Gators ready to rely on experienced defense

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida might have its best defensive team in nearly a decade, an experienced group that seems to fit perfectly with coach Mike White’s style.

White added three defensive stalwarts via the NCAA transfer portal, led by two-time Big South defensive player of the year Phlandrous Fleming and Summit League defensive player of the year Brandon Mckissic, to bolster a lineup the Gators believe will be able to compete in the stacked Southeastern Conference.

Throw in returning shotblocker Colin Castleton and Boston College transfer CJ Felder, and the Gators could have their best collection of defenders since Scottie Wilbekin, Casey Prather, Will Yeguete and Patric Young ran roughshod through the league in 2014 and advanced to the Final Four.

“We have size, speed, mentality, which is one of the biggest things, and a chip on our shoulder,” Felder said. “We have guys with accolades, but we don’t care about the accolades. We just genuinely like playing defense and really give our best effort on that end of the floor.”

Florida’s Wilbekin-led foursome was years in the making, a testament to patience and development under then-coach Billy Donovan.

White didn’t have the same luxury. He turned to the burgeoning transfer portal to revamp a team that finished 1510 last season and failed to get past the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend for the third straight postseason.

Guards Tre Mann and Scottie Lewis turned pro, drafted 18th and 56th, respectively. Shooting guard Noah Locke, forward Omar Payne, backup point guard Ques Glover and reserve forward Osayi Osifo transferred in hopes of finding more prominent roles elsewhere.

White also lost his top two assistants, with Darris Nichols getting the head job at Radford and Jordan Mincy taking over at Jacksonville. White hired Oklahoma State’s Erik Pastrana and Florida Atlantic’s Akeem Miskdeen to replace them.

As for Florida’s roster, White believes he upgraded several spots by adding leading scorers from three teams.

Fleming led Charleston Southern in scoring (20.1), rebounding (7.4) and steals (33) last season. Mckissic averaged 17.2 points for the University of Missouri-kansas City while shooting 50.8% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range. Myreon Jones led Penn State with 15.3 points a game.

But it’s the other end of the court that might see the biggest boost.

“I think to this point it’s safe to say we’re going to be pretty athletic defensively,” White said. “We’ve got some guys that can move their feet and we have some veteran defenders. Does that necessarily mean you’re going to be really good defensively? I hope so. I don’t know that, but I hope so. I like our ceiling defensively.”

Georgia

Southeastern Conference media gave Georgia coach Tom Crean an easy motivational tool when they predicted the league’s finish.

Crean now can tell his players they are viewed as the worst team in the league. Georgia was picked last in the 14-team league in voting released Tuesday by media who picked Kentucky first.

“As far as I know, none of the people who voted have seen us practice,” Crean said Wednesday on the Athens Banner-herald’s Bulldogs Extra podcast.

Crean said the prediction “doesn’t really make a difference” but added “there’s a time and place for those kind of motivations.”

Voting on the last-place prediction came before Crean said Wednesday on Twitter Georgia’s only returning starter, forward P.J. Horne, will miss the season with a knee injury.

Crean is upbeat about his team even though a staggering list of departures by transfers forced a dramatic makeover of his roster. He faces a big challenge as he enters his fourth season.

“I understand why we’re picked last,” Crean said. “I understand all that. It doesn’t mean anything but I get it. Nobody really knows what to expect. It’s a lot of new guys.”

Perhaps most painful to Georgia fans was seeing the team’s top scorers from last season transfer to other SEC schools — guards Sahvir Wheeler to Kentucky and K.D. Johnson to Auburn.

Only a handful of players return from last season’s team which finished 14-12 overall and 7-11 in the conference. Nine players left through transfers. Crean added seven transfers, including five from Division I schools, and three freshman signees.

Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. — John Calipari’s enthusiasm and optimism about his Kentucky squad comes from having his most experienced Wildcats roster in a while.

Yes, Calipari once again landed a couple of heralded freshman recruits. But they’ll be outnumbered by a veteran core comprised of several holdovers and a handful of transfers. All of them will be counted on to help No. 10 Kentucky bounce back from its worst finish in nearly a century.

