The data I found on last year’s hoops team was fascinating. Chandler Parsons was the most productive player not named Speights or Calathes? Who would have guessed?

Dr. Berri’s methodology opens a whole new insight into statistics and results. So I decided to continue my research into Florida basketball. Feel free to correct me if any figures are inaccurate.

Exactly how did Donovan do it in ‘06 and ‘07? Balanced scoring was definitely a part of the equation, but the Win Score methodology puts a two-point field goal on par with a rebound and a steal. Without going into exhaustive detail (see “Why This Guy Cost the Gators a Bid”), here are the Wins Produced and WP48s after the 2005-2006 season. Note that every big guy on the team played both power forward and center, so I averaged the Win Score per minute to (.225+.215)/2 = .220:

Joakim Noah (F/C) = 9.1 Wins Produced, .449 WP48
Al Horford (F/C) = 7.0 Wins Produced, .331 WP48
Corey Brewer (SF) = 4.2 Wins Produced, .183 WP48
Lee Humphrey (SG) = 3.5 Wins Produced, .140 WP48
Taurean Green (PG) = 2.8 Wins Produced, .105 WP48
Chris Richard (F/C) = 2.0 Wins Produced, .143 WP48
David Huertas (SG) = 0.5 Wins Produced, .080 WP48
Adrian Moss (F/C) = -0.2 Wins Produced, -.027 WP48
Walter Hodge (SG) = -0.8 Wins Produced, -.048 WP48

Summation of Wins Produced = 28.1 Actual Wins = 33

Believe it or not, Taurean Green was right around average, and Lee Humphrey was only slightly more productive. Corey Brewer was pretty good, but not by much. David Huertas was O.K., and Walter Hodge wasn’t in his “average” form yet.

But Donovan’s frontcourt was good as gold. Joakim Noah and Al Horford were clearly #1 and #2 inside (No wonder the former was projected as a top-two pick in the draft that year), and Chris Richard wasn’t half-bad himself. Senior Adrian Moss was a slight anomaly, but he did provide an element of athleticism off the bench, not to mention 5 more fouls if the first three got into trouble.

Sadly, David Huertas was underrated at 2-guard, and the Gators are worse for it; he’s now 3rd at Ole Miss in scoring, assists, and steals. Walter Hodge has markedly improved from the time he was a freshman on campus, and could very well take some more positive steps.

But notice the disrepancy between Wins Produced and actual wins.

What happened? If the Gators were good, but not too special, why did this team overachieve and cut down the nets anyway? There may be several reasons, but I’ll keep it to what I think were the two most important.

First, the Win Score only mentions the statistics of the team itself; it says very little, if anything, about what the opponent did in response. This team was known for its rock-solid defense, and by holding its opponents to a lower-than-normal field goal percentage, Florida may have looked better than its results indicate.

Second, if you can recall, the Gators faced a resilient Georgetown team led by Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green. Billy Donovan’s teams famous for opening-round collapses, and this group shouldn’t have been any different. At the time, the Gators had 29 victories, tied for a school record.

To make a long story short, they won a close one to advance to the Elite Eight and proceeded to dispose of the rest of their opponents, including top seeded Villanova, by double-digits. So there was also a little bit of luck involved.

Nation, there is a silver lining to the cloud of last season. As freshmen, Nick Calathes and Chandler Parsons have been more productive on a per-minute basis than their sophomore counterparts. If Parsons stays out of foul trouble, he WILL be a star for this team. Mareese Speights did just as well as, if not better than, Al Horford statistics wise. His own per-minute production rivals even Noah’s last season. Dan Werner looks like he might fulfill the Chris Richard role next year. Eloy Vargas should do excellent at the 4. The pieces are coming together. The future looks bright. The only concern is if Speights signs an agent, ending his college eligibility. However, I believe that he’s getting honest opinions on his potential from scouts and coaches, and I applaud him for keeping his options open.

In a few days, I’ll discuss the second title season.

Franz Beard writes ($) :

It is a battle of perceptions that Urban Meyer has had to deal with the last few days. It started this past Thursday when Jamar Hornsby was arrested and charged with fraudulent use of a credit card and extended into the weekend when freshman defensive lineman Matt Patchan was shot in the shoulder in Tampa. If you judge by the reaction of some in the media and read the message boards of some of Florida’s rivals, then you might come to the conclusion there is an out of control element at work among the Gators.

