Thoughts of the Day: April 4, 2026

(Photo by Chris Spears)

A few thoughts to jump start your Saturday morning:

He hasn’t coached his first football game yet, but Jon Sumrall has already changed perceptions about Florida football. We have a four-year sample size of what Billy Napier was like as the Gators’ head coach. Perceptions are that Napier was a thoughtful, caring coach, outstanding from Sunday through Friday, but not so good on Saturday. Napier tried to go about his business quietly, attempting to build a boy scout culture in the football program.

It seems Napier never embraced the fact that if you’re going to win football games in the Southeastern Conference you do it with a handful of boy scouts and a majority of borderline psychopaths. This is a violent game that we’re talking about and the schools that consistently win big are the ones whose locker rooms are filled with people willing to act out their brutal fantasies on a football field. Too many boy scouts and you’ve got Wake Forest.

Laid back just doesn’t cut it which is why Billy Napier finds himself back in the Sun Belt coaching James Madison.

The sample size we have of Jon Sumrall in just four months is the antithesis of Napier. He’s transparent. He’s vocal. He is non-stop energy from can-to-can’t every day. He understands what it takes to win at Florida. He cares about his players but ask him if he wants to be their buddy, he’ll respond in a hurry that he doesn’t really care if his players like him or not. He only cares if they respect him enough to channel their energy to develop the kind of habits that will translate into winning football games on Saturday.

During his playing days at Kentucky, Sumrall was a fierce linebacker who was that unchained borderline psychopath on the field for 60 minutes of game time and every day in practice. He understands the mentality it takes to win because he’s lived it both as a player and as a head coach where his teams have made the conference championship game four times in four years, winning three. He was in charge of instilling the winning attitude in players while at the same time allowing his coaches to coach. He doesn’t call plays. He leaves that to his coaches but holds them and his players accountable.

In four months on the job Sumrall has changed perceptions. It shows on the recruiting trail where Florida is a hot ticket item this year. It shows with the way his style has been embraced by the two most successful football coaches in UF history, Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer.

Sumrall has a little less than five months before he coaches his first game but there are obvious signs of respect from the national and southern media. People are noticing. Perceptions are changing. It’s too early to say the corner has been turned and Florida football is back, but one thing for certain, no one is calling the coach or the Florida Gators laid back these days.

FINAL FOUR PREDICTIONS

Illinois (28-8/South) vs. UConn (33-5/East): When the brackets came out, everybody penciled in Florida vs. Duke for this one. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the semifinals. Florida never made it out of the first weekend and Duke blew a 19-point lead against UConn. In Florida’s place we have Illinois, the tallest team in the country that plays at a frenetic pace. In Duke’s place, we have UConn, looking for its third national title in four years and sixth since 1999. For the Illini to win they have to force UConn to play an up and down game, plus they have to make threes. For UConn to win, the pace has to slow down considerably and Tarris Reed Jr. has to stay out of foul trouble. Illinois comes to this game hoping to win. UConn comes to this game knowing they will win. Prediction: UConn

Michigan (35-3/Midwest) vs. Arizona (36-2/West): Former Florida assistant Dusty May is in his second final four in just eight seasons as a head coach since he left Mike White’s Florida staff after the 2018 season. When you can take Florida Atlantic to a Final Four, you can flat out coach. The Michigan team he brings to this game is big, deep and talented. He’s got the best player in the country in Yaxel Lendeborg and a point guard in Elliott Cadeau who has exceeded all expectations. The Wolverines have a search and destroy mentality. How will that translate against Arizona, which can match the Michigan size and surpass the Wolverines when it comes to physicality? What makes Arizona so scary is Tommy Lloyd starts three freshmen and his most dangerous player – Tobe Awaka – comes off the bench. Awaka plays like he’s the heavyweight champion of the world. If Awaka has a fine game and Braden Burries doesn’t get the freshman yips then Arizona can and will win this game. Michigan has to make threes which Zona defends well. Zona can win without threes because the Wildcats can get what they want in the paint. Prediction: Arizona

MONEY DON’T MATTER 2 NIGHT

North Carolina made a Godfather offer to Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd and Lloyd just said no, instead signing a 5-year extension that will pay him $7.5 million per year to stay at Zona. Carolina offered Bill Self money – Self makes about $2 million more than the $8.8 million that is often reported – but Lloyd took less money to stay at Arizona where he is 148-35 in five years on the job. In the immortal words of Prince, “Money don’t matter 2 night; it sure didn’t matter yesterday.”

Lloyd has a good gig going at Arizona where he can recruit nationally and whose Tucson campus is a quick hop from the fertile recruiting grounds of San Diego and Los Angeles. Arizona will never compete with the big boys in football where you have to recruit 25-30 studs a year, but in hoops where 2-3 a year can make a difference, he can easily maintain the winning standards.

