UF coach Mike White will continue to tinker with his offense until he finds something that will help the Gators put the ball in the basket.
White Takes Seat on UF-UCF Fence, Focuses on FGCU
Friday, December 21, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
SUNRISE, Fla. — With a weekend trip to the Orange Bowl Classic to face Florida Gulf Coast on the immediate docket, Mike White was taking care of his pre-game media duties Friday when a question that had nothing to do with basketball — but one, frankly, begging to be asked for about a week — was lobbed his way.
"Hey Mike, what side do you fall on — your boss' or your brother's — in the UF-UCF bowl controversy?"
In an instant, White went from basketball coach to politician. Magnificently. Even the internet said so.
To background, since the announcement Dec. 2 the College Football Playoff selection committee had paired Florida and Michigan in the Peach Bowl (and a coveted spot in the New Year's Six), fans, media and talking heads throughout the state (and beyond) wondered why the Gators were not matched against Central Florida, given the Knights' 25-game winning streak and circumstances that would made for national appeal. The conversation (and, yes, controversy) went next level when the athletic directors at both schools, UF's Scott Stricklin and UCF's Danny White (Mike's younger brother), talked publicly about trying to schedule a game between the programs in the coming years, with Stricklin stating his preference for a 2-for-1 contract and White digging in with demands for a straight home-and-home deal.
Those talks reportedly have been called off.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's comprehensive 'Pregame Stuff' setup here]
So, it was only natural that someone finally would ask the Gators' basketball coach about being in the middle (albeit indirectly) of an issue that pits two people very near and dear to him in a very public squabble from polar-opposite sides.
Coach?
"Honestly, not overly aware of it. Heard a couple of things, a couple of comments made to me. I love 'em both, you know," White said. "I'm out of it. No comment. I guess, I've given you a couple of comments, so that was a lie, but that's as far as I'll go. I'm a Knight fan because of my brother. Scott Stricklin's the best, I'm definitely a Gator."
Then this.
"Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, everybody."
Beautiful. But there was one follow-up probe, asking White to acknowledge the interesting dynamic of the situation.
"Honestly I don't have all the details — and I don't want to have them," he said. "I don't spend much time studying college football, NASCAR, wrestling. I think we have a unique thing, too. We have all the little [kids at home] and we're trying to score a basket [here]. I've got enough on my plate to worry about."
White's remarks hit Twitter instantly and his fence-sitting got multiple thumbs up.
As for having plenty on his plate, there's the pending matter of Saturday's date at BT&T Center, where Florida (6-4) will face FGCU (5-8), winner of three straight, in the Gators' annual spot in the South Florida hoops double-header.
UF's offensive woes continued in Tuesday night's 71-63 win over Mercer, as the Gators shot just 42 percent for the game and went 12-for-33 from the 3-point line (36.4 percent) against an opponent from the Southern Conference with a sub-.500 record. Florida led by 16 with five minutes left, but missed four of its final five field-goal tries and turned the ball over four times to allow the Bears to claw back, twice, within five.
Some clutch free-throw shooting helped preserved the win, but UF still can't find offense in the post, can't shake Jalen Hudson from his bewildering scoring slump, and oftentimes looks completely out of sync when setting up in the half court.
UF coach Mike White was placed in the middle of the Florida-UCF controversy Friday, but shrewdly worked his way out of it. That's Gators AD Scott Stricklin on the left and Knights AD (and younger brother) Danny White on the right.
White would probably be delighted to have his brother's problems right about now.
"I haven't done a great job at getting these guys to execute exactly what we're trying to do," said White, whose team is averaging just 69.8 points per game. "In all of our defense, we've switched up what we've been trying to do two or three times, overall. The overall lump of offensive concepts, if you will, has changed dramatically three or four times. I've never been a part of something like this. It's unique. It's late-December and we're still kind of searching for what fits our guys [best]. That said, as a staff, we've been a little surprised with production by these couple guys, the lack of production by these couple guys, so now it's, 'Let's re-evaluate and see what we can do to put ourselves in the best position possible.' We're going to continue every game, every week, every month to re-evaluate what we're doing and see what best fits this current team at this current time."
Maybe after that, he'll talk about the UF-UCF flap.
