [66]		76.5"

Analysis

Personnel

Florida is a talented team with plenty of size, but very little overall strength and experience.

Florida's back court is among the most solid in the SEC, starting with sophomore point guard Nick Calathes. Calathes is a tall "lead" guard who initiates most of the offense. He can dribble, drive and shoot the three. He is not great at getting his own shot but is so clever with the ball he can get one if he needs it. His backcourt mate, Walter Hodge, is a senior and a solid player in his own right, able to make shots and get to the rim. Florida's back court is among the deadliest from three point range in the conference.

The front court will likely consist of sophomore power forward Alex Tyus, sophomore forward Chandler Parsons and junior forward Dan Werner. Werner and Parsons are both capable of scoring inside and out, and Tyus is mostly an inside player. Neither Parsons nor Werner are overly athletic, but Tyus is, and although he doesn't have the strength, skill or bulk of Patrick Patterson, he is a very capable and improving player. Of the other two forwards, Chandler Parsons is by far the most dynamic and dangerous offensively.

Kenny Kadji is a freshman big man who gives Florida a good big option inside. He is as big and even a little taller than Patterson, but slower and less athletic. But he is a space eater who can get the job done inside. Erving Walker is a tiny (5'8") spark plug of a guard off the bench who has amazing quickness and speed, and is a dangerous matchup problem for Kentucky. Think a stronger and more explosive Devan Downey with a bit less overall skill. Ray Shipman helps out on the wing and is more of a slasher. Allan Chaney, another big forward, is injured and likely out for tonight.

Teams

Florida's main strengths are three point shooting, offensive efficiency and forcing turnovers. They take good care of the basketball, but do not rebound particularly well either offensively or defensively. Kentucky is a vastly superior defensive team, particularly against the two point shot, but Florida shoots a high percentage of their shots from three, and we all know that UK has been burned a lot from three point range this year.

Four factors analysis:

eFG%: Advantage Florida on offense and Kentucky on defense.
Turnover%: Advantage Florida on both offense and defense
Offensive Rebound %: Advantage Kentucky on offense and defense.
FT Attempts/FG Attempt: Kentucky on offense, Florida on defense.

Overall

This is a matchup between two very even teams that basically have different strengths -- Kentucky's strengths are defensive and Florida's strengths are offensive. Kentucky appears to have a slightly larger edge, but paper edges mean nothing, as they also had edges over the last three teams they played, and we saw how that went.

Kentucky will face a variety of defenses tonight, but probably more zone than man to man, although you can never say for sure with Donovan, because like his mentor, Rick Pitino, Billy D. likes to mix it up on defense. UK will see some match-up zone and quite possibly some junk like a box and one.

Offensively, Kentucky must get the ball to Patterson, and force the defense to collapse. That will happen, and Patterson will hit open shooters. The question is, will any of them shoot, and if they do, will they make them? Jodie Meeks will likely be taken away as much as possible, and Florida has the size and quickness to do it. If Kentucky continues to do what they have been doing the last three games, the odds of them winning this one are long, indeed.

Defensively, Kentucky must guard the three much better than they have in the last three games. If they fail to do this, it will take a superhuman effort by both Meeks and Patterson to overcome the scoring Florida can do. Florida will run, and they will shoot in transition and make shots. Kentucky will need to play Suffocats-style defense to stop the Gators, and the 'Cats have not done that against a talented team all year.

Although I like the matchups better in this game than in the last three, Florida is a vastly superior offensive team if they are able to hamper Meeks and Patterson as the last three teams have done. If they can't, this could be a convincing victory for Kentucky, because nobody on Florida's team can handle those two guys one-on-one. But Billy D. knows this, and he knows that UK is vulnerable to denying Meeks the ball and collapsing on Patterson. He believes, and so do I, that UK's other players cannot beat him.

Bottom line -- UK is on a precipice. If all Gillispie did was try to convince them to play harder, our chances of victory are less than 50%. If the 'Cats have some new wrinkles to free up our scorers and play solid 3-point defense, our chances go way up. You can never tell about Gillispie, so I have no prediction. Just nerves.

Time To Be Real Son

mlmintampa — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:48:11 -0000

Bush: After carefully examining the region me and my cabinet agree that that area is definitely ripe for regime change...but if I can be real about it?
Ashcroft: Be real, son.
Bush: Real?
Ashcroft: Yo be real real, son.
Bush: He tried to kill my father, man. I don't play that shit!
Ashcroft: Yo say word he tried to kill your father, son.
Bush: (grabbing boom mike from above): HE TRIED TO KILL MY FATHER!!