With Lloyd out of the Carolina picture, all eyes turn to Michigan coach Dusty May and Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan. May makes more than $4 million at Michigan and Donovan is in the second year of a 4-year deal at Chicago that pays him $6 million. If May wins the national championship Michigan would look very foolish letting him leave over money so expect May to get a matching offer to stay. Donovan loves coaching in the NBA but he’s with an organization that seems clueless when it comes to building a roster that can contend. It will probably take $10 million to lure him to Chapel Hill.

Prediction: Billy returns to college coaching in Chapel Hill and immediately restores the Carolina brand.

PEAKING AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME

Jenny Rowland has Florida’s gymnastics team peaking at just the right time. Thursday night the Gators scored a 198.125 at the Tempe NCAA Regional, a full 1.45 points ahead of second place California. That might sound like a narrow win, but 1.45 points in gymnastics is like the Florida football team winning by 63 points. Third place Penn State and fourth place Arizona State were so far behind you’d have to send a search and rescue team to find them.

The Gators will be facing off with Georgia (197.125), Michigan State (197.35) and California (196.675) tonight with the top two advancing to the NCAA championship meet in Fort Worth in two weeks. Custer had a better chance of beating Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse than these three teams have of beating the Gators. They will be battling it out to be the second team from the Tempe Regional to advance.

In winning Thursday night, the Gators posted their fourth consecutive score of 198 or higher. Florida already owns the highest score of the year for the entire nation, the 198.575 the Gators scored to win the SEC meet.

The Gators are healthy and have momentum on their side as they try to bring home Florida’s first gymnastics national title since the third of the back-to-back-to-backs in 2014. Thursday night, Skye Blakely scored a 10 on the balance beam and Selena Harris-Miranda won the all-around with a 39.825.

It is entirely possible that six SEC teams will advance to the eight-team NCAA championships – Florida, Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia.

SEC BASKETBALL IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL

Arkansas

Karter Knox (6-6, 211, SO)

Florida

Olivier Rioux (7-9, 305, RFR)

Georgia

Jeremiah Wilkinson (6-1, 185, SO); Dylan James (6-9, 235, JR); Somto Cyril (6-11, 260, SO); Jackson McVey (7-1, 240, FR)

Kentucky

Jaland Lowe (6-2, 170, JR); Brandon Garrison (6-11, 245, JR); Jasper Johnson (6-5, 180, FR)

LSU

Dedan Thomas Jr. (6-1, 178, JR); Jalen Reed (6-10, 230, SR); Mazi Mosley (6-5, 169, FR); Matt Gilhool (6-11, 213, FR); Ron Zipper (6-5, 209, FR)

Mississippi State

Jamarion Davis-Fleming (6-10, 240, FR); Dellquan Warren (6-1, 160, FR)

Missouri

Anthony Robinson II (6-2, 175, JR); Sebastian Mack (6-3, 195, JR)

Ole Miss

Eduardo Klafke (6-5, 190, SO); Ilias Kamardine (6-5, 185, FR); Hobert Grayson IV (6-4, 205, SR)

South Carolina

Eli Ellis (6-0, 192, FR); Elijah Strong (6-8, 225, JR); EJ Walker (6-7, 253, FR); Jordan Butler (7-0, 240, JR)

Tennessee

Tyler Lundblade (6-5, 195, SR, from Belmont); Cade Phillips (6-9, 212, JR)

Vanderbilt

Frankie Collins (6-1, 185, SR)

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Pat Summit is rolling over in her grave today. Trust me on this one. I endured the two games of the women’s NCAA semifinals Friday night. When the horn sounded to end the second game sometime around midnight it was merciful. How many layups and shots from point blank range were missed? Watching 3-point shooting was like the SCUD-missile attacks from Saddam Hussein back in the day when we got nightly play-by-play of Gulf Wars one and two from Baghdad Bob. Countless unforced turnovers. Horrendously bad officiating that made it seem as if we were watching re-runs of Championship Wrestling from Florida. Instead of Gordon Solie on the mic we were forced to listen to Rebecca Lobo’s incessantly dull analysis.  

They tried to explain away the boredom of South Carolina’s win over previously unbeaten UConn and UCLA’s win over Texas as great defense. If they had told the truth they would have chalked this up to bad basketball.

Very bad basketball.

How bad was it? Bad enough that it wiped out the excitement that Caitlyn Clark infused into women’s college basketball a couple of years ago. Caitlyn made the women’s game exciting and fun to watch. She made shots. She made teammates better. She made the women’s game must see TV. What we saw Friday night was dull, boring basketball that the commentators attempted to sell as defensive brilliance but instead it was two games that set the women’s game back years and years.

Pat Summit rolls over in her grave as we speak.

Having watched both games without falling asleep thanks to coffee, which I never drink at night unless I’m driving, the pick for the Sunday championship game is South Carolina over UCLA and it won’t be close. Dawn Staley’s team will turn the game into a steel cage match and the Gamecocks will win their fourth NCAA championship in six years. It will be tough. It will be physical. It will be the kind of basketball that won’t excite anyone except South Carolina fans, who appreciate that Staley owns half (three) of the NCAA championships won by the entire athletic department in school history.