NORTH AUGUSTA, SC --- The life returned to Bradley Beal's legs Tuesday evening. After a morning session in which he had trouble elevating after an all-day flight from Germany following the FIBA World 17-and-Under Championships where he was the MVP for the gold medal-winning USA team, Beal scored 25 points while adding eight rebounds and five assists as the St. Louis Eagles held on for dear life to take a 75-69 over Mac Irvin Fire at the Nike Peach Jam.
The Eagles led by as many as 18 points in both the first and second halves and they held a 13-point lead with 4:44 to go in the game but the Mac Irvin press forced a barrage of turnovers to cut the margin to one, 70-69, with 28.9 seconds to go.
It was a must win for the Eagles, who suffered a Monday evening loss to the New York-based Metro Hawks while Beal was busy traveling to North Augusta. They go into the final game of pool play Wednesday morning with a 3-1 record, identical to Mac Irvin Fire, which suffered its first loss and the Metro Hawks. St. Louis plays Oklahoma City-based Athletes First Wednesday morning while Mac Irvin Fire will go against Louisiana Select.
With Florida prospect Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young) taking the initial assignment to guard Beal, it looked like a classic matchup of the nation's best shooting guard (Beal) and the nation's top perimeter defender (Thompson). It took Beal five minutes to force the Mac Irvin Fire coaches to change their stragegy. The Eagles simply curled Beal off picks at the top of the key and once he turned the corner into the paint, he either scored or got fouled. Thompson picked up his second foul three minutes into the game. Two minutes later, Mac Irvin Fire switched to smaller, quicker point guards. At the eight minute mark, it was time to switch again, this time to a zone.
For the game, Beal hit 6-13 shots but was just 2-7 from the three-point line. He was 0-4 in the Tuesday morning session and missed his fifrst two threes Tuesday evening before he found the range again. Beal finished 11-12 from the foul line with all his free throws coming in the first half.
"I felt a lot better tonight than I did this morning," Beal said. "I was just too tired this morning and I didn't have any energy. I got some rest this afternoon and felt good again. We got the win and I helped so that was important to me."
Thompson finished the game with nine points. He had a chance to tie the game with two free throws with 28.9 seconds to go but made the first and missed the second.
* * *
Beal's Tuesday night performance coupled with his MVP effort in the FIBA tournament in Germany makes another strong statement that the Florida commitment is the best player in the country regardless of position. Beal is a gifted offensive player and while he is a tremendously gifted shooter, he isn't limited to the offensive end of the court. He's a tenacious defender, a rebounder who relies on great position even though he's got serious springs in his legs, and a court-aware passer who sees the entire floor and gets the ball to open teammates.
Most recruiting services had Beal rated as one of the five or six best prospects for the class of 2011 but after his extraordinary July, you could call him the best player in the country and wouldn't get much argument from anyone who has seen him play.
Without question, Beal is the most important recruit for Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators since Mike Miller.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Nike Peach Jam: Morning session, day two
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC --- Now that the European adventure is over and done with for Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep), the St. Louis Eagles can get back to the business of trying to win what is the Nike national travel team championship at the Nike Peach Jam. Beal, the sharpshooting guard and Florida commitment who was selected the Most Valuable Player at the FIBA World 17-and-Under Championships while leading the USA team to the gold medal in Hamburg, Germany, spent all day Monday traveling to get to North Augusta and it was obvious that he didn't have his legs under him, but his presence was essential for the Eagles, who suffered a two-point loss to the New York-based Metro Hawks in the second session Monday.
With Florida coach Billy Donovan and assistants Rob Lanier and Richard Pitino looking on, Beal scored 10 points, grabbed four rebounds, handed out five assists and had three steals to help the Eagles to a hard fought 63-54 win over Louisiana Select Tuesday morning. Although Beal couldn't get a three-pointer to drop --- he had three of his four attempts do everything but go down --- his presence on the court was a steadying factor when Louisiana Select came back from a 10-point deficit to take the lead with a little over four minutes remaining.
"I couldn't get my shot going," Beal said after the Eagles improved to 2-1 in the pool play section of the tournament. "I never got into any rhythm at all. My legs were a little dead but they'll be okay later on. I'll get some rest this afternoon and I'll be all right tonight."
The top two teams in each of the four pools will advance to the quarter-finals, which will begin Wednesday evening. The Eagles and the Metro Hawks are both chasing the Chicago-based Mac Irvin Fire, which is 3-0 after a tough Tuesday morning win over the Metro Hawks. Mac Irvin Fire arrived late to the North Augusta Recreation Center venue Tuesday morning and played the Metro Hawks without the benefit of any warmups. Players were still arriving two minutes into the first half.
While Beal struggled in the first game, Florida target Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young) couldn't get it going at least on the offensive end Chicago-based Mac Irvin Fire's 59-49 win over the Metro Hawks. Thompson arrived barely in time to lace up his shoes and take the floor. After hitting a short jumper off a spin move and nailing a three-ball among his first three shots, Thompson had problems getting the ball to go in the hole the rest of the way. He was 0-6 from the foul line including an 0-3 hat trick with no time left on the clock at the end of the first half, finishing the game with five points, three rebounds and three steals to go with five turnovers.
Thompson was closely watched by Donovan and Pitino while Lanier watched Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum), who scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Boo Williams Summer League's 71-48 loss to Boston-based BAB on another court. BWSL got 13 points and six rebounds from star center James McAdoo (6-8, 210, Norfolk, VA Norfolk, Christian) who arrived late Monday night from Gerrmany, where he was a member of the USA gold medal team in Germany along with Beal. In that game, 2012 Florida prospect Nerlens Noel (6-10, 205, Everett, MA The Tilton School) scored eight points, grabbed eight rebounds and was credited with three blocked shots although he altered or deflected at least five others.
Donovan also got a good look at Omar Calhoun (6-4, 180, Middle Village, NY Christ the King), who scored 24 points in the New York Gauchos' 53-52 loss to Milwaukee-based Playground Elite, which was led by 2012 stud Cinmeon Bowers (6-7, 240, Milwaukee, WS Rufus King), who scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Bowers, who reclassified from 2011 to 2012, showed impressive ball handling and passing skills along with a nice touch to about 18 feet.
A player of interest for the Gators is 2012 do-it-all Kyle Anderson Jr. (6-8, 200, Paterson, NJ Catholic), who turned in his third straight impressive game in New Jersey Playaz 92-60 rout of Spiece Indy Heat. Anderson's stat line read 13 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and four steals. Marquise Teague, who traveled all day Monday to get back from Germany along with Beal and McAdoo, was ineffective for Spiece. The Kentucky commitment had just three points (1-8 from the field and 1-5 from the foul line) in 16 minutes although he did have seven assists.
* * *
With Beal a strong commitment and Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario already in the house, the Gators have room for two more in the recruiting class of 2011. One of the scholarships will go to a long, lean athletic type and the other to a big man.
The long, lean types are Thompson, Finney-Smith, Adonis Thomas (6-6, 211, Memphis, TN Melrose) and Kedren Johnson (6-4, 215, Lewisburg, TN Marshall County), a combo guard who is playing with the Georgia Stars in North Augusta. Johnson was impressive Tuesday morning, scoring 14 points while grabbing 11 rebounds and handing out seven assists to lead the Georgia Stars to a 74-72 win over Each One Teach One, which got a 35-point effort from Austin Rivers (6-4, 190, Winter Park, FL). Rivers, who was once committed to Florida, was watched for the third consecutive game by Duke Coach Mike Kryzyzewski.
