Todd Golden: "We've Got Some Dudes"

Freshman Guard Riley Kugel

By FRANZ BEARD

GatorBait Media

This isn’t the West Coast Conference, not that it was a bad place to be playing basketball. Any league that has teams like Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, BYU, Santa Clara and San Francisco can stack up with any non-power conference in the country. The teams at the top can play with anyone.

So the SEC, while a step up when you go top to bottom of the conference, isn’t about to overwhelm Todd Golden. He knew from his experience working with Bruce Pearl at Auburn what to expect when he came to the University of Florida. Having spent the previous three seasons cutting his head coaching teeth at San Francisco in the WCC where he was an overtime loss from advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Golden wasn’t the least bit overwhelmed by the situation or circumstances when he answered the bell to take the next step in his coaching journey.

While good coaching is essential, winning in the SEC requires players and Golden isn’t shy at all when he assesses his roster for a season that is three weeks away from tipping off. Speaking to the media a few weeks ago as the Gators were about to officially begin preseason practice, Golden said, “We’ve got some dudes.”

And he does.

Overall, it is a re-made roster from the one that Mike White went to the NIT with last year, but the key element to last year’s success and success in Golden’s first season on the job has returned. You can’t understate the impact Colin Castleton’s return has on this team.

At 6-11, the shoulder that forced him to play the last half of the season with one arm – he still averaged 16.2 points and 9.0 rebounds per game – surgically repaired and rehabbed to go with added muscle and strength (he’s 247 now, stronger than he’s ever been), Colin Castleton is the kind of talent you can build an entire team around. That’s exactly what Golden is planning to do.

“He is what I thought he was when we got here,” Golden says. “I knew he was a fantastic player. He had great numbers. I’d watched a decent amount of Florida just being in the league before, but he’s even more talented I would say than we thought. He just has a great ability to play make, he can handle the ball for a big guy. We can get him the ball at the pinch post at the top of the key and he can turn it into a one-on-one move.”

Castleton can score the basketball. He’s always been able to score in the paint whether it is with an inside move to the rack, on follow shots or even out to seven or eight feet with that nifty jump hook, but now he’s added range that extends out beyond the foul line. Now he’s comfortable shooting from the elbow and if you leave him unattended at the three-point line he will make you pay.

In the paint, he’s a more physical presence, whether it’s protecting the rim by challenging shots or with the ball in his hands. He’s always a threat to score, but he seems to be seeing open shooters even better than he did last year. The bigger, stronger Colin Castleton didn’t waste any time rehabbing from that painful torn labrum. He became a fixture in strength coach Ray Lopez’s weight room.

And now the results that Golden and his coaching staff see every day in practice are impressive.

“If you can just find a way to get him a catch 12 or 15 feet from the rim, you know it’s going to be a good possession,” Golden said. “That’s incredibly important and valuable thing to have on your roster, especially a guy to his credit who has worked a lot on his body, spent a lot of time in the weight room as we’re rehabbing this summer. It wasn’t like he was just coasting during rehab. He was getting bigger and stronger and more athletic. I think we’re seeing that now. I think he’s primed to have a really big year.”

You can win games in any league if you have a great player but the best teams in the best leagues surround their great player with talent that complements. There were wholesale departures when White left and Golden took the job. Three players had exhausted their eligibility, four transferred out and two stud recruits opted to go somewhere else.

Before he did anything else, Golden did perhaps the best recruiting job of his career by convincing Castleton to put professional basketball off for one year. Then he sold his vision of the future to Myreon Jones, Kowacie Reeves, Niels Lane, CJ Felder and Jason Jitoboh. He kept signee Denzel Aberdeen and landed four transfers – point guard Kyle Lofton (from St. Bonaventure), shooting guard Will Richard (from Belmont), point guard Trey Bonham (from VMI) and stretch four Alex Fudge (from LSU). The final two pieces of the roster were Aberdeen’s Dr. Phillips teammate Riley Kugel, who originally signed with Mississippi State, and late blooming international big man Aleks Szymczyk, who spent a year in Lakeland but finished up his high school career in Germany.

