* Second in a series looking at the UF men's basketball spring signees.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When freshman point guard
Andrew Nembhard announced April 12 that he was entering the NBA Draft underclassmen pool it may have taken the Florida fan base by surprise, but not the Florida coaching staff.
Twelve days earlier, when
Ques Glover, a point guard from Knoxville, Tenn., gave a verbal commitment to the Gators, that also caught the UF faithful by surprise.
These two developments were not coincidences.
Ques Glover
With four scholarship openings to work with due to a quartet of transfers (one at midseason, three at the end of the season), the Florida staff's plan was to find a true backup point guard, knowing full well that Nembhard, following a solid All-Southeastern Conference Freshman Team season, might test the NBA waters. After two years of playing without a true second playmaker — shooting guard
KeVaughn Allen was never comfortable taking reps for
Chris Chiozza or Nembhard — Coach
Mike White wanted more of a sure thing capable of taking the ball. The Gators knew they had McDonald's All-America combo guard and incoming freshman Tre Mann on the way and that Mann would be a good option to run the offense when Nembhard was on the bench.
But if Nembhard left?
Who then?
With the addition of Glover, who led Knoxville Bearden High to the 2019 Class 3 state championship, the Gators have themselves covered and then some.
Glover, just 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, had about 20 offers from various mid- to low-major programs, with Yale among the highest on his list. But UF assistant coach
Al Pinkins, with ties to Knoxville having worked a season as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee, watched Glover almost single-handedly destroy three-time defending champion Memphis East and 6-11 center
James Wiseman, the nation's top-ranked prep player bound for the University of Memphis, in the state title game in late March. Glover scored 24 points and dished seven assists to just two turnovers, as Bearden ran away for an 83-68 victory. Glover was named tournament MVP.
The next day he had his first high-major offer and took it, much to the dismay of UT locals who the following week watched as Volunteers standout junior point guard
Jordan Bone announced he was turning pro. Some other schools tried to get in the recruiting mix late, but Glover stayed solid with his commitment and signed with the Gators last week.
OK, first things first: Just because Glover is smallish and from Tennessee do not compare him to Chiozza, who was a first-team All-SEC player and one of the top point guards in the country as a senior. That's not fair to either player. Glover is not Chiozza. And, frankly, Chiozza, a top-50 prospect at the time, wasn't Chiozza when he first got to UF in the fall of 2014 and as a freshman went on to score just 3.9 points on less than 39 percent from the floor and a woeful 48 percent from the free-throw line, while posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of less than 2-to-1.
Give Ques Glover a chance to be Ques Glover.
Oh, and this also: The signing of Glover is in no way an indication that Nembhard has made a decision not to return to UF. It did, though, provide insurance. More than that, it gave the Gators a different look at the position than either Nembhard or Mann. Though he may have to tighten up his handle some, Glover has blistering speed with the ball, which means — with coaching and reps — he could become a wicked weapon against the press, as well as a pest when it comes to picking up in the full court on defense.
To that latter point, remember how the Gators struggled to defend smaller guards like Auburn's
Jared Harper, LSU's
Tremont Waters and Mississippi State's
Lamar Peters? Now, they have someone to counter opposing point guard speed.
Offensively, Glover has a really nice shot that he can go get when needed; and with decent elevation. He scored more than 2,000 points over his career and as a senior averaged 21.1 points on 56-percent shooting from the floor, 44 percent from the arc and 85.3 from the free-throw line. Throw in 3.6 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.
Now, what happens if Nembhard returns? Great news, that's what. The Gators will have a potential all-league sophomore point guard back, plus a scorer/playmaker in Mann, and now a change-of-pace rookie in Glover that will give White the option to play fast. Who knows? Maybe Glover sits out the season as a redshirt and gets a developmental year.
Whatever the case, the Gators feel confident they will have depth and versatility at an important position where their starters logged too many minutes the last two seasons.
* Part I: How Jason Jitoboh Fits In
