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Its been just three days since Quinnipiac’s Kevin Marfo announced his intention to transfer, but the soon-to-be graduate, has heard from many of the major programs and a number of the top head coaches in the nation.
One year after landing the top transfer prospect in the country (Kerry Blackshear), Florida head coach Mike White is once again in contact with what would be another major addition to his team’s frontcourt.
Marfo has played the last two seasons at Quinnipiac after transferring after his freshman year at George Washington. In 2019-20, the 6’8, 245 lb forward, averaged 10.2 points and a nation’s best 13.3 rebounds per game.
The development, however, is what has coaches foaming at the mouth. Marfo averaged just 5.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in 2018-19 before breaking out this season.
Marfo told 247Sports, “I want to test myself against the best in college basketball.”
Time will tell if White will be able to land a massive prospect for the second straight year.
Florida Gators basketball junior forward Dontay Bassett has entered his name in the transfer portal, according to college hoops analyst Jeff Goodman. The junior dealt with injuries this season that limited him to averaging 1.2 points per game and just 1.7 rebounds per game.
Bassett only appeared in 17 games for the Gators, and did not start any of them. He suffered a knee injury and a calf injury during the season that limited his playing time.
A former three-star prospect, Bassett ranked as the No. 290 overall player in the country coming out of Oldsmar Christian in Florida. The 6’9″, 236-pound forward now has the ability to play at any school in the nation.
Bassett played a total of 114 minutes for the Gators, going 7-of-15 from the floor for the season with 21 points scored. He went 7-of-12 from the free throw line and 0-of-2 from beyond the arc. For his career, Bassett scored 141 total points in a Gators uniform on the court with 583 total minutes played in 61 career games with three starts.
Just days ago, the Gators lost Gorjok Gak to the transfer portal as well. Now, Mike White and the Gators are down two big men that played roles on the team.
With the season now done early due to the coronavirus, the Gators have time to find two replacements. While it is unclear yet as to where Bassett will land, all options are on the table for the junior looking for a new home.
The state of Florida has passed a bill allowing college athletes to profit off of their own name, image and likeness effective July 1, 2021.
Earlier this week, the Senate approved the bill 37-2. On Friday, The House voted to pass the bill to Gov. Ron DeSantis, 98-14.
BREAKING: Florida House has passed bill allowing college athletes to earn $ from name, image & likeness beginning July 2021. Also passed by Florida Senate.
The bill goes to Florida Governor DeSantis for approval. Effective date earlier than CA by 2 years. Great job @ChipLaMarca!
If Gov. DeSantis provides his signature (which he has previously stated he would), Florida will join California in having name, image and likeness (NIL) legislation. However, Florida’s law would be in effect eight months before California’s.
In addition to start date, Florida’s bill differs from California’s in a few ways.
Florida legislators do not reference the NCAA in the law and for that reason, they believe that it will be less vulnerable to being challenged legally by the governing body. California, conversely, explicitly states that the NCAA can’t keep athletes or schools with athletes that are being compensated for their NIL from participating in collegiate athletics.
Florida’s law outlines NIL compensation as follows:
• “Compensation must be commensurate with the market value of the authorized use of the athlete’s name, image and likeness,” but the bill does not define market value.
• Compensation can’t come from the school, only a third-party not affiliated with the school.
• Schools, boosters and other fundraising groups can’t compensate or cause compensation for athletes, prospective or current.
While various NCAA groups have their eyes set on rule changes after the convention in January 2021, the governing body itself views this legislation as a violation of the commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution. The clause states that only Congress has the authority to regulate intrastate commerce.
Photo by Florida / Collegiate Images via Getty Images
Amid the coronavirus outbreak — which has officially been distinguished as a pandemic by the World Health Organization — the Southeastern Conference and the University of Florida have suspended all spring sports competition effective immediately through March 30.
University President Kent Fuchs sent an email to UF students on Wednesday, informing them that the school would fully transition to online-only classes by March 16, advising students to go home and stay there through the end of the month.
