Shots From the Dome

That, of course, was my first response when first hearing the news at 10:11 a.m.

Since then, here are the tidbits of news and rumor I’ve gleaned about why it might have happened:

• Gainesville’s WRUF-AM 850 and Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel both suggest that Tyus wanted to play small forward
• Message board rumors suggest that Tyus was dating a volleyball player who is transferring after an almost unimaginable amount of tragic deaths of loved ones around her (according to the Florida Alligator, she lost her sister in high school, her best friend - UF DB Joe Haden’s girlfriend Ashley Slonina - in 2007, and then her brother last March)
• Larry Vettel, in 2 articles for Scout.com, has quotes from Billy Donovan saying Tyus was “not so sure” (Subscription Required) he wanted to address the things Donovan wanted him to, that the coach likely will pursue backcourt and NOT frontcourt help for next season, and that his priority in the next few days is to fill an assistant coach position (Subscription Required) for the fourth time in recent years
• The Gainesville Sun’s Pat Dooley suggests that Donovan may be cleaning house and taking control

And SO, since I gave the dream scenario for the basketball team over the last few posts, here’s a worse (not worst) case scenario of next year’s roster, speculating UF adds PG Eric Bledsoe, loses Nick Calathes, and F Dan Werner now remains at the power forward position for his senior year:

1 - Erving Walker, Eric Bledsoe
2 - Kenny Boynton, Ray Shipman
3 - Chandler Parsons
4 - Dan Werner, Erik Murphy
5 - Vernon Macklin, Kenny Kadji, Eloy Vargas

It’s a team that will require hard work in the offseason and improvement to be a tournament team next year, but, JUST LIKE THE LAST 2 YEARS, they will have every opportunity not only to do so but to challenge for top billing in the conference. I only point that out because with only a few better games here and there, we would be STILL be talking about the Gators attempting to continue an unbroken streak of March Madness appearances…

UPDATE: Another Donovan quote, from the Palm Beach Post’s Ben Volin:

“I think he feels, ‘You know what? I need a year away just to figure this out. What kind of commitment am I willing to make to basketball and what kind of growth and how I want to play?’” Donovan said. “There are certain guys that say, ‘I really don’t want to do that, and I understand that and that’s not a problem. You kind of shake hands.”