The Gators are focused in on four big men: Rakeem Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church), Cody Zeller (6-10, 210, Washington, IN), Johnny O'Bryant (6-10, 245, Cleveland, TN) and Mikael Hopkins (6-9, 215, Hyattsville, MD DeMatha Catholic). Christmas, who had two points and no rebounds in 13 minutes Tuesday morning before fouling out after only 13 minutes of play in Team Final's 60-54 win over Mean Streets, has Florida, Texas and Oklahoma at the top of his short list. Zeller has had Butler and Florida at the top of his list but with North Carolina offering recently, the Tar Heels have come into play. Zeller's older brother will be a UNC junior this fall. O'Bryant has Florida on his short list but the team to beat will be Mississippi State. Hopkins, who scored 12 points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots in Team Takeover's 74-61 win over Alabama Challenge Tuesday morning, says Syracuse is his leader but he plans to attend Florida's elite camp in August.
Florida's coaching staff is also considering the option of signing just one long, lean type while redshirting either freshman Will Yeguette (6-8) or Cody Larson (6-9) and holding a scholarship until 2012. If the staff isn't confident it can land one of the four big man targets, consider the redshirt/hold the ship possibility as a likely scenario
With Florida coach Billy Donovan and assistants Rob Lanier and Richard Pitino looking on, Beal scored 10 points, grabbed four rebounds, handed out five assists and had three steals to help the Eagles to a hard fought 63-54 win over Louisiana Select Tuesday morning. Although Beal couldn't get a three-pointer to drop --- he had three of his four attempts do everything but go down --- his presence on the court was a steadying factor when Louisiana Select came back from a 10-point deficit to take the lead with a little over four minutes remaining.
"I couldn't get my shot going," Beal said after the Eagles improved to 2-1 in the pool play section of the tournament. "I never got into any rhythm at all. My legs were a little dead but they'll be okay later on. I'll get some rest this afternoon and I'll be all right tonight."
The top two teams in each of the four pools will advance to the quarter-finals, which will begin Wednesday evening. The Eagles and the Metro Hawks are both chasing the Chicago-based Mac Irvin Fire, which is 3-0 after a tough Tuesday morning win over the Metro Hawks. Mac Irvin Fire arrived late to the North Augusta Recreation Center venue Tuesday morning and played the Metro Hawks without the benefit of any warmups. Players were still arriving two minutes into the first half.
While Beal struggled in the first game, Florida target Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young) couldn't get it going at least on the offensive end Chicago-based Mac Irvin Fire's 59-49 win over the Metro Hawks. Thompson arrived barely in time to lace up his shoes and take the floor. After hitting a short jumper off a spin move and nailing a three-ball among his first three shots, Thompson had problems getting the ball to go in the hole the rest of the way. He was 0-6 from the foul line including an 0-3 hat trick with no time left on the clock at the end of the first half, finishing the game with five points, three rebounds and three steals to go with five turnovers.
Thompson was closely watched by Donovan and Pitino while Lanier watched Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum), who scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Boo Williams Summer League's 71-48 loss to Boston-based BAB on another court. BWSL got 13 points and six rebounds from star center James McAdoo (6-8, 210, Norfolk, VA Norfolk, Christian) who arrived late Monday night from Gerrmany, where he was a member of the USA gold medal team in Germany along with Beal. In that game, 2012 Florida prospect Nerlens Noel (6-10, 205, Everett, MA The Tilton School) scored eight points, grabbed eight rebounds and was credited with three blocked shots although he altered or deflected at least five others.
Donovan also got a good look at Omar Calhoun (6-4, 180, Middle Village, NY Christ the King), who scored 24 points in the New York Gauchos' 53-52 loss to Milwaukee-based Playground Elite, which was led by 2012 stud Cinmeon Bowers (6-7, 240, Milwaukee, WS Rufus King), who scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Bowers, who reclassified from 2011 to 2012, showed impressive ball handling and passing skills along with a nice touch to about 18 feet.
A player of interest for the Gators is 2012 do-it-all Kyle Anderson Jr. (6-8, 200, Paterson, NJ Catholic), who turned in his third straight impressive game in New Jersey Playaz 92-60 rout of Spiece Indy Heat. Anderson's stat line read 13 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and four steals. Marquise Teague, who traveled all day Monday to get back from Germany along with Beal and McAdoo, was ineffective for Spiece. The Kentucky commitment had just three points (1-8 from the field and 1-5 from the foul line) in 16 minutes although he did have seven assists.
* * *
With Beal a strong commitment and Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario already in the house, the Gators have room for two more in the recruiting class of 2011. One of the scholarships will go to a long, lean athletic type and the other to a big man.
The long, lean types are Thompson, Finney-Smith, Adonis Thomas (6-6, 211, Memphis, TN Melrose) and Kedren Johnson (6-4, 215, Lewisburg, TN Marshall County), a combo guard who is playing with the Georgia Stars in North Augusta. Johnson was impressive Tuesday morning, scoring 14 points while grabbing 11 rebounds and handing out seven assists to lead the Georgia Stars to a 74-72 win over Each One Teach One, which got a 35-point effort from Austin Rivers (6-4, 190, Winter Park, FL). Rivers, who was once committed to Florida, was watched for the third consecutive game by Duke Coach Mike Kryzyzewski.
The Gators are focused in on four big men: Rakeem Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church), Cody Zeller (6-10, 210, Washington, IN), Johnny O'Bryant (6-10, 245, Cleveland, TN) and Mikael Hopkins (6-9, 215, Hyattsville, MD DeMatha Catholic). Christmas, who had two points and no rebounds in 13 minutes Tuesday morning before fouling out after only 13 minutes of play in Team Final's 60-54 win over Mean Streets, has Florida, Texas and Oklahoma at the top of his short list. Zeller has had Butler and Florida at the top of his list but with North Carolina offering recently, the Tar Heels have come into play. Zeller's older brother will be a UNC junior this fall. O'Bryant has Florida on his short list but the team to beat will be Mississippi State. Hopkins, who scored 12 points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots in Team Takeover's 74-61 win over Alabama Challenge Tuesday morning, says Syracuse is his leader but he plans to attend Florida's elite camp in August.
Florida's coaching staff is also considering the option of signing just one long, lean type while redshirting either freshman Will Yeguette (6-8) or Cody Larson (6-9) and holding a scholarship until 2012. If the staff isn't confident it can land one of the four big man targets, consider the redshirt/hold the ship possibility as a likely scenario
Monday, July 12, 2010
Nike Peach Jam: Evening session, final wrapup day one
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC --- Just call Nerlens Noel (6-10, 205, Everett, MA The Tilton School) the Secretary of Defense. The long, lean big man, who burst onto the national basketball recruiting scene last year at the Nike Peach Jam, returned to the scene of his first nationally-recognized success Monday and turned in two dominating performances to lead BABC to a pair of wins including a stunning 63-51 shocker over Austin Rivers-led Each One Teach One in the evening session.
In a Monday morning win over the Georgia Stars, Noel delivered four points, 14 rebounds and nine blocked shots plus at least 13 deflections. Monday night, he made it impossible for Rivers (6-4, 190, Winter Park, FL) and Trevor Lacey (6-3, 215, Huntsville, AL) to get to the rack with seven more blocked shots and an equal number of deflections. Rivers, who scored 29 points Monday morning, and Lacey, who had 18, managed only 13 and 10 points respectively Monday night.
Noel's best block was a total rejection of an attempted dunk by Each One Teach One's Steve Mondu-Missi (6-6, 215, Montverde, Fl Montverde Academy). Mondu-Missi came flying in from the right wing with the ball held high behind his head for an attempted windmill jam but Noel met him in midair and got all ball.
Noel, a rising junior at The Tilton School in New Hampshire, has a four-school favorite's list headed by Florida. Also on the list are Georgetown, Syracuse and Providence.
"I really like Florida a lot," Noel said. "Coach Donovan is a great coach and they have great academics."
Noel plans to major in communications wherever he lands.
* * *
Rivers was relegated to shooting jump shots when Noel took the paint away. He finished with 13 points but only 1-6 on three-pointers as Duke Coach Mike Kryzyzewski watched on along with Kansas coach Bill Self, North Carolina coach Roy Williams and Florida assistant Rob Lanier. Rivers also turned the ball over six times against the BABC press.
