Mike White has now been named Coach of the Year in three different conferences over the last four years.
Harry Fodder: Gators, SEC Tournament Notebook
Wednesday, March 8, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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Postseason awards, turnovers, Egbunu surgery, Bassett, etc.
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
COACH OF THE YEAR … AGAIN
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Twice in his previous five seasons as a head coach, Mike White was named coach of the year in his respective conference. The Western Athletic Conference honored him in 2013, during his second season at Louisiana Tech, and two years later Conference USA did the same after the Bulldogs moved into that league. There was a common denominator in both instances.
Really good teams, obviously.
White didn't have one in his inaugural season at Florida and ultimately settled for the NIT field. In his second version, though, UF played a terrific brand of basketball, contended for a league crown up until the final regular-season weekend and, because of it, White was recognized Tuesday as the 2017 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year.
Sophomore shooting guard KeVaughn Allen was named first-team All-SEC.
The Gators boast a 24-7 record, including 14-4 in league play, and are the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament, which opened Wednesday night. They also bring a first-team All-SEC sophomore shooting guard in KeVaughn Allen, the league's Sixth Man of the Year in fifth-year graduate senior Canyon Barry, plus a second-team All-SEC point guard and all-conference defensive team member in senior Kasey Hill.
Therein lies a correlation to White's latest coronation. And he knows it.
"I don't want to take it lightly, but I also understand awards follow good teams. I have good players and I have a good team. And I have a really good staff," White said. "When your staff is a team themselves and they're hitting on all cylinders and all pulling in the same direction, and you have talent and good kids, you win games. When you win games, guys get awards. I'm really happy for the individual awards our guys achieved. They're all very well deserved."
So is the guy leading them.
Last year, Florida went to the SEC Tournament with an 18-13 record, including a 9-9 mark in league play. Despite losing their leading scorer and rebounder to graduation, second-team All-SEC forwardDorian Finney-Smith, the '16-17 Gators won the third-most regular-season games in program history and will be headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.
A great example of what White managed to do with this team was his balancing act for minutes and getting players to buy into individual roles. Barry is the best example. He came to UF as basically a hired gun, an instantly eligible transfer with a knack for scoring, serious basketball pedigree and expectations to step in and start.
He didn't. Instead, Barry came off the bench for 28 straight games before getting his only start as a Gator on "Senior Night." He's currently second on the team behind Allen in scoring at 12.5 per game and his 22.4 minutes a game rank fourth.
"When I came to Florida I didn't envision being a sixth man, but basketball is a team game and the team is always more important than the individual. I accepted the role that Coach White gave me and to be acknowledged for my sacrifice is honoring," Barry said. "When Coach White told me I wasn't starting, I said, 'OK," and just worked from there. I trust the team, trust Coach White's plan and all my teammates. I think we had a special year."
And it's not over, yet.
NASHVILLE-BOUND
Through Florida doesn't play in the SEC Tournament until Friday night, the Gators left for Nashville after Wednesday's practice back home. The early arrival will allow the team to get settled into its team hotel, get up early Thursday for a 50-minute practice at Bridgestone Arena — site of the tournament — before the second day of games commences in the early afternoon. Come Thursday night, the UF coaches will be in the house to scout the game between 7-seed Vanderbilt (17-14) and 10-seed Texas A&M (16-14).
The Gators will face the winner of Vandy-A&M Friday at 7 p.m.
This is the first time since the 2014 tournament in Atlanta that the Gators have a bye into the quarterfinals. That year, UF was the No. 1 seed and went on to defeat, in order, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky on its way to winning the tournament for just the fourth time in school history, as well as becoming the first program in SEC history to go 21-0 against league opponents.
UNFORCED ERRORS
Hill prides himself on his ability to defend, a skill that was validated by the SEC honor roll that put him on the All-Defensive team alongside Arkansas forward Moses Kingsley, South Carolina guard Sindarius Thornwell, Vanderbilt forward Luke Kornet and SEC Defensive Player of the Year Robert Williams, the freshman (and likely one-and-done NBA prospect) from Texas A&M. White talks with guard Kasey Hill (middle) and Chris Chiozza.
But Hill also takes his duties as UF's playmaker seriously. So does White. That's why the two huddled up earlier in the week to talk about Hill's recent run of recklessness with the ball. After finishing with just one assist and five turnovers in last weekend's loss at Vanderbilt, Hill has 12 assists and 18 turnovers over the previous five games. As a team, Florida has turned it over at least 13 times in six of the last seven games, including 16 times twice.
Those are uncharacteristic numbers for a team that ranks second in the league in both turnovers (just 11.9 per game) and turnover margin (plus-3.2).
