* Fifth in a series looking at the UF men's basketball spring/summer additions.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The massive overhaul of Florida's 2019-20 basketball roster is complete.
Finally.
Tyree Appleby won't arrive until the start of the fall semester next month, and per NCAA transfer rules won't play until the '20-21 season, but the former Cleveland State standout helps solidifies the point guard position for Coach
Mike White through 2022.
Older brother Raheem Appleby starred for Mike White at LaTech.
The 6-foot-1, 165-pound Appleby is no stranger to the Gators' staff, the bulk of which came to UF by way of Louisiana Tech, where Appleby's older brother, Raheem, scored 1,770 points and under White became one of the best players in program history. Tyree, though hardly a decorated recruit out of Jacksonville, Ark., made the most of his two seasons as a mid-major playmaker in the Horizon League.
Cleveland State wasn't very good last season (the Vikings went 10-21 and Coach Dennis Felton was fired), but Appleby averaged 17.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists over nearly 31 minutes per game, while shooting 42 percent from the floor, 38.9 from the 3-point arc and 78 percent at the free-throw line. His turnover average of 3.4 was a tad on the high side, but might have been a reflection of how much he was asked to do in his role on a struggling team. He has some pitbull in him to go with speed, quickness and a penchant to push the ball in transition. Throw in (how should I put this?) a fearlessness when it comes to shooting the basketball. Why not? He made 42 percent of his wing 3s last season, including over 50 from both corners. Appleby scored a career-high 37 points against Bowling Gren and carded the only triple-double in Cleveland State history with 19, 11 and 11 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Yes, he's got offensive game.
Defensively, Appleby is solid, with his advance metrics showing 70-percent stoppage in man-to-man situations, but also some improvement to be made in pick-and-roll coverage. Appleby is ultra-competitive, so combine that trait with a year of working with UF's outstanding defensive coaches and that part of his game figures to grow.
Now, about the upcoming year.
As a traditional transfer (like former LaTech forward
Anthony Duruji, but unlike Virginia Tech grad-transfer
Kerry Blackshear Jr.), Appleby must sit out the '19-20 campaign. That's OK. The Gators appear stocked in the backcourt with returning starters
Andrew Nembhard and
Noah Locke, plus the arrival of two freshmen in McDonald's All-American combo guard
Tre Mann and speedy point
Ques Glover. With Nembhard having gone through the NBA underclassmen process following his freshman year, it's safe to assume he'll do so as a sophomore — and it only makes smart business sense to prepare for Nembhard not returning next time.
So Appleby provides cover at the point.
Point guard Tyree Appleby (1) averaged double-figure scoring (14.3 points per game) and shot better than 36 percent from 3-point range over his more than 60 career games at Cleveland State the last two seasons.
Along with Glover, the Gators don't have to sign a "1" next recruiting cycle (and can focus on signing a "big" to replace Blackshear) because they'll have a veteran guy already with a year in the system and more than 60 Division-I games under his belt.
Make that two tried and true mid-major performers — Duruji and Appleby — in the fold as a transfers, meaning their roles for this season are cut and dried. They're not going to play. This is an underrated facet of signing sit-out guys, a practice Billy Donovan embraced in the last few years of his UF tenure. Sit-out guys are here to develop in the system, become part of the culture and make their teammates better by pushing them at practice. Because they can't play in games, that means they don't pine for or pout about minutes, which in the case of '19-20 reduces the UF rotation to 11 players. If freshman center
Jason Jitoboh (all 6-11 1/2, 323 of him) takes a developmental season, the rotations shrinks to 10. That may impact available depth, but also is good for defining roles and more evenly distributing minutes.
Appleby will be the eighth newcomer to a program that graduated three players and had five enter the transfer portal, the latest coming earlier this month when power forward
Isaiah Stokes (in joining Chase Johnson,
Keith Stone,
Mike Okauru and Deaundre Ballard) announced his decision to leave. That's a lot of attrition for one season, but also not necessarily a bad thing, given White's stated goal heading into the offseason of fixing his overall culture. With that, however, comes the need for some serious chemistry to be developed in a short amount of time, with a bunch of guys who are basically strangers to one another.
That process, though, already has begun.
It will take yet another step when Appleby shows up in August.
* Part 1: How Jason Jitoboh Fits In (April 25, 2019)
* Part 2: How Ques Glover Fits In (April 26, 2019)
* Part 3: How Anthony Duruji Fits In (April 29, 2019)
* Part 4: How Kerry Blackshear Fits In (June 28, 2019)
* Related: Class of '19 Full of Potential Starpower (Nov. 16, 2018)