Rivers, who has Florida on his list of five favorites along with Kansas, Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky, will stay for his senior year at Winter Park High School even though he could graduate early and start college.
"You're only a high school senior one time," Rivers said, adding that part of the motivation to stay in high school rather than do an early entry in college is because he is planning to make the jump to the NBA after his freshman year in college.
* * *
Both Lanier and UF assistant Richard Pitino were on hand for Team Final's stunning 85-82 double overtime win over New Jersey Playaz. The Florida assistants were there to watch Team Final big man Rakeem Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church), whose stat line read 11 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots. Christmas has Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Florida International on his short list.
Lanier and Pitino were also on hand to watch New Jersey Playaz all-purpose stud Kyle Anderson Jr. (6-8, 205, Paterson, NJ Catholic), who followed up a 17-point, 11 rebound and six assist performance in the morning session with 20 points, 15 rebounds and three assists in the evening. Anderson is so versatile that he evokes memories of Florida's Chandler Parsons. Anderson plays the point and wing on offense and plays in the post on defense.
* * *
Sam "I Am" Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young) has a connection to Yannick Noah, famous tennis playing dad of former Gator All-American Joakim Noah. Per his mom, when Sam was much younger, he wore his hair in long braids just like Yannick and he got the chance to serve as Yannick's ball boy at a Chicago tournament.
* * *
Lanier was on hand to watch Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum) score eight points and grab eight rebounds in Boo Williams Summer League's 58-53 loss to Albany City Rocks. Earlier in the day, Finney-Smith had 13 points and 14 rebounds in a BWSL win over Detroit-based The Family.
Finney-Smith, who plays power forward on defense and point on offense for his high school team, said after the loss to ACR that he has narrowed his choices to Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Florida and Wake Forest. Finney-Smith has a 3.0 in the classroom and a qualifying 826 score on the SAT.
In a Monday morning win over the Georgia Stars, Noel delivered four points, 14 rebounds and nine blocked shots plus at least 13 deflections. Monday night, he made it impossible for Rivers (6-4, 190, Winter Park, FL) and Trevor Lacey (6-3, 215, Huntsville, AL) to get to the rack with seven more blocked shots and an equal number of deflections. Rivers, who scored 29 points Monday morning, and Lacey, who had 18, managed only 13 and 10 points respectively Monday night.
Noel's best block was a total rejection of an attempted dunk by Each One Teach One's Steve Mondu-Missi (6-6, 215, Montverde, Fl Montverde Academy). Mondu-Missi came flying in from the right wing with the ball held high behind his head for an attempted windmill jam but Noel met him in midair and got all ball.
Noel, a rising junior at The Tilton School in New Hampshire, has a four-school favorite's list headed by Florida. Also on the list are Georgetown, Syracuse and Providence.
"I really like Florida a lot," Noel said. "Coach Donovan is a great coach and they have great academics."
Noel plans to major in communications wherever he lands.
* * *
Rivers was relegated to shooting jump shots when Noel took the paint away. He finished with 13 points but only 1-6 on three-pointers as Duke Coach Mike Kryzyzewski watched on along with Kansas coach Bill Self, North Carolina coach Roy Williams and Florida assistant Rob Lanier. Rivers also turned the ball over six times against the BABC press.
Rivers, who has Florida on his list of five favorites along with Kansas, Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky, will stay for his senior year at Winter Park High School even though he could graduate early and start college.
"You're only a high school senior one time," Rivers said, adding that part of the motivation to stay in high school rather than do an early entry in college is because he is planning to make the jump to the NBA after his freshman year in college.
* * *
Both Lanier and UF assistant Richard Pitino were on hand for Team Final's stunning 85-82 double overtime win over New Jersey Playaz. The Florida assistants were there to watch Team Final big man Rakeem Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church), whose stat line read 11 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots. Christmas has Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Florida International on his short list.
Lanier and Pitino were also on hand to watch New Jersey Playaz all-purpose stud Kyle Anderson Jr. (6-8, 205, Paterson, NJ Catholic), who followed up a 17-point, 11 rebound and six assist performance in the morning session with 20 points, 15 rebounds and three assists in the evening. Anderson is so versatile that he evokes memories of Florida's Chandler Parsons. Anderson plays the point and wing on offense and plays in the post on defense.
* * *
Sam "I Am" Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young) has a connection to Yannick Noah, famous tennis playing dad of former Gator All-American Joakim Noah. Per his mom, when Sam was much younger, he wore his hair in long braids just like Yannick and he got the chance to serve as Yannick's ball boy at a Chicago tournament.
* * *
Lanier was on hand to watch Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum) score eight points and grab eight rebounds in Boo Williams Summer League's 58-53 loss to Albany City Rocks. Earlier in the day, Finney-Smith had 13 points and 14 rebounds in a BWSL win over Detroit-based The Family.
Finney-Smith, who plays power forward on defense and point on offense for his high school team, said after the loss to ACR that he has narrowed his choices to Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Florida and Wake Forest. Finney-Smith has a 3.0 in the classroom and a qualifying 826 score on the SAT.
Nike Peach Jam, Morning Update #2
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC --- Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young) provided the highlight reel dunks for the Monday morning session at the Nike Peach Jam with two gravity-defying throwdowns to help spark Mac Irvin Fire to a relatively easy win over Oklahoma City-based Athletes First. Thompson, who continues to list Florida, Oregon State and Ohio State as his top three schools, had a two-handed dunk back in the first half when he flew down the lane to jam back a missed Wayne Blackshear (6-5, 215, Chicago, IL Morgan Park) that was the best dunk of the day until he topped himself with a one-hander on a breakaway in the final three minutes of the game.
Thompson, who made a qualifying 29 on his ACT on the first try --- "I'm gonna take it again ... I know I can do better than that," he said --- says he is going to take his time before making his final decision.
"Last part of October, first part of November before the signing period," Thompson said. "I'm going to make sure I make the right choice."
* * *
Former Florida commitment Austin Rivers (6-4, 190, Winter Park, FL) scored 29 points in Each One Teach One's 85-64 win over Albany City Rocks. Rivers was 5-11 on his three-pointers, 9-20 overall from the field. Post game, Rivers said Florida, Duke and North Carolina have been joined by Kansas and Kentucky.
"Those are the five ... I'll choose one of them," Rivers said, adding that he plans to wait until the college season is under way to make a choice. That means Rivers won't be signing in November but waiting until the spring.
"I want to see how people do, how they play and how their players are doing," Rivers said. "I have to make sure I'm getting the right fit."
Rivers' teammate Trevor Lacey (6-3, 215, Huntsville, AL) scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Each One Teach One. Lacey is thought to be an Alabama lean although Tennessee is making a very strong push.
* * *
A name to keep an eye on for 2012 is Kyle Anderson (6-8, 210, Paterson, NJ Paterson Catholic), whose game reminds everyone of Chandler Parsons. Anderson doesn't do a lot of things great, but he does everything very well. His numbers in New Jersey Playaz 80-49 win over California Supreme were 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, two blocked shots and one steal.
All the SEC, ACC and Big East schools are on him.
* * *
Florida commitment Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep), the MVP of the FIBA World 17-and-Under Championships for the gold medal-winning USA team, will be arriving in Augusta tonight and will be suiting up tomorrow for the St. Louis Eagles, who got a 79-65 win over All-Ohio Red behind 21 points from Ben McLemore (6-5, 200, St. Louis, MO Eskridge) and 20 from Butler commit Roosevelt Jones (6-3, 210, O'Fallon, IL).
* * *
Earlier in the morning, Nerlens Noel (6-10, 210, Everett, MA Tilton School) scored only four points, but he hauled down 14 rebounds and blocked nine shots to lead Boston-based BABC to a 68-60 win over Georgia Stars. Noel has Florida high on his list along with several Big East schools.