In Beard’s article, Meyer is quoted as saying that assailants unknown to Patchan fired shots into the crowd in which he was standing. Patchan “had no involvement whatsoever” and had no idea who fired the shots. That’s good enough for me.

Hornsby’s foul deed will unfortunately follow us around for awhile. Gator Nation wanted him gone when we learned of the crime and within 24 hours, he was. Fast actin’ Tinactin.

… The news of these two incidents has taken the attention away from the recent announcement that the Gators put together a team grade point average of 2.86 in the spring, marking the seventh straight semester that the team GPA has risen since Meyer became the head coach at Florida in December of 2004. The 2.86 team GPA is the highest of any Florida football team since they began keeping records of such things.

Hay-soos, am I glad someone finally wrote this. Not only does the team GPA rock, but 32 scholarship players have earned a 3.0 or higher GPA in the spring semester. That’s quite an achievement.

However, one thing missing in this analysis is that we’re one season away from one of the worst off-seasons on record in terms of Gator players getting in trouble. Ronnie Wilson’s assault rifle incident… Brandons James and Powell in the poorly-executed GPD sting… Avery Atkins… Marcus Thomas from 2006… Jermaine Cunningham throwing a sandwich at a restaurant employee… Dorian Munroe cutting a boot off his car (bravo, I say)… the list goes on.

Hornsby is a black mark, but Patchan shouldn’t be. From here on out, we need our kids to keep their noses clean and our coaches to safeguard the honor of Florida football.

This summer will go a long way toward how Gator athletics are viewed by the public at large. Perceptions, smerceptions? Well, they say perception is reality.

A few days ago, I found a fascinating basketblog called “The Wages of Wins”* At its core, it discusses how a team’s highest scorer may not help, and in fact may even hurt their teams’ win total. Berri is an economics professor, so he uses formulas to ascertain how many “Wins Produced” or “Wins Produced per 48 minutes” each player has.

Even though these formulas are designed for the NBA, they can be tweaked for the college game. Thus, I wondered what his research would say about last year’s Gator team. And so, at the risk of a collective tongue-lashing in the comments section of this post, I will delve into Florida hoops once more.

First and foremost is “Win Score”, a rough measure of good or bad someone played in a particular game or season. It is calculated by

WS: Points + rebounds + steals + .5*blocks + .5*assists - field goals attempted - .5*free throws attempted - turnovers - .5*personal fouls

Following is the win score of each of Florida’s nine scholarship players over last season. The three walk-ons played few minutes and skew their results.

M. Speights - 354.5
N. Calathes - 256.6
D. Werner - 232
C. Parsons - 158
W. Hodge - 140.5
A. Tyus - 87.5
J. Lucas - 63
J. Mitchell - 62.5
A. Allen - 27

So Mareesse Speights contributed the most and Adam Allen the least. But what if we adjust for minutes played? How much did each player actually do when they were on the court?

M. Speights - .406
D. Werner - .237
N. Calathes - .218
C. Parsons - .212
A. Tyus - .191
J. Mitchell - .157
W. Hodge - .127
A. Allen - .072
J. Lucas - .058

This is a little better, but we still aren’t done. Guards, forwards, and centers do not do the same things on a court, so their win scores are different. Here is the Position Adjusted Win Score per minute of each player, using the following guideline from the NBA:

Center - .225
Power forward - .215
Small forward - .152
Shooting guard - .128
Point guard - .132

M. Speights (C) = +.181
N. Calathes (PG) = +.086
C. Parsons (SF) = +.060
D. Werner (PF) = +.022
W. Hodge (SG) = -.001
A. Tyus (PF) = -.024
J. Mitchell (PF) = -.058
J. Lucas (PG) = -.074
A. Allen (SF) = -.080

These figures can be used to project a player’s WP48 (Wins Produced per 48 minutes). Yes, a college basketball game lasts 40 minutes, but I didn’t make sense to take the number, adjust it, and then use it to figure out the same Wins Produced I would have found out earlier.

