An Early Look at the SEC -- Arkansas and Florida
by Glenn Logan on Jul 14, 2007 12:49 PM EDT
in Kentucky Wildcats Basketball
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PrintI have been negligent in my continuing extremely early look at SEC basketball this season as other priorities have intruded, but today, we will resume the series with a look at Arkansas from the SEC West and Florida from the SEC East.
For those who haven't had a chance to look at the for teams I reviewed earlier, here are links to the Georgia/Vanderbilt and Alabama/Auburn reviews.
| Arkansas |
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The Razorbacks have a solid but unspectacular recruiting class headlined by Scout 4-star forward Michael Sanchez (formerly a UK recruit), and high school classmate 3-star shooting guard Nate Rakestraw. But besides all that, Arkansas is past the turmoil of Stan Heath's tenure, bringing in former UK "Unforgettable" John Pelphrey, an intense young coach perfect for the program. THE BAD The Arkansas athletic department is still in considerable turmoil and under pressure from the media and the fans. This will likely have a negative influence on the basketball team. In addition, there have been questions about the academic standing of some of Arkansas' players. Pelphrey is untested at this level of play, and although he will likely employ a fast-paced game strategy similar to the one pursued by Rick Pitino, his mentor, it is hard to say how the Razorbacks, experienced under a different coach, will respond.THE UGLY The Athletic Administration is a mess right now, and Houston Nutt, the football coach, has been a serious distraction for the school in the off season. AD Frank Broyles will be leaving in December, and questions linger around the firing of Heath, who was apparently making progress with the Hogs. CONTENDER, OR PRETENDER? Given the experience and talent on this team, I think they would have to be considered a favorite to win the SEC West. A lot can go wrong, especially since the Razorbacks will be breaking in a new point guard as well as a new coach, and the academic questions and athletic department turmoil may drag them down. But right now, they look to me like a CONTENDER. |
| Florida |
THE GOOD The biggest good thing for the Gators is the return of Billy Donovan, who's abortive attempt to leave for the Orlando Magic dominated most of the early summer news coming out of Gainesville. Also good for the Gators is their outstanding recruiting class led by 5-star Burger Boy Nick Calathes, an outstanding combo guard who can pass, shoot, and make sharp decisions. Fellow McDonalds AA Jai Lucas, heavily recruited by Kentucky, would seem to be primed to step in for serious minutes at the point vacated by Taurean Green. Big men Alex Tyus and Chandler Parsons, both highly skilled 4-star recruits, and Adam Allen, a 3-star shooting guard, round out the stellar group of freshmen.The leading returnees for the Gators will be Walter Hodge, Marreese Speights and Dan Werner, only one of which (Hodge) averaged as many as 10 minutes per game last year. THE BAD The Florida Gators lost their entire starting lineup and all their major substitutes except Hodge. The Gators also lost sophomore-to-be Brandon Powell, next behind Dan Werner in minutes last year, to off-season drug charges.THE UGLY Billy Donovan's off-season has badly damaged his personal reputation and standing. He will recover, but not for a while. It is unknown if his off-season debacle will effect his coaching or his recruiting, but it could. The huge contract he finally signed with Florida recently caused some uproar among the sports media, and combined with his Magic imbroglio, makes him look self-serving and greedy, even if he deserved the money. His image rehab will take a while, and could become a distraction if he lets it. CONTENDER, OR PRETENDER? Florida is too young to contend this year in the East, without a single upperclassmen among its major returning contributors. They are talented and will win -- Billy Donovan will see to that -- but I place their odds of getting into the NCAA's as only about 60-40. PRETENDER, but much better next year. |
We will take a look at two more pre-pre-season SEC teams in a few days.
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Kaz
BB Preview
I like Arkansas' chances of winning the West, but Alabama, with a healthy Steele, will be formidable.
Florida will be an interesting study due to the reasons pointed out in the above preview. My only hope is that the Gators receive the butt whippin' they have been due for some time now. This sounds ridiculous I know, but I am one of the few who are not enamored with Donovan. I think the hiring of Shyatt, and the progression of the just drafted junior class, falsely elevated his coaching ability to never seen before heights. He is to be given credit for the development of his team, but Shyatt gets the cred for instilling the need for D. D representing discipline and defense, which seemed to be a foreign concept prior to Shyatt's arrival.
The recruiting class Donovan brought in is scary, and for this he also deserves credit. One would think that after winning two National Championships in a row, recruiting would be a breeze. But there are plenty of examples of coaches experiencing a lull in talent immediately after winning college basketball's biggest prize. Nolan Richardson at Arkansas never fielded a team approaching the talent level of his '94 squad. Gary Williams at Maryland has struggled, when compared to his championship team of '02. UL took almost two decades, and a coaching change, to approach the talent level of the '86 team. I hypothesize that championship teams have a tendency to lose assistant coaches, who many times have been the primary recruiter, ala Wade Houston at UL. Donovan has lost two assistants in the last two years, both who were an integral part of recruiting.(Anthony Grant, Donnie Jones) So far he doesn't seem to have been negatively affected by their departures. Plus, the Magic forcing him to sign a non-compete agreement can only help his cause in future recruiting efforts.
As far as his pure coaching ability, we will find out this year how good he is.
"Not every coach who wins a National Championship is a great coach, but all the great ones have won it." Al McGuire
donovan
I agree with you about Schyatt. Donovan is of course an excellent recruiter but I never saw much out of his teams before Shyatt came on board. I think the next couple seasons will really define Donovans carreer.
Re: Tubby
But you are right, UK did not capitalize as much as they could have on the '98 Title.
I am in the minority on this issue but I feel Tubby had an inordinate amount of bad luck early in his UK tenure. John Stewart passing changed the makeup of the team, and cost us a solid paint contributor. R. Carruth turning out to be a head case immeasurably damaged a couple of years worth of teams. D. Allison leaving early hurt as well. Jason Parker hurting his knee in a freakish locker-room accident was devastating. Then he decides to not attend class, or rehab as prescribed. He was a tremendous player his freshman year. His attitude decline was unfortunate for both him and UK. Michael Bradley transferring to 'Nova also hurt. There are others, but off the top of my head, that's all I can recall at the moment.
We are all seeing though, what a focused, driven recruiter can do when blessed with the greatest tradition, best facilities, and most passionate fan base in the history of college basketball. Gillispie is unlike anyone I have ever seen, or heard of, as far as his work ethic and dogged pursuit of players. The fact that he thrives on the pressure, and expectations makes him a God-send to the UK faithful.
After BCG wins his first National Title, I doubt very seriously there will be a drop-off in recruiting.
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