Without Tony Parker (6-9, 260, Lithonia, GA Miller Grove) in the middle, the Georgia Stars had no inside presence against Noel's dominating defense. Kedren Johnson (6-4, 215, Lewisburg, TN Marshall County), who has Florida on his short list along with Vanderbilt and Alabama, scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out four assists in defeat. Johnson is expected to choose between Vanderbilt and Alabama in early August.
* * *
Rakeem Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church), scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked five shots in Team Final's loss to Spiece Indy Heat.
Over on the winning side, Nic Moore (5-10, 170, Lake Winona, IN Warsaw) scored 26 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out five assists while taking over the point for Marquise Teague (6-2, 175, Indianapolis, IN Pike) who is on his way to Augusta from Germany where he played on the USA team at the FIBA worlds.
Thompson, who made a qualifying 29 on his ACT on the first try --- "I'm gonna take it again ... I know I can do better than that," he said --- says he is going to take his time before making his final decision.
"Last part of October, first part of November before the signing period," Thompson said. "I'm going to make sure I make the right choice."
* * *
Former Florida commitment Austin Rivers (6-4, 190, Winter Park, FL) scored 29 points in Each One Teach One's 85-64 win over Albany City Rocks. Rivers was 5-11 on his three-pointers, 9-20 overall from the field. Post game, Rivers said Florida, Duke and North Carolina have been joined by Kansas and Kentucky.
"Those are the five ... I'll choose one of them," Rivers said, adding that he plans to wait until the college season is under way to make a choice. That means Rivers won't be signing in November but waiting until the spring.
"I want to see how people do, how they play and how their players are doing," Rivers said. "I have to make sure I'm getting the right fit."
Rivers' teammate Trevor Lacey (6-3, 215, Huntsville, AL) scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Each One Teach One. Lacey is thought to be an Alabama lean although Tennessee is making a very strong push.
* * *
A name to keep an eye on for 2012 is Kyle Anderson (6-8, 210, Paterson, NJ Paterson Catholic), whose game reminds everyone of Chandler Parsons. Anderson doesn't do a lot of things great, but he does everything very well. His numbers in New Jersey Playaz 80-49 win over California Supreme were 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, two blocked shots and one steal.
All the SEC, ACC and Big East schools are on him.
* * *
Florida commitment Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep), the MVP of the FIBA World 17-and-Under Championships for the gold medal-winning USA team, will be arriving in Augusta tonight and will be suiting up tomorrow for the St. Louis Eagles, who got a 79-65 win over All-Ohio Red behind 21 points from Ben McLemore (6-5, 200, St. Louis, MO Eskridge) and 20 from Butler commit Roosevelt Jones (6-3, 210, O'Fallon, IL).
* * *
Earlier in the morning, Nerlens Noel (6-10, 210, Everett, MA Tilton School) scored only four points, but he hauled down 14 rebounds and blocked nine shots to lead Boston-based BABC to a 68-60 win over Georgia Stars. Noel has Florida high on his list along with several Big East schools.
Without Tony Parker (6-9, 260, Lithonia, GA Miller Grove) in the middle, the Georgia Stars had no inside presence against Noel's dominating defense. Kedren Johnson (6-4, 215, Lewisburg, TN Marshall County), who has Florida on his short list along with Vanderbilt and Alabama, scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out four assists in defeat. Johnson is expected to choose between Vanderbilt and Alabama in early August.
* * *
Rakeem Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church), scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked five shots in Team Final's loss to Spiece Indy Heat.
Over on the winning side, Nic Moore (5-10, 170, Lake Winona, IN Warsaw) scored 26 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out five assists while taking over the point for Marquise Teague (6-2, 175, Indianapolis, IN Pike) who is on his way to Augusta from Germany where he played on the USA team at the FIBA worlds.
Nike Peach Jam, Morning Update
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC --- Spiece Indy Heat made a real statement in the first session of the Nike Peach Jam Monday morning, scoring a decisive win over Philadephia-based Team Final. Spiece was playing without Marquise Teague (6-2, 175, Indianapolis, IN Pike) while Team Final was without Michael Gilchrist (6-7, 190, Somerdale, NJ St. Patrick's), both of whom are en route from Hamburg, Germany, where they were starters on the USA team that won the gold medal at the FIBA World 17-and-Under Championships.
Even without Teague, Spiece didn't miss a beat thanks to point guard Nic Moore (5-10, 170, Winona Lake, IN Warsaw), who constantly wore out the Team Final guards, beating them off the dribble and showing off as a spot up shooter. Moore, who scored 31 points in the Indiana state championship game back in March, has offers from Butler and a bunch of mid-majors, but his performance at camps in June has plenty of scouts from Big Ten and other high majors looking at him.
Florida was taking another look at Rakeem Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church). Christmas had some outstanding moments such as a full sprint down the court to dunk-finish an alley-oop and a couple of nice looking turn arounds in the lane, but he doesn't seem to play hard except in spurts. There's no question he's got the talent but you have to question the desire. He has Florida, Oklahoma and Texas still at the top of his list but there is a strange fascination with Florida International and Isiah Thomas, which I'll never figure out.
Christmas had way too many problems handling 2012 stud center Aaron Hammons (6-11, 260, Carmel, IN), whose offer list is off the charts. Hammons says he's hearing from everyone, particularly Big Ten schools and Xavier. Kentucky is a very visible presence.
Spiece has another 2012 stud in Austin Burgett (6-9, 210, Avon, IN), who plays power forward on defense and small forward on offense. Burgett hit three threes in a row in the second half when Spiece broke the game open. He's got a picture perfect jumper that's so fundamentally sound you know he'll never go into a prolonged shooting slump. He's got Butler and Xavier all over him, but his offer sheet will fill up soon.
* * *
Florida assistant Richard Pitino was at an early game watching the Georgia Stars against Boston-based BABC. Florida is very interested in Nerlens Noel (6-10, 210, Everett, MA Tilton), who is perhaps the best shot blocker in this tournament. Noel has a developing offensive game and he's skinny as a rail, but there is no questioning his ability to alter shots and take away the paint. He's got Florida on a short list that includes all the Big East schools.
The Gators maintain an interest in Kedren Johnson (6-4, 215, Lewisburg, TN Marshall County) of the Georgia Stars but he's likely deciding between Vanderbilt and Alabama. The Gators have an increasing interest in Malcolm Brogdon (6-4, 190, Norcross, GA Greater Atlanta Christian), but he's a backup for top targets Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young), Adonis Thomas (6-6, 211, Memphis, TN Melrose) and Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum).
When he gets back from Germany (played on the gold medal USA team), the Gators will be looking at Stars big man Tony Parker (6-9, 260, Lithonia, GA Miller Grove). Parker, Gilchrist, Teague and Florida commitment Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep), the MVP of the world championships, will all be on hand Tuesday.
* * *
Florida assistant Rob Lanier is taking a long look at 2012 combo guard Omar Calhoun (6-4, 180, Middle Village, NY Christ the King), who has shown terrific range from beyond the arc playing for the New York Gauchos against Minneapolis-based Howard Pulley All-Stars.
Even without Teague, Spiece didn't miss a beat thanks to point guard Nic Moore (5-10, 170, Winona Lake, IN Warsaw), who constantly wore out the Team Final guards, beating them off the dribble and showing off as a spot up shooter. Moore, who scored 31 points in the Indiana state championship game back in March, has offers from Butler and a bunch of mid-majors, but his performance at camps in June has plenty of scouts from Big Ten and other high majors looking at him.
Florida was taking another look at Rakeem Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church). Christmas had some outstanding moments such as a full sprint down the court to dunk-finish an alley-oop and a couple of nice looking turn arounds in the lane, but he doesn't seem to play hard except in spurts. There's no question he's got the talent but you have to question the desire. He has Florida, Oklahoma and Texas still at the top of his list but there is a strange fascination with Florida International and Isiah Thomas, which I'll never figure out.
