Archive for the ‘Basketball (M)’ Category

Florida Air Academy Forward Picks Gators

Posted by admin on April 19th, 2010   No Comment

Florida Air Academy’s 6 foot 7 forward Will Yeguete signed his letter of intent early Monday to play basketball for the Florida Gators next season.

This past season, Yeguete averaged 18 points and 12 boards per game, made his decision official after it came down to Georgia Tech and Florida.

Yeguete is also the second Gator to commit in the past 24 hours, right after Mike Rosario who is a guard that just transferred from Rutgers signed with Florida even though he has to sit out a year because of the transfer.

Yeguete is expected to play a little bit of small forward along with power forward next year.

“It’s a dream come true,” he said.

(Quote/info gathered by Antonya English/Gator Report.)

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Gators To Host Georgia PG Chris Denson

Posted by admin on April 17th, 2010   No Comment

After the decision of Brandon Knight to give up the University of Florida for Kentucky, coach Billy Donovan and the Gators are hoping they can pick up one guard at least in the signing period that has began last Wednesday.

Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel reported that former St. john’s PG Mike Rosario who is transfer eligible in 2011 will be visiting the Gators this weekend along with Chris Denson, a PG from Midland, GA. Denson could really help out the Gators in the back court next season. As everybody should know, if you look behind freshman guard Kenny Boynton and sophomore guard Erving Walker, there is no depth what so ever. And losing Brandon Knight hurt bad to. So if Florida could possibly add Denson to the roster, it will help tremendously.

Fowler also spoke with Denson’s coach Terry Smith about other schools who are interested in the three-star recruit. UNLV, Villanova, Auburn and are among those schools, but Denson is showing a lot of interest in Florida.

“He hopes to come out of this weekend with an offer,” White said.

The Gators hope to add Denson onto their 2010 class along with All-American Patric Young from Jacksonville and also SF Casey Prather from Tennessee who is ranked in the top 75.

Like Fowler said, Mike Rosario could really help out the Gators in the PG position but he still has another year before he is eligible to transfer, but is well worth waiting for.

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Brandon Knight chooses UK over Florida

Posted by Staff Writers on April 14th, 2010   No Comment

Top flight point guard Brandon Knight chose to become a Kentucky Wildcat today at 4 p.m. on ESPNU. This comes after a battle between UF and UK in recruiting over the last several months. Although UF was never out of his recruitment, recent signs had indicated that Florida was looking elsewhere and Knight was leaning towards Kentucky.

Last month Florida abruptly decided to stop recruiting the top guard out of Coral Springs and focus its recruiting efforts elsewhere. While Brandon remained adamant that Florida was not out of the running and that he understood their situation, the writing on the wall.

Knight is a fantastic talent that will continue to add to John Calipari’s long list of top flight recruits. Kentucky’s list of commitments also include Stacey Poole and Enes Kanter.

While Knight is a big blow to Billy Donovan’s recruiting efforts their are still many targets on the list. The most likely seems to be Brandon Young a 6’2 guard from Baltimore, Maryland. While Young is not as highly recruited he would be a nice addition to this UF team that will return lost of experience next year.

By: Calvin McDermid

brandonknight400x300

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Austin Rivers Decommits, Opens Up Recruitment

Posted by Staff Writers on April 9th, 2010   No Comment

Yes the rumor is true; the highly touted 6’4″ guard Austin Rivers, from Winter Park High School, has decided to decommit from Florida.

Rivers is the son of Boston Celtics head coach, Doc Rivers. He is one of the top guards in the class of 2011 and is currently considering schools other than the University of Florida. Word is that he’s leaning towards Duke now. Also in the running is North Carolina.

According to Florda Today’s college sports writer David Jones, Rivers responded, “I still really like them, but I needed to go ahead and reopen things right now,” when asked about his decommitment.

Austin is a huge scoring threat to any team. He has a heck of a quick first step and specializes at scoring off of pull up jumpers. He also has such a high basketball IQ which makes him an extremely dangerous passer. The only weakness I can say Rivers has is on the defensive end, where he does need improvement.

As Austin Rivers enters his senior year, it is more than likely schools other than Duke, Florida, and North Carolina will show heavy interest.
Stats (2009-2010 Season)

Stat Name                     Season Stats
Points Per Game                23.9
Assists Per Game                1.7
Blocks Per Game                 0.5
Rebounds Per Game           4.3
Steals Per Game                 1.9
Blocked Shots                    14.0

Austin Rivers

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Donovan Earns Wooden Award

Posted by admin on April 9th, 2010   No Comment

Florida Gator head coach Billy Donovan mentioned the very first time he met former UCLA coach John Wooden, who is a legend.

Wooden came to Florida back in 2002 to speak and that is when Donovan and Wooden met.

“I had a chance to spend time with him, and being an older guy it was amazing still how sharp he is mentally,” Donovan said. “Just getting a chance to visit with him and spend time with him was a great experience.”