It is a deep and talented roster with three big men – Castleton, Jitoboh (6-11, 305) and Szymczyk (6-10, 235) – and 10 interchangeable parts. Golden can go with a big lineup, a fast lineup, one big and four shooters or even put five elite defenders on the floor at once.

Lofton (6-3, 186), Bonham (5-10, 175) and Aberdeen (6-5, 185) are point guards who can also play on the wing. Jones (6-3, 177) is a wing who can play the point. Kugel can play the point and both wings. Felder (6-7, 242) and Fudge (6-9, 205) are stretch fours who can play down low or even step out on the wing. Reeves (6-7, 190) and Richard (6-4, 206) can play either wing and in the right situation take on the role of a stretch four. Lane (6-5, 215) is an elite defensive talent who can get stops at every position but center.

“They all have different talents that complement each other really well,” Golden said. “You know, a number of guys that do a good job getting in the paint, I would consider them our playmakers and then I think we have a lot of guys that shoot the ball well, kind of our floor-spacers, three-and-D type guys. We’ve just got to figure out which ones are best with each other. To have different guys that can make plays and get in the paint opens up so much for us and Colin inside is another guy that I would consider can get in the paint and play off of him as well. It gives us some good flexibility in terms of being able to attack defenses.”

The style will be attack, attack, attack. The Gators will press. They’ll work out of a base man-to-man, but they’ll drop into an aggressive zone. They’ll push the ball up the court. They’ll surround Castleton with guys who can launch – and hit – the three. They will rebound. They’ll look to outlet a defensive rebound, but at least 11 of the 13 scholarship players can put the ball on the deck after a rebound and start the break off the dribble.

They will be physical. Very physical, especially when it comes to going after the basketball once it is shot at either end of the floor.

“We were not physical at all on the glass over the summer,” Golden said. “In the fall we’ve really challenged our guys that way and we’ve gotten a lot more physical on the glass. The best thing about what we’ve seen is our group has been really receptive, they’ve been coachable. We’ve challenged them in certain areas and they’ve worked to improve. So I think we can continue doing that over the next couple of weeks before we start games.”

Here is a player-by-player assessment after watching the first two weeks of practice:

Fifth Year Senior Colin Castleton - Photo by Hannah White

Castleton: He has become the true team leader. “Other guys are going to follow him,” Golden says. “They respect him.” There isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t show something new he’s added to his game, whether it’s putting the ball on the deck and dribbling coast-to-coast for dunk finish or making a pass out of a double team to an open shooter. He takes and makes jump shots well past the range he showed in the past.

Lofton: He’s been held out the last several practices with a sore groin after taking a knee at the end of a practice a few days back, but this is a grown man who plays the point and knows how to run a basketball team. He gets into the paint at will and everybody on the team understands that if you’re open, Lofton will get you the ball. Good finish off the bounce and though he isn’t a shoot first guy from the outside, leave him alone and he buries the three. He defends at a very elite level. “Having a 23-year-old point guard, who has gone through the wars as Kyle has – someone who has scored 1,600 points in his career, 600 assists, has been an all-league player, all defensive player – we couldn’t ask for a better person in year one for us because of the experience he has,” assistant coach Carlin Hartman said.

Sophomore Alex Fudge - Photo by Jordan McKendrick

Fudge: He’s elite defensively. Hartman says he can defend successfully all five positions on the court without a letdown. He doesn’t have to have the ball in his hands a lot to score because he can do it off his defense. Paired with Castleton, he gives the Gators a second rim protector. He is a streaky outside shooter, but a devastating finisher at the rim. He’s had more than a few rim-rocking windmill dunks in the open court or driving the baseline. Serious verticality. “One out of every three or four possessions, you’ll see a wow!” Hartman said. “Whether it be he’s switching out on a guard and he’s keeping a guy out front, he’s blocking a shot at the rim that he’s not supposed to block, or he goes baseline and dunks it … can you stack up those possessions over and over again on offense and then go to the other end and defend at a high level.”

Sophomore Kowacie Reeves - Photo by Isabella Marley

Reeves: The book on him a year ago was catch and shoot, but he’s starting to take his opportunities to drive the ball. He can shoot the three from any place on the court. He’s getting better and more consistent on the defensive end. Recently, he’s gotten more aggressive tracking the ball and rebounding once a shot goes up. He’s another high riser. “He's really doing a great job, especially rebounding, going hard to the offensive glass every single time,” assistant coach Korey McCray said.

