UF, which returns two starters from a 24-win NCAA Tournament team, was impressing in blowing out two closed-scrimmage opponents by more than 30 points each.
UF Opens Amid Somber Undertones in Jax
Monday, November 4, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Will Richard had completed a standout first collegiate season at Belmont that garnered him Ohio Valley Conference All-Freshman Team honors. Richard, an all-state guard and state champion from the Atlanta area, was not highly recruited out of out of high school, hence his signing with a mid-major program. Richard, though, entered the transfer portal after his big rookie season. Amir Abdur-Rahim
The day Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim called, Richard was no longer a mid-major prospect, but rather a player fielding calls from the likes of Virginia, Alabama and Florida. Abdur-Rahim, who'd tried to recruit Richard previously, wasn't calling on Kennesaw's behalf. Or even on behalf of South Florida, which was pursuing Abdur-Rahim as its next coach.
As it turned out, Abdur-Rahim was calling to check in with a player he respected and to offer advice, if needed. Abdur-Rahim knew the coaches recruiting Richard, including a couple on the UF staff, and had some thoughts on the Gators. Positive ones.
"He knew I was good enough to play at this level, even from high school, so he was one of the those guys that definitely was genuine and believed in me," Richard recalled last week. "So, yeah, it's tough."
Abdur-Rahim, who worked basketball version of miracles at the wastelands of Kennesaw and USF, died Oct. 24 due complications from a surgical procedure. The coach who flipped Kennesaw from a 1-28 record to an Atlantic Sun Conference title and NCAA Tournament berth, and USF to a program-record 25 wins and first regular-season conference championship in just one season, was not only a rising star in the profession but universally beloved. His death rocked the school in Tampa and left a cavernous void in the USF community.
But the season goes on.
No. 21 Florida and South Florida will open the 2024-25 season Monday night at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, where a venue drenched with pregame emotions eventually will give way to the echoes of squeaking sneakers, shouting coaches and cheering fans.
"It's obviously a tragic situation for everyone involved," UF coach Todd Golden said. "We feel an incredible amount of sympathy to the players and the people in the program, and also Amir's family and everything they're going through."
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
The UF traveling party has a number of members who had relationships with Abdur-Rahim (in some instances, very close ones). Once the game starts, however, all parties will need to gather themselves and focus on the matter at hand.
Senior wing Will Richard (5) returns for a third year in the UF starting lineup.
For the Gators, ranked for the first time to start a season in five years,i that'll mean proceeding with their goal of building on the huge strides the program made in Golden's second season, when the team went 24-12 for the most victories since 2017, played in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game for the first time in 10 years and played in its first NCAA Tournament since 2021.
That tournament berth ended with a first-round exit at the hands of Colorado, but also by virtue of a soft defense that was 94th in the nation last season and surrendered nearly 87 points a game in the month of March.
Since gathering for the start of summer workouts and on into preseason, UF has spent huge blocks of practice time working on its ball-screen and on-ball coverage, which showed itself in the form of 41.8-percent defense (just 32 percent in the first half in opening 21-point lead) against College of Charleston in the second of two closed preseason scrimmages nine days ago. After the Golden core staples of fierce competitiveness, playing fast and taking care of the basketball, defense will be on the minds of everyone on the Florida bench.
Florida coachTodd Golden will take a 40-29 record on the Gators' sidelines into his third season.
"We've put a lot more time and effort into it this year," said Richard, citing the squad's improved communication and rotations as the biggest strides on the defensive end of the floor. "That's really been a key for us, just making sure everybody is in their spots whether we're icing it to the sidelines or [funneling] in the middle."
Richard and preseason first-team All-SEC senior guard Walter Clayton Jr., the club's scoring leader last season, are the lone starters back, but the line of returnees is longer, with sophomore forward Alex Condon, an All-SEC Freshman team honoree last season, opening the '24-25 season as a starter.
Three first-year Gators will make their UF debuts, with fifth-year guard Alijah Martin (formerly of Florida Atlantic) and 6-10½, 255-pound sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu (Washington State) in the starting unit. The third transfer, reserve junior forward Sam Alexis (Tennessee-Chattanooga), will play a bunch.
Alexis is from Apopka, Fla., but has never played a college game in his home state. Until now.
"I always have butterflies before games," said Alexis, who will have a handful of family in the building. "I'm sure this game will no different, just that I'm a Gator now and playing at a much higher level."
Fifth-year veteran guardAlijah Martin(15) averaged more than 13 points per game over his last three seasons at Florida Atlantic.
On that front, it'll be up to the coaches and older players to help settle in everyone in.
"I expect us to go out there and play super-hard and play for each other offensively and defensively," said Martin, a veteran of 124 college games after helping lead FAU to 60 wins over the last two seasons and its historic run to the 2023 Final Four. "And I want the young guys to get a chance to make some mistakes and get that over with early and learn from them. That's all part of it."
What is not supposed to be part are the emotional underpinnings that both teams – but especially the Bulls – will have to deal with before the tip.
After that, the season is on.
"Just build off of our offensive success last year and, like we've talked about a lot, just making sure we can get in the ballpark defensively of being a really good team," said Golden, who wants to cut his team's defensive rating from a season (94th nationally) preferably in half. "That's not going to be easy to do, but I do think if we're able to accomplish that, it will give us a good landing spot for where we want to go."
The intended destination: Further than last season. Preferably much further.
