I generally don’t comment too often on sports as rarely do I care enough about a team to comment. However, after watching the UF Men’s Basketball team this year…wow. Just in case a random reader is perusing this post and is getting ready to make an angry retort, questioning my insight. I’d like to point out that I personally played basketball in High School and College.

Ever since the infamous Billy Donovan “I’m leaving…just kidding” debacle of a few years ago, I really wonder what game the coach is watching…this year gave me flashbacks to the teams featuring Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh…selfish teams with guards who seemed to only care about their own stats. The exception to this was David Lee who played hard and has gone on to be a great Pro…while Roberson and Walsh are playing in the Turkish 3rd League or something.

So…in my humble opinion, what was wrong with this years team?

1) Most glaring problem…point guard. What made the the Championship Teams so special? What makes many great teams great? A TRUE point guard. Taurean Green knew his job was to put the other players in scoring position and only took shots when absolutely needed. He played within himself…a point guard.

Erving Walker is a scoring guard who does not use his abilities for the good of the team…instead he is content to jack up ill advised 3′s from 5 feet behind the line. Sure the occasional shot that goes in with 2 players in his face look good…but that isn’t a consistent good play. The kid has incredible speed and is a great free throw shooter but he rarely penetrates…in the NCAA tournament loss to BYU this year he recorded his first assist of the game with like 2 minutes to play. How the hell does a point guard only have one assist in the game? Donovan needs to recruit a pass first point guard and in the meantime tell Walker that you have to drive 8 times for every 3 you take or else you get benched.

2) Shoot guard…Kenny Boynton is undersized at shoot guard but is a very good defender. He’s a streaky shooter but hopefully there will be a big jump in consistency for him next year. He has promise…jury is still out.

3) Parsons…I can’t decide if he is a little too mellow in letting the game come to him or if he just plays that much within the flow of the game. Needs to be a little less three happy but by far the best all around player UF has.

4) PF Alex Tyus…hard worker…over achieves…but would probably achieve more with a pass first point guard.

5) Macklin…Center…the first 2/3 of the year I thought this guy was horrible. He started to come on late and I got a better feel for him. The kid really is an astounding athlete…he doesn’t pass very well…especially out of the double team…but he is incredibly quick for his size and goes hard to the rim. My question about him is despite his athleticism it still seems like he is uncoordinated…I haven’t figured out if it is poor foot work or if he still really hasn’t grown into his body or like Greg Oden is always going to be a little awkward and goofy. If he ever puts it together though…he could be pretty awesome.

6) Subs…Shipman is a great defender who doesn’t look like he can shoot…maybe slash? Murphy may turn into a decent college center…I think next year will be interesting for him and I’d like to see Murphy at center and Macklin at PF for a “big” lineup.

I still have no idea why I’m writing this and I’m not trying to knock 18-22 year old kids. However you have to wonder what the coaching staff is watching when game after game you see the same mistakes being made. Are we really that shallow in depth that you can’t say, “Erving if you jack up another 3 your ass is sitting?”. End of shot clock and game execution seems a bit poor as well.

I’d also like to add that UF didn’t belong in the NCAA this year, however I’m happy they managed to get in. Hopefully next years team will improve on some of their issues and have a strong year.