Using the formula WP48 = .104 + 1.621*PAWSmin:

M. Speights = .397
N. Calathes = .243
C. Parsons = .201
D. Werner = .140
W. Hodge = .102
A. Tyus = .065
J. Mitchell = .010
J. Lucas = -.016
A. Allen = -.026

And finally, the Wins Produced [WP48/48 * Min.] of each player:

M. Speights = 7.2 WP
N. Calathes = 5.9 WP
C. Parsons = 3.1 WP
D. Werner = 2.9 WP
W. Hodge = 2.3 WP
A. Tyus = 0.6 WP
J. Mitchell = 0.1 WP
A. Allen = -0.2 WP
J. Lucas = -0.4 WP

Summation of Wins Produced = 21.5 Actual wins = 24

And there we have it, a description of each players’ productivity.

What can we draw, even if it’s obvious, from the results?

#1: Mo Speights is a beast.

Sorry, Independent Florida Alligator, but Big Mo was Florida’s real Player of the Year. When he’s on the court, good things happen.

Of course, as we’re all aware, his conditioning issues have kept him from contributing even more on the court. It goes without saying that returning for his junior season helps this club immensely.

#2: The 3rd most productive player was actually Chandler Parsons.

Walter Hodge was the team’s third-leading scorer, but it was Parsons who contributed the most to his team.

Despite logging a mere 21 minutes and 8.1 points per game, only good for sixth in each category, Calathes’s high school teammate was fourth in rebounding, shot 47% from the field, and had more assists than any forward not named Dan Werner. In other words, he did a heck of a lot with the minutes he did have.

#3: Walter Hodge is right around average

He’s not a terrible player, per se, but you’d expect more from the team’s senior member. If he improves in areas other than scoring, he’ll greatly help this Gator team.

And perhaps most importantly…

#4: Jai Lucas was one of the worst, if not THE worst, players for this team.

In hindsight, Billy Donovan should be kicking himself for this one.

Now, to be fair, there weren’t a lot of players available, and starting the son of a former first overall pick who worked very hard at the game made a lot of sense.

But Jai Lucas didn’t make very effective decisions with the basketball when he was on the court. Adding insult to injury, he was 3rd on the team in minutes played.

Or to put it more bluntly, Lucas was so bad, even Johnathan Mitchell would have made a better starter than him.

In fact, had he been replaced with an “average” point guard (.100 WP48), the new guy would have produced about 2.3 wins with Lucas’ minutes played. In turn, that would improve the team by 2.7 wins; call it 3.

That meant the Gators would have finished with a 27-9 record after 36 games, proportional to a 24-8 record by the time March Madness rolled around. Such a mark would have handily guaranteed a bid to the Big Dance, in spite of the soft preseason schedule.

Thus, if Mo-reese returns, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a starting lineup of Calathes, Hodge, Parsons, Eloy Vargas, and Speights.

If he doesn’t, let’s hope Kenny Kadji can pick up where he left off.

*http://dberri.wordpress.com

The legendary QB could face some troubled times ahead.

However, let’s be overoptimistic here about the 2008 season. Florida, a preseason top-5 pick, wins the national championship by season’s end. Gator Nation is ecstactic; Tim Tebow’s legend status cemented with his second ring, his first as a starter.

But behind the tough-guy jokes and record-setting statistics is the offensive coordinator who made it all happen. Being the coach who helped Tim Tebow win multiple rings, maybe even multiple Heismans, makes for quite a resume. And thus, Florida fans should ask themselves not if Tim or Percy will stay, but if Coach Dan will.

All of this directly impacts Mr. Tebow’s decision whether to leave for the NFL or stay all four years then leave. Try this for a senior season: a new offensive coordinator, the loss of your favorite offensive target, and the heavy expectations of a fan base that expects you to do otherworldly things on and off the football field. Not the most appetizing incentives.

Don’t think Dan’s departure is that big of a deal? Alex Smith, a former Meyer product and #1 overall draft choice, is struggling in San Francisco; the 49ers’ problems with their offensive coordinators have been well documented. Danny Wuerffel’s coordinator was his high school coach, Jimmy Ray Stephens; his chemistry with the man helped him out on the field. There is a direct coordinator with USC’s dip in dominance and the departure of Norm Chow.

And QB/WR tandems are some of the most famous duos in the NFL. Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. Rice and Montana. Brady and Moss. Aikman and Irvin. The list goes on.

