Harry Fodder
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Mike White went into the offseason with a goal of retooling the Florida roster to better fit his wide-open, full-court and free-flowing system.
On Monday, the Gators added a 3-point hammer to the workshop.
Canyon Barry, a 6-foot-6 guard/forward and the No. 1-rated graduate-school transfer by ESPN, made it official in announcing he was headed to UF, after the former College of Charleston standout chose the Gators over Miami, Northwestern and Louisville. Barry, who led the Colonial Athletic Association in scoring through 13 games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury, will be a senior in the fall and eligible to compete immediately under the NCAA graduate transfer rule.
Barry, out of Colorado Springs, Colo., is the second roster addition for UF In the last two weeks after 6-foot-11 center Gorjok Gak, an incoming freshman from Bradenton (Fla.) Victory Rock Prep and four-star recruit by Scout.com, was released from his letter-of-intent with Oklahoma State and signed with the Gators.
Those two players, in essence, replaced transferring swingmen
DeVon Walker and
Brandone Francis-Ramirez, who combined to average 3.6 points per game while shooting 21.1 percent from the floor and 15.4 from 3-point range.
Canyon Barry is a career 76.5-percent free-throw shooter.
UF now has 12 players on scholarship from the 2016-17 season, with one opening still remaining.
In Barry, who will be a senior in the fall and eligible to compete immediately, the program not only gets a proven long-distance scorer (34.4 percent for his career), but an excellent free-throw shooter (76.5 percent), and a remarkably high IQ player (4.0 GPA and double major in physics and computer science) with sterling bloodlines (son of Basketball Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry).
And, yes, he shoots free throws "granny style," like his father.
The Gators, who in White's first season went 21-15 and ventured three games deep into the National Invitational Tournament, ranked next to las in the Southeastern Conference in 3-point shooting at just 31.2 percent and said goodbye to forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who was their best long-range shooter among the UF starters (36.9 percent).
Now, they'll add Barry into the mix. He's a guy who not only can walk into transition 3s, but will get plenty of open ones in the offense. Before suffering the injury against James Madison on Dec. 31 (then struggling to play through it the next game), Barry had three games of least 30 points and two more with at least 26. He managed just 13 points his final two games before deciding to shut down his season to repair the shoulder.
He's not a one-dimensional guy, either. Yes, scoring is what he does best (he averaged 12.8 points per game over his 70 collegiate games), but woven into thta 3.8 career rebound average were 5.1 as a sophomore That same year, Barry also averaged nearly 36 minutes per game, so he's got some stamina, also.
Just how the UF lineup and rotation shakes out between now and the start of the 2016-17 season is something that must play itself out. Assuming both center John Egbunu (right thumb) and forward Devin Robinson (right foot) successfully return from their recent surgeries, those two and Barry in the frontcourt, with KeVaughn Allen at the shooting guard and Kasey Hill running the point (sharing time with Chris Chiozza) looks like something White and his staff can work with.
Barry, of course, can play the two-guard spot, which gives the Gators even more flexibility with front court options of Justin Leon, a surprisingly efficient 3-pointer shooter at 37 percent plus the late-season, and low-post progression of Kevarrius Hayes, who averaged 14 points on 11-for-12 from the floor in the final two games with Egbunu sidelined.
The roles of 'stretch-4' forward Keith Stone, who made nice strides while taking a developmental redshirt season, along with the incoming freshman class of Gak, guard Eric Hester and forward Dantay Bassett (both out of Oldsmar Christian near Tampa) will play themselves out.
Don't be surprised, either, if that 13th scholarship spot is filled, either.
