Joakim Noah running some ball with POTUS. No big deal. 

via farm5.static.flickr.com

The game was an event for servicemen and women at Fort McNair in Washington. 

Florida's Alex Tyus has until Saturday to decide to jump in the NBA Draft pool or come back to school. One reason why Tyus could leave is that he wants to be a small forward. Seriously.

Thomas Tyus, Alex's father, told the Sentinel that his son should forgo school after being under-utilized by a Florida program that insists on playing him at the power forward and center spots. He said Tyus is a natural small forward.

Anyone who has played sports has had to play out of position sometimes. But this seems a little disingenuous to me. Tyus wanted to leave last season because he didn't want to play center. Now he wants to leave because he doesn't want to play power forward? I have nothing against a kid testing the waters, especially without an agent, but Tyus comes across as a little boy who wants to take his ball and go home.

Tyus's fiancee also told the Orlando Sentinel that Tyus wanted to play the 3 in the NBA, despite not playing that position in college. (By the way, Tyus does not appear on most draft boards.) Apparently, Tyus seems to think that NBA guys will put you where you want. Just like in college, Tyus will not have the opportunity to pick where he plays. In Florida's case, the Gators have 6-foot-10 Vernon Macklin and a few guys (Chandler Parsons, Tyus, Dan Werner) who could play either power or small forward. Also, Tyus forgets that he does not have the shooting range of a small forward. 

If Tyus wants to go to the pros, he should go. But leaving because you think the NBA will let you play where you want is stupid. 

Scout reported today that Rutgers guard Mike Rosario will transfer from Rutgers to Florida. A sophomore last season, Rosario would sit out this season and begin his Gator career in 2011-12 with two years of eligibility.

Rosario was a 2008 McDonald's All-American and averaged 16.7ppg for the 15-17 Scarlet Knights. His freshman and sophomore seasons were incredibly similar with about 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists in 33 minutes. Rosario played at historic St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City and was anticipated to go to North Carolina or USC.

Rosario also gives UF an insurance policy if Erving Walker continues to regress and Austin Rivers ends up at Duke.

Not 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.

From the Gainesville Sun;

Under new NCAA rules, Tyus has until May 8 to decide whether to keep his name in the NBA draft or return for his senior season. Tyus filed paperwork to the NBA draft advisory committee this week.

"Mainly, I just want to see where I stand," Tyus told The Sun on Wednesday. "I want to go through the process, getting a chance to meet some teams, working out against other players, trying to get better."

Alex Tyus changed his game in 2009-10, facing the basket more at power forward as Vernon Macklin was asked to play low. You might remember that Tyus considered transferring at the end of last season, he was so unhappy at center. Tyus will not hire an agent and says later in the Sun article that he would only leave if he was projected in the first round.

Imagine that you were in school for Florida's two basketball and two football championships. Then, you had your pick of grad schools for your Ph.D. in Biochemistry. You pick Duke, who wins a basketball championship in your first year in Durham.

That's the story of our friend Zach, who won the 3rd Annual Alligator Army Tournament Pick'em with 109 points by picking his grad school Duke in the finals. Not only is it one for the thumb for Zach (five titles as a student), he is the winner of the Gators messenger bag, which is perfect for transporting all of his important textbooks.

Originally, we were not going to have a second place prize. However, we found a Florida Gators Armagnet lying around from last year's tournament pick'em. Mrs. Hook, the other person to pick the Blue Devils, will get a Gators Armagnet. She finished with 96 points, 6 clear of third place. I am very proud to say I puked and rallied, starting 38th and finishing 11th.

To claim your prize, send your mailing address to alligatorarmy@gmail.com and we will send your prize.

Thanks to everyone who played. We had 43 entries, our most popular basketball game but one short of our all time mark set by the 2008-09 College Bowl Pick'em.

I still remember the day of the 2006 National Championship Game. I was working on campus at WRUF, which meant rushing home after work, changing into my Championship Mode outfit and driving back to campus. I remember skipping (seriously) down University Avenue to Gator City with my ex-girlfriend and two of my best friends to watch the game. They all thought Championship Mode was silly. Just because it worked for the Bucs (Super Bowl XXXVII) and Lightning (2004 Stanley Cup), did not mean it would work for the Gators. Besides, UF was playing UCLA, the greatest basketball program ever. 

