June 12, 2023

photo credit UAA

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:

In a couple more weeks or whenever Florida’s baseball season ends, BT Riopelle will hang up his cleats and take off a baseball uniform for the last time. He made a decision in the offseason that he’s not going to pursue a professional baseball career. He has a degree from the University of Florida and a job already lined up in the financial services industry.

The real world awaits, but for at least two more games – he would prefer it to be five, all of them wins at the College World Series in Omaha – he gets to play baseball for the love of the game. Watch BT Riopelle behind the plate where he routinely catches fast balls of 98-99 miles per hour from the likes of Brandon Sproat, Hurston Waldrep and Jac Caglianone, not to mention foul balls that ricochet off his mask or bruised body. You have to love the game to do what he does.

This is a very tough guy and yet, there is this soft side most will never see. This love of the game bit is exaggerated by some guys who talk a good game, but BT Riopelle lives it. All you had to do was watch the end of Saturday night’s 4-0 Gainesville Super Regional clinching win over South Carolina. The former quarterback and punter from Marietta (GA) Lassiter felt like he was a sixth grader all over again as he bolted from behind home plate to tackle Brandon Neely to start the celebratory dogpile just to the right pitcher’s mound.

“I was number two … from the bottom, on top of (Brandon) Neely,” Riopelle said. “So I was screaming to get off, but it was worth it.”

Ask BT Riopelle and the entire journey from Lassiter to Coastal Carolina and then to the University of Florida has been worth it. The answer won’t surprise you. It’s yes. A resounding yes.

He was asked about his personal journey when answering media questions at Condron Family Ballpark for one last time Saturday night. A couple of sentences into his response, he had to take a couple of deep breaths to maintain his composure, but he managed to hold back tears that will probably let loose like a river at some point if they haven’t already. Leaving a game you love so dearly eventually will sink in. It will be emotional.

BT was a lightly recruited catcher when he began his college baseball. Now he is proclaimed as Mr. Clutch after a postseason at UF in which six of his seven hits have left the yard, nearly everyone in a critical situation. Saturday night, Mr. Clutch thanked so many of the folks who never stopped believing in him. He thanked the coaches. He thanked his teammates. He thanked the University of Florida. He is all Gator all the time.

He also understands there is a responsibility when you suit up to play for the Florida Gators. Championships are expected here, but where there are championships there is adversity that must be dealt with. There are relationships that are forged. Good teams go their separate ways. Great teams – championship teams – are your band of brothers and friends for life.

This band of brothers has come a long way, but they believe in each other and believe they are on a collision course with a dream of a lifetime.

“Well, it’s a testament to our character,” Riopelle said. “There’s a bunch of high character guys on this team. I’m a firm, firm believer in that if you have a bunch of really good guys in that locker room, upstairs in the office and stuff like that, that all really buy into being good people, good servants of their community … and being willing to sign autographs for little kids out there at the end of the game, like good things will happen to you. I mean the fact we do those things, that’s why we had a record-breaking crowd. I thoroughly believe that.”

The crowds were outstanding all year. They were unbelievable those two games against South Carolina. Florida fans obviously embrace all that this team is. They appreciate the guys like Brandon Sproat, Josh Rivera and BT Riopelle who came back to Florida because the way the 2022 season ended with a regional championship loss to Oklahoma they felt a need to finish their careers in a positive way.

Now they’ve earned that shot at Omaha where they will be one of the last eight teams standing with a chance to walk away with a memory that will last a lifetime. BT Riopelle can almost taste another championship, but no matter what happens in Omaha, he will be able to walk away knowing that he’s been good for the Gators, good for the University of Florida, good for the game of baseball.

There is still a place and will always be a place for those who do it for the love of the game, the love of their school and the love of their coaches and teammates. There will also always be a place in the hearts of Gator fans for BT Riopelle. He's earned their respect and earned their love. For a lifetime.

Super regional results

Gainesville: FLORIDA 5, South Carolina 4; FLORIDA 4, South Carolina 0; FLORIDA (50-15) wins series, 2-0

Winston-Salem: Wake Forest 5, Alabama 4; Wake Forest 22, Alabama 5; Wake Forest (52-10) wins series, 2-0

Baton Rouge: LSU 14, Kentucky 0; LSU 8, Kentucky 3; LSU (47-15) wins series, 2-0

Eugene: Oregon 9, Oral Roberts 8; Oral Roberts 7, Oregon 6; Oral Roberts 11, Oregon 6; Oral Roberts (51-12), wins series 2-1

Charlottesville: Duke 5, Virginia 4; Virginia 14, Duke 4; Virginia 12, Duke 2; Virginia (50-13) wins series, 2-1

Fort Worth: TCU 4, Indiana State 1; TCU 5, Indiana State 4; TCU (42-22) wins series, 2-0

Stanford: Texas 7, Stanford 5; Stanford 8, Texas 3; Series tied 1-1.

Hattiesburg: Southern Miss 5, Tennessee 3; Tennessee 8, Southern Miss 4; Series tied 1-1

The Mouse that roared! Lucky 13 for Mike Holloway

Mike (Mouse) Holloway is the undisputed king when it comes to bringing home national championships at the University of Florida after the Gator men won the NCAA outdoor track and field championship on the final race of the night Friday night in Austin, Texas. When the Gators captured the 4X400 relay, they moved past Arkansas for the 13th national championship in Holloway’s incredible career at UF. Saturday night, Holloway’s UF women’s team finished second to Texas.

What makes Holloway so successful is his ability to understand how to score points at the final event of the year, whether it’s the NCAA indoor championships or outdoor. This year, for example, the Gator men loaded up on the sprints and relays where they scored 47 of their 52 points. In previous years, Holloway loaded up on jumpers to bring home titles. It’s a successful strategy because since 2010, no one has won more NCAA track championships than Mike Holloway.

