Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — On a September afternoon last year, Colin Castleton walked into the office of Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin. The Gators' standout basketball forward was on time for an appointment he'd made to address on issue on behalf of all UF student-athletes. 

They needed more parking.  
 

"I went to him very respecfully and just wanted him hear it from someone from our side, just about how big a problem it was. Every day there were guys talking about it," recalled Castleton, who at the time was on a not-so-short list of student-athletes with more than than $1,000 of back-logged parking citations. "I knew the university would do something about it, if they could, and just wanted to know if there was a way we could come to a solution — any solution — and try to find us a parking lot somewhere." 

A couple things are worth noting here. Before dismissing Castleton and his fellow Gators and what might seem like an inconvenience (albeit a costly one), understand that student-athletes who live off campus (as is the case with hundreds of them) do not get parking privileges. And yet, on a given day a student-athlete could have to go, for example, to morning conditioning workouts, then head to class, then to tutoring at the Hawkins Center (the University Athletic Association's academic hub), and eventually to practice; maybe even on the other side of campus. There had to be a way to accommodate the obvious demand, he said.  

And then there was Castleton's personal situation. He couched the entire conversation from the beginning with a fairly significant disclaimer. Though just starting his senior year, and with two years of eligibility remaining, Castleton was there on behalf of other athletes; as in future athletes. 

"Look, I'm not going to be here next year anyway," Castleton said he told Stricklin, explaining his plans to turn professional. "But you should really try to do something."

The parking situation had been on the UAA administration radar for some time, but this real-life plea hit home a little differently with the Florida AD. 

"His approach, his timing, it was almost like, 'Hey, for the good of the Gators,' because he was completely up front that he wasn't going to be around," Stricklin said. "He made a thoughtful, compelling case and motivated us to find a solution. I'm not saying we weren't motivated before, but he really centered the conversation well. And because it was such a selfless approach on his part, I think it resonated more." 

Well, well. The fall semester began last month and the men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the golf teams, tennis teams and the the rest, have their own students-athlete-only parking at the James G. Pressly Stadium, home of the Percy Beard Track. Combined with what football coach Billy Napier got done upon his arrival last winter, what with access to the north end zone grass lot during the week and now with dozens of designated spots at the new Heavener Football Training Center, parking is plentiful. 

And as far as Castleton is concerned, it just so happens the Pressly Stadium lot is right across the street from the UF basketball complex, which works out perfectly for the two-time All-Southeastern Conference honoree, who after bartering on behalf of his fellow rank-and-file Gators decided last spring to come back. He'll park his 6-foot-11, 245-pound frame in the collegiate paint for a fifth season, this one under a new head coach, Todd Golden, who was instrumental in making the Castleton comeback a reality. 

"Last year was a really big disappointment for me," Castleton said of the '21-22 season during which he played through a painful shoulder injury, ended with a 20-14 record and the program's first absence from the NCAA Tournament since 2016. "I just feel like I let the school down, let this program down. I was hurt, and that was part of it, but I'm healthy now and with Coach Golden I think it's going to be a great season."  When Stricklin addressed the basketball team last month (like he does before the season with all sports), he told the Gators they had Castleton to thank for their prime parking. For that, Castleton got a rousing ovation.

In the bigger picture, having their prime-time player back is a bigger bonus.   

"He has been better than I even expected him to be, in terms of work ethic, grinding in the weight room, his workouts, all of it," said Golden, whose first team officially begins 2022-23 preseason practice on Tuesday. "When your best players buy in it makes everything so much easier." 

Does wonders for a first-year coach in a first-year rebuild, also.

"Colin was really impressed by the new coach, but he just wasn't sure if he wanted to go back to college. I remember him saying, 'I don't want to come this far to only come this far,' " recalled Karen Bapp, Castleton's mother. "But after Coach Golden met with him, then met with my husband and I, he just had confidence that what Coach Golden was saying felt right. He decided to have the surgery to make sure his shoulder was strong and healthy, and his relationship with the coach just moved on from there and moved in that direction." 