Christmas had way too many problems handling 2012 stud center Aaron Hammons (6-11, 260, Carmel, IN), whose offer list is off the charts. Hammons says he's hearing from everyone, particularly Big Ten schools and Xavier. Kentucky is a very visible presence.
Spiece has another 2012 stud in Austin Burgett (6-9, 210, Avon, IN), who plays power forward on defense and small forward on offense. Burgett hit three threes in a row in the second half when Spiece broke the game open. He's got a picture perfect jumper that's so fundamentally sound you know he'll never go into a prolonged shooting slump. He's got Butler and Xavier all over him, but his offer sheet will fill up soon.
* * *
Florida assistant Richard Pitino was at an early game watching the Georgia Stars against Boston-based BABC. Florida is very interested in Nerlens Noel (6-10, 210, Everett, MA Tilton), who is perhaps the best shot blocker in this tournament. Noel has a developing offensive game and he's skinny as a rail, but there is no questioning his ability to alter shots and take away the paint. He's got Florida on a short list that includes all the Big East schools.
The Gators maintain an interest in Kedren Johnson (6-4, 215, Lewisburg, TN Marshall County) of the Georgia Stars but he's likely deciding between Vanderbilt and Alabama. The Gators have an increasing interest in Malcolm Brogdon (6-4, 190, Norcross, GA Greater Atlanta Christian), but he's a backup for top targets Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young), Adonis Thomas (6-6, 211, Memphis, TN Melrose) and Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum).
When he gets back from Germany (played on the gold medal USA team), the Gators will be looking at Stars big man Tony Parker (6-9, 260, Lithonia, GA Miller Grove). Parker, Gilchrist, Teague and Florida commitment Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep), the MVP of the world championships, will all be on hand Tuesday.
* * *
Florida assistant Rob Lanier is taking a long look at 2012 combo guard Omar Calhoun (6-4, 180, Middle Village, NY Christ the King), who has shown terrific range from beyond the arc playing for the New York Gauchos against Minneapolis-based Howard Pulley All-Stars.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Is Brad Beal the best basketball prospect in the country?
While the experts are debating among themselves about Michael Gilchrist (6-7, 190, Somerdale, NJ St. Patrick's), Austin Rivers (6-4, 190, Winter Park, FL), Marquis Teague (6-2, 175, Indianapolis, IN Pike) and Quincy Miller (6-10, 200, High Point, NC Westchester Academy), Florida commitment Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep) is making a subtle statement that he belongs in the conversation that answers the question who is the top high school senior in the country? Beal is averaging 18.3 points per game for the USA team that has moved into the semifinals of the FIBA World 17-and-Under Championships in Hamburg, Germany but it was his Friday performance against Australia that had everybody buzzing. Beal knocked down 7-9 on his three-point shots as the USA turned what was expected to be their toughest game to date into a 105-70 rout. For the tournament, Brad is hitting 48.9 percent (22-45) on his three-pointers.
Beal was always considered an elite shooter but this summer he's shown all the dimensions of his game. He's proven he is a good enough ball handler and distributor to play the point, can rebound with the big guys and play pit bull, shut down defense even when asked to go head to head with opponents who are 3-4 inches taller. The shooting has always drawn a crowd. The other aspects of his game are starting to convince folks that he might just have the best overall game of any prospect in the country.
What makes Brad so special is that he's never lost sight of the things that are important in life. He's a God first, family second kid who has never been full of himself, a straight A student in the classroom who is popular with teammates and friends because he has this habit of always putting them first. You wonder why he's the unparalleled leader on the USA team in Germany? That's it right there.
I think he's the most important recruit Billy Donovan has landed since Mike Miller.
* * *
So Southern Cal athletic director Mike Garrett had to send a letter of apology to Florida AD Jeremy Foley this week because of those erroneous accusations by USC freshman Dillon Baxter, who claimed that Florida coaches contacted him within hours after the NCAA dropped the hammer on the Trojans. The apology letter raises two very serious questions in my mind: (1) Why isn't Lane Kiffin being questioned for his part in this; and (2) how is it that Mike Garrett still has a job?
Personally, I don't think Dillon Baxter is smart enough to accuse Florida, Alabama and several other schools of contacting him illegally. Having spent a year listening to the lies and pompous allegations of Lane Kiffin when he was at Tennessee, I have no doubt that the Baxter allegations were a plot conceived by Kiffin, who has convinced himself that he can say or do anything he wants without consequences. Remember, this is the same Lane Kiffin who made Al Davis seem sane and that takes some doing. Al Davis called Lane a pathological liar. After the year he spent at Tennessee, I'm convinced Al was onto something.
The fact that the University of Southern California hasn't fired Mike Garrett tells me that the school thinks it operates under a separate set of rules from the rest of the schools that make up the NCAA. I find it amazing that USC is appealing the NCAA sanctions. The school administrators should be down on their knees thanking the good Lord that the NCAA didn't serve up the death penalty and eliminate both the football and basketball programs for two or three years as punishment for their involvement with Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo.
I remain convinced that Bush and Mayo aren't the only ones who took money and ran the rules into the ground at USC. I believe they are simply the two most visible athletes and because of their high profile, they forced the NCAA to act. The fact that Mike Garrett, who was the overseer while all these shenanigans took place, is still employed tells me the NCAA should have offered up harsher penalties.
* * *
When I see what happened at Southern Cal, I'm really thankful that Jeremy Foley is Florida's athletic director. Since Foley became the AD in 1992, Florida is the only athletic program in the Southeastern Conference that hasn't had at least one team hit with NCAA sanctions. Just since Foley has been the AD, Alabama has taken an NCAA hit three times for football and once for basketball. Even Vanderbilt has had probation (women's basketball).
I've been saying for years that Foley is the best in the country when it comes to bottom line and for insisting that every one of his coaches play within the framework of the rules. Florida's second place finish in the Director's Cup this year offers up the perfect example of how you can play by the rules and still win championships.
* * *
We're a couple of weeks away from Friday Night Lights, which means get ready for a rash of football commitments. I hear through a few well-placed sources that the Gators have as many as six kids who haven't gone public with their commitments to Urban Meyer and that they're saving them for the days that follow FNL.
When Urban Meyer conceived the Friday Night Lights concept in the summer of 2005, I remember how the fine folks at the Harvard of the Panhandle ridiculed him and said it was a rather dumb idea by a coach who was going to get his comeuppance in the Southeastern Conference. Well, in the five years since, Urban Meyer has turned Florida into the ultimate recruiting machine and the Gators have won two national championships and produced a Heisman Trophy winner. The Seminoles? They've been to the Emerald Nuts Bowl twice, have had 14 wins stripped from their football program, forcefully retired their icon of a head coach and they've gotten lack of institutional control slapped on their athletic program because of an academic cheating scandal that had its roots in the football program.
Oh, and there is that little matter of imitation is the greatest form of flattery. The Seminoles have tried to copy Friday Night Lights with their own "Seminole Showcase" without a whole lot of success. Meanwhile, Friday Night Lights has become the nation's premier one-night camp that nearly every uncommitted player in the country wants to attend.
* * *
I'm off to Augusta today for the Nike Peach Jam. It's a chance to watch the best basketball prospects in the country and an opportunity to hang around with the best coaches in college basketball. I'll be blogging daily, offering up observations of the players and comments from the coaches.
Beal was always considered an elite shooter but this summer he's shown all the dimensions of his game. He's proven he is a good enough ball handler and distributor to play the point, can rebound with the big guys and play pit bull, shut down defense even when asked to go head to head with opponents who are 3-4 inches taller. The shooting has always drawn a crowd. The other aspects of his game are starting to convince folks that he might just have the best overall game of any prospect in the country.
What makes Brad so special is that he's never lost sight of the things that are important in life. He's a God first, family second kid who has never been full of himself, a straight A student in the classroom who is popular with teammates and friends because he has this habit of always putting them first. You wonder why he's the unparalleled leader on the USA team in Germany? That's it right there.