Richard: He’s only now getting back to practice after a freak ankle sprain that’s limited his activity, but he’s one of the purest shooters on the team with exceptional range. He has an excellent nose for the basketball so he will surprise with the amount of rebounds he gets even though he’s only 6-4. He’s very physical. “He’s one of our best shooters on the team,” McCray said. “He has a knack for rebounding. He’s a really good rebounder. He wants to score so he runs the floor hard. He goes hard to the offensive glass. He makes winning plays other than shooting.”

Bonham: He has Kasey Hill-quickness. Oh, if Kasey could have shot the ball like Bonham, who should be nicknamed Area Code because he shoots from outside the 352 area code. “And he makes it!” says Hartman. He’s fearless in the lane and a capable finisher although lately he’s shown plenty of creativity getting the ball to open teammates when he draws the defender. Despite his lack of height, he has the quickness and shooting range to play the wing on the floor with Lofton at the point.

Myreon Jones - Photo by Hannah White

Jones: His confidence started sinking early on last season and continued to sink even further as he battled to play with a broken finger. He’s healthy, back for a fifth season of college basketball, and the confidence has returned to his shot. We tend to forget he was a 15 per game scorer at Penn State a couple of years ago. “He’s proven the capacity to be a good impact player at the high major level,” Golden said. “So I’m counting on him to be able to do that again, to be able to bounce back.”

Felder: He tried to play through a sports hernia last year so it limited his productivity. He’s gained about 10 pounds of muscle, defends everything but the point and is one of the team’s steadiest and most consistent rebounders. He will have to play a lot as the power forward and will even play some in the low blocks in a smaller lineup. He’s been seen taking a lot of shots after practice. “We need CJ to be a big part of this team,” Golden said.

Kugel: Better than expected by a wide margin plus he’s added muscle and is now 207. He can shoot the three, defend, makes good passes and he is a spectacular dunker. “He’s an impactful playmaker, paint toucher,” Golden said. “And what’s great about Riley, he keeps it simple. He just makes the right play every time.” His role grows daily to the point that he’s going to be a significant contributor even as a freshman. Everybody knew he had the offensive skill set, but Golden has been surprised by how advanced he is defensively. Lane has a 43-inch vertical. Kugel outjumps him.

Junior Niels Lane - Photo by Courtney Culbreath

Lane: When he came on at the end of last season everybody wondered why he hadn’t seen the floor more often. He was then and is now as good a defender as you’ll see. He harasses people into mistakes and now, he’s shown the ability to convert those mistakes into points whether it’s with his own finishes or good decision passes. “He’s long, he’s athletic, he’s quick and he can bother guys,” Golden said. “He can kind of just get up into them and make them really have issues handling the basketball.” He’s added to his offensive game, which is still mostly layups or open court finishes, but he keeps working on his jumper to eliminate opponents from sagging on him every time he touches the ball.

Senior Jason Jitoboh - Photo by Hannah White

Jitoboh: He’s had four eye surgeries to correct the damage from the injury he suffered in Knoxville last year and he will have at least one more, but he will contribute this year. He’s carrying 305 pounds, but it’s much more muscle now. He’s in the best shape of his life. He catches the ball well, finishes with a soft shot on the rim and he sets devastating picks for teammates. “He’s got great hands, great feet and he can finish,” Hartman said.

Aberdeen: He shows flashes of what he can be in the future while playing mostly as a backup point guard. He’s a willing defender, strong in the open court and improving his decision making when running the second team offensively. He can take and make the open three. “I think Denzel is going to be a really good player for us, too,” Golden said. “He’s smart. He’s done a really good job running the point.”

Szymczyk: He arrived late on campus (August) and he’s playing a lot of catchup, both physically and as far as understanding both the offense and defense. When he figures it all out, he will be a big capable of shooting the three and he’s a more physical rebounder than perhaps we though when he arrived. “I need to bulk up a little bit more,” Szymczyk said. “It’s a freshman thing I feel like. You get in the weight room and get bigger so you can compete with those guys.”