Welcome to The Sports Bank’s fourth annual college basketball season preview series where we break 111 teams in the 111 days leading up to the opening tip-off of the 2013-2014 season. We will rank the 84 power conference teams (including the new Big East and American Athletic Conferences) and top 27 mid-majors in reverse power ranking order. We’ll break down rosters, transfers, incoming freshmen, non-conference schedules, and pick a player to watch for each team.
There are a ton of questions entering the season for the Florida Gators. Suspended players, guys being injured/sick, and the uncertainty of top recruit Chris Walker. However, if the roster ends up looking like it should by March, Billy Donovan will have his guys in the hunt for another deep tourney run.
FLORIDA GATORS
Last Season: T-2nd, 10-6 in SEC, 26-11 overall
Predicted SEC Finish: 2th
Projected Depth Chart
F/C: Patric Young (Sr)/Damontre Harris (Jr)
PF: Will Yeguette (Sr)/Chris Walker (Fr)
SF: Casey Prather (Sr)/Dorrian Finney-Smith (So)/DeVon Walker (So)
SG: Eli Carter (Jr)/Michael Frazier (So)/Dillon Graham (So)
PG: Kasey Hill (Fr)/Scottie Wilbekin (Sr)
Gone: G-Kenny Boynton, SG-Mike Rosario, F/C-Erik Murphy, PG-Braxton Ogbueze (transfer-Charlotte)
2013-2014 Outlook:
Let’s start with the uncertainty. Virginia Tech transfer Dorrian Finney-Smith and South Carolina transfer Damontre Harris were supposed to be huge additions to the frontcourt but both guys are currently suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. Scottie Wilbekin was suspended in the summer due to his own off-the-court issues but has since been reinstated for the start of practices. Still, he will likely have to sit a yet to be determined number of games.
Sharpshooter Michael Frazier is recovering from mononucleosis and is expected to miss the first couple of weeks of the season. Will Yeguette is nearing 100% after off-season knee surgery while Rutgers transfer Eli Carter is getting healthy after suffering a broken leg back in February. Both Yeguette and Carter did play in Florida’s exhibition game so they should be good to go for the opener.
Another huge question mark is the status of highly touted freshman and McDonald’s All-American Chris Walker. The long, athletic power forward is not currently enrolled at Florida for the first semester due to some academic issues but is hoping to fix that in the next couple of months and be suited up in a Gator jersey for the second semester.
So where does that leave Florida? They return physical and energetic post player Patric Young who is built like a machine but has failed to show much progression with his offensive arsenal. Yeguette should start at power forward and has been a solid role player the past few years especially as a rebounder, but will have more on his plate until Finney-Smith and Harris return. The same can be said of wing Casey Prather who needs to take on more of a scorer’s mentality than what has been asked of him in the past two years.
Freshman Kasey Hill was another big-time recruit for Donovan and was expected to be an impact point guard from day one but that necessity has been amped up another level due to the Wilbekin situation. Carter will provide a spark in whether he’s coming off the bench or part of the starting five. DeVon Walker and Dillon Graham were seldom used as freshmen but should see quality minutes early in the year until Frazier is cleared to play.
The Florida Gators must keep their heads above water until the full roster returns. Assuming that happens, U of F will be two deep at every position and one of the most talented teams in the country. They will have size and athleticism in their frontcourt, scorers on the wing, playmaking ball-handlers, and solid role players. If these issues linger deep into the season though, Donovan must do one heck of a coaching job to live up to a top ten rankings.
Player to Watch: Kasey Hill
Florida has paraded experienced guards like Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, and Mike Rosario onto the floor in year’s past but Hill needs to have a Bradley Beal-like impact for the Gators this season and make a major splash during his freshman campaign. He excels pushing the tempo and getting out in transition which fits at Florida since they typically place at a quick pace. Keeping everything under control and not trying to do much will be vital for the young floor leader.
Key Non-Conference Games:
11/12 at Wisconsin
11/21 vs. Middle Tennessee
11/29 vs. Florida State
12/2 at UConn
12/10 vs. Kansas
12/17 vs. Memphis (at Madison Square Garden)
1/4 vs. Richmond
OTHER 111 IN 111’S:
#9 Oklahoma State
#10 Ohio State
#11 North Carolina
#12 Michigan
#13 Marquette
#14 Memphis
#15 Notre Dame
#16 Georgetown
#17 Gonzaga
#18 Creighton
#19 Wisconsin
#20 Virginia
#21 Wichita State
#22 VCU
#23 New Mexico
#24 UConn
#25 Indiana
#26 Colorado
#27 Tennessee
#28 Baylor
#29 St. John’s
#30 Harvard
#31 UCLA
#32 Iowa
#33 Boise State
#34 Villanova
#35 Oregon
#36 St. Louis
#37 La Salle
#38 San Diego State
#39 Stanford
#40 Arizona State
#41 BYU
#42 Pitt
#43 California
#44 Iowa State
#45 Providence
#46 Cincinnati
#47 UNLV
#48 Purdue
#49 LSU
#50 Illinois
#51 Xavier
#52 Boston College
#53 Ole Miss
#54 Missouri
#55 Washington
#56 Saint Mary’s
#57 Maryland
#58 Butler
#59 Minnesota
#60 Florida Gulf Coast
#61 Akron
#62 Temple
#63 Alabama
#64 Florida State
#65 Arkansas
#66 N.C. State
#67 Kansas State
#68 Davidson
#69 Dayton
#70 Miami FL
#71 SMU
#72 Texas A&M
#73 Long Beach State
#74 UMass
#75 Northwestern
#76 Indiana State
#77 Georgia Tech
#78 Oklahoma
#79 Richmond
#80 Manhattan
#81 Belmont
#82 Texas
#83 Houston
#84 Washington State
#85 Iona
#86 Oregon State
#87 Louisiana Tech
#88 Towson
#89 Wake Forest
#90 Central Florida
#91 Rutgers
#92 Drexel
#93 USC
#94 Charleston
#95 Seton Hall
#96 Vanderbilt
#97 George Mason
#98 Clemson
#99 Penn State
#100 Nebraska
#101 West Virginia
#102 South Florida
#103 Mississippi State
#104 DePaul
#105 South Carolina
#106 Texas Tech
#107 TCU
#108 Virginia Tech
#109 Georgia
#110 Utah
#111 Auburn
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu to Milwaukee. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet , AND the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft. (Yup, nearly 3peat champ… #humblebrag.)
You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.