Taurean Green among 7 past, present Gators set to graduate this weekend
Friday, August 10, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Football, Women's Golf, Soccer, Volleyball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It'll be official Saturday.
Taurean Green will have made the absolute most of his University of Florida experience.
Green, the starting point guard for UF's historic back-to-back NCAA basketball championship teams of 2006 and '07, will graduate this weekend with the Class of 2012 during commencement ceremonies at the O'Connell Center.
“I promised my parents when I left school early that I would come back and get my degree,” Green, an honorable mention All-American from Fort Lauderdale, said Friday while making his way toward Gainesville from South Florida. “It's just took me a little bit of time during the last couple seasons to finish things up.”
He is the first of that famous 2004 signing class -- alongside Corey Brewer, Al Horford and Joakim Noah, all prominent NBA players now -- to take the stroll on graduation day.
Green, 25, was a second-round draft pick of the Portland Trailblazers in '07 and spent one season in the NBA before heading overseas. The last four seasons he's played in Turkey, Greece and most recently Spain. Along the way, he took on-line and correspondent courses to wrap up his work toward a degree in Event Planning and Recreational Promotion.
Now the plan, he said, is to play about “seven to 10 more years” overseas and then put his degree to use coaching like his father, Sydney, the former NBA player who was head coach at Long Island, North Florida and Florida Atlantic.
“I've been around great coaches all my life,” Green said.
He'll check in with one of those coaches, Billy Donovan, this weekend. Probably get a workout in with some Gator players.
“I love coming back to Gainesville and seeing Coach Donovan, the staff and all the guys,” said Green, whose likeness (along with every other prominent member of those '06-07 teams) is plastered all over the UF basketball complex. “Yeah, I got a lot of pub in there.”
He should get some more “pub” -- and a nice round of applause -- Saturday when his name is called for that memorable walk across the stage.
Green will be one of seven Gators, former or current, taking part in commencement exercises Saturday. He'll be joined by football players Earl Okine and Terron Sanders (Family, Youth and Community Science), golfer Evan Jensen (Health Education and Behavior), soccer players Sarah Chapman (Criminology) and Katie Kadera (Sociology), as well as volleyball player Kristy Jaeckel (Sports Management).
