Todd Golden He wanted to test his team in preseason. Put Miami, a program that reached the Elite Eight a year ago and started the 2022-23 season just outside the AP Top 25, on his group’s scrimmage schedule. That’s why we are here.
And Florida holds its own against the Hurricanes after failing to fully qualify for the NCAA Tournament last season with inconsistent on-court performances throughout the final campaign under different coaching regimes. We were able to do it and beat them in the first half of play.Lost in the second half despite having no starting point guard Kyle Lofton Completely and having a pre-season first-team All-SEC big man Colin Castleton The entire second half is limited by design.
As such, Golden was encouraged by the result, but recognized that his team still had areas for improvement.
“I’m happy we’re here,” Golden told reporters Tuesday afternoon, three days after scrimmage. “We had a good test on Saturday. It was a close game against Miami. I won’t go into too much detail, but it’s a good club and a team that is expected to have a very good year. It’s a seasoned team.” Obviously last year we got the elite eights and added some good pieces and I thought we played pretty well and there are a lot of areas to improve on and without Kyle we had him I think we’ll be a little bit stronger by getting back.” But we’re about two weeks away from our first game, so I think we’re in a good position. ”
Golden didn’t hesitate to declare his team forming an NCAA Tournament-ready team, calling it a “simple barometer” of success in his first year at the helm of the Florida program.
But it’s impossible to get there without improving defensive rebounding and 3-point shooting, two key areas the 37-year-old coach has emphasized since taking over in March.
According to KenPom, Florida was ranked 333rd nationally in defensive rebound percentage last year. This is his third worst mark in the SEC and includes in the bottom 12.5% of Division 1 teams.
Golden bluntly said Florida shouldn’t rank so low in the “in a million years” category and the team’s struggle to rebound the ball on defense and prevent second-chance opportunities directly translate into losses. He made it clear that he contributed
“This league is the best offensive rebounding league in America,” Golden said. “So defensively, it’s going to be hard for him to continue to be a very good rebounding team. But if we can close that gap, I think it really helps.”
Almost as bad as they were on the defensive grass with a 30.3 3-point shooting percentage, the Gators were also worse off beyond the arc, ranking 317th in the nation and 12th in the SEC.
“When it comes to 3-point shooting, we need to be a better 3-point shooting team,” Golden said. “And we had no problems shooting on Saturday, and I think we will continue to do well in the future.”
Florida’s new coach has worked hard to fix the aforementioned issues.The process began shortly after they were hired as Golden focused on trying to retain the first-team All-SEC big man for the preseason. Colin CastletonIn addition to Castleton’s leadership and prowess as a scorer, Golden and his staff saw great untapped potential in the senior forward as a rebounder.
“He needs to get a little more physical,” Golden said. “We talked to him about it yesterday. What’s great about Colin is that he has this leadership role. This is great for him personally and for our team.”
The Gators also brought in four Division I transfers, a group made up of players who should be able to bolster the team’s production in both areas.
Golden said his team has made progress in these areas and both need to continue improving, but added one more area to watch after Saturday’s scrimmages.
“We didn’t handle the ball well,” he said. “It’s a very important area for us, and it was a little bit more promising in our first scrimmage this year. It tends to get a little sloppier than you’d like. It’s been the case every year I’ve been coaching. So it wasn’t surprising, I thought we competed pretty well, they had some really influential players that we did a really good job with, which was encouraging. And they’ve done a really good job on offensive grass, which I believe is where this team is really good at. By rebounding as aggressively as I did, I believe that’s going to be our strength.”
Golden and his staff are currently working out the ideal lineup and rotation for the team.
“I think we’re trying to figure out who’s out there, but the biggest thing is going to be health,” Golden said. “It’s a variable we have no control over. When we’re perfectly healthy, we want to know what kind of players we want to get when we’re perfectly healthy.”
Florida will kick off the season on November 7 at 8 PM ET against Stoney Brook. Golden said his team is on the right track for the season opener.
“Nothing is decided until November 7th. That’s good for our team,” he said. “We have a lot of depth and I feel like we can go with different lineups and fight different guys in different places.”