According to a release, the Gators Ticket Office will refund ticket purchases for sporting events that were scheduled to take place during the conference and increasingly nationwide hiatus, as all five major conferences have officially cancelled their respective basketball tournaments.
The University’s Athletic Association says that athletes will still practice as scheduled, but “will not travel or participate in competition.” Football’s spring practices, which start March 16, will now be close to the public, and coach Dan Mullen’s public speaking tour is no longer happening.
In addition, the Gators lacrosse team will adhere to the rest of the school’s athletics policy and suspend competition, despite the fact that its a member of the American Athletic Conference.
The #7 Florida Gators took the first of two meetings with the #12 Florida State Seminoles at home on Wednesday night by a score of 5-2. Florida improves to 23-4 (15-2 at home), while Florida State drops to 17-7 overall (2-1 on the road).
Game Summary
After surrendering an opposite-field solo home run to Elizabeth Mason in the first inning, Florida southpaw Rylee Trlicek settled in smoothly. The freshman threw 4 innings while allowing 2 earned runs on just 2 hits.
In the bottom of the third, Florida pulled off an impressive 2-out rally to take its first lead of the game. Kendyl Lindaman reached base safely on a bloop-single into shallow right field. 3-hole hitter, Charla Echols, followed that up with her team-leading 8th home run of the season to give the Gators a 2-1 lead. Seminoles centerfielder, Kaley Mudge, nearly robbed the home run, but the ball had just enough juice on it to clear the fence untouched.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Florida State second-baseman, Morgan Noah, led off the top of the fifth with a double to left field. Following the extra-base hit, Florida made the first pitching change of the game as Gainesville native Katie Chronister entered the circle in relief for Trlicek. After advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt, Noah beat Chronister’s throw home on a chopper that barely reached the pitcher’s circle to tie the game up at 2 runs a piece.
In the bottom half of the inning, Florida State pulled starting pitcher, Caylan Arnold, after she gave up a 2-out double to Hannah Adams. Florida head coach, Tim Walton, said after the game that he was pleased with the Gators’ offensive performance against a “pretty good pitcher” in Arnold. Considering Arnold entered tonight’s game with a jaw-dropping 1.14 ERA, “pretty good” is an understatement.
Sophomore right-hander Kathryn Sandercock replaced Arnold in the circle and faced a rough welcoming as Kendyl Lindaman went yard for the 7th time this season. Lindaman’s opposite-field-2-run homer put the Gators back on top, 4-2. Following the game, Tim Walton called Lindaman a “special kind of hitter” and noted how he “doesn’t take anything for granted with [Lindaman].”
Florida added an insurance run in the sixth on Cheyenne Lindsey’s RBI-single to extend its lead to 5-2. Pinch-runner, E.C. Taylor, scored from second base on the play after filling in for Julia Cottrill after Cottrill reached base on an error by the right fielder.
In the top of the seventh, Natalie Lugo tossed a quick 1-2-3 inning to secure her 6th save and Florida’s 23rd win of the season.
Notable Stats
Florida improved 27-7 all-time vs FSU
Florida is now 20-6 vs FSU under head coach, Tim Walton
Lindaman (2-2, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB)
Echols (1-1, 2 RBI, 1 R, 2 BB)
Trlicek (4 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K)
Lugo (2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K)
Pitching Decision
Win: Chronister (3-0)
Loss: Arnold (5-3)
Save: Lugo (6)
Looking Ahead
The Gators will continue their homestead this weekend as the #24 Baylor Bears come to town for a 3-game series. Meanwhile, the Seminoles will travel north this weekend for their first conference series of the year against Duke.
It was just one of those nights. Florida faced a pair of lefties that proved nearly unhittable on Tuesday and dropped a 2-0 decision to their rivals from Tallahassee.
How It Happened:
The Seminoles capitalized early on a misplayed blooper to left by Reese Albert that plated Tyler Martin for a first inning lead.
