March 17, 2011

The Gators try play defense at every position. Erving Walker may be small for a point guard, but he's quick, works hard, and is disruptive; Kenny Boynton may be small for a shooting guard, but he's quick, works hard, and is disruptive. Chandler Parsons is big for a small forward, and yet he's quick, works hard and is disruptive. Alex Tyus bounds about with great energy, even he doesn't have the cliched energy player dreads any more. Vernon Macklin is an immovable object in the middle. And Patric Young, the freshman off the bench, is a future SEC DPOY. He really is, and you can quote me. Florida have always landed good big men, and with Young in the mix, they're right back at it.

Speaking of big men, Macklin has had a good season, showing the offensive game he never previously did. The fifth year senior now has precisely one move in the post - the right handed hook shot. It works, too. And very very occasionally, he'll counter it with a lefty one, too. He also provides strong post defense, some shot blocking and good rebounding numbers, alongside God awful free throw shooting, no jumpshot, and absolutely nothing outside of 10 feet on either end. So even with his one move, he's limited. Tyus is also limited - his threats to transfer to a program that would let him play small forward never amounted to anything. Maybe he realised that it wouldn't make much sense, given that he could neither dribble nor shoot. As it happens, Tyus takes a few jumpers these days, using an unnecessarily high release with about four redundant movements in it, and they do not go in much. Nevertheless, he is still a capable finisher in the paint, brings his energetic roaming defense, does a valiant job on the interior despite being overmatched physically, and grabs some rebounds.

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