Of course, Tim is entitled to his decision and I respect that. But he may very well find himself falling on draft should he choose to stay and get his degree in Family, Youth, and Community Sciences. And chances are, his Gators may struggle in 2009. Besides, he doesn’t really have that much more to prove on the college level.

Oh well, life goes on. By the way, I still hope that Tebow is successful in whatever he does.

I’m at a loss over this one. Truly. The best case scenario here is so bleak that it’s not even worth considering. Somehow Hornsby ended up with a teammate’s dead girlfriend’s credit card and then used it. For. Six. Months. First use was the day after her death. Proceeded to use it another 69 times. Rang up $3,000 worth of debt.

Help me understand Hornsby’s thought process here. Let’s be wildly optimistic and say that via some kind of sketchy arrangement Jamar had “permission” from Ashley Slonina to use the credit card, given that his financial scenario — a crappy one — was well known to his teammates and coaches. Hell, homeboy sold his BCS ring and got stung last year for selling his free football tickets. So maybe she was trying to help him out in some way by lending him her card. Yes, that’s probably off by 100%, but I’m just setting up stage two, so bear with me.

Now Slonina dies tragically in a motorcycle accident with walk-on Michael “Sunshine” Guilford. Hornsby allegedly accompanies Joe Haden — Slonina’s boyfriend — to her apartment to clean out her stuff. Had to be a rough moment, to say the least, for Haden — and in theory, for Hornsby as well, given that they’d both lost a teammate and a friend. The credit card was either in Hornsby’s possession prior to this sad errand (using our wildly optimistic scenario above) or it wasn’t, in which case Hornsby actually stole it when this opportunity presented itself. Either way, at this moment, surely a scholarship athlete attending the University of Florida is smart enough to recognize that he can’t use this card because he’ll almost certainly get caught. For christ’s sakes, it belongs to a dead woman.

In the background, grieving families. Grieving teammate. Grieving team.

Stealing her credit card? Going on a six-month spending spree across the state of Florida? Using it in such excess that he racked up a felony theft charge?

Sorry, Hornsby can’t be that “poor.” He’s on scholarship. Plenty of students get by on less.

Sickening.

There’s really only one way to handle moral turpitude of this caliber and that’s to remove Hornsby permanently from the team, say “good riddance,” and never look back. Hopefully this character spends some time in jail while he’s at it. There you have it — O&B Hue’s take. Hopefully we can move past this, but make no mistake about it, this is dreadful first and embarrassing second. And probably will be for awhile. How awful.

Update… Statement from Urban Meyer on Hornsby on Friday afternoon: “He is not a part of our program.”

Thank you, Coach.

Look, I know he had the goal-line fumble at the spring game. But we’ll assume he’ll have that corrected and will start when the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors come to town.

Obviously, no Gator tailback has won the award. Emmitt was always in the discussion, but he really wasn’t there. Blame mediocre Florida teams and a merry-go-round of offensive coordinators for that. But why has this trend occurred? Class, let’s look at Gator football, circa mid-1960s.

The Ole Ball Coach is the starting QB for the team, coached by Ray Graves. With his accomplishments in a very wide variety of sports before coming to UF, he provides a precursor to Tim Tebow 40 years later. Some lab coat types interested in exercise physiology have invented a cocktail of water, salt, sugar, and electrolytes designed to stop muscle cramping and dehydration; they strike a deal with Stokely Van Camp, and the Gatorade marketing machine is born.

But in spite of Steve Spurrier’s considerable talent, the true Heisman favorite lives over 900 miles away. Six years before leading Miami to a perfect record and a Super Bowl title, Robert Griese takes snaps in spring practice at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He’s got the arm and the leadership to succeed.

Down in Gainesville, Norm Carlson knows this, and is determined to do whatever he can to help Spurrier win. In an era without national television or Internet, he sends considerable amounts of footage to local and regional television stations. He gets people to register for voting, and makes sure they know about Spurrier. He gets Coach Graves to change the OBC’s number from 16 to 11; he thought repeating numbers were easier to remember.

His efforts pay off. Spurrier wins by a landslide with 1,659 points. Second-place Griese gets 816 points. Even in the NFL draft, Spurrier goes 3rd overall to the San Francisco 49ers while Griese is taken one pick later by Miami. However, Bob got his revenge in the pros, leading the NFL’s only unbeaten team. Four years later, Spurrier played for the ‘76 Buccaneers; to date, the NFL’s only winless team.

