Alex Tyus, welcome back. We hardly noticed you were gone, to be honest — maybe that’s because you were hardly gone! Gatorsports.com has the skinny:

“The University of Florida is where I want to be,” Tyus said in a statement released by UF on Tuesday. “I truly feel this is the best place for me to continue to grow and improve and I look forward to this upcoming season.”

Tyus had announced he was transferring on April 17, but apparently changed his mind. In starting all 36 games at center last season, the 6-foot-8 Tyus finished the year as Florida’s second-leading scorer (12.5 ppg) and leading rebounder (6.2).

We’ll be honest, Alex. We’re glad you’re coming back, but the main reason for that is we need you so damn badly that you’re by far our best option. You’re a small (power? maybe) forward playing Center for a team that can’t seem to stop self-destructing thanks to defections, a failure to compete down the stretch, and skinniness.

(Yeah, skinniness. It’s not a real word as far as I know.)

We don’t know exactly why you decided to leave, and then came back. But frankly, we don’t really care. Here’s your locker. No questions asked. Let’s make this the last time we go through this little exercise though, okay?

You come back, you get to play with Vernon Macklin next year. If they gave All-American honors just for how good you can look in a basketball uniform, Macklin would be a first-teamer. Dude’s sculpted. And that should take some heat off of you. When you have to look to Chandler Parsons and Dan Werner for help down low, I understand how the frustration can grow.

But that’s the old ball squad. 2010 begins anew. As a third year F/PF, you have more court experience than Macklin. You’ve been through the ringer, and you say you want to win. That’s great. Here’s your chance. I like the idea of putting Macklin in down low to defend the paint and smash people around. I like the idea of you, Alex, flitting around the basket, making little jumpers, laying it in, and maybe developing a decent 12-foot shot. Hey, Horford and Noah were an amazing duo. They fed off of each other, and drove opponents nuts because they had to pick their poison. Maybe you and Macklin are the next great C-PF/PF-C combo at the University of Florida.

Now, you start talking about getting Nick Calathes back (which is in the ‘definite maybe’ category) and ‘10 hoops is starting to sound pretty good. Maybe not great, although you just never know. But I think I can safely speak for Gator Nation when I say that we’ll take a team that competes for an SEC title and a earns decent berth in the NCAAs. That is what we call “getting back on track.”

Are you back on track, Alex?