So what's a point guard to do?
"Just slow down a little bit and value the ball a little bit more," said Hill, whose season numbers show 144 assists (just two behind league-leader De'Aaron Fox of Kentucky) against 97 turnovers. "Coach told me he's going to challenge me and make me run every time I turn the ball over. I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'm going to have to stop turning the ball over in order for this team to go far. We need to value the ball more."
A&M OR VANDY?
OK, who would you rather play? The Commodores, who swept the Gators in the regular-season series and are fresh in the collective UF mind? Or the Aggies, who are the lower seed and finished with an 8-10 record in the league, including a 71-62 loss in Gainesville?
The easy pick is A&M, but several Florida players were asked this week which team they'd rather face and the competitors in them went with Vandy.
"I kind of want that, actually," junior guard Chris Chiozza.
"I want to beat them," Hill said.
"We can't control who wins," Allen said. "But if [the Commodores] win, we'll be prepared for what they do and just be ready."
EGBUNU HAS SURGERY John Egbunu
Fourth-year junior center John Egbunuunderwent successful surgery Monday to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Though Egbunu suffered the injury back on Feb. 14 at Auburn, the procedure, performed by Dr. Kevin Farmer at Shands Hospital, needed to wait for swelling in the knee to go down before operating.
As far as rehabbing from the surgery, that was instantaneous.
UF trainer David "Duke" Werner said Egbunu reported for physical therapy Tuesday at 8 a.m. to begin the grueling process of strengthening the knee. Normal comeback from ACL surgery usually is 10-12 months, but Werner said it's not unusual for players to be back on the court in nine months and that he hopes Egbunu could be ready to play — "and feeling like his old self again" — in time for the 2018 SEC season in January.
Egbunu was averaging 7.8 points and 6.6 rebounds when the injury occurred in the first half of UF's 114-95 win at Auburn and was three days removed from arguably his best all-around game (and lone double-double) of the season; a 10-point, 11-rebound outing in a defeat of frontcourt-heavy A&M.
HEY CANYON! ABOUT THAT 'GRANNY' DEAL?
Fifth-year graduate senior Canyon Barry, who transferred from College of Charleston, finished the regular season ranked third in the SEC in free-throw shooting at 87.8 percent.
The arrival of the postseason means a change in protocol when it comes to postseason media availability.
During the regular season, teams set the ground rules for interviews and trot out the players of their choosing. But in postseason, be it conference tournaments or the NCAA Tournament, rules require locker rooms to be open for post-game interviews. As far as the Gators are concerned that likely means a horde of reporters at Barry's locker and a bunch of questions lobbed his way about the underhand free-throw technique that sets every arena he plays in abuzz when Barry steps to the line.
Is he ready for the onslaught?
"If I'm not ready at this point, I don't think I'll ever be ready," said Barry, who has been bombarded with requests (many turned down) about the subject in his short time at UF. "All of you ask me about it every game, so if I can't handle the underhand free throw attention and questions by now, I think I'm in trouble."
Great point.
So far, Barry has hit 101 of 115 from the line -- he actually went just 3-for-6 over the final two games -- and finished third in the SEC in free-throw percentage at 87.8. That trailed only Ole Miss guard Deandre Burnett (.899) and Arkansas guard Dusty Hannahs (.890).
BASSETT GETS TO WORK Dontay Bassett
Freshman forward Dontay Bassettprobably would not have played very much this season, but whatever minutes he was ticketed for vanished in October -- the second day of practice -- when he suffered a stress fracture in his foot that required surgery. The injury basically was the same one that sidelined forward Devin Robinson all last offseason and requires a lengthy rehab period.
Over the past three months, the 6-foot-9, 222-pound Bassett, a teammate of guard Eric Hester's at Tampa Oldsmar Christian, has been on a regular lifting regimen under the watch of strength/conditioning coordinator Preston Greeneand his staff. He's put on 20 pounds, now benches 230 pounds and is showing significant gains in his upper body. Recently, Bassett was cleared to begin resuming some basketball-related activities.
Bassett, who accompanied the team to the SEC Tournament, is shooting daily, mostly with assistant coach Darris Nichols. He's also doing ball-handling drills.
For what it's worth, Bassett has a surprisingly nice and soft-outside stroke, but needs to focus on developing his skills set in the low post. With Egbunu out for the start of next season, the Gators are going to need something out of Bassett.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Twice in his previous five seasons as a head coach, Mike White was named coach of the year in his respective conference. The Western Athletic Conference honored him in 2013, during his second season at Louisiana Tech, and two years later Conference USA did the same after the Bulldogs moved into that league. There was a common denominator in both instances. 
