My beloved Bloggees,
I will take the win, but last night was not a super performance against a smaller, less talented team, the Kent State Golden Flashes. I mentioned in the last blog that I saw Kent State play UAB live on Sunday and they were not impressive, especially their 6' 11 center, Justin Manns, who was taken out of the starting lineup last night. He came off the bench and played just 13 minutes with zero points and as many rebounds as turnovers. Is he related to Eloy Vargas?
By the way, Eloy played nine minutes Wednesday night for Kentucky in their win against Notre Dame and did get one rebound and one steal, but the remainder of his linescore was blank http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012080292 . Oh look who is playing for Notre Dame, former Miss. State hoopster and Tyler Hansborough's bro, Ben, who scored 21 points including 5 for 9 from threeland. NEXT....
There was an interesting battle of head coaches this week when Bobby Cremins's College of Charleston defeated Murry Bartow's East Tennessee State squad 79 - 59. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012070107 . Cremins, who might be the only head coach who has a gym floor named after him at another University, has a team that could be there in March, led by their stud guard and a player to remember, Andrew Goudelock. Of their three losses, two of them have been at NC and MD by a combined six points.
A few years ago I did a day trip to MD with a free SW airlines ticket to see the Gators upset the defending champs. On the way back, I sat next to Murry who was scouting for the Grizzlies while in-between college coaching gigs. What a prince of a guy...didn't want the flight to end. He has found his niche at ETSU (after a disaster Joey Meyer-type situation at UAB, following his dad), taking them to the Big Dance the last two years from the one-bid Atlantic Sun Conference. NEXT.....
Gator transfer Jonathan Mitchell had a performance that was both admirable and pitiful in Rutgers 64 - 48 Tuesday win over Marist (who did not have Rik Smits) http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012070492 . The 6 ' 7 forward shot 6 for 11 from the field and was 3 for 4 from three-point land. The Gators could use that type of performance. However, in 27 minutes, Mitchell had ZERO defensive rebounds, and just one on the offensive end. No thank you, Adam Allen-clone. You remember the 6 ' 8 sharpshooting forward who averaged 10 minutes a game and .8 (that is point eight) rebounds for the Gators in 2007 - 2008 before injuries have since sat him down. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=36379 NEXT....
There is a new team in Division One with a new head coach who went by the name, The Big Nasty, in his playing days. Central Arkansas, more known for its most famous basketball alumnus, Scottie Pippen, is coached by Corliss Williamson http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2010-ncaab-cdm . We remember him from his days as an Arkansas Razorback who won the Big Dance in 1994 when the Gators made their first Final Four appearance.
I was there in Charlotte and my Gator entourage was gleeful at half with a seven-point lead over the Dukies. Then Grant Hill turned up the notch a bit on his way to 25 points and a 5-point victory over the Gators in the semi-finals. http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?replayId=1693 NEXT.....
I hear Assistant Coach Lanier will be in Birmingham this weekend to visit a prospect. My guess it is 6' 6 senior Kevin McDaniels (at least it should be) http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/basketball/recruiting/player-Kevin-McDaniels-112365 but that has not been confirmed. Kevin attends the basketball factory in Birmingham, Central Park Christian, that has produced Alabama's Tony Mitchell and the recent Auburn signees from the Ivory Coast, Willy Kouassi and Bernard Morena (who were bypassed by Florida because they didn't want the required package deal). Last night Kevin had 36 points. http://highschoolsports.al.com/game/score/players/861042/ NEXT....
And for a little football, David Nelson on the Buffalo Bills scored his first NFL touchdown last Sunday. http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010120500/2010/REG13/bills@vikings/watch Here is an interesting article about Nelson. http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/article277654.ece Note how impressed the Bills were with Nelson's "superb route-running". Maybe former WR coach, Billy Gonzalez, should get some credit here, reminding us that the Gators miss him being on the staff. (I wrote the above piece about Nelson, at the beginning of the week...something tells me Gonzalez not on the football staff may have less impact and pertinence at the end of this week, if you know what I mean) THAT'S IT
Ok, thanks for reading this far down the blog. The Gators are off until they play a week from Saturday in Sunrise, Florida against the team from the Little Apple....Manhattan, Kansas's # 5 AP ranked Kansas State Wildcats and their coach with the Pat Summitt scary eyes, Frank Martin. Any of you South Florida blogees attending? Thanks for the feedback and spread the word.
Enjoy and Go Gators!
Barry
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