Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Andrew Nembhard was on the sidelines during practice last week, resting a sore knee, but the sophomore point guard was taking in every repetition on the floor. As Coach Mike White directed five of his players through a full-court offensive transition drill, Nembhard kept a watchful eye on freshman point guard Ques Glover. Something had gone wrong on the previous possession and White was trying to fix it. 

So was Nembhard. 

"Q!" Nembhard shouted. "You need to talk to them! Tell them where to go! Where they need to be!"

Glover wasn't the most heralded member of the UF freshman class, but he's shown in his short time on campus to be ready to pitch in in some capacity this season. Ditto 6-foot-11 center Jason Jitoboh, who has been a weight-room and conditioning warrior in dropping 35 pounds to put himself in position to contribute in what was supposed to be a developmental redshirt season. The other freshmen, McDonald's All-America guards Tre Mann and Scottie Lewis, along with consensus top-50 center/forward Omar Payne, have performed mostly as advertised and will be major impact players as rookies. Oh, and as for that guy Kerry Blackshear Jr., the coveted graduate-transfer and All-Atlantic Coast Conference big man from Virginia Tech, yeah, he'll be in the middle of it all, not to mention a very loud and most experienced voice — the lone "senior" on the roster — on the court and in the locker room.

Yes, all the new blood flowing through the basketball complex has a great deal to do with the enormous expectations that currently hover over the sixth-ranked Gators, who open the 2019-20 season Tuesday night against North Florida at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. But don't lose sight of the foundation the returning second-year trio of Nembhard, Noah Locke and Keyontae Johnson laid for this bunch in starting a combined 82 games last season and putting their collective stamp on the culture (and subsequent culture shift) of Coach Mike White's program, both last season and during the offseason. 

[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]

"That group has a lot of substance," White said. "They've got character, but also basketball character. They're great young men."

All three proved their mettle as freshmen in 2018-19 in helping guide the Gators to a third straight NCAA Tournament, and have rightfully held their respective places in the lineup amid the program's greatest influx of talent in more than a decade. 
 

* Nembhard, who averaged 8.0 points and 5.4 assists, was the only player to start all 36 games last season, along the way dishing the second-most assists by a freshman in UF history, finishing fifth in the Southeastern Conference in that category, and being named to the league's All-Freshman team. Maybe more importantly, Nembhard found his comfort zone later in the season as vocal leader in the locker room.

* Locke finished second on the team in scoring at 9.8 points per game and set a record for UF freshman with 81 makes from the 3-point line. He displayed a remarkable element of toughness when a sports hernia plagued him for the better part of the season's second half and took a toll on his effectiveness in shooting the ball. Locke used the offseason to recuperate (non-surgically) and returned this summer in the best shape of his life — but also with a leadership chip and upperclassmen aura that now rivals the voices of Nembhard and Blackshear.

* Johnson was elevated to starter 20 games into the season, and saved his best basketball for last when he became the first UF freshman in 20 years to post a double-double in the SEC Tournament — and he did it twice. Johnson, a freakish athlete who at 6-5 is playing out of position at the "4," averaged 8.1 points and a team-best 6.4 rebounds, but upped those digits to 11.2 and 9.8, respectively, the last five games. 

They make up the core of this team. More importantly, the heart of this team.

"Their maturity is ahead of their years," Blackshear said of his sophomore brothers. "They're guys who lead on and off the court, guys who bring a great energy, in terms of their personalities, [with] each of them having a different personality. So it's good to hear different voices out of each of those guys every day in practice, every day in the locker room, every day when we're at our apartments or whatever. And I think that their level of accountability on the court really allows the new guys, including myself and the young guys, to follow them to lead in some aspects and help add to this team."

A year ago, Nembhard, Locke and Johnson were the followers on a club that featured four battled-tested veterans (seniors Kevaughn Allen, Jalen Hudson and Kevarrius Hayes, plus redshirt junior Keith Stone) who had combined for 211 starts the previous three years. Nembhard, Locke and Johnson were the ones with wide eyes and confused faces at various times in practice. Games, too.

"Honestly, I think the freshman this year have it a little easier," Locke said. "Last year, we had a lot of guys returning who knew what was going on. Coach White was quick with his stuff and guys knew what he was talking about. It was supposed to be so simple. But for us, the simple wasn't so simple. Andrew, Keyontae and me? We had some times when we were, like, 'Whoa! Oh man.' "

Another intangible element was at work last season. The Gators of '18-19 may have had a wealth of experience, but they lacked strong personalities beyond Hayes. The lack of communication on the floor was not only pronounced, but debilitating at times.

Now, in addition to instructions from the coaches, the new guys get it from strong-willed players who went through it all last year. 

Example: The freshmen hear White shout to "deny" on defense and they default to what the command meant in high school and on the club circuit; as in prevent your man from getting the ball. At Florida, where defense is always emphasized, "deny" also means getting in the gaps, a prerequisite for just about everything the Gators try to do on that end of the floor. 

"I remember messing up on stuff, too," Johnson said. "We try to help them as much as we can, but it's also important sometimes for us to let them figure stuff out on their own … like we had to." 

Eventually, though, the learning-curve period gives way to the real thing. That process starts Tuesday night and it will soon come at these rookies very, very fast, what with a home game Sunday at Florida State to follow, and a trip next weekend to Connecticut, and so on, and so on. 

This UF team isn't as good defensively as last year's team. Maybe, in time, it will be. This UF team shares the ball much better on offense and has more playmakers than pure scorers, compared to last year's group. Maybe, in time, it will be even better. 

But this Florida team also has a different blend of experience than the last one. A kind that fosters chemistry and translates from the locker room to the bench to the floor. That's an element the best teams need, both in the good times and especially when adversity hits (and it will). 

"You just don't know how it's going to work from one team to the next, but I know this feels different," Nembhard said. "We have leaders on this team. And when guys can lead and be led, that's when we'll be at our best."