The Wildcats were 9-16 last season -- a year Calipari won’t bother reflecting on.

“Last year is a blip,” Calipari said on media day. “That’s so far behind me, what we went through. I learned from it and you move on.

“What I like about this group, they’re competing against each other. Let me say this: Yes, we do have depth.”

It starts with sixth-year guard Davion Mintz (11.5 points per game), who returns for an extra season after being the offensive bright spot on a team that struggled to shoot. Juniors Keion Brooks Jr. and Jacob Toppin and sophomore Lance Ware are back in the frontcourt, while redshirt guard Dontaie Allen looks to build off promising flashes as a redshirt freshman.

They welcome a seasoned group of newcomers, including several with Power 5 resumes.

Former West Virginia forward Oscar Tshiebwe (8.5 points, 7.8 rebounds) is eligible after transferring at midseason from Morgantown. The transfer portal also yielded guards CJ Fredrick (Iowa), Kellan Grady (Davidson) and Sahvir Wheeler (Georgia).

Calipari as usual warned of potential early struggles with another roster makeover, though the Hall of Fame coach is encouraged by crisp preseason workouts.

The pandemic limited practices and interaction last season and the lack of cohesion showed as Kentucky missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. This year’s outlook is much brighter.

“It has been significant,” Mintz said of the transfers’ impact. “Having older guys come in, just the maturity level, the way we’re able to have a feel for each other at an early stage like this is going to (make) a difference for the season.

“You just have guys that have seen different things and that is helping us a lot.”

Tennessee

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has scratched every box in filling the roster for his seventh season.

He has experience with John Fulkerson back as a graduate along with senior Victor Bailey Jr. Josiah Jordan-james, a Mcdonald’s All-american coming out of high school, now is a junior with a knack for filling up a stat sheet.

Then there’s a freshman class that was ranked the No. 4 group nationally and best in the Southeastern Conference by 247Sports. The new Vols are led by a pair of five-star recruits in point guard Kennedy Chandler and forward Brandon Huntleyhatfield.

With seven freshmen, Barnes has leaned heavily on his upperclassmen to get the 18th-ranked Vols up to speed as quick as possible.

“They know we need the younger guys to grow up quick,” Barnes said.

Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. — There have been so many changing faces within the Missouri basketball program since the end of last season that coach Cuonzo Martin thought it would be a good idea to gather the guys at his house over the summer.

It would have been a good idea to wear name tags.

Their top four scorers have left with Dru Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon graduating, Xavier Pinson transferring to LSU and Mark Smith heading across the border to Kansas State. Drew Buggs also entered the transfer portal and wound up at Hawaii, and that left Kobe Brown and Javon Pickett as the only Tigers who played regular minutes last year.

South Caroliina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina coach Frank Martin has bounced back from the worst season of his career. He believes his Gamecocks are ready to do the same thing on the court.

Martin had COVID-19 twice, including a stretch in January during the disjointed, stop-and-start season. The Gamecocks, who finished 6-15, didn’t play a game for nearly a month due to cancelations and postponements due to the virus.

South Carolina finished just 4-12 in the Southeastern Conference after winning 10 or more league games in four of the previous five seasons.

Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Scotty Pippen Jr. has returned to Vanderbilt and the high-scoring guard expects things to be different. He believes Vanderbilt can be an NCAA Tournament team.

Having Pippen back for his junior season is already a big win for coach Jerry Stackhouse.

“I didn’t come back to lose,” Pippen said. “That’s my main mindset coming back . ... I want to be a (NCAA) tournament team this year. I think we can do that.”

Pippen declared for the NBA draft in April but didn’t sign with an agent. Son of six-time NBA champ Scottie Pippen, the Vanderbilt guard ranked second in the Southeastern Conference both in scoring with 20.8 points and 4.8 assists a game. He ranked 16th nationally in scoring per game.

Vanderbilt went 9-16 last season but finished the season 3-3, including a win over Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament. The Commodores lost eight SEC games by single digits, five by four points or less.