Harry Fodder: Time for the Summer Hoops 'Gun Show'

The Gators mug (and flex) after the final workout of their summer training session earlier this month.

Harry Fodder: Time for the Summer Hoops 'Gun Show'

Friday, August 19, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Basketball's 'Before-After' weight room photos once again are striking.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — This is always one of my favorite blog posts of the year.

Want to know what the Florida basketball players have been doing this offseason? Spending three or four days a week with strength and conditioning coordinator Preston Greene and his staff, that's what. Once again, what's so striking about these latest below-and-after photos is the obvious impact the Gators' spring and summer training has had on not one, but all of them.

With fall semester set to begin Tuesday (and preseason conditioning after that), here are some samples:

Junior point guard Chris Chiozza arrived at UF two summers ago weighing 160 pounds. He could do 12 chin-ups. Now he's 176 pounds and cranking out 23 on the bars. It'll be a rare night on the floor that Chiozza is not overmatched size-wise by the player he's guarding, but adding bulk should help make him more physical; more confident too.

Shooting guard KeVaughn Allen, the team's top returning scorer at 11.6 points per game, looked pretty darn good when he got here as a freshman last year. His torso and arms had significant definition — and yet look at him now. Are you kidding? There were times during his rookie season when Allen got fatigued. Sometimes even early in halves. Unacceptable. This offseason has been about building a body for greater stamina, while making sure he doesn't lose any of the quickness and explosiveness that allows him to get a shot off anytime he wants. He was an 11 chin-up guy a year ago. He's doubled that to 22 heading into his sophomore season.

Justin Leon came to the Gators following two seasons of junior-college ball in Illinois. Gaining access to a Southeastern Conference weight room, plus a state-of-the-art dining hall, was going to produce some obvious gains. He went from 196 pounds to 206 in a year. The size difference in his shoulders is pronounced, but Greene's greatest point of emphasis with Leon this offseason were his legs. The guy, be it during practice or games, just fell down too much. The Gators got a surprising lift from Leon as a 3-point shooter (37.3 percent, which led the team), but they need him to keep his feet down on the block and have a much stronger trunk and base to grab rebounds, defend better and be a presence around the paint. He'll look more the part as a senior and stay upright more often after increasing his front squat from 135 points to 260.

The torn thumb ligaments that ended center John Egbunu's season two weeks early limited him as far as offseason upper body work in the weight room. Once the cast was off and the injury healed, Egbunu was back at it. Greene locked in on improving the 6-foot-11, 250-pound Egbunu's stamina, as far as getting up and down the floor, but also his quickness and explosiveness jumping off the floor. He figures to be a more agile, mobile and sturdier post presence, having trimmed his body fat from 16 percent when he got here in 2014 (by way of USF) to 9 percent. His bench press has gone from 225 pounds to 300. As far cutting down on the foul trouble issues? That'll fall to Egbunu and the UF coaches.

I must have written or said this two dozen times last season: Kevarrius Hayes did not arrive at UF as an overly skilled players, but the coaches can help develop those things. What Hayes did come here with was a work ethic and relentlessness on the floor that cannot be taught. Gator fans saw those traits when Hayes was forced into the starting lineup after Egbunu underwent season-ending surgery. All he did was average 14 points (on 11-for-12 shooting from the floor) and 4.5 rebounds while playing 31 minutes a game in NIT road dates at Ohio State and George Washington. Now Hayes has some muscle behind his ranginess and want-to. He got here weighing 202 and front-squatted just 155. Now he's 219 and front-squatting 275. Like Leon and Egbunu, a lot of focus was put into Hayes' legs. In fact, he and walk-on center Schuyler Rimmer were on two-a-day training sessions during one summer stretch. Note: The video below the before-after photos should provide some perspective of what Greene put Hayes through. This particularly clip is the fourth of four rounds through a brutal 22-minute afternoon leg circuit.

In the run-up to the start of the '15-16 season, Coach Mike White had a sit-down with forward Keith Stone to discuss the realities of his freshman year. Dorian Finney-Smith was a fifth-year senior who likely would lead the team in scoring and rebounding while playing 30-plus minutes per game, meaning Stone's minutes at that "stretch-4" spot would be minimal. White encouraged Stone to take a red-shirt season to develop, hone his skills and, most importantly, work on his 6-8, 233-pound body, which at the time (we're keeping it real here) was soft. Stone agreed and in doing so was put on a regimen for players sitting out the year. It includes what Greene likes to call his "Death Circuit," which comes during the season on game days. In essense, the player pays for not playing by getting pulverized in the weight room. Check out the photo below, which Greene took and sent to me after burying Stone — basically leaving him for dead on the Mohegan Sun's hotel gym floor — with a workout at the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament in Connecticut.

In the months since, Stone has bulked up to 240 pounds, while reducing his body fat from 15.5 percent to 10 percent, converting 12 pounds of fat into 19 pounds of lean muscle mass. His vertical jump went from 28 inches to 30.5. And he can still shoot it pretty well, also. Red-shirting? Great decision.