Franz Beard, of Gator Country:

“Urban, given the success you’ve had in the classroom with the graduation rate the last two or three years, how has that helped you getting into the door of some of these kids and getting them to see it’s more than just football?”

Urban Meyer:

“That’s a great question, because you walk in, and (they say) academics are very important, and then you look at their transcript, and nah, it’s not, not real important.

“Because that’s the first question, they’re so coached up by their coaches and their families, you know - “I’m going to go to the best academic school I can find.”

(Urban, smiling in denial) “You are not. The prettiest girls, and the greenest grass, and the biggest stadium.

“But, when you walk into a home where the family is sincerely interested and you start laying out — one of the things we do so well here with Terry Jackson and Rue over at the OSL is it’s not just academics. We, in the last year and a half, two years, have made an emphasis probably as good as I’ve ever seen on the push for life after graduation, life after football.

“I think the recruits, our families, even the families of the current players — I know the Haden family was so impressed by that, that’s why they send Jordan to play here. You see the emphasis placed on not just the four-year time period here but the time after you graduate, and I’ve never seen an effort like once again — Terry and Doc Carradine’s staff over there and our staff being involved in recruiting round tables and job fairs.

“That’s appealing now — that’s appealing if you’re a parent, and if you start talking about major college football, and wait a minute now, you’re actually going to help them get a job when they’re done playing? That’s a pretty good sales pitch to have.”

After the disclaimer of it of course being exhibition and a crap opponent, I’ve seen nothing that makes me less excited about this starting backcourt.  Despite it’s obvious shortcomings (one of which is, of course being short — 5-8 and 6-2), I really like the pressure that Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton are going to put on defenses.

In the 2 meaningless exhibition games:

Walker had 18 assists and only 3 turnovers, and shot 9 free throws.

Boynton had 47 points in only 51 minutes, and more importantly, only only 25 SHOTS.  That’s efficient.  Boynton also shot 15 free throws (skewed by Webber’s insistence on fouling him during 3-point attempts, but still, impressive.

I also want to keep my eye on the Center/Forward trio of JR Vernon Macklin, SO Kenny Kadji and FR Erik Murphy. 

In the 1st game, they combined for:
50 minutes
22 points
15 rebounds
4 blocks
1 assist
5 turnovers.

In the 2nd game, they combined for:
55 minutes
25 points
15 rebounds
5 blocks
2 assists
8 turnovers.

We’ll see how their production is in real games and of course in conference play, and if they cut down on the turnovers, but that seems to be something to build on as well.

As for the rest of the roster, I think we pretty much know what we’ll get from Alex Tyus and Dan Werner, while Chandler Parsons and Ray Shipman have shown some really encouraging improvements, especially Parsons.  He’s grown his hair out, and not only looks less like a kid but seems to have matured his game as well.

The Orlando Magic, coming off an improbable NBA Finals run, have effectively traded Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee, Hedo Turkoglu and Tony Battie for Vince Carter, Ryan Anderson and Brandon Bass and $7-$8 million trade exception while retaining the services of Marcin Gortat. That’s a mouthful. It’s also something which makes me impressed by what GM Otis Smith has been able to do so far.

The team still lacks any semblance of a backup for PG Jameer Nelson, and has probably 3 or 4 more roster spots unfilled, but this upcoming year’s iteration, if not already demonstrably better, shows at least as much promise as the depth chart the Magic put forth at the end of the season.

There’s no question that a 5-year, $34 million contract for backup center Marcin Gortat, 24 is overpaying him, but so is the 6-year (I’m assuming, since he was able to do a sign-and-trade) contract for 30-year-old Turkoglu.

Also, my early interpretation is that it’s possible that Smith outfoxed Dallas owner Mark Cuban.

7/3 - Gortat agrees to 5-year offer sheet with Dallas.

7/9 - The Mavericks were part of the 4-team deal which landed Turkoglu in Toronto and Marion in Dallas. In the deal, the Mavericks sent cash considerations to the Magic, and Orlando also received a trade exception for $7-$8 million.

7/10 - The Magic agreed to terms with former Dallas forward Brandon Bass on a 4-year deal.

7/13 - Reports say the Magic will match the Mavs offer sheet to Gortat.

Basically, by doing things in the order they did them, the Magic got money from Dallas, young forward Brandon Bass (for only PART of the mid-level exception) AND Marcin Gortat. They also maintain flexibility with the trade exception they can use for future deals and the rest of the exception money they didn’t use on Bass, enabling them to likely get a point guard and flesh out the roster.

Impressive:

2008-2009
1 - Rafer Alston, Jameer Nelson, Anthony Johnson
2 - Courtney Lee, JJ Redick
3 - Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus
4 - Rashard Lewis, Tony Battie
5 - Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat

2009-2010 (currently)
1 - Jameer Nelson, (FA/Trade Point Guard)
2 - Vince Carter, JJ Redick
3 - Rashard Lewis, Mickael Pietrus
4 - Brandon Bass, Ryan Anderson
5 - Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat

The team also maintains its flexible players, with Carter capable of minutes at the 3, Lewis able to play the 3 and 4, Pietrus a classic 2/3 player, and likely the continuance of the LATE-season experimentation with Gortat and Howard on the court at the same time…

Noam (Israel): Any thoughts on Calathes going to Greece?

