They Are Who We Thought They Were.....
by FlaGators on Mar 26, 2011 7:31 PM EDT
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Print.....and we let them off the hook!
Chandler Parsons and company fell just a bit short in their quest to reach the Final Four. In dramatic fashion. Let's take a look at how it went down. After dominating the entire game in the paint, with the game tied:
Chandler Parsons doesn't show up at all.
Erving Walker shoots roughly a 93 foot shot with 5 seconds left in regulation.
Kenny Boynton shoots roughly a 92 foot shot with 7 seconds left in overtime.
The referees decide to turn the game into a free-throw contest.
Macklin, Tyus and Young dominate the game for the better part of 35 minutes but then in crunch time...nothing.
But, I've got some good news, as Hook85 asked in the game thread, "When is football season?" Well, it is a mere five months away, give or take a few days.
As I said before the tournament started, I thought the Gators were primed to make an Elite Eight run. Well the tournament didn't shape up nearly the way I thought it would. But heading into the game with Butler, I thought to myself that the Gators had the easiest path to the Final Four, and they in turn just threw it all away.
We can debate all week about the reasons why they lost (though I don't think there will be much debate as we all agree to the reasons) and how they lost. Bad shot selection comes to mind. So does a plethora of other things.
Bill Donovan and the plays he called during the last five minutes of regulation and in overtime are especially noteworthy. Maybe it is just the players (Walker and Boynton I'm looking at you) that brought about the play calls because that is their specialty, but I would like to think that they could have adapted to a different style a little bit more than they did in this game and in the season as a whole.
So while we say goodbye to Chandler Parsons, Vernon Macklin and Alex Tyus, it would be wise to look toward the future and that future looks decent. Boynton, Walker, Murphy, Wilbekin and Patric Young (hopefully) return next season to lead a relatively young but experienced team.
Even though the season ended (in my opinion disappointment and shock) we have to know that these guys gave it everything they had. Maybe we as fans have been spoiled by "Oh Fours" and what they did. Maybe we need to realize that while Billy Donovan is a great coach (one of the best the University of Florida has ever had), he isn't perfect.
With that being said, I wish good luck in the future to Parsons, Macklin and Tyus. It has been an interesting ride.
Please be kind and use good grammar.
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All in all, it was a pretty interesting season.
Gator fans have it all. Not many teams can compete in every sport known to man like we can. But if there is one knock on the Gators… Its us fans, we need to learn how to lose.
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
Yep. Aside from Womens basketball, every team is ranked, with many of them near the top.
We’ve always needed to learn how to lose. That’s been a knock on us since the 1990’s and it is an argument that I tend to agree with to a point. I totally agree. Ron Zook tried his damnedest to make it so, but we ran him out of town.
But I also don’t want the lesson to take 10 years, like at FSU with Bobby Bowden either. It is a “pick your poison” type of deal.
The Once and Future King
While learning to lose in an interesting suggestion....
Mr. Foley and I would just as soon continue winning. We’ve become pretty good at that and I can deal with the occasional disappointing loss!
So lets fire Billy D....
Thats what some Gator fans have been crying. Especially before the season started.
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
Nah
I think Donovan is as good as it gets for the Gators. Plus, he’s winning. I’d take a trounament appearance 3 out of every 4 years and a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 every so often and be thrilled. I think he’ll have his work cut out for him next season though. Young is our only big and we’ll have too many guards.
Get ready for a steady season long dose of 3s. I’m not sure I can stand it!
I don't see Patric Young leaving after this season.
I believe he has the potential to be a high draft pick and stud in the NBA but how high would he go if he were to enter the 2011 draft? Teams will like his potential but I imagine the lottery teams would want to see more production. He’ll be better served to stay at least another year where he can work on his post-game and raise his stock considerably with increased PT.
Dwight's watching you! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dwight Howard: Strong as an ox, swift as a gazelle.
Yeah, this is very true. I do expect him to stay and would be shocked if he left. But more than the fair share of players have left when they shouldn’t have. Not just players of Billy D’s either. But yeah, I agree.