After that, the 70s and 80s were bleak times for Gator football. As previously mentioned, Emmit Smith was the one true Heisman candidate in this era, but was doomed by bad timing. Had he played at UF 10 years later, he may very well have captured the trophy on one of Spurrier’s powerhouse Florida teams of the 90s.

Speaking of which, Danny Wuerffel was supposed to have trouble winning the stiff-arm as well. Spurrier’s Fun-n-Gun offense utilized the quarterback’s arm and the wide receiver’s speed to great effect. Wuerffel was stuck with the “system QB” stigma, while Tennessee’s Peyton Manning was grabbing attention for, well, everything the NFL could ask for from a future signal-caller.

But by winning over Tennessee four straight years, propelling the team to two national championship games, and surviving FSU’s late hits in “Sackgate” (giving him an aura of heart that showed America he was irreplaceable), Dan the Man captured the trophy and proceeded to make the Noles’ lives miserable in the 1997 Sugar Bowl rout. In 2001, super sophomore Rex Grossman shows a lot of promise, but is ultimately doomed by the system label and a loss to Tennessee.

Four years later, Urban Meyer shuns Notre Dame and comes to Gainesville. His spread offense, played to perfection at Utah one season prior, needs a quarterback with a rocket arm and fast legs. But alas, pro-style QB Chris Leak does not fit the mold. Thus, Urban must recruit a high schooler for this task for the first time in his head coaching career, somebody who could learn the ropes for a year but could still make meaningful contributions while he waiting. Somebody who had the “X-factor”

Enter Tim Tebow. After serving as the backup for a national championship team, he leads a young team to a 9-3 record; under the circumstances, the Gators overachieved. Without a capable, sturdy tailback, he has to take the vast majority of the rushing attack upon himself. He smothered Heisman voters with a combination of overwhelming statistics and extraordinarily good luck (Almost every upperclassman who could contend found a way to screw up).

And now, we have this year’s Gator team; a group that will be as good as it chooses to be. The offense is more traditional, without giving up the enterprising spirit that makes the spread unique. All the athleticism on the offense only makes it more dangerous.

As far as branding goes, Tim Tebow helped turn Florida from latent noisemaker into perennial Heisman power; three really is a crowd as far as numbers go. Thus, E. Mood needs:

A. A year under his belt to provide the contingent with some name recognition.
B. Victories against Charleston Southern, Troy, and FIU (2009 non-conference opponents)
C A record of 11-1 or better heading into the postseason
D. 1700 yards rushing on the season, averaging about 131 a game including the SEC championship. Yes, this is one of Heisman Pundit’s Heismandments

A lot of this is similar to what I said Tim Tebow needed for his second trophy. Moody isn’t going to kill ‘em with stats, unlike Kevin Smith down in Orlando. The “best player on a national title team” bit is a time-honored way to snag votes. As an orthodox tailback, he is what UF needs.

Hey, he was the second-string guy at USC, with 5 of 7 winners at tailback. Good signs here.

Subject: Why are we here?

“Either we are the true FSU diehards, or just masochists. The number of times we’ve been kicked in the stomach as FSU fans the last couple years is unbelieveable. I mean it’s hard to even comprehend. What do we have, 8 scholarship OL from the last FOUR recruiting classes combined? Does our #3 ranked ‘06 class even crack the top 30 anymore?? Who is our best player? Do we have anybody left on our team that strikes fear in an opponent? Do we have any depth whatsoever? How about leadership? Or better yet, leadership from the coaching staff? This is beyond asinine.”

And here is where “nole96″ cranks his lament into overdrive.

“I wouldn’t wish what we’ve had to go through on our most hated rivals. I can’t even remember the last truly positive thing that happened to FSU football. I keep thinking we hit rock bottom, then we sink deeper. What will it be next? And will it be tomorrow?”

Indeed. What will tomorrow bring for what is our most hated rival? At the rate things are going… nothing good.