Coach Donovan will be receiving the John R. Wooden Award’s “Legends of Coaching Award” tonight at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

“I’m sure there are a lot of guys that are deserving of the award,” Donovan said. “I think anything that’s affiliated with Coach Wooden’s name is a big honor and a big deal. Certainly what he’s done for college basketball, to be honored on Friday is something special.”

During Wooden’s time at UCLA, he won 10 National titles and made 12 final four appearances during the 27 years he spent at UCLA.

“He’s done so much for the game and I think he’s a guy that’s been able to keep great humility,” Donovan said. “He’s kept a very simple life for a long, long period of time. I think he’s always looked at himself as being a teacher and has always viewed the basketball court as a classroom for him.

(Quotes/info gathered by Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun.)

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Tyus Set To Submit Name Into NBA Draft

Posted by admin on April 8th, 2010   No Comment

Florida Gator junior Alex Tyus is placing his name into the upcoming NBA draft but will not have an agent so he could return for his senior season in Gainesville.

According to Kevin Brockway of Gator Sports, under the new NCAA rules that were set, Tyus has until May 8th to make his final decision on if he wants to enter the draft or return for his last year as a Florida Gator.

Tyus will look to be faxing a letter to the NBA that will announce his official decision today.

Tyus spoke with the Gainesville Sun and said;

“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.”

This past season Alex Tyus averaged 11.8 points per game along with 6.9 boards each game which was tied with his teammate Chandler Parsons. Tyus helped lead the Gators onto their first NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons this past year, even though it ended in the first round against a great BYU team.

With Tyus entering his name into the NBA draft without an agent, this will make him the third underclassmen in the past three seasons to do so, along with Marreese Speights in 08 and also Nick Calathes in 09 who went overseas to play ball in Greece and is actually having a real successful career so far.

Gator Sports Nation will release any other news on Tyus and will also try to get a quote from him.

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UCF Welcomes New Head Coach Donnie Jones

Posted by admin on March 29th, 2010   No Comment

Former Marshall head coach and Florida assistant Donnie Jones is now welcomed back in Florida after taking over the head coaching spot at UCF.

Jones who was hired on Monday, is planned to be officially introduced as the head coach on Tuesday at a news conference.

The USA Today gathered a quote from UCF athletic director Keith Tribble earlier today.

“Donnie Jones is an excellent coach, a phenomenal recruiter and a great person,” UCF athletic director Keith Tribble said in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome Donnie and his family to Orlando and the UCF Athletics community. Donnie has a vision for this program that includes attracting top-notch student-athletes and competing for championships. He is the right coach to lead UCF men’s basketball to the next level.”

Jones has spent three years over at Marshall and finished with a 55-41 overall record, including a 21-10 record this past season.

Jones served as the Marshall assistant way before he started at Florida in 1996. Then after the Gators won their back to back titles in 2007, he decided he wanted to take over the head coaching job at Marshall. He will be replacing Kirk Speraw, who spent 17 years of coaching at UCF. The Knights didn’t have such a great season this year, but with a coach like Donnie I believe he will be able to turn things around, especially with all the recruiting tools he has.

Not only is he a great coach, but also a great guy. I still remember when I was a little kid and my dad took me to the coaches clinics at Florida and coach Jones was there helping out and doing all of the announcing at the practices. He would pass me the ball in the O’Connell Center so I could shoot while the coaches were in their meetings, and then gave me a piece of gum after. I thought it was pretty neat at the time.

Even though Jones is not coming back to the University of Florida, I am excited to see that he has returned to the Sunshine state and is only a couple hours down the road. I think if Donovan ever thinks about leaving, Jones may be on that list to replace him, but don’t count on that happening anytime soon.

(AP Photo/Steve Coleman)

(AP Photo/Steve Coleman)

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Ray Shipman To Leave Florida

Posted by admin on March 24th, 2010   No Comment

Sophomore guard Ray Shipman will be transferring from Florida as a lot of people knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun reported that head coach Billy Donovan announced that Shipman’s transfer is now official this afternoon.

“I have truly enjoyed coaching Ray the last two seasons,” Donovan said. “He’s an outstanding person and a great student. I want to wish Ray the best of luck as he pursues the things that are important to him as a player and as a student.”

Shipman’s father told the Sun that Ray had problems that had to do with playing time, which comes pretty common in division I basketball. Last year the Gators played without guard Jai Lucas who had to sit out a year to become eligible after his transfer to Texas, it will be interesting to see how the Final Four Picks will be.

Shipman averaged just over 2 points and 1.6 boards per game this season, along with 26 steals. The two years he spent on the team, he averaged 3 points and 1.8 boards per game in 68 total games and one start. Shipman was also named the 2010 SEC Scholar Athlete of the year.

Here is what Shipman had to say;

“I appreciate the opportunity that the University of Florida gave me,” Shipman said in a statement released through Florida. “I want to thank Coach Donovan, the staff, and my teammates for the last two years and I wish the University of Florida the best in the future moving forward. I’m looking forward to making a decision to go somewhere with an opportunity for a bigger role.”

(Kevin Brockway/Gainesville Sun contributed to this article.)

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