The Once and Future King
He’d be a fool to leave early, especially this year. He hasn’t proven much (enough) in the college level. With the NBA CBA running out at the end of the current season, you’re losing money to go into the draft this year. Plus the draft is weak and Patric hasn’t done enough to set himself above the top 90 players incoming players. (I say top 90 because obviously different teams value players differently but the if you’re in the top 90 you got a good chance since 60 will be drafted and another 30 will make the D-Leaugue/Summer League teams). What players don’t realize is that there is no gain of going early unless you are going to be a lottery pick.
Charles Barkley said it best, if you leave early and you’re not a lottery pick, and you don’t pan out in 3 years (3 years of mostly riding the bench with little time to improve in game play) your contract is not guarunteed. You would’ve been better served staying in school, getting better with more game time improvement (which is 100% more effective than practice time improvement), all the while getting an education (a fall back plan if your dreams don’t pan out.) Only about (I think I heard on TV recently) 3% of all D-I men’s college basketball players make a NBA team, and most of those are on non gaurunteed contracts and don’t stay in the league longer than 3 years.
So Patric if for some odd reason you actually read this, do yourself a huge favor, stay in school, you’ll be better basketball wise, monetary wise, and mentally wise.
Get out of my House!
Wow. The Round Mound of Rebound was dropping some knowledge. I didn’t hear him say that nor had I thought of that before, but that makes a lot of sense.
The Once and Future King
I agree with Chuck's premise...
much more than I agree with David Thorpe’s. I agree with Thorpe in that staying in school longer or leaving early may not be the ultimate deciding factor in whether you boom or bust (if you want it badly and work for it, you’ll get it), but I think staying in school longer can get you more NBA ready. Shaq spent 2 years at LSU, Blake Griffin stayed a 2nd year at OU and it did wonders for him, Tim Duncan spent all 4 years at Wake Forest and became a focal point in the Spurs’ first championship run (only his 2nd season in the league). All 3 of those guys averaged 20/10 as rookies. On the flip side, if you look at guys like Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, and Kwame Brown, it took them a lot longer to develop into NBA stars or in Kwame’s case, never pan out. Perhaps the pressure of being “the man” on an NBA team was too much to handle for Kwame. Perhaps taking baby steps and going to college first could’ve prepared him better, maybe not.
Dwight's watching you! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dwight Howard: Strong as an ox, swift as a gazelle.
by GameManager on Mar 28, 2011 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions
Correction: Shaq spent 3 years at LSU.
Still doesn’t change my point though.
Dwight's watching you! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dwight Howard: Strong as an ox, swift as a gazelle.
by GameManager on Mar 28, 2011 10:26 AM EDT up reply actions
It took Howard longer to develop into an NBA star?
Not exactly: Howard joined a depleted Magic squad that had finished with only 21 victories the previous season; further, the club had just lost perennial NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady. Howard, however, made an immediate impact. He finished his rookie season with an average of 12.0 ppg and 10.0 rpg setting several NBA records in the process. He became the youngest player in NBA history to average a double double in the regular season. He also became the youngest player in NBA history to average at least 10.0 rebounds in a season and youngest NBA player ever to record at least 20 rebounds in a game.
I think averaging a double-double as a rookie is pretty extraordinary.
It did take Garnett a bit longer. He took off in his 2nd year, averaging 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.7 steals.
True, but his low-post offensive game then was nothing compared to now.
Dwight's watching you! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dwight Howard: Strong as an ox, swift as a gazelle.
by GameManager on Mar 28, 2011 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions
He still doesn’t have much of one. That is why guys like Perkins, Bynum and a few others give him such a tough time because they keep him at least 5 feet away from the basket and he doesn’t know how to force/move his way closer.
The Once and Future King
I'm well aware of Dwight's flaws.
My main argument here though was that it seems like players who stay in school longer (bigs particularly) enter the league more NBA-ready. My sample size is small but I believe you’ll find a correlation between the years in school and immediate production in the NBA. Anyway, I think we can all agree that we want Pat to stay for at least another year, not for our sake, but his sake too.
Dwight's watching you! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dwight Howard: Strong as an ox, swift as a gazelle.
by GameManager on Mar 28, 2011 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions
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