In the Gators' favor, that is. They get a third season with the best big man to come through the program since Patric Young patrolled the paint for a Final Four team.

Parking spaces, too. 


A PATH TO MICHIGAN AND BACK TO FLORIDA 

Castleton grew up the youngest of three boys, with his two siblings 10 and six years older, respectively. His upbringing was in the military at Fort Benning in Georgia, where his stepfather, Steven Bapp, was a colonel in the U.S. Army. Sports was in the mix from an early age. Young Colin played quarterback. He was a pitcher. And there was basketball, as well. 

"The first time he played on a team was in the third grade," Bapp recalled. "All the other parents were telling us, 'You have to get him in travel ball.' I didn't even know what that was." 

She would find out, of course. Colin was good in every sport he played, but with a 6-foot tall mother and a size-12 shoe in fifth grade — about the time the family moved from Benning to DeLand in 2009— it was pretty obvious he was going to be a big kid. Basketball became his game of choice, especially after sprouting four inches, from 6-4 to 6-8, the summer after his freshman year of high school.  Castleton attended Father Lopez Catholic High in Daytona Beach, where he averaged a double-double for his career and was named the 2018 Class 7A state player of the year after posting 24.5 points, 11.7 rebounds and 5.6 blocked shots per game as a senior. He had 32 Division-I scholarship offers, with the Gators very much in the mix. 

"Florida had always been his dream school, but he was just looking for the right fit," Bapp said. 

Castleton found his fit, or so he thought, at the University of Michigan, where he fell for everything about the program, including Coach John Beilein, who had just guided the Wolverines to the Final Four. Playing time at UM was tough to come by, however, thanks to a 7-1, 260-pound redwood named Jon Teske manning the middle during both of Castleton's first two seasons. In the middle of those seasons came a coaching change, as Beilein left for the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers and was replaced by Wolverines and "Fab Five" icon Juwan Howard.

In Castleton's first two seasons, he appeared in 44 of UM's 56 games and combined to average only 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds. After his sophomore season, Howard signed 7-1 Hunter Dickinson, a McDonald's All-American and one of the top big men prospects in the nation, as part of his first recruiting class.

"Coach Howard told us he had a plan for Colin," Bapp said.

That may have been the case, but nobody had a plan for COVID-19. The pandemic wiped out the end of the '19-20 college season and, as some may recall, shut down the country. The state of Michigan was particularly tight, with Castleton, as well as his mother and stepfather, starting to wonder about a change of scenery. 

A return home made sense.  Though frustrated with his lack of playing time, Castleton did not leave Ann Arbor bitter. In fact, the experience there, he said, keeps him both level-headed and with an element of gratitude for the opportunities put before him. 

"Going to Michigan helped me in so many ways. The basketball may not have worked out there for me, but I don't regret my decision to go there because I met so many great people," he said. "Everybody has different paths and situations."

Castleton's path in 2020 brought him back to Florida, where Coach Mike White and his staff were ecstatic to get an even more polish version of the big man prospect they recruited three years earlier. The competition was supposed to be between Castleton, then a junior, and talented sophomore Omar Payne, but it was pretty much over before it started. The UF newcomer wasted no time establishing himself as the best post man in the gym and, eventually, one of the best in the SEC. 

By the fifth game of the season, Castleton had become the focal point of the team following the infamous on-court collapse of SEC Preseason Player of the Year Keyontae Johnson. He went on to average 12.4 points, 6.4 rebounds as a league rookie and helped the Gators reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where they let a chance to reach the Sweet 16 — along with a late second-half double-digit lead against 15-seed Oral Roberts — slip away. 

Castleton was even better in his '20-21 senior season, averaging 16.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and finishing second in the league in blocks at 2.2 per game. He posted these numbers despite suffering a shoulder injury during a January practice that kept him out of six games. He returned to play through the pain, sometimes magnificently (Castleton tallied 10 double-doubles on the season), but the Gators — with four transfers — never found any consistency and struggled to climb from an 0-3 hole in SEC play. A crushing, buzzer-beating overtime loss in on the second day of the SEC Tournament doomed the Gators to the NIT, though White was gone (off to Georgia) before they played their first-round game. 

