Gators freshman Kulhman rolls as NBA Hall of Famer takes notes
Sunday, May 10, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Football, Women's Tennis, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Gators freshman Josie Kuhlman was unfazed by her taller opponent in Saturday's NCAA Tournament match.
Once the 5-foot-6 Kuhlman takes the court, she usually handles business as one of Florida's top newcomers. Saturday was no different as she faced Georgia Tech's Rasheeda McAdoo, whose 5-foot-11 frame depicts athletic grace and sturdy genes.
“We're pretty familiar with each other,'' Kuhlman said afterward. “I knew what to expect coming into the match.”
In Florida's 4-0 sweep of the Yellow Jackets on a blistering afternoon at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, it was Kuhlman who clinched the victory for the Gators.
Her victory over McAdoo at No. 2 singles (6-3, 6-2) in 1 hour, 47 minutes served as Florida's official invitation to the Sweet 16 next weekend in Waco, Texas.
“I thought we played great,'' Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “I was very pleased to see we were the aggressive team. I thought our players were very determined.”
As the Kuhlman-McAdoo match unfolded, a man in a blue and gold T-shirt with “McAdoo 14” on the back watched closely as he sat alone away from the main part of the stands where most of the spectators were seated.
He would occasionally glance at what appeared to be a notebook in his hand.
Third-year Georgia Tech coach Rodney Harmon, who replaced Bryan Shelton three years ago when Shelton was hired by UF as men's tennis coach, said the tall and lean man now in his early 60s often takes notes during Yellow Jackets matches.
“Bob is great. He is a tremendous supporter,'' Harmon said. “What's great about him is he is a tremendous student of the game of tennis. He's taking notes and stats. When he's taking stats, after [the match] he'll tell me, 'this is how many first serves, this is how many' ... He really wants the girls to do their best and pursue excellence.”
Perhaps there have been other NBA Hall of Famers to stop by and watch a tennis match at UF, but Bob McAdoo was the only one there Saturday.
His daughter Rasheeda is a Georgia Tech sophomore after blossoming on the elite junior tennis circuit as a standout at American Heritage Prep in Boca Raton.
McAdoo, after 18 seasons as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat, moved into a scouting and community relations position this season. He recently returned to North Carolina to pay his respects to his college coach, Dean Smith.
Kuhlman was born well after McAdoo's prolific NBA career ended with a pair of championship rings with the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s, but she knew all about his daughter and her backstory before they took the court Saturday.
“I've actually played her a lot,'' said Kuhlman, who is from Ponte Vedra. “We're both from Florida, so growing up in juniors, we actually played a lot together. We're friends and stuff. It was interesting playing her again.”
After the match ended, McAdoo remained seated as the rest of the crowd departed, checking over his notebook. A trio of strangers stood nearby chatting as he processed information from his daughter's match.
In a nearby conference room a few minutes later, Harmon expected to catch up with McAdoo once he finished his postmatch press conference.
“What he'll do is, he'll come to me first and ask me what I saw technically,'' Harmon said. “And then he'll say, 'well based on what you saw technically and the things you guys have been working on, these are the trends I saw while I was charting.'
“To be honest, it's really, really helpful because we don't have time to chart it [during a match]. We're busy. He'll give you the empirical data. And he's got a good sense of humor. His biggest thing for, not just his daughter but all the girls, is to work hard. He was such a hard worker and made himself into a great NBA player.”