I think he's the most important recruit Billy Donovan has landed since Mike Miller.
* * *
So Southern Cal athletic director Mike Garrett had to send a letter of apology to Florida AD Jeremy Foley this week because of those erroneous accusations by USC freshman Dillon Baxter, who claimed that Florida coaches contacted him within hours after the NCAA dropped the hammer on the Trojans. The apology letter raises two very serious questions in my mind: (1) Why isn't Lane Kiffin being questioned for his part in this; and (2) how is it that Mike Garrett still has a job?
Personally, I don't think Dillon Baxter is smart enough to accuse Florida, Alabama and several other schools of contacting him illegally. Having spent a year listening to the lies and pompous allegations of Lane Kiffin when he was at Tennessee, I have no doubt that the Baxter allegations were a plot conceived by Kiffin, who has convinced himself that he can say or do anything he wants without consequences. Remember, this is the same Lane Kiffin who made Al Davis seem sane and that takes some doing. Al Davis called Lane a pathological liar. After the year he spent at Tennessee, I'm convinced Al was onto something.
The fact that the University of Southern California hasn't fired Mike Garrett tells me that the school thinks it operates under a separate set of rules from the rest of the schools that make up the NCAA. I find it amazing that USC is appealing the NCAA sanctions. The school administrators should be down on their knees thanking the good Lord that the NCAA didn't serve up the death penalty and eliminate both the football and basketball programs for two or three years as punishment for their involvement with Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo.
I remain convinced that Bush and Mayo aren't the only ones who took money and ran the rules into the ground at USC. I believe they are simply the two most visible athletes and because of their high profile, they forced the NCAA to act. The fact that Mike Garrett, who was the overseer while all these shenanigans took place, is still employed tells me the NCAA should have offered up harsher penalties.
* * *
When I see what happened at Southern Cal, I'm really thankful that Jeremy Foley is Florida's athletic director. Since Foley became the AD in 1992, Florida is the only athletic program in the Southeastern Conference that hasn't had at least one team hit with NCAA sanctions. Just since Foley has been the AD, Alabama has taken an NCAA hit three times for football and once for basketball. Even Vanderbilt has had probation (women's basketball).
I've been saying for years that Foley is the best in the country when it comes to bottom line and for insisting that every one of his coaches play within the framework of the rules. Florida's second place finish in the Director's Cup this year offers up the perfect example of how you can play by the rules and still win championships.
* * *
We're a couple of weeks away from Friday Night Lights, which means get ready for a rash of football commitments. I hear through a few well-placed sources that the Gators have as many as six kids who haven't gone public with their commitments to Urban Meyer and that they're saving them for the days that follow FNL.
When Urban Meyer conceived the Friday Night Lights concept in the summer of 2005, I remember how the fine folks at the Harvard of the Panhandle ridiculed him and said it was a rather dumb idea by a coach who was going to get his comeuppance in the Southeastern Conference. Well, in the five years since, Urban Meyer has turned Florida into the ultimate recruiting machine and the Gators have won two national championships and produced a Heisman Trophy winner. The Seminoles? They've been to the Emerald Nuts Bowl twice, have had 14 wins stripped from their football program, forcefully retired their icon of a head coach and they've gotten lack of institutional control slapped on their athletic program because of an academic cheating scandal that had its roots in the football program.
Oh, and there is that little matter of imitation is the greatest form of flattery. The Seminoles have tried to copy Friday Night Lights with their own "Seminole Showcase" without a whole lot of success. Meanwhile, Friday Night Lights has become the nation's premier one-night camp that nearly every uncommitted player in the country wants to attend.
* * *
I'm off to Augusta today for the Nike Peach Jam. It's a chance to watch the best basketball prospects in the country and an opportunity to hang around with the best coaches in college basketball. I'll be blogging daily, offering up observations of the players and comments from the coaches.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
What makes great teams great?
A few days ago, an old friend and I were talking about the John Wooden legacy, which led us to rate the many great UCLA national championship teams from that incredible era from 1964-76 in which the Bruins won 10 NCAA titles in 12 years. As the conversation progressed and we dissected those great teams, we began discussing what separates the good teams from great teams? What is it that every great team has that the good teams lack?
On the surface it would seem that a requirement for a great team would be great coaching and great talent, but there are teams with so much talent that they win in spite of the coaching and there are coaches so great that they can win with even average talent. Bum Phillips once said that Bear Bryant could (I'm paraphrasing here) take his players and beat your players or take your players and beat his players. Bear re-invented himself as a coach at least four times, adapting his style of coaching to the talent level of his players.
Coach Wooden is another one who adapted his style of play to the level of talent. He won his first two national championships (1964 and 1965) with a team whose tallest starter was 6-5. In those years the Bruins were a helter-skelter, full court pressing team that won with superior quickness and the ability to force other teams to play their style. When he recruited Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor --- you know him as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar --- Coach Wooden went from the helter-skelter to a half court style designed to overpower opponents on the inside. When Alcindor graduated, he changed styles again.
I'm not saying that Roy Williams and Tubby Smith are bad coaches --- far from it --- but those 2009 North Carolina Tar Heels and those 1998 Kentucky Wildcats had so much talent that they probably would have won the national championship no matter who was coaching. There are indeed times when coaching is vastly overrated.
So what is it that makes a team great? If not coaching and if not talent, then what?
It is my belief that while talent and coaching are important, there is nothing more important than the combination of leadership and chemistry.
Flashback if you will to 2008 when the Poodles were the poster children of every preseason college football magazine. Georgia had Matt Stafford at quarterback and No Show (if you saw the Florida-Georgia game that year then you know why it's No Show) Moreno at tailback. They had Mark Richt coaching and the experts had proclaimed him the Einstein of the coaching profession for sending his team on the field en masse to celebrate a touchdown against Florida in 2007.
Georgia went 10-3 in 2008 and one of those losses was a 49-10 schoolyard beat down in Jacksonville at hands of the Florida Gators, a loss that officially stuck the hatpin in Georgia's championship hopes. Florida went on to win the national championship. So why did Georgia fail and why did Florida succeed?
Let's start with leadership. Florida had Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes working in tandem, driven and determined to make 2008 a special year and with the added motivation of payback for the Poodles to make them work that much harder. Everyone knows the names Matt Stafford and No Show Moreno but does anyone remember someone who was the maximum supreme leader on that Georgia team?
In the months leading up to the 2008 season, the Poodles went double digits in arrests and off the field incidents. At SEC Media Days in July, Richt was asked if his team was having trouble handling the high pressure of expectations. He didn't exactly dodge the question but his answers didn't exactly instill confidence that his was a team with outstanding chemistry.
Meanwhile down in Gainesville, the Gators used the Poodles as their inspiration and it turned good chemistry great. Urban Meyer constantly gushed about how he loved this team for its professional, motivated approach to practice, attention to detail and how the players had bonded together. Maybe the best examples of team chemistry were in the SEC and BCS National championship games when we saw how the Gators responded to Tim Tebow’s driving will to elevate the Gators to unknown heights. When the Gators needed it the most, they responded to leadership because of the chemistry developed in the offseason.
As we consider the tale of two seasons --- Florida’s national championship run and Georgia’s run to the Capital One Bowl --- it was a clear case of superior leadership and chemistry in Gainesville and a case of what happens when talent and coaching aren’t enough in Athens.
Mark Richt's record proves that he is a fine football coach and the Georgia roster was oozing with talent in 2008 just as it is every year. The Gators were a great team. Georgia was a good team that could have been great except for a severe lack of leadership and chemistry.
Another good example of chemistry and leadership is Florida's back-to-back national championship basketball teams in 2006 and 2007. The seeds for those titles were sown in the summer of 2004 when incoming freshmen Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green teamed with sophomore Lee Humphrey in pickup games against the veterans in the summer. The bond those five formed that summer carried over to the summer of 2005 when the combination of work ethic, teamwork and camaraderie forged them into the best starting five in the country. Those five guys started for two seasons and they won two national titles.