It took five days for Florida to find its new coach. It took Golden a matter of minutes to figure out where his first recruiting trip needed to be.  


THE MEETING, THE DECISION 

It was spring break and Castleton had gone home to DeLand. He had plans to meet a couple of his former Michigan teammates at an Orlando Magic game. Golden, though, set up a meeting beforehand at a Panera in downtown Orlando. 

Before entering the coaching profession, Golden spent two years in sales and was very good at it. He learned the art of going both soft and hard and knew this one would require a balancing act, especially after Castleton provided a pretty definitive stance early in the meeting. In went something like this: "Coach, I'm not coming back"

No problem. Instead, Golden offered to help Castleton in any way he could as far as arranging workouts with teams, advice on agents, etc. They spent time getting to know each other. Golden talked about his coaching philosophy and about what he had achieved in guiding the University of San Francisco to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1998.

And then he had a story to tell. 

Golden talked about one of his former players, guard Jamaree Bouyea, who was all set to go turn pro the year before after what was a disappointing end to a promising season. Bouyea, though, opted to return for a fifth season and became the Dons' alpha and a first-team All-West Coast Conference selection. USF made a magical run to the tournament, capped by Bouyea's 36-point eruption in their historic NCAA return that put him on the radar of NBA teams. 

"I felt from his body language there was something there," said Golden, who even connected Castleton with Bouyea for a phone call.  After meeting with the new coach, Castleton weighed options with his family. Name, image and likeness opportunites were in play, putting a different spin on the idea of staying in school. His mother didn't try to sway him either way, but a decision had already been made. 

"Honestly, after that meeting, I just felt like I couldn't turn him down," Castleton said. 

So now comes Castleton's second senior season, one that will feature his graduation with a degree in education sciences in December, and one he hopes will end with the Gators back in the NCAA Tournament. 

He's already, basically, a walking double-double, but Castleton has worked relentlessly on his outside shooting during the offseason. Yes, even from the 3-point line, where he has missed all 17 attempts for his career. 
 

"Well, he's going to make some this year, I promise you that," fifth-year senior point guard Kyle Lofton said. 

Just like last year, Florida has a bunch of new players — four transfers again, plus three freshmen — to go with an entire new coaching staff. One of the former is Lofton, who came from St. Bonaventure, where he started every game the last four years (116 of them) and can't wait to get in two-man/high-low situations with one of the SEC's best bigs. 

"I watch college basketball, so I watched Florida play a ton last year," Lofton said. "I know what he brought to the floor before and this year he's expanded his game more with the way he's shooting the ball. That's going to help a ton — me and him — with pick-and-roll situations. He's going to bring a lot of attention from the defense."

Castleton did that the last two seasons. The third time, it appears he'll be doing it with a deeper team and more complementary players around him. A more enthusiastic bunch, he believes.

"This group is good and has a lot of energy, which is something the coaches have emphasized since they've been here. If you come in this gym, you're going to get involved," Castleton said. "That's a testament to Coach Golden, who's always talking about going hardcore and getting the most out of your time in here."  Golden had the most significant hand in convincing Castleton to get even more — as in another season — out of his time at Florida. 

Now, the rest is up to Castleton, who says there's still plenty out there for him to prove. To himself and others. 

"I feel I have to get better in every aspect of my game. I want to showcase that I can shoot the ball more, put it on the floor more, pass better, less turnovers, decision-make better, be a better leader. There's a lot I want to do and I think about it every day I come to the gym," said Castleton, who doesn't mind admitting he was miffed at not making first-team All-SEC last season. "I do have a lot left to play for. I'm putting it all on me and riding it, but I'm also not going to get too stressed about it. I have a great relationship with my teammates and my coaches. I love where I am right now."

Loves where his car is, too. In a parking spot right across the street.