[Chappelle's Show, "Black Bush"]

And so it is that the Gators are about to be real, beginning a three-game stretch in five days with tonight's game against Southern Utah. While, to our knowledge, no players for any of the Gators upcoming opponents has threatened to kill anyone, this week stretch will be as difficult as the squad has dealt with. After Southern Utah, Florida plays Syracuse on Monday, Nov. 24 and Kansas or Washington the next night (the games are the finals of the CBE Classic in Kansas City). Three years ago, it was a win over Syracuse in the 2K Sports Classic in New York that pushed the Gators from "rebuilding" to "contender" and the 2006 NCAA Championship. (Remember, that team lost Lee, Roberson and Walsh. People thought they would suck.) The Gators can make a statement in the next week or they can decide to go the way of Kentucky, where the only link to greatness is the banners hanging from the rafters.

Dan Werner leads the team with 18 ppg (shooting 55%) with 4.5 rpg. He is even 5-10 from 3-point range. Nick Calathes is averaging 14.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 6.5 assist per game; a solid stat sheet for a player who needs to carry the team. The other player averaging double figures is Walt Hodge, who was supposed to be the sixth man but found his way into the starting five after Jai Lucas skipped town. Hodge is averaging 13.5 ppg. In terms of the freshmen, Allan Chaney and Ray Shipman have played very well. Erving Walker has not found a scoring touch, but has contributed in other ways. He has 10 assists this season and only 2 turnovers. It is only two games, but a 5:1 assist to turnover ratio is damn good. As a whole, the team could protect the ball better (1.3 A/T).

Tonight's game is at 8pm on Sun Sports, and should be a victory at UF. But the challenges will come next week.

2008-09 Florida Gators Basketball Preview

mlmintampa — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:12:25 -0000

Tuesday night Al Horford had 27 points and 17 rebounds in his team's sixth consecutive victory to start the season.

Yes, Big Al is with the Atlanta Hawks now and it says something about the fall to mediocrity the Gators took last season. That line used to describe a Gator game. Now, two years past, we are still looking from someone to take the torch from Horford, Noah, Brewer and Green. This season is as much about the team as it is one player; Nick Calathes.

The Gators do not have the horses to win the SEC, much less the division. They don't have the old men to inspire a run like Georgia did either. (I'm getting the negativity out of the way now.) What Florida does have is a core group of players who got burned last season when they thought the name on their jersey guaranteed them a NCAA spot. Do they have the talent? Sure. Do they have the will to compete? Well, it is time to find out.

Last year, I outed myself as someone who was not convinced in the Nick Calathes Experience. In victories, he'd fill a boxscore. In losses, he contributed as much as the student section; just another person in a Gator jersey. He is the most talented player on the team and with the losses of Marreese Speights and Jai Lucas, he must lead the team this season. No more disappearing for 20 minutes at a time.

Lucas leaving is a blessing for the Gators. I wish him well, but for Lucas to bounce this close to the start of the season is a reflection on what has been happening in practice. Assumptions are not always correct, but it's not crazy to say Calathes will run the offense at the point, effectively pushing out Lucas who was exposed last season. Calathes belongs at the point and it was only a matter of time before Lucas realized this.

So now what happens now? Calathes needs to be able to carry the team when necessary but also push along a young front line with Alex Tyus and Chandler Parsons rotated with Kenny Kadji and Allan Chaney. Calathes is a sophomore like Tyus and Parsons and just a year older than Kadji and Chaney, but Calathes is (hopefully) mature enough to work them into the offense. We will see how this dynamic works in out-of-conference play and amend this prior to the SEC season. (I don't trust preseason stats, especially since lame duck Lucas got 20 minutes in the first game.)

I'll be in Gainesville this weekend and we will all get a better sense of the club when they play a real team (apologizes to Warner and Rollins College). Friday night UF plays Toledo and they return four starters. Plus, they have a chucker;

Tyrone Kent is a dangerous scoring threat, but that is mainly because he shoots way too much. The guard took over 400 shots this past season, netting just 36.3 percent of those attempts.

Well played Mr. Kent!

Bradley is a different story. They made the NIT last season (hey, just like the Gators!) but lost a significant amount of scoring in their backcourt. Like the typical mid-major, they have restocked with juco players. They are good enough to challenge the Gators, so they cannot just show up Sunday.

The Gators have one strength that continues. Billy Donovan is still a great coach who built a program out of nothing. Without Billy at the helm, there would not be as much confidence in the Gators this season. Whether this turns out to be a Sweet 16 season or another dud will depend on Billy's ability to inspire the team. Let's hope he can do it and Nick Calathes leads the way.