In a continuing trend by Bloggers who seem to make ridiculous statements that eventually will be quoted as gospel truth by ignorant message board faithful and rival fans, I present our latest addition.  In the blog post by BE Coleman on collegefootballnews.com entitled Mounting Gator Injuries Bring Questions we are subjected to a new level of ignorance and blind assumptions heretofore unparalleled.  My comments to such inane stammerings are italicized in parenthesis.

Florida’s Urban Meyer knew coming into August that his offense only needed to be brushed off with the likes of QB Tim Tebow, speedsters Percy Harvin, Brandon James coming back. The returning front O-Line allowed the playmakers to lead the SEC in scoring at 42.5 points per game in 2007.

Meyer’s primary coaching focus was on his defense and getting it back into the form that carried Florida to the national title in 2006. In order to do that, players have to participate at full speed – full impact in practice, with that brings the most dreaded aspect of fall camp – injuries.

The Gators bad luck began in July when it was announced both starting Safeties in Dorian Munroe from Miami and John Curtis from Cocoa Beach would be out for the season with torn ACL’s. 

(Huh?  Both starting safeties?  Did Major Wright get kidnapped or something and I didn’t hear?  The truth is that Dorian Monroe had a very good shot at winning a starting spot but many felt that Will Hill would eventually take that slot if he lived up to the hype.  A few people felt that Ahmad Black would or Bryan Thomas would win the spot opposite Wright who was the returning starter.  John Curtis was nothing but a walk-on backup and never had a reasonable shot of playing significant minutes.)

Their loss only made things worse for the Gators pass defense that finished up 2007 at 98th in the nation giving up 258.54 yards per game, would now feature backup players with limited experience. 

(Newsflash BE, even though Monroe had the inside track on a starting spot he never brought significant starting experience to the field.  Major Wright, Joe Haden, Markihe Anderson and Wondy Pierre-Louise are all former starters who are healthy and available this year.  Those guys combine for 30+ starts . . . what’s the limit for experience?)

Before it could get better, it got worse — much worse during the second week of practice as linebacker Brendan Beal tore his ACL. Meyer had to sideline three of his starters on defense for the season, all were expected contributors. 

(Brendan Beal looked like he was going to get some playing time this year but mostly on special teams.  He was behind Brandon Spikes and Lorenzo Edwards at MLB and although he would have benefited from playing time as next year he and LoEd would have been fighting for the starting position, he was not going to play a lot of minutes barring injuries or blowouts. He was at true freshman and NOT a starter.  Apparently BE thought that this true freshman had come in and replaced preseason Lott Award nominee Spikes in his first year . . . impressive.) (more…)

Just when you thought the wave homoerotic pictures had lifted after the motion picture “300″ faded from the national conciousness, here comes . . . the Miami Hurricanes weight room group hug photo.

(h/t JC Ridley’s photo blog)

Miami’s head coach Randy Shannon sure has changed the culture of the Miami Hurricanes.  Apparently they have shunned the Miami street life culture of violence and the drug trade for the more provocative and modern approach of South Beach.  It’s too bad the “Men of Summer” can’t become the “Men of Fall” and return to their ways of glory.  Still, they are sure to be among the new “must have” and best selling posters in any federal penitentiary gift shop.

With two years like these, it’s bound to happen.

After Florida fans (and LSU, Georgia et al.) watched the pastings that the Gators and Tigers gave Ohio State, they saw the reputation of the Southeastern Conference validated on the BCS stage.

However, I want to look at some basic assumptions that fans of SEC schools have as a whole. Mark my words, this probably isn’t going to be the last post that I do on the subject.

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Okay, so Chandler Parsons probably isn’t the overwhelming force of nature that I make him out to be. However, examining his freshman year as compared to Kyle Singler unveils some surprises.

Through the regular season, Singler posted an 8.5 WS/40 for Duke while Parsons had an 8.3. Singler was more productive on a per-minute basis, but not by much.

Parsons got off to a hot start, posting a blistering 12.2 against Florida’s cream puffs compared to Singler’s 9.6. Singler evened it up in conference play, scoring in at 6.7 while Parsons only had 5.1. And against Ken Pomeroy’s top 100 teams (postseason included), Singler had a 7.0 while Parsons had a 6.4.

That being said, an interesting split took place right after conference tournaments began. In five postseason games, Parsons improved his play, posting a 9.4 WS/40 from Alabama to Massachusetts.

On the other hand, Singler had a monumental collapse with a 2.9. As a result, Parsons avearged an 8.5 while Singler only has 7.8. And while they might be projected as neck-and-neck, there is another side to this story.

Singler, a natural small forward, frequently spent time at power forward and center due to Duke’s lack of a big man down low. Parsons spent most of his time at small forward and was only occasionally a power forward.

As a result, Singler had the chance to skew his numbers favorably by grabbing more rebounds and blocking more shots than normal. Parsons had to make due with Mo Speights and Dan Werner grabbing up the boards and posting naturally higher scores.

Thus, one could even make the argument that Parsons might be slightly better. Between Miles Plumlee, Kenny Kadjii, Olek Czyz, Eloy Vargas, and Allan Cheney. These two look to spend a lot more at 3.

Coach Donovan, are you listening?

Discussing the surprising production of Chandler Parsons has been a frequent topic on this blog. Maybe comparing him to Corey Brewer is extreme, but what about Duke University’s Kyle Singler?

Both are small forwards playing at established programs. Both were highly recruited coming out of high school. Both have rather cherubic visages. However, Singler has gotten considerably more attention coming out of high school, and has been touted as a legit NBA prospect in the coming years. It sure does look like a no contest.

(more…)

From the mailbag, the father of Gatorpilot writes:

Found this story.

As he leaned back in his garnet leather office chair and chewed on an unlit cigar, Bowden matter-of-factly said he would like to increase his win total from 373 to 400 games and, perhaps, win another national championship before he officially hands his job over to Fisher — in other words, resurrect his once proud program that failed to finish in the national rankings for the past two seasons.

“I’d sure like to,” he said. “And if it doesn’t, I ought to get out.”

At 7 wins a year that is 4 more years! Hooray!