Florida Gators Basketball Is Kicking Up the Tempo For 2020
- Buddy Martin
- Oct 22, 2020
- 6 min read
Mike White’s eyes widened and he drew a quick breath only to let it huff out in clear frustration. It was November 10, 2019 and his No. 6 Florida Gators basketball team—considered a preseason Final Four lock—had just dropped a game to rival Florida State for the fifth straight year.
After poor second half performances in the two opening games—albeit both wins—coupled with the loss to the Seminoles, White was shocked at what I had just told him.
His team said they had bought into their own preseason hype. It led to three uninspired games and finally an inevitable loss.
"Oh my goodness,” White began, somewhat flabbergasted.
He took a long pause, most likely thinking of all he’d said to them and local media during the offseason.
“We've got a ton of work to do,” he’d told reporters a month earlier at the annual media day.
“We've got a pretty good roster. It's a good problem to have. That said, we haven't even been through a practice yet.”
Over the next five weeks he would be weary of the expectations placed on the Gators team, arguing over and over again that the youngest team in the country with nine new players still didn’t even know themselves so how could others. Every conversation about the goals for the 2019-2020 Gators team was tempered. Mike White knew he had talent, the players knew the roster had talent and national pundits knew Florida had talent. But White also knew there was a long way to go.
After hearing what his team said following the FSU loss, he realized just how far.
“I don't even like the fact that they're talking about it, honestly, because that shows you the buy-in of not believing the hype. I guess there was hype. Crazy. I don't really,” another long pause before he decided the tangent was worth it.
"The reality is we've got a talented senior, we have three sophomores that honestly came off 16 losses, we have two juniors that are hurt, we have five freshman that have no idea how to play a high-level game. And you've got a coach who did a horrible job today, especially offensively. That's who we are. So them, ranking this and that, hype this and that, when our kids go to class on Monday they're going to be told how bad they are.
“It's crazy what these kids have to deal with outside of just locking in on being better or buying into what we're trying to do on a daily basis. Who knows what that is? It might mean we're an NIT team. It might mean we can win a national championship. I have no idea. That's where they are. That's where we are. Our guys, back to what happened last year in the opener, it's happened to us a few years now. I can't imagine our guys were overconfident. I can believe they said that, but if they are then I've really got my hands full.”
That Gators team went on to finish unranked, 19-12/11-7, before COVID-19 shut down the SEC Tournament and subsequently the NCAA Tournament.
But after an offseason of turmoil, a pandemic and social unrest, the Gators are back in the gym. And Mike White? He sounds like a coach slightly more excited about his team. Given the conservative approach he tends to use as it relates to describing his roster, “slightly” is telling.
Related: The Athletic: Florida basketball, wiser and a year older, is in position to make a serious run
As he met with local media this week for the first time since spring, his preview of what this season and roster can be stood in stark contrast to how he described his team a year ago. He’s cautiously optimistic. And the biggest reason why is because for the first time in a while, he feels he can run his offense of choice again in Gainesville.
“Out of necessity and out of desire, um, we're gonna extend pressure, and we're gonna play faster, and our tempo—I think our increase in tempo will be amongst the national leaders. In my opinion, at this point that that's our aim.
“We’re quicker, we’re faster, we’re more athletic and I’m hopeful that we’re deeper. We definitely have more potential depth. We have more parity. We have more versatility.”
The depth is still being determined according to White. It could be eight guys, it could be 15 guys. And in the time of COVID, that could fluctuate from week to week. After losing point guard Andrew Nembhard (transfer) and big Kerry Blackshear (graduate) there is a drop-off in pure skill and experience. But there’s an athleticism that White sees as a strong foundation for building both of the former aspects.
“We’re developing that and we’re hopeful that guys can continue to develop their skill level. But with that level of athleticism and speed and quickness, I think there’s a chance we get better at attacking the rim, putting more pressure on the rim, drawing more fouls and being better in the open floor. We haven’t had many easy baskets the last two years. I think that goes hand in hand with our ability to extend our defense, to get us out in the open floor and we’ve got to convert; we’ve got to convert in the open floor.”
This will help in transition and on the offensive glass, explains White, both areas the Gators struggled last season.
A big reason Florida and White can make that change this year is because of Nembhard’s departure. After initially entering the draft, the Canadian point guard didn’t receive an encouraging grade and instead of returning to Gainesville, elected to transfer to Gonzaga.
“I really enjoyed coaching him,” said White on Wednesday.
“He’s a wonderful kid. You guys know, I told you guys 100 times the past couple years. Extremely accountable, tough kid, helped the Gators win some big games. We wish him nothing but the best. But simply just visions not aligning. It's just becoming more and more prevalent. Visions not aligning moving forward, so it's all part of it.”
Nembhard was a wonderful kid and any person, this reporter included, who had any interaction with him would concur with that statement of his character. But as White explains, the visions weren’t aligned.
White, since first arriving on the heels of Billy Donovan, has preached an uptempo, stretch the floor type offense. He’s been able to run it at times. But with Nembhard, the style was much more stop-set-shoot. Nembhard—a member of the All-Canadian team—wasn’t a recruit White could feasibly pass up, but he offered a different type of play than others White had brought in specifically to run his offense.
Now sophomore Tre Mann, sophomore Ques Glover and junior Tyree Appleby are all competing for the primary point guard spot left open by Nembhard. Mann leads the pack and is the most likely to get the nod, although Glover was Nembhard’s primary backup last season. Regardless of who is named the starter for opening tip-off, the talent will be in place to run the pace and tempo White desires.
“We'd like to, as a team, again potentially, could get out on a break a little bit more. We'd like these guys to be able to play on and off the ball.
“Take for instance, a guy like [Preseason All-SEC forward] Keyontae Johnson, who is a developing ball handler and decision maker coming off a great year. Was really playing well recently until he went out with a, with a minor toe injury. But if he's got the ball in the open floor, I want Tyree Appleby running out ahead. I don't want him coming back to the ball.
“We’re a different type offensive system, at least right now of course, to where I think we're going to be less call-set oriented and more free flowing-continuity based. And so, all three of those guys are going to fight it out. They're all competing. It's a healthy competition. But we need, whoever doesn't win it, we need the next guy to be ready and whoever's third string needs to be ready. Because you just never, know not only in this climate, but you want guys for your culture to be fighting for minutes and starting positions, every day, you know, from now until the ball stops bouncing in April.”
Developing this tempo doesn’t come without growing pains. White joked they’ve had more turnovers in the last five days than all of last season. The energy and fast pace has been better on the defensive end of the floor he explained. But the team stayed in good shape during quarantine according to the coach, and they’re physically comfortable with the fast tempo. Now it’s just a matter of fine tuning it before the season opens on November 25 against Maine and November 27 versus the powerhouse Virginia Cavilers.
“Our defensive energy and intensity and competitiveness has been very, very good. We gotta execute some stuff a lot better and we gotta clean up a lot of mistakes. And then offensively, if you're going to play fast you've got to slow down mentally. We've got to value the ball at a higher level. If we're going to be a pressure team and play with a ton of energy when we get the basketball, we've got to calm down. We're not in a very good place with that right now. But we still got five more weeks.
“Heading into game one I anticipate a significant increase in level of tempo…We got to put a lot of work into be a successful, extending of pressure, defensive team as well. But that's, that's our charge, that's our desire. And that's where I think that's what gives this team the best chance. And that's, that's what we want to do, that's how we want to play.”
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