Did you want Brandon Knight for one season?
by mlmintampa on Apr 15, 2010 8:06 AM EDT
in Florida Basketball
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PrintNot surprisingly, Pine Crest's Brandon Knight selected Kentucky over Florida, UConn and other top basketball programs. Knight is the top point guard prospect and will take over at Kentucky for John Wall, who was one and done.
Knight was heavily pursued by Florida, but Billy Donovan took the Gators out of the race shortly before the McDonald's All-American Game. It seemed like a curious move, but it might have been Donovan saying, "I don't want this guy any more." Knight, as a two-time Gatorade Player of The Year, will not be looking to establish a legacy at whatever school he attended. Knight wants to play good enough to get drafted in the top-ten in 2011. The Miami Herald's Joseph Goodman does a fine job of talking about what Knight might really be after in a college program.
The sentiment among those who covered Knight for several years is that Wednesday's choice to play for Kentucky was made for reasons other than the Wildcats' rabid fan base. Exposure, creating the Brandon Knight brand, getting ready for the NBA, making money: Those are the reasons.
If Knight went to Florida, he might have helped the Gators a lot, but he would also leave Gainesville as soon as the last buzzer sounded. Donovan also, while a great coach, isn't exactly Mr. Friendly. He demands a certain level of intensity from his players. Sometimes, it works (Noah, Parsons) and sometimes it doesn't (Miller, Calathes). John Calipari is a great coach too, but he will give his players plenty of room, because that is the only way to keep your NBA prospects in town. If you're an 18 year old kid, and you want to make money as soon as possible, do you play for the player's coach or the team coach? The choice was obvious for Knight.
Florida has 6-foot-8 C Patric Young and 6-foot-5 SF Casey Prather in this class. UF may have to wait until 2011 for a great class, with five-star SG Bradley Beal and DeLand PG De'Ante Saunders coming in. UF is still recruiting guard Austin Rivers, who has dropped his commitment to consider Duke. The Gators would have had a lot of excitement going into next season if Knight came to Gainesville, but they are better off without a guy who is more worried about his pro prospects than NCAA Tournament games.
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Exactly what i was thinking.
Dont need him…Good riddens to selfish players. Hope Kentucky has fun having to rebuild their team every single year.
Why is Knight a 'selfish player'? Because he didn't pick Florida?
Knight has a 4.3 GPA and 31.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists/game last year.
Yeah, Florida basketball is definitely better off without that selfish jerk. What sour grapes.
Im sorry, sir, do you think i care what you have to say?
by gatorempire127 on Apr 15, 2010 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions
this is true
2009 NY Phin PhansFantasy League Champion
2009 Best Regular Season Record in NYPPL.
2010 The Jim Mandich NewsFlash Award Winner.
by Patssuck456 on Apr 19, 2010 11:30 AM EDT up reply actions
It's not exactly rebuilding...more like reloading
This was a rebuilding year and it worked out pretty well for UK. They are likely losing 4 or 5 players early to the draft and will again bring in the nations #1 recruiting class. They will again be a terror on the court. I don’t think Kentucky fans mind the pattern.
In fact, yesterday, Kentucky received a commitment not only from this year’s #1 recruit, but also the top ranked 2011 player as well! It’s too bad those 2 kids will never play together, but as long as you keep signing the nation’s best player every single year, your team is going to be just fine.
I like Joseph Goodman – I think he reports the news without building in a lot of BS hype. He was the same reporter who straight quoted Thompson and titled his article something to the tune of “Thompson looks forward to working with Brantley” instead of the angle taken by Jeremy Fowler with his partial quote to rake the muck.
Your right
I shouldve used reloading instead of rebuilding, my mistake. I just think it hurts the team chemistry wise and to me chemistry is what makes a great team. You can have all the talent in the world, but if your players dont know how to play together, theyre not gonna win big games.
Take the Yankees a couple years ago for example (i know different sport, but thats not the point im making) they had A Rod, Jeter, Posada, Damon, Matsui, so on and so forth….But did they win the Series? No, because all the big name guys were talented yes, but they werent a team yet…..Bad pitching didnt help either.
In my opinion team chemistry is most important in basketball than any other sport, and if you have guys coming and leaving year after year after year, sure you’ll win games, but then the team has no one to build the team around next year, no leader that will be there for more than one year. And thats not a good thing
by gatorempire127 on Apr 15, 2010 1:32 PM EDT up reply actions
In the long run
It will help Florida, because the players who aren’t looking to jump into the NBA but still want to play and learn how to play, will be coming to Florida, over Kentucky, and will be part of better college teams. It may take a few years for the initial shine to wear off of Big Blue, but in the meantime, we can nab the rest of the top 100 that knows they’re not NBA ready yet.
Boom-shocka-locka!!!
Knight doesn't bother me
I can’t really envision him better than John Wall anyways.
And Knight will be more concerned about everything you mentioned before the success of the team.
I was more disappointed that Ray McCallum chose Detroit Mercy (and his Dad, which is the only reason I’m ok with it) over Florida. I was hoping Florida would land him, but now it looks like they will be going after a 3 point shooting guard and another SF to give Prather some competion.
But Patric Young makes this class worth it, he’s the low post player Donovan has been looking for since Horford and Noah.
Boom-shocka-locka!!!
Rakeem Christmas
What are the odds he is part of that class too? I know he is considering the Gators strongly.
Boom-shocka-locka!!!
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