While Florida’s starter, Nick Pogue was erratic, he still limited FSU to just one run. Pogue, however, was only able to last three innings before giving way to Tyler Nesbitt.
Nesbitt tossed three scoreless frames, and retired the side in order in the sixth.
Christian Scott entered in the top of the seventh and gave up a double and a single, before striking out the side.
It appeared that the Gators had swung momentum back to their dugout as FSU made a change at the mound, bringing in freshman lefty Parker Messick.
Although Jacob Young extended his hitting streak to 18 in the inning, Messick struck out the side.
Kendrick Calilao led off the eighth with a single, but a pair of strikeouts and a fielder’s choice completed the opportunity for the Gators.
Messick completed the FSU win with a strikeout of pinch hitter Kris Armstrong, recording his first collegiate save in the process.
Individual Stats:
Pogue: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Nesbitt: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
McMullen: 1-4, 2B
Young: 1-2, BB
UF Lineup: 3-29, 2 BB, 14 K
Pitching Decision:
W: Antonio Velez (1-0)
L: Nick Pogue (1-1)
S: Parker Messick (1)
What’s Next:
Florida will open SEC play against rival Georgia. The series will begin on Friday with the first pitch slated for 6:30 PM.
The #7 Florida Gators prevailed over the Penn Quakers on Tuesday afternoon in the first ever meeting between the two teams. Florida improves to 22-4 overall (14-2 at home), while Penn drops to 7-6 (0-2 on the road).
Game Summary
Senior first-baseman, Kendyl Lindaman, got things started for Florida’s offense in the first inning when she cleared the centerfield wall for her sixth home run of the year. The solo shot gave Florida an early 1-0 advantage.
After surviving Florida’s batting order one time through without imploding, right-handed pitcher Jennifer Brann faced a rude awakening the second time through. Leadoff hitter, Hannah Adams, led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run of her own to right-center. Brann, however, managed to escape the inning having given up just two runs. Still, the Quakers trailed the Gators 2-0 entering the fourth inning.
In the circle for Florida, sophomore right-hander Elizabeth Hightower cruised through the first three innings without allowing a hit. In the top of the fourth, however, Penn loaded the bases and finally broke the shutout on Clare Sebastianelli’s sacrifice fly. Following the hiccup, Hightower managed to work her way out of the jam before Natalie Lugo took the circle the next inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Hannah Adams once again delivered for the Gators, knocking her second solo home run of the game, this time to dead center. After the game, Florida head coach, Tim Walton, said Adams has “really come into her own” and “has become a lot more confident in her work.” Walton attributed Adams’ recent power surge to her mentality, claiming that she is “trying to hit the ball harder” as opposed to simply making contact.
Florida would carry a 3-1 lead all the way through the seventh frame, when Natalie Lugo recorded the final three outs to notch her 5th save and Florida’s 22nd win of the season.
Individual Stats:
Adams (2-2, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB)
Lindaman (2-2, HR, RBI, R, BB)
Hightower (4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 5 K)
Lugo (3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K)
Brann (6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K)
Pitching Decision:
Win: Hightower (4-0)
Loss: Brann (5-2)
Save: Lugo (5)
What’s Next:
The Gators will look to extend their winning streak tomorrow night at 6 ET as they take on #12 Florida State in the first meeting of the Sunshine Showdown.
As the weekend approaches, Florida will prepare for a 3-game home series against the #24 Baylor Bears. As for Penn, the Quakers will travel back to Philadelphia where they’ll face Yale in a 3-game home series this weekend.