Here is the breakdown of Holloway’s NCAA titles:

Men’s indoor (5): 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019

Men’s outdoor (6): 2012, 2013 2016 2017, 2022, 2023)

Women’s outdoor (1): 2022

Women’s indoor (1): 2022

Additionally, the Florida men have finished NCAA runner-up 14 times (both indoor and outdoor) while the women have one NCAA runner-up. Since 2009, the Florida men have never finished outside the top four in the outdoor championships.

At the NCAA championships in Austin, the Gators got gold medal performances from Emanuel Bamidele (men’s 400), men’s 4X400 relay (Bamidele, Jacory Patterson, Jevaughn Powell, Ryan Willie), Jasmine Moore (women’s triple jump) and Parker Valby (women’s 5,000).

The week that was for Todd Golden

It started when Golden landed UC-Riverside’s Zyon Pullin a scorer who’s as comfortable playing the point as he is the wing. Pullin was one of the most sought guards in the transfer portal. Now he joins a Florida perimeter that has both size and the ability to put the ball in the basket. He averaged 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists while making first team All-Big West Conference at Riverside. Add Pullin to Riley Kugel, Will Richard and Iona transfer Walter Clayton and the Gators have the potential to avoid some of those lengthy scoring droughts of a Golden’s first season on the Florida bench.

But there was more. Julian Rishwain (6-5, 190) transferred in from San Francisco. He’s not going to wow you with his scoring, but he’s a good shooter and a piranha of a defender, the kind of guy who can come off the bench to throw ice water on an opponent’s hot shooter or nail a big shot. Rishwain won’t have to learn the system since he played for Golden at San Francisco prior to Golden leaving to become the coach at UF.

Now all of a sudden Florida has a roster that looks very capable of finishing in the upper echelons of the Southeastern Conference. The Gators have the size that was missing last year and now they have big guards who can score on the perimeter. And, there’s still one open scholarship.

The exclamation point on an already successful week came Saturday when John Bol (7-1, 190, Boma, South Sudan/Bel Aire, KS Sunrise Christian Academy), the nation’s No. 24 prep prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, chose the Gators and Golden over UConn, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Southern Cal and Wake Forest. A consensus 4-star recruit, Bol is an elite rim protector who also has a soft feathery touch around the rim. He has a developing jump shot that is good from the foul line on in, but he’s trying to add range so he can stretch defenses. Bol has a 4.0 GPA and is fluent in English, Swahili and Arabic. .

Bol joins Isaiah Brown (6-4, 180, Orlando, FL Orlando Christian Prep), a 4-star wing guard/small forward who plays for one of the state’s most successful prep programs, in the 2023 Florida recruiting class.

2023-2024 roster

Big guys (6): Tyreese Samuel (6-10, 235, GR/TR from Seton Hall); EJ Jarvis (6-8, 220, GR/TR from Yale); Aleks Szymczyk (6-10, 240, SO); Micah Handlogten (7-1, 227, SO/TR from Marshall); Thomas Haugh (6-9, 200, FR); Alex Condon (6-11, 230, FR)

Points and wings (6): Zyon Pullin (6-4, 195, GR/TR); Julian Rishwain (6-5, 190, GR/TR); Will Richard (6-4, 206, JR); Walter Clayton (6-2, 195, JR/TR from Iona); Riley Kugel (6-5, 210, SO); Denzel Aberdeen (6-5, 189, SO)

Haven’t we heard this before?

The president of Washington State University,Kirk Schultz, says he expects the Pac-12 to sign a media rights deal next month. Yawn. We’ve heard that how many times in the past 18 months? Back on April 6, several presidents in the league crowed that a new deal was “imminent.” We’re still holding our collective breath on that one. Should Georgie Kliavkov actually get a deal it’s not going to be worth the $32.1 million per school it distributed this past year, nor will it be worth the guaranteed $31.7 million the Big 12 will get from its new media deal with ESPN and Fox. That one has flexibility to add more money if the league expands to 16 schools, which is likely and perhaps sooner than later. Meanwhile, both Colorado and Arizona are actively involved in talks with Big 12 commish Brett Yormack. If Colorado and Arizona are talking, then you know that Utah and Arizona State are poised and ready to bolt as well.

If there is no Pac-12 deal by July 1, then expect Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to secede and sign on with the Big 12.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Take a moment and digest this. Since the 2008-09 athletic year, the Florida Gators have won 26 national team championships in 12 different sports and at least one team title every year since. Stanford and UCLA have also won national championships in 12 different sports, but it should be noted, UF doesn’t have sports such as field hockey, water polo, synchronized swimming, rowing, beach volleyball or fencing and who knows what else. Overall, Florida has won 47 national championships in 16 different sports. The Gators have won , at least one team title every single year. Florida has won 47 national championships in 16 different sports. Only three other athletic programs have won national championships in more sports than UF, and none, of course, from the Southeastern Conference.

Florida has won two national championships so far this year – men’s golf and men’s track. The gymnastics and women’s track teams have posted second place finishes. It’s entirely possible that baseball will hoist the championship trophy in Omaha in a couple more weeks.

Talking to people who were shoehorned into Condron Family Ballpark this weekend, so many said they feel some sort of momentum ever since Trinity Thomas nearly helped the Gators pull out the NCAA gymnastics championship on a bum leg back in April.

One longtime Gator booster told me Saturday during the rain delay, “There is something special going on right now in our athletic department. You can feel it. There is energy like I haven’t felt in more than 10 years. It’s contagious. It’s going to carry over to football and basketball, maybe not this year, but soon. Winning begats winning and we’re winning big these days.”