A quick look back on what brought the ‘Noles to this point:

1. Back to back 7-6 seasons
2. Jeff Bowden finally resigns, taking a hefty buyout in return for taking his claws off the toothless ‘Nole offense
3. An entire class has come and gone at FSU without ever beating the Gators (in fact, losing by a combined total of 120-46)
4. No QB on the roster can beat out Drew Weatherford for the starting job — which says a lot about how poor those players must be
5. An academics scandal which left 35 players suspended for the Music City Bowl (a loss, by the way) as well as the first three games of the ‘08 season.
6. Bowden changes the schedule, replacing real teams with cupcakes, to accommodate his weakened team; embarasses FSU fans
7. One of FSU’s very few offensive threats, WR/TB Preston Parker, is arrested for marijuana and concealed gun charges over the summer
8. Starting linebacker Marcus Ball left the team
9. Daron Rose, a starter on the offensive line, is out for the 2008 season due to academic ineligibility (he was one of the players suspended for cheating)

These things haven’t been, and won’t be, swept under the rug this time. Larry Vettel wrote: “Jimbo Fisher might want to sneak into the administrative offices at Florida State University and destroy the documents binding him to the Seminoles for the foreseeable future.” It might not be a bad move for Jimbo, who surely didn’t fully appreciate what he was signing on for when he agreed to become FSU’s “head coach in waiting,” an awkward situation for all involved.

But to answer “nole96″ in his plaintive missive, above: no, you haven’t hit rock bottom. Things will get worse before they get better. Possibly much worse. Why? The fallout from the academics scandal hasn’t even begun to be felt by this football program. NCAA sanctions, probably including a reduction of scholarships, are almost certainly coming, and a probationary period is all but guaranteed.

If you’re an elite football recruit, would you seriously consider FSU?

The ‘Noles have a long and tough road ahead, especially considering that Bowden lingers on in the head coaching office. Make no mistake about it: the head coach’s forgiving ways, lackadaisical leadership and total disregard for instilling discipline in the young men in his charge has brought FSU football to this point. Accountability? Don’t make me laugh: after he started receiving barbed questions about the academics scandal, Bowden said “It’s not like I had anything to do with this,” passing the buck off to FSU’s administration. Bowden believes that if he just sits quietly in his office, pumps hands at booster meetings, watches practices and paces the sideline at football games, he has no responsibility to make sure the kids in his care are doing the right thing both on and off the field.

Don’t be fooled by St. Bobby’s charm: this is a man who puts himself above the well-being of his employer, the fans who pay his salary, and his team. This is a man who would let one of his players off the hook for attempted murder, if it were up to him. This is a man who despite spending his Sundays preaching the virtues of the Lord, is as morally bankrupt as they come as a football coach. We don’t have to look back too far in time, do we, to remember Bowden chuckling about the late hits on Danny Wuerffel, cracking that “We might keep hitting until the echo of the whistle rather than the whistle itself”? And it doesn’t take a long memory to recall how defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews coached up his players to lay savage, injury-causing hits on their opponents.

They say there’s no honor among thieves. And at the end of the day, that’s exactly what Bowden and his cronies are: thieves. They’ve stolen the heart of their once proud football program; more importantly, they’ve stolen the children of trusting families who believed the coaches when they said they’d take care of their kids as if they were their own.

FSU football is most definitely in awful condition. The question isn’t whether Florida will beat them at Ron Zook Field this year. The question is, by how many touchdowns will they win? I’ll put the over/under at 4.

“It’s a great decision because it gives Vernon a chance to sit out and work on some things,” said Macklin’s former prep school coach, Kevin Keatts, of Hargrave Military Academy. “He’s learned a lot in the last two years under John (Thompson III), but going to Florida will give him a chance to re-charge his battery a little bit.”

Macklin made the decision during a Friday visit to Gainesville.

Now, is this a big deal? It may very well be. Macklin is a former high school basketball star and earned both Parade and McDonald’s All-American honors. While Florida’s then-unlegendary ’04s were getting settled into their roles in the 2005 team, Vernon Macklin was being gushed over by the various recruiting services, who rated him thus:

Scout.com: #17
Rivals.com: #37
Prepstars.com: #12

And Prepstars had this to say about Macklin in ‘05:

2005 National Prep Showcase: It’s a shame that Vernon Macklin didn’t walk away a winner after the outstanding effort he turned in for Hargrave. The 6-9 BF made the move to Hargrave in an effort to improve his all-around game, get stronger and boost academics, and he certainly seems to be accomplishing all of the above. He’s virtually unrivaled at his size as a run and jump athlete and appears to have added at least 10 pounds of muscle since the summer. Macklin still is prone to play out of control for stretches, but he even looked comfortable handling the ball on a few fast breaks. Most importantly, he didn’t settle for mid and deep jumpers and instead forced the action down low and was a terror on the offensive glass, where he picked up six of his 17 rebounds. An added bonus with Macklin’s play was that he used his quick hands to generate four steals.