Two weeks ago, I squaked about the Florida softball team lacking offensive depth outside it’s first three batters: Hanah Adams, Kendyl Lindaman and Charla Echols. But in the weekend’s three massive SEC-opening wins over Auburn, a lot of production came from two UF underclassmen, which could very well be a taste of more to come. Sophomore Cheyenne Lindsey and freshman Julia Cottrill hit a combined 13 for 20 with six RBIs, five doubles and seven runs scored over the tilt with the Tigers. Lindsey knocked an RBI in each game, finishing with five. She also legged out her second triple of the season and stole a base. These flashes show tremendous progress, as she continues her ascenst from an ACL tear suffered in her senior year of high school. Meanwhile, Cottrill is cementing her spot as the Gators’ regular catcher. She has made just one error behind the dish and has caught five of the eight runners who have attempted to steal a base on her. Plus her .356 batting average and team-leading eight doubles (three of which came against Auburn) are a fresh addition to the UF lineup, so much so that she’s finding a more consistent placement in the top-half of the order. In three of the last four games, Cottrill batted either second or third. The offensive diversity didn’t stop Lindsey and Cottrill; Lindaman and Echols only accounted for 15 percent of UF’s hits (5 of 34) and just one of its 18 RBIs against Auburn. The Gators are also finding alternative methods to get on base and score. Freshman Baylee Goddard has been hit by an NCAA-leading 16 pitches this season, four more than second-place. With the aid of those plunks, Goddard leads UF in on-base percentage (.545) and stolen bases (5) and ranks third in runs scored (15). These new means of production proved almost frivolous against Auburn, as Florida outscored the Tigers 19-1. However, they’ll be essential if this UF team is going to continue achieving at the elite standards set in the previous decade.
***
Current Record: 21-4 (ranked No. 7 in NFCA Coaches Poll)
Last Week (Monday-Sunday): 4-0 W 3-1 vs. Florida Gulf Coast (Wednesday) W 6-0 vs. Auburn (Friday) W 2-1 vs. Auburn (Saturday) W 11-0 vs. Auburn (Sunday)
Offensive Player of the Week: Cheyenne Lindsey Lindsey was easily Florida’s hottest hitter last week’s four contests. She was 9 for 13 with five RBI, two doubles, a triple and five runs scored. Lindsey is now second on the team in batting average (.397) and is the only Gator to hit a triple, doing so twice this year.
Pitcher of the Week: Rylee Trlicek After a short and unforgiving outing against Louisiana, it was quite encouraging to see Trlicek bounce back against an SEC rival in Auburn. The freshman gave up just nine hits and two walks in 12 scoreless innings against the Tigers. On Friday, she became the first freshman in Florida history to toss a complete-game shutout in an SEC opener.
Upcoming Games: Home vs. Penn (Tuesday, 2 p.m.) Home vs. No. 12 Florida State (Wednesday, 6 p.m.) Home vs. No. 23 Baylor (Frida, 6 p.m.) Home vs. No. 23 Baylor (Saturday, 1 p.m.) Home vs. No. 23 Baylor (Sunday, 1 p.m.) The Gators have a tune-up in Penn before its first of two showdowns with No. 12 Florida State. However, the weekend series with No. 23 Baylor proves particularly interesting based on how unbelievably tough the Bears are when they’re hot, and how vulnerable they are when they’re not. Baylor secured a season-opening 8-0 win over then-No. 23 Auburn, a 2-1 victory over No. 18 Minnesota, a 3-2 triumph over No. 20 Arkansas and a 2-1 win over FSU. However, they also suffered a 3-0 loss to Missouri State, a 7-3 defeat to Villanova and and 1-0 head-shaker to UT-Arlington. Mark Stine is a contributing writer for Chomp Talk. Follow him on Twitter @mstinejr.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Florida baseball is off to its best start in the 106 year history of the program.
The Gators amassed a 5-0 record last week against three different in-state schools. More impressively, was the variety of ways they pulled out the wins.
Florida was powered to victories through much of the week, but even pulled out a 2-1 win to clinch a series sweep of South Florida on Sunday.
The one constant, though has been the pitching. As a staff, UF is only allowing 2.43 earned runs per game and are allowing just 1.05 WHIP through 16 games.
