Braxton Ogbueze to transfer from Florida basketball program, school announces

Freshman guard Braxton Ogbueze will transfer from Florida, the school announced Wednesday on GatorZone.

"Braxton has been a hard worker with a great attitude, and we wish him nothing but the best as he moves on," Donovan said.

"I’ve appreciated the opportunity here at Florida and have learned a lot that will help me in the future," Ogbueze said.

There's probably not much to this other than playing time. Ogbueze, a jet-quick point guard, played just 107 minutes in 2012-13, with Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, and Scottie Wilbekin ahead of him in Florida's point guard rotation, and with Wilbekin sticking around, elite point guard Kasey Hill coming in as a freshman, and, as of yesterday, Rutgers transfer Eli Carter joining the Gators' backcourt for the 2014-15 season at least, Ogbueze's chance to break through at Florida was minimal.

Ogbueze, from North Carolina, was a top-100 player in the class of 2012, and will have plenty of suitors as a transfer. And he deserves them: He's a good player, I think, and a hard worker, but other players who worked just as hard and were/are better were in his path here, and it makes all the sense in the world for him to find a better opportunity to play.

Ogbueze's decision leaves Florida with 12 of its 13 scholarship slots filled for 2013-14, which gives the Gators a chance to take one more late-committing player in the 2013 recruiting class or pursue another transfer and/or a chance to load up in the class of 2014 to replace a four-man senior class (Wilbekin, Patric Young, Casey Prather, and Will Yeguete) with a few other possible early entrants to the 2014 NBA Draft.