College basketball season is upon us.
The Florida Gators’ preseason practices have begun and head coach Todd Golden spoke to the media on Tuesday afternoon.
The second-year head coach feels the team accomplished a lot in the offseason and they’re ready to show off the improvement, especially with the team’s newcomers.
“I thought we had a very successful offseason,” Golden said. We added nine guys on scholarship so quite a few new faces out there, but we’re fortunate enough to be able to work with them in the summer so we got to spend some good time together this summer.”
“So now the important thing is making sure guys are on the same page, getting guys to play together and making sure that those are things we continue to work through. But, overall, I would grade this as a positive summer for sure.”
There are few drills the Gators have focused on since their early exit in the National Invitational Tournament last season. Golden has elected to primarily work on rebounding, both offensive and defensive.
He says the team needs to substantially improve in order to survive in the SEC.
“It’s really the best offensive rebounding league in the country and the numbers say that,” Golden said. “It’s also a poor defensive rebounding league, and I think a lot of that has to do with the shot blocking and the athletes in the league. I do think we’re deeper and that we have the ability and the capacity to rebound better.”
But we have to do it and once the season starts we’ll learn but, really, once we get into SEC play is when we’re going to figure out if we have what it takes. That’ll be a big determining factor in how good we can be.”
Golden says improvement on the rebounding front needs take to place, it negatively affected the Gators last season and changes to the team is a good start.
“It’s an area we’ve got to make a jump this year,” Golden said. “Last year, we thought we weren’t going to be able to get back in transition and be aggressive on the glass and it really hurt us in games so we adjusted. This year, we have to be able to do both and I think we have the personnel to do both.”
Golden also stated he wants to utilize his forwards for defensive rebounding and speed up in transition.
“I think especially in this league, you have to be able to create second-chance opportunities,” Golden said. “The guys we brought into the program I think will be able to do that better this year.”
The Gators tip off the season with a clash against Loyola on Nov. 6, broadcasting over the radio on the Gators Sports Network. That will follow the scrimmage game, taking place on Nov. 2.
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