So let’s get right into the wrap-up:
__________
Overall Record: 16-0
SEC Record: N/A
National Ranking (D1Baseball): 1
Last Week:
3/3 at FAU – W 7-3
3/4 vs FAMU – W 5-0
3/6 vs USF – W 9-1
3/7 vs USF – W 15-5
3/8 vs USF – W 2-1
Pitcher of the Week: Tyler Nesbitt, Fr.
1-0, 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
This was such a difficult decision as virtually every pitcher that took the mound for the Orange and Blue was highly effective.
The choice though came down to a freshman making his first collegiate start and striking out eight over just four innings of work on Wednesday. The Rattlers were only able to get two base runners in the first innings. The Gators would win the game and extend their winning streak to thirteen.
Player of the Week: Nathan Hickey, Fr.
7-13, 4 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, 3 BB
This may have been the easiest selection of the season as Hickey was absolutely raking this week.
The freshman backstop became the first Gator since 2017 to homer in four straight games and he reached base in 10-16 plate appearances, despite not playing in Tuesday’s game against Florida Atlantic.
Note: Hickey was named the SEC’s Freshman of the Week, the conference announced on Monday. What’s Next:
In what could be considered their most triumphant meet of the season, Gator Gymnastics won at Penn State with an enormous team total of 198.1. Accolades and records have abounded for this team throughout the season, and this meet added yet another feather to its cap – 197.940 is Florida’s new NQS after this weekend, breaking the program record for highest NQS.
Competing in home territory for star and Pennsylvania native Trinity Thomas, the Gators were pretty pumped as the meet began. Barring disaster, this meet was always going to be a win for this team, so head coach Jenny Rowland took that extra breathing room as an opportunity to explore the depth of the team’s lineups some more by mixing around the order and switching a few gymnasts in and out of some events. Bars was a perfect example, as the lineup contained all the same competitors as usual, but Payton Richards was moved to the anchor position instead of serving as leadoff.
While this didn’t necessarily change anyone’s scoring potential, it definitely changed the team’s energy, especially after new leadoff Amelia Hundley made an unfortunate error and swung over the wrong way on a handstand, causing her to come off the bar. The Gators have had very few pressure situations on bars so far this season, so it was great to see them bounce back and put up five solid scores after Hundley’s fall. Rowland has said in the past that every fall gives the rest of the lineup an opportunity to step up and “have each others’ backs, to compete with confidence and compete what they know that they do in the gym every day.”
The bars squad did exactly that last night – each team member stepped up to the mat, competed a clean set, and did what they knew they could do. Rachel Gowey was the first to do so, following Hundley with a big press of the reset button for a huge 9.925. Savannah Schoenherr and Trinity Thomas were also highlights, as always, scoring a pair of 9.95s for their detailed, patient efforts. Thomas came so close to perfection that the only thing she was deducted for was the slide back on her dismount.
Vault also saw some lineup shakeup, as Richards was taken out to rest and Nya Reed returned to the lineup after several weeks of illness. Sierra Alexander became the first Gator of the night to achieve perfection, earning a 9.95 – the highest score possible for the vault she competes, a Yurchenko full. This was the second such mark for Alexander this season, showing that she may be capable of this kind of score consistently – that could be huge for Florida’s vault score.
The vault rotation wasn’t without its adversity, either. Alyssa Baumann had kind of a stutter step landing, only earning 9.725, and Reed’s first vault in over a month didn’t go so well: she had to safety roll out of her Y1.5 after overpowering it so much she almost fell forward. However, Schoenherr and Thomas came back to finish out the lineup with a pair of gorgeous Y1.5s, both with small hops, for a 9.875 and 9.9 respectively.
The biggest takeaway from vault this week is that Florida can be competitive, but the whole squad has to turn it on on the same night. In terms of comparison between the Gators and their main competitor for the national title, the Oklahoma Sooners, their biggest weakness thus far has been vault. If everyone can compete like Alexander and Thomas did last night, there’s a way higher chance that Florida can actually take the title, but if the Gators have to count any flubbed vault landings at nationals, they’d hand Oklahoma a lead they likely wouldn’t be able to come back from.