David Thorpe: I’m terribly disappointed that he won’t be in the NBA next year. But the offer was incredible. Think of it like this-should he have played for another year for Billy Donovan for free, or for one of the world’s best coaches for $1million on one of the world’s best teams?

Of more immediate interest to Gator fans, Heath Cline and Franz Beard note Billy Donovan’s pursuit of point guard help for next year, one of whom seems to be Philadelphia prospect Jesse “Booge” Morgan, a 6-4, 180-pound PG. Apparently, he’ll know some time in June if he’s able to qualify or not. Rivals/ESPN has his him listed as a shooting guard, while Scout.com has him as a point guard.

It looks like he was originally from Olney High School in Philadelphia, but he’s now listed as being from The Preparatory Charter School, also in Pennsylvania. I found 3 clips of him online that I’m embedding below that I think may be from his junior year, if you’re interested. He is in the blue jersey wearing #5 in the first, wears white in the second, and in the third video he is the taller guard again wearing #5 being fed for baskets by the smaller point guard.

He looks to have nice range on his jump shot and a nice handle. The first two videos are both of Olney vs. Bartram, another Philly school, with the second one a playoff game.

Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, always dropping knowledge, had some interesting speculation and information in his May 24 Draft Roundup on the subject. Although his statement that “Calathes could very well have gone in the 30’s and ended up with a non-guaranteed contract, only to get cut in training, as many second rounders often are” was expected, his information about why he MIGHT still be a first rounder was not:

“If anything, Calathes may have improved his draft stock with this move. There are a number of teams in the late first round—such as New Orleans, Minnesota, Oklahoma City and Chicago who either have multiple picks or may not be interested in adding another guaranteed contract/roster spot to their team at this point.”

2. The early departure of the assist record holder who just happened to be the team’s leading scorer and 2nd-leading rebounder.

3. The seemingly overnight resurgence of rival Kentucky to a top-ranked recruiting class and national prominence.

4. An overall sense of turmoil after Billy Donovan’s momentary dalliance with the Orlando Magic and what seems to be a steady stream of transfers or early entries.

Conventional wisdom says that the Gator basketball team is poised for even more mediocrity and another NIT appearance.

But… are things truly that bad? Even taking a worst-case scenario of Nick Calathes’ departure and coupling it with injuries preventing G Adam Allen and F Eloy Vargas from possibly playing this year — even if 5-8 PG Erving Walker has to play 30-plus minutes per game — is the program in any worse position than last year?

And, furthermore, is the program that far from the national prominence it enjoyed just a short time again?

Actually… no and no.

UF isn’t all that much worse off than the last 2 years, and is only another recruiting class (and, admittedly, at least one year without wholesale departures) from not just being a tournament team but one that could be a Final Four contender again.

For one thing, the team was only a few games away each of the past two years from making the tournament. Truly, let’s say 4 games go differently, and we’re talking about a continued streak rather than how to get back.

Take a look at the rotation that UF had for most of last year:

2008-09
1 - SO 6-5 Calathes, FR 5-8 Walker
2 - SR 6-0 Hodge, FR 6-5 Shipman
3 - SO 6-9 Parsons
4 - JR 6-7 Werner
5 - SO 6-8 Tyus, FR 6-10 Kadji

It’s actually arguable that next year’s team will be a better balanced team. Last year, UF started a 6-0, 165-pound shooting guard, which is ok if it’s 2000 and those are the measurables of a guard named Allen Iverson, but not so much if it’s a well-liked Puerto Rican family man named Walter Hodge.

Add in the mix a 6-7 power forward with some physical limitations and a 6-8, 215-pound center and that the team often played the 6-0 guard and the 5-8 guard at the same TIME and suddenly it’s actually pretty impressive the team even had a chance at the dance last year.

The 2009 edition will have the obvious caution flag of a 5-8 point guard with no true backup (and those two facts are a huge problem, don’t kid yourself), but other than that will have players who are less obviously mismatched than last year.

1 - SO 5-8 Walker
2 - FR 6-3 Boynton, SO 6-4 Shipman
3 - SR 6-7 Werner, JR 6-9 Parsons
4 - JR 6-8 Tyus, FR 6-9 Murphy
5 - JR 6-10 Macklin, SO 6-10 Kadji

Even more interesting is what the team has the chance to look like the NEXT year. The top point guard and one of the top players in the country is 6-3 Brandon Knight, and he’s a Florida prospect who played on the same AAU team as incoming UF guard Kenny Boynton.