They had the chemistry. Billy Donovan swears he’s never been around a team that had more and the fact is we may not ever see a team that was more in touch and more connected than those two Florida championship teams.
Everybody still talks about the chemistry on that team but nobody talks all that much about the leadership, which is a shame because those two championships couldn’t have been won without extraordinary leadership contributions. In 2006, senior Adrian Moss never sulked as younger players ate up his minutes. Moss was glue in the locker room and patient enough to wait his turn on the floor. When the Gators needed him the most he came up big. Remember those nine points and six rebounds off the bench against UCLA in the national championship game?
In 2007, while Joakim Noah and Taurean Green provided the energy Al Horford and Chris Richard provided the leadership. Former Florida assistant Lewis Preston tells me that there were times in the huddle that Billy Donovan would offer adjustments only to have Horford say, “Coach, they’re playing me this way so get me the ball here (spot on the floor) and spot Hump (Lee Humphrey) up on the wing and Jo down low, we’ll get a great shot.” It takes a real leader with a great understanding of the game and the respect of both the coaches and teammates to do something like that. Lewis tells me Al was never afraid to speak up like that. As for Chris Richard, he’s another guy who never sulked. On any other team in the SEC, Chris Richard would have been the star attraction. At Florida, he was the sixth man but he was also the guy the players went to when there was a problem. They would talk and Chris would listen. If he recommended taking the problem to Donovan, that’s what they did. If he thought the problem could be handled without the benefit of a coach, he took charge or assigned someone to handle it.
In terms of talent from top to bottom of the roster, I can name 10 teams off the top of my head that had more than those Florida teams of 2006 and 2007 but I’ve never seen a team with the kind leadership and chemistry that the Gators had so abundantly. That’s the difference between good and great.
* * *
These are the dog days of summer for Florida’s football and basketball teams. It’s a little less than two months before the football team opens its season with Miami of Ohio and approximately four before the basketball team opens its season. Expectations will be high for both. The Gators are expected to face Alabama for the SEC football championship in Atlanta and the basketball team will open the season as a top ten pick and a darkhorse to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Both the football and basketball rosters are loaded with talent and I wouldn’t trade Urban Meyer or Billy Donovan for any other coach in the country. These are going to be good teams but they could be great if the chemistry develops and leaders step up. The difference between the BCS National Championship Game and an at-large bid to a BCS bowl will be determined on the practice fields in the heat of the afternoon. The difference between one and done or two and through and a shot at the Final Four will be forged in those endless pickup games at the basketball practice facility.
This is the time when teams find chemistry and followers choose to become leaders. It’s when good teams take the first steps toward greatness. Talent and coaching will only take the Gators so far. The rest will be determined by chemistry and leadership.
* * *
The Gators are very close to landing a monster basketball recruiting class for 2011 and setting the foundation for a 2012 class that will be off the charts. Billy Donovan, Richard Pitino and Larry Shyatt are in Indianapolis for the big Adidas tournament where they are taking a good long look at Cody Zeller (6-10, 210, Washington, IN), younger brother of UNC’s Tyler Zeller, for 2011 and 2012s Kaleb Tarczewski (7-0, 220, Southborough, MA St. Mark’s School), Alex Murphy (6-8, 190, Southborough, MA St. Mark’s School), Robert Carter (6-7, 250, Thomasville, GA Central), William Goodwin (6-7, 225, Decatur, GA Southwest DeKalb), Wannah Bail (6-8, 190, Houston, TX Jersey Village), Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell (5-10, 175, Indianapolis, IN Park Tudor School) and Kenny Kaminski (6-7, 200, Medina, OH).
Next week Donovan and Pitino will be at the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, SC where the main attraction will be Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep, who not only is the gem of the 2011 Florida recruiting class. The Gators will also give a good long look to Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young), Rakeen Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church), Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum), Johnny O’Bryant (6-10, 248, Cleveland, MS), Ky Madden (6-5, 190, Lepanto, AR East Poinsett County), Austin Rivers (6-4, 192, Winter Park, FL), and Mikael Hopkins (6-9, 215, Hyattsville, MD DeMatha Catholic) as well as 2012 hotshots Omar Calhoun (6-2, 180, Middle Village, NY Christ the King), Nerlins Noel (6-10, 200, Everett, MA Tilton School) and Tony Parker (6-9, 260, Lithonia, GA Miller Grove).
* * *
Through five games at the FIBA World 17-and-under championships in Hamburg, Germany, Florida commitment Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep) is averaging a team-high 17 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Florida target Adonis Thomas (6-6, 211, Memphis, TN Melrose) is averaging 7.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while Johnny O’Bryant (6-10, 248, Cleveland, MS) is averaging 4.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Florida 2012 target Tony Parker (6-9, 260, Lithonia, GA Miller Grove) is averaging 5.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
The USA team will take on Germany in the quarter-finals Friday.
Florida assistant Rob Lanier is in Germany to watch the tournament.
* * *
With Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario already in school and Beal an unshakeable commitment, the Gators have two spots open for the recruiting class of 2011. My best guess scenario has the Gators landing Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young) and Cody Zeller (6-10, 210, Washington, IN). Florida leads for Thompson who also has Oregon State and Ohio State in his top three. Zeller looks like he will be a Florida-Butler (yes … you heard that right) battle although Indiana will make a very strong push to keep him close to home.
If Florida can’t land Zeller or Mikael Hopkins (6-9, 215, Hyattsville, MD DeMatha Catholic) I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Gators decide to go long and lean with Thompson and Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum).
* * *
Despite rumors that had a lot of Gators in a panic mode, Duke has no clearcut advantage for Alex Murphy (6-8, 190, Southborough, MA St. Mark’s School), younger brother of rising Gator sophomore Erik Murphy. Florida will be there at the end, which is not a surprise. What may shock some folks is that Butler has emerged as Florida’s top competition.
On the surface it would seem that a requirement for a great team would be great coaching and great talent, but there are teams with so much talent that they win in spite of the coaching and there are coaches so great that they can win with even average talent. Bum Phillips once said that Bear Bryant could (I'm paraphrasing here) take his players and beat your players or take your players and beat his players. Bear re-invented himself as a coach at least four times, adapting his style of coaching to the talent level of his players.
Coach Wooden is another one who adapted his style of play to the level of talent. He won his first two national championships (1964 and 1965) with a team whose tallest starter was 6-5. In those years the Bruins were a helter-skelter, full court pressing team that won with superior quickness and the ability to force other teams to play their style. When he recruited Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor --- you know him as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar --- Coach Wooden went from the helter-skelter to a half court style designed to overpower opponents on the inside. When Alcindor graduated, he changed styles again.
I'm not saying that Roy Williams and Tubby Smith are bad coaches --- far from it --- but those 2009 North Carolina Tar Heels and those 1998 Kentucky Wildcats had so much talent that they probably would have won the national championship no matter who was coaching. There are indeed times when coaching is vastly overrated.
So what is it that makes a team great? If not coaching and if not talent, then what?
It is my belief that while talent and coaching are important, there is nothing more important than the combination of leadership and chemistry.
Flashback if you will to 2008 when the Poodles were the poster children of every preseason college football magazine. Georgia had Matt Stafford at quarterback and No Show (if you saw the Florida-Georgia game that year then you know why it's No Show) Moreno at tailback. They had Mark Richt coaching and the experts had proclaimed him the Einstein of the coaching profession for sending his team on the field en masse to celebrate a touchdown against Florida in 2007.
Georgia went 10-3 in 2008 and one of those losses was a 49-10 schoolyard beat down in Jacksonville at hands of the Florida Gators, a loss that officially stuck the hatpin in Georgia's championship hopes. Florida went on to win the national championship. So why did Georgia fail and why did Florida succeed?