Floor saw a massive lineup shakeup, with Hundley, Richards, and Johnson-Scharpf all resting while Halley Taylor and Schoenherr both made their competitive debuts. Gowey got the nod for the leadoff spot this week, earning an enormous 9.925, a new career high for her. Taylor’s competitive debut featured a strong full-in, adding another E pass to the long list of difficulty the Gators are capable of, and a stuck double pike, though her double salto pass in between was low, so she only scored a 9.75. Schoenherr’s first competitive routine followed, and despite a bouncy start with her double tuck, she earned a 9.925 for her efforts – another new career high! Reed redeemed herself after difficulties last week at Georgia, earning a 9.925 as well. Baumann was the anchor as usual, closing out the night with a fourth 9.925 for the Gators. The team’s 49.7 floor total marked a new season high, both on floor and for any event total.
But it was Thomas who was finally rewarded with her perfect 10.0 after she nailed all of her tumbling passes and showed off every musical moment of her engaging, intricate choreography. The arena was absolutely electric throughout her routine, with both Gator fans and Pennsylvanians alike cheering for her at top volume. Though some Gator fans may be disappointed they didn’t get to see Thomas’s first floor 10.0 at home, it’s a safe bet that Thomas is glad that this is where it happened – her whole family and her home gym were all in attendance to share this moment with her. “I was really excited to come back home for the first time in my entire career. So many people were here to support me and it was really great to perform for them tonight,” she told the York Dispatch. Young gymnasts swarmed her after the competition, and Thomas was more than happy to take pictures and sign autographs.
Beam was a bit of a rollercoaster for the Gators, but they still continued their streak of scoring 49.5 or better on beam, making it a whopping seven weeks in a row that they’ve achieved that mark. That will be a hard record for anyone to beat in the future, for sure. Richards led off with a solid 9.9 to start things off, and though Hundley had some bobbles for just a 9.8, Baumann reset the vibe with a rock solid performance and earned a 9.95. This set Gowey up to earn her first-ever perfect 10.0, a mark well-deserved after four years of impeccable beam work and a fabulous routine this week.
However, after Gowey, disaster struck Thomas’s routine – the sophomore missed her punch on her beam dismount, only earning her a 9.675 for a low and wonky landing with several steps. Luckily, Clapper was calm and collected in the anchor spot, allowing the team to drop Thomas’s score in favor of Clapper’s 9.925.
Since this meet was not on a tight timetable for television broadcasting, the Gators had the opportunity to let several athletes exhibition throughout the night, in a continued exploration of the team’s incredible depth. Clapper showed a bars set that could easily slot into the early lineup, Jazmyn Foberg showed her full that has made the lineup once before this season, and Skaggs showed that she could be ready to go on beam at the drop of a hat. The depth on this team continues to be an asset to it, as Rowland can rest athletes when she needs to without worrying about how she’ll fill out a full lineup or being concerned about scores taking a hit.
Despite the beam error, Thomas still won the all-around handily, with a 39.525, as well as floor and a share of the bars title. Schoenherr tied her for that bars title, while Gowey took beam and Alexander took vault. The Gators scored an enormous 198.1, equaling Oklahoma’s total from this week and becoming the only other team to tally three 198+ scores this season. While there were a few questionable scores here and there, the fact that Florida scored that number away at a school in a conference known for lowball scoring means that this is a very realistic picture for what it’s capable of in postseason. That’s good news for both fans and the team: it means that the Gators have what it takes to win. They just need to keep cranking out performances like these.
Keep an eye out in the next few days for a special analysis feature about Florida’s chances against Oklahoma and the other national title contenders by the numbers. Follow @mycluttereddesk for all your gymnastics news and @ChompTalk for all your Florida athletics news on Twitter – we’ll see you for senior night this Friday, March 13 in O-Dome against TWU.
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