I also remember being surprised that Gainesville had outlawed street parking on University on game day. I did a radio interview that afternoon with the Gainesville Police's spokesman and asked, "Are you worried this will jinx the team?" Once Florida defeated George Mason in the National Semifinal, I never allowed myself (or anyone around me really) to consider the possibility of the Gators winning, for fear of jinxing them.

Florida immediately took control of the game, which surprised us and UCLA. The Gators were only challenged once in the Tournament (a 57-53 Sweet Sixteen win over Georgetown), and UCLA would not match them either. At halftime, UF led 36-25 and Gator City played dance music, which seemed like another jinx to me. UCLA played as well as UF did in the second half, but every Bruin chance was met with a Gator response. As the final seconds ticked, everyone stood on the tables and chairs and threw beer on people. After the Gators won 73-57, we were dancing again and absolutely stunned at what this team had just done. 

A few minutes later, we walked out to University Avenue and saw this.

The memory of University being so filled with people that you couldn't leave the bar will always stay with me. The entire town was outside and chanting, "It's great to be a Florida Gator!" I was in the streets for the 2006 football and 2007 basketball celebrations, but your first time means so much more. For my generation of Gator fans, who were too young for Wuerffel and had to endure Zook, the 2006 Basketball Championship is one of the best nights of our lives. It put Billy Donovan and Joakim Noah over Steve Spurrier and Emmitt Smith in our ranking of Gator heroes. 

We could not stay out too late that night because on Tuesday, three of us had to report on what just happened. I got to go to Gainesville Raceway, where 7000 people greeted the team back from Indianapolis. The players delicately avoided any NBA talk or, "One more year," stuff. But Noah famously predicted the football team would win the next championship and that we were all invited to party with him in Midtown Gainesville that night. 

Three days later, Corey Brewer, Al Horford and Noah announced during the championship celebration in the O'Connell Center that they would be returning. That was another Classic Moment In Championship Mode as the basketball team created a run of athletic dominance that UF is still feeling and may never be seen again. 

History can do great things for a sports fan. Such is the case for our beloved 2006-2007 Florida Gators basketball team. At the time, we might have known the Gators were a great team, but time has strengthened that case. As Michigan State continues to qualify for Final Fours and not win titles, UNC and Kansas fail in bids for back-to-back, and Duke never beats tough teams, Florida's consecutive titles stand out.

It is not just that. Florida's lineup, plus the first few guys off the bench, were hard ass motherfuckers. Lee Humphrey, who away from the court was an academic All-American and injured his shoulder falling off a bike, was a master at nailing back breaking 3-pointers. (In the video below, he hits a 3 from Macon.) Taurean Green was a streaky shooter that came up big when needed. He could drive the ball and fed the greatest front line in Florida history. Corey Brewer looked like Stretch Armstrong, and his great defense was only matched by his speed in going from coast-to-coast off a steal and dunk. Joakim Noah transformed himself from a goofy freshman into a murderous defender who became a great shooter. Noah also kept alive the great tradition of, "The Gator Everyone Hates," that includes Steve Spurrier, Matt Walsh and Tim Tebow. Al Horford might have been the best athlete on a team of athletes. Billy Donovan nicknamed Horford, "The Godfather," for his cool, quiet but forceful demeanor. That just makes Horford's dunk and shake at 1:45 all the more awesome.

You might notice in watching the video that CBS' Jim Nantz and Billy Packer were pimping the Buckeyes the whole game. Despite Florida being the overall No. 1 seed and returned a National Championship team, Ohio St. became a media darling. But watch the video. The closest Ohio St. gets to UF is six points with 4:39 left in the game. Guess what happened next? Green hit a 3-pointer and the Buckeyes never threatened again. UF won 84-75.

In an age of parity, Florida was the last of a dying breed. Teams will be stacked like 2007 Ohio State or 2009 Kentucky, but it will be a long time before we see a team with back-to-back again. And it will be a long time before we see a team with the personality of those Gators; great players who wanted to destroy all comers.