Let's start with leadership. Florida had Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes working in tandem, driven and determined to make 2008 a special year and with the added motivation of payback for the Poodles to make them work that much harder. Everyone knows the names Matt Stafford and No Show Moreno but does anyone remember someone who was the maximum supreme leader on that Georgia team?
In the months leading up to the 2008 season, the Poodles went double digits in arrests and off the field incidents. At SEC Media Days in July, Richt was asked if his team was having trouble handling the high pressure of expectations. He didn't exactly dodge the question but his answers didn't exactly instill confidence that his was a team with outstanding chemistry.
Meanwhile down in Gainesville, the Gators used the Poodles as their inspiration and it turned good chemistry great. Urban Meyer constantly gushed about how he loved this team for its professional, motivated approach to practice, attention to detail and how the players had bonded together. Maybe the best examples of team chemistry were in the SEC and BCS National championship games when we saw how the Gators responded to Tim Tebow’s driving will to elevate the Gators to unknown heights. When the Gators needed it the most, they responded to leadership because of the chemistry developed in the offseason.
As we consider the tale of two seasons --- Florida’s national championship run and Georgia’s run to the Capital One Bowl --- it was a clear case of superior leadership and chemistry in Gainesville and a case of what happens when talent and coaching aren’t enough in Athens.
Mark Richt's record proves that he is a fine football coach and the Georgia roster was oozing with talent in 2008 just as it is every year. The Gators were a great team. Georgia was a good team that could have been great except for a severe lack of leadership and chemistry.
Another good example of chemistry and leadership is Florida's back-to-back national championship basketball teams in 2006 and 2007. The seeds for those titles were sown in the summer of 2004 when incoming freshmen Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green teamed with sophomore Lee Humphrey in pickup games against the veterans in the summer. The bond those five formed that summer carried over to the summer of 2005 when the combination of work ethic, teamwork and camaraderie forged them into the best starting five in the country. Those five guys started for two seasons and they won two national titles.
They had the chemistry. Billy Donovan swears he’s never been around a team that had more and the fact is we may not ever see a team that was more in touch and more connected than those two Florida championship teams.
Everybody still talks about the chemistry on that team but nobody talks all that much about the leadership, which is a shame because those two championships couldn’t have been won without extraordinary leadership contributions. In 2006, senior Adrian Moss never sulked as younger players ate up his minutes. Moss was glue in the locker room and patient enough to wait his turn on the floor. When the Gators needed him the most he came up big. Remember those nine points and six rebounds off the bench against UCLA in the national championship game?
In 2007, while Joakim Noah and Taurean Green provided the energy Al Horford and Chris Richard provided the leadership. Former Florida assistant Lewis Preston tells me that there were times in the huddle that Billy Donovan would offer adjustments only to have Horford say, “Coach, they’re playing me this way so get me the ball here (spot on the floor) and spot Hump (Lee Humphrey) up on the wing and Jo down low, we’ll get a great shot.” It takes a real leader with a great understanding of the game and the respect of both the coaches and teammates to do something like that. Lewis tells me Al was never afraid to speak up like that. As for Chris Richard, he’s another guy who never sulked. On any other team in the SEC, Chris Richard would have been the star attraction. At Florida, he was the sixth man but he was also the guy the players went to when there was a problem. They would talk and Chris would listen. If he recommended taking the problem to Donovan, that’s what they did. If he thought the problem could be handled without the benefit of a coach, he took charge or assigned someone to handle it.
In terms of talent from top to bottom of the roster, I can name 10 teams off the top of my head that had more than those Florida teams of 2006 and 2007 but I’ve never seen a team with the kind leadership and chemistry that the Gators had so abundantly. That’s the difference between good and great.
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These are the dog days of summer for Florida’s football and basketball teams. It’s a little less than two months before the football team opens its season with Miami of Ohio and approximately four before the basketball team opens its season. Expectations will be high for both. The Gators are expected to face Alabama for the SEC football championship in Atlanta and the basketball team will open the season as a top ten pick and a darkhorse to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Both the football and basketball rosters are loaded with talent and I wouldn’t trade Urban Meyer or Billy Donovan for any other coach in the country. These are going to be good teams but they could be great if the chemistry develops and leaders step up. The difference between the BCS National Championship Game and an at-large bid to a BCS bowl will be determined on the practice fields in the heat of the afternoon. The difference between one and done or two and through and a shot at the Final Four will be forged in those endless pickup games at the basketball practice facility.
This is the time when teams find chemistry and followers choose to become leaders. It’s when good teams take the first steps toward greatness. Talent and coaching will only take the Gators so far. The rest will be determined by chemistry and leadership.
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The Gators are very close to landing a monster basketball recruiting class for 2011 and setting the foundation for a 2012 class that will be off the charts. Billy Donovan, Richard Pitino and Larry Shyatt are in Indianapolis for the big Adidas tournament where they are taking a good long look at Cody Zeller (6-10, 210, Washington, IN), younger brother of UNC’s Tyler Zeller, for 2011 and 2012s Kaleb Tarczewski (7-0, 220, Southborough, MA St. Mark’s School), Alex Murphy (6-8, 190, Southborough, MA St. Mark’s School), Robert Carter (6-7, 250, Thomasville, GA Central), William Goodwin (6-7, 225, Decatur, GA Southwest DeKalb), Wannah Bail (6-8, 190, Houston, TX Jersey Village), Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell (5-10, 175, Indianapolis, IN Park Tudor School) and Kenny Kaminski (6-7, 200, Medina, OH).
Next week Donovan and Pitino will be at the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, SC where the main attraction will be Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep, who not only is the gem of the 2011 Florida recruiting class. The Gators will also give a good long look to Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young), Rakeen Christmas (6-9, 225, Philadelphia, PA Academy of the New Church), Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum), Johnny O’Bryant (6-10, 248, Cleveland, MS), Ky Madden (6-5, 190, Lepanto, AR East Poinsett County), Austin Rivers (6-4, 192, Winter Park, FL), and Mikael Hopkins (6-9, 215, Hyattsville, MD DeMatha Catholic) as well as 2012 hotshots Omar Calhoun (6-2, 180, Middle Village, NY Christ the King), Nerlins Noel (6-10, 200, Everett, MA Tilton School) and Tony Parker (6-9, 260, Lithonia, GA Miller Grove).
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Through five games at the FIBA World 17-and-under championships in Hamburg, Germany, Florida commitment Bradley Beal (6-4, 190, St. Louis, MO Chaminade Prep) is averaging a team-high 17 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Florida target Adonis Thomas (6-6, 211, Memphis, TN Melrose) is averaging 7.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while Johnny O’Bryant (6-10, 248, Cleveland, MS) is averaging 4.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Florida 2012 target Tony Parker (6-9, 260, Lithonia, GA Miller Grove) is averaging 5.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
The USA team will take on Germany in the quarter-finals Friday.
Florida assistant Rob Lanier is in Germany to watch the tournament.
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With Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario already in school and Beal an unshakeable commitment, the Gators have two spots open for the recruiting class of 2011. My best guess scenario has the Gators landing Sam Thompson (6-6, 190, Chicago, IL Whitney Young) and Cody Zeller (6-10, 210, Washington, IN). Florida leads for Thompson who also has Oregon State and Ohio State in his top three. Zeller looks like he will be a Florida-Butler (yes … you heard that right) battle although Indiana will make a very strong push to keep him close to home.
If Florida can’t land Zeller or Mikael Hopkins (6-9, 215, Hyattsville, MD DeMatha Catholic) I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Gators decide to go long and lean with Thompson and Dorian Finney-Smith (6-8, 185, Portsmouth, VA IC Norcum).
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Despite rumors that had a lot of Gators in a panic mode, Duke has no clearcut advantage for Alex Murphy (6-8, 190, Southborough, MA St. Mark’s School), younger brother of rising Gator sophomore Erik Murphy. Florida will be there at the end, which is not a surprise. What may shock some folks is that Butler has emerged as Florida’s top competition.
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