I’m not sure if the importance of getting Knight can be overstated. The flagship school of the state can’t lose the nation’s top prospect from its backyard, especially so soon after two national championships. Knight was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year as a JUNIOR this past year, is a great student and Donovan had been recruiting him for years.

Donovan is also recruiting a couple of the top small forward prospects nationally, like 6-7 Harrison Barnes out of Iowa, and a 7-0 center named Fab Melo in Florida. Obviously it’s at best a long shot to get all those prospects, but I wanted to underscore that the team isn’t all that far from being a national contender like this:

1 - FR 6-3 Knight, JR 5-8 Walker
2 - SO 6-3 Boynton, JR 6-4 Shipman
3 - FR 6-7 Barnes, SR 6-9 Parsons
4 - SR 6-8 Tyus, SO 6-9 Murphy, FR 6-8 Young
5 - SR 6-10 Macklin, JR 6-10 Kadji, FR 7-0 Melo

6 upperclassmen, with the top small forward and point guard freshmen in the country. Again, this is almost certain not to happen, but honestly, if John Calipari and Kentucky can basically pull that off in a few months, why can’t Billy Donovan?

Again, this is not exactly a surprise — as I pointed out in March, Adam Allen was still unable to bend his leg or jump on it 4 months after his first surgery, which isn’t exactly a promising sign.

This of course underscores UF’s need to find another guard this offseason… somehow.

Well, top PG recruit John Wall has added his name to the oh-so-impressive list of recruits that John Calipari has added at Kentucky in just a few months on the job. And, despite the more “impassioned” Gator fans who cry CHEATER at the drop of a hat, it’s surprising but not shocking.

In the last year, Calipari has coached the NBA number one pick in a national championship game and made the high profile move to one of college basketball’s flagship institutions in a conference that will begin its first season in a huge ESPN TV contract this year. Calipari had the makings of the top class nationally at Memphis, and was able to bring 2 of those players with him in Wall and Cousins, added PG Eric Bledsoe, and kept the best players that had already signed with the team earlier. Not particularly far-fetched, after one gets over the shock of it all.

Suddenly the entire conference is looking at a different playing field. All this publicity is good for the SEC overall in its first year truly in the ESPN family, and having a possible elite team is a far cry from last year, which was simply its worst showing in 20 years.

With both of the point guards that the Gators were publicly pursuing managing to sign with Kentucky, and assist record holder Nick Calathes continuing to improve his stock in a thin draft (the latest DraftExpress mock Draft after the 5/19 lottery has him listed as the #23 prospect, and he seems confident in an interview with them), the 2010 backcourt look of UF is alarming, to put things mildly.

A starting backcourt of the 5-8 Erving Walker and incoming recruit 6-3 Kenny Boynton actually sounds like something which will perform well in the SEC next year, but behind them is perhaps only 6-5 SG Ray Shipman and no other point guard at all. Pat Cassidy of DimeMag.com sent along this article, by Jason Jordan, where Boynton is quoted as eager and willing to play some point guard, but even if that’s the case, more bodies are needed.

Nothing concrete seems available on the subject, but it seems that Donovan isn’t done just yet, and may add one or even two more backcourt players. Where will they come from, since it seems that all recruitable players have signed or committed?

The speculation is that they could come from a player who unexpectedly is going to qualify, a player asking out of his signed letter-of-intent, a transfer immediately eligible due to hardship status, or a JUCO player. For the record, I don’t want to seem like these are options I’ve come up with — those are from forum conversation, so take them with the pillar of salt required.

For UF to be relying on maybes and hope-sos while Kentucky bags a shiny new class and has players take their names out of the draft is hard to swallow only a few years removed from dual championships — I’ll be waiting with baited breath to see the final outcome in the next few weeks…

Although it’s of course good news for the Florida Gators that F/C Alex Tyus is returning, more distressing for the team is the situation and depth chart in the backcourt. Since up until now Billy Donovan has been unable to recruit another guard (falling short with Rico Pickett - Manhattan, Eric Bledsoe - Kentucky, and John Wall - undecided) it seems that PG Erving Walker may end up being the only true point guard on the roster.

Overall, I actually don’t have a problem with Erving Walker as the starting point guard for the Gators. I expect him to be a “best of times/worst of times” time of player, meaning that he will have some limitations which will cause him to be a liability, but other things which will cause matchup nightmares for opposing teams.

His dribbling ability and shooting range make him tough to defend, and he will break down defenses using both of those skills, while being a pest defensively who causes trouble bringing the ball up the court. However, he’s a guy who can be shot over at 5-8, and will constantly have to keep himself from overpenetrating and forcing himself into bad shots. Overall, though? Positive.

Having his first year as the lead guard for the team while being the only true point guard on the team is troubling, however. UF will have to hope that the glimpses and encouraging words about incoming guard Kenny Boynton’s ability at the point prove to be a positive experiment. I see him having to play at least 10 minutes a game at the position this year, sink or swim.

In fact, in looking at how the minutes may be distributed, there are a lot of interesting questions raised that I hope to examine in the coming days:

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.”