2005 Super Showcase: Speaking of effort, it appears that Vernon Macklin is showing it more and more these days. Ferociously attacking the glass and opponents shots, the Boo Williams standout was in perpetual motion today against the New Hampshire Playerz. He routinely was the first one down the floor, both offensively and defensively. While many of his points came in transistion and putbacks, he did show an ability to put the ball on the floor, elevate in traffic and finish. A little more polish on the offensive end and he could be a one-year-wonder on the college level.

2005 Nike All-America Camp: Finally, just as we were about to write him off for not having improved in awhile, Vernon Macklin completely dominated a game on both ends of the court. For a moment, he looked like a young Shawn Kemp as he flew up and down the court. Actually, he doesn’t shoot well enough from 12 feet to draw accurate comparisons to Kemp, but it wouldn’t be out of line to say he reminded of a young and wild Chris Wilcox.

Potential negatives? He’s a backup, yes, but he’s only a sophomore and sitting behind Roy Hibbert is nothing to be ashamed of. And Georgetown’s plodding style would definitely not suit a player who likes to get up and down the court.

This could be a great get for Florida; Billy Donovan has a keen eye for talent, and the FoxSports.com article describes Macklin as “ultra-athletic.” Florida could certainly use some athleticism in its front court.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until 2009 to see Macklin play. Can you imagine this lineup: Kadji, Vargas, and Macklin banging down low, a bulked-up Chandler Parsons playing the 3 along with Dan Werner, and Calathes and Lucas running the point? That would be one hell of a fun team to watch, and assuming they create some strong team chemistry could be a dominant SEC force ready to make a lot of noise in March.

Hicken: “We were talking earlier about those mock drafts that are coming out. Your name is at the top of a lot of them for next year, so people are going to start asking you about your future even though I know you’re just focused on this season.”

Tebow: “I am. I’m focused on this season. After the season, we’ll talk to Coach Meyer and everything, but I love being a Gator and I want to stay there as long as I can. I’m just blessed to be in that position.”

So… not an iron-clad “will return” response, but I have to admit, I feel pretty comfortable with the notion that Tim will be back for his senior season. There are many factors contributing; perhaps most importantly is his emphasis on outreach and using his college football fame as a platform. Can NFL millions lure him away from that opportunity? Never say never, but I think a combination of his love for the University of Florida, his unique situation as perhaps the most beloved player ever to wear orange and blue, and his faith will keep him here.

It’s an amazing ride, the ride of a lifetime. When you hop off that train, you’re done forever. Tebow knows that.

The post-Tebow era is a dark and depressing thought. I dare not tread too far down that path. Just knowing that, at best, we have two additional seasons max to watch this brilliant athlete play quarterback is somewhat sobering. The sheer joy of watching Tebow command the Gator offense made a 9-4 season bearable. And with an upgraded defense, it’s Tim’s turn to win an MNC as the greatest Gator quarterback in the history of Florida football.

Say it with me: 2 more years! 2 more years!

So… I bought an Apple iPhone. It’s the first product made by Apple I’ve ever purchased and I’m favorably impressed. In fact, I’d be willing to say it’s the coolest piece of pint-sized technology I’ve owned. There’s something just slightly mindboggling about SCPing into your phone as root and messing with the directory structure, to say nothing of surfing the web at broadband speeds and enjoying an amazingly slick touchscreen interface.

Anyway, after jailbreaking the phone and installing Summerboard I couldn’t find a Florida Gators theme, so I made my own. Perhaps an O&B Hue theme is next? Gator fans with iPhones, enjoy.

Click here to download and install the theme on your iPhone.

Update: this theme is now available via the BigBoss repository. If you have Installer on your iPhone, just find the Florida Gators theme package and enjoy!