Recruiting analysts considered Andrew Nembhard one of the best (if not the best) pure passer in the 2017 signing class.
Humble Freshman Nembhard Unfazed By Big Point Guard Shoes to Fill
Tuesday, September 25, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — One of the first questions put to Coach Mike White during Tuesday's annual basketball media day focused on first-year point guards and whether White, set to enter his fourth season leading the Florida Gators and eighth as a collegiate coach, had ever entrusted a freshman to run one of his teams.
White tossed out the name Speedy Smith.
"He's a big reason why I'm at Florida today," he said.
Once a starting freshman point guard at Ole Miss himself, White was in his first year at Louisiana Tech (and his first as head coach anywhere) when he happened upon an under-recruited playmaker (from Boca Ciega, Fla., no less) and turned him loose in an uptempo offense. Smith rewarded White and LaTech with a staggering 858 assists over the next four seasons — twice leading the NCAA in that category — and helped White and his Bulldogs win 101 games in four years.
Yes, and get him to Florida.
So, no, White has nothing against freshman point guards. And like most coaches, he has a particularly fondness for really good ones. They're rare, to be sure, but the Gators believe the have a keeper in Andrew Nembhard, a five-star prospect on the 2017 recruiting trail and the most acclaimed signee of the White era.
The 6-foot-5, 191-pound Nembhard hails from Ontario, Canada, but was a standout at Montverde (Fla.) Academy, arguably the top prep basketball factory in the country. The likely heir to the wildly popular and record-setting Chris Chiozza, the all-time assists leader in UF history, Nembhard got his first taste of what figures to be many media opportunities Tuesday when UF, which opens official fall practice Friday, held its annual preseason dog-and-pony press show.
Nembhard was humble, soft-spoken and unassuming.
Just like he needed to be.
"Those are big shoes to fill," Nembhard said when asked about the vacancy left behind by Chiozza, a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection and all-league defender last season after leading the SEC at 6.1 assists per game and leaving UF with 571 all-time dimes. "But I'm just going to try to come in and do what I can to help the team win."
Andrew Nembhard (2) in action during his time at Montverde Academy.
Since arriving on campus for the start of Summer "B" in July, Nembhard has been competing against sophomore Mike Okauru during offseason practices. Okauru, who is more of a natural combo guard than pure point, took a few turns as a freshman backup to Chiozza last season and finished with 21 assists and 13 turnovers in 34 games.
For what it's worth, Nembhard had 13 assists and no turnovers in Montverde's win in the title game of the 2018 Geico Nationals, the so-called mythical high school national championship tournament. While playing for Team Canada in the 2018 FIBA U18 Americas this summer, Nembhard averaged 15.7 points and 8.8 assists, leading his team to a silver medal by putting on a 28-point, 17-assist show in the tournament semifinals against Puerto Rico.
This is not just a pure point guard, but one who at 6-5 and with the skills to drive and finish at the rim will give UF opponents a much different look with the ball than in recent years.
"He'll have a chance to be in the conversation to be one of the better passers in college basketball. Who knows how many assists that means, how many highlights he produces, how many minutes he'll play? I'm not sure, but that is his gift," White said. "He sees the game at a high level. He's a split-second thinker. Again, he's very intelligent. Not only is he an elite passer, he's an elite passer with size, which makes it even a little bit easier for him to deliver some passes that other guys with equal vision can't deliver."
The UF coach didn't exactly diffuse the hype.
Hey Andrew! Your coach believes you could be one of the best in the country!
"That's an amazing thing for him to say," Nembhard countered. "I'm just trying to improve every day."
His new teammates, several of whom thrived off pinpoint pitches from Chiozza the last few years, have seen the future already.
* Senior center Kevarrius Hayes: "Andrew is the best passer of our guards. He's able to get some of the most difficult passes right where he wants them."
* Junior forward Keith Stone: "Great point guard, great passer. I love his game. Sometimes he makes passes that I don't know are there. … He is very fundamentally sound. He doesn't make many mistakes when he has the ball in his hands."
* Freshman and classmate Noah Locke: "He is confident about himself and goes out there and has the mentality that he can do whatever he needs to. He is a great player, a great guard. He is in a great position to do big things."
There will be challenges along the way, of course. White listed a few of them. Most notably, making the game as simple as possible by making Nembhard as comfortable as possible in his role. The Gators won't necessarily count on him to be a leader — Hayes and fifth-year senior swingman Jalen Hudson wear those locker room stripes on this squad — but vocalizing and directing traffic are part of the point guard job description. Nembhard will have to take some ownership there.
"I need to be a general on the court," he said.
Sophomore Mike Okauru will have a say in the point guard competition too.
He'll also have to win the job. Okauru made it clear Tuesday he has no intention of simply giving it away after spending the offseason working on his ball skills and emerging as perhaps the team's most improved player. Good for him.
"Obviously, I want to fill that spot that 'Cheez' had, let's be honest," Okauru said. "But I'm a team player first and he can come to me, no matter what. On the court, though, it's just about being competitive. I was born to compete at everything I do — and he's the same way. When we're on the court, we're going at each other every day, and that is only going to make the team better."
Sounds like both guys in the hunt for the job have their heads screwed on right and their hearts in the right place.
"We'll be fine back there," Hudson said.
Nembhard blossomed into a pretty good player at an early age, and soon found himself playing with guys who were much older. Some a lot older.
How did he gain the respect of his playground teammates then?
"I just tried to give them all the ball," Nembhard said. "And win the games."
A tried and true tactic, to be sure, and one especially effective when executed better than anyone else. The Gators may not only have someone different, albeit inexperienced, on the ball this season, they might just have someone special.
Smith helped White get to Florida, but White got Nembhard to Florida. It should be fun watching where the two take each other from here.
