bball team building chemistry

[radbag]

Freshman guard Nick Calathes has a scar on his shin. He got it from freshman forward Chandler Parsons when the two played AAU ball for Nike Team Florida and Calathes was chasing Parsons down a hotel hallway.

Parsons threw a chair. He tosses chairs pretty accurately, obviously, and nailed Calathes in the leg. Both laughed about the incident at Florida basketball media day.

It is those kinds of stories – even sometimes painful ones – that build chemistry off the court which usually translates to better play on it. Parsons and Calathes have been friends since middle school. They've brought that chemistry to Florida and both said this Gators team of five freshmen, three sophomores and one junior has already started to develop a unity of its own.

"Usually, when high school players go to college it's all new for them," Parsons said. "I played with (junior guard) Walter Hodge on Nike Team Florida. I played with Nick my whole life. I played with (freshman guard) Jai Lucas at Nike All-American Camp. I'm used to playing with every single guard we have. I'm used to getting passes from them. We have the chemistry already coming into the season.

"(Calathes and I have) been best friends since seventh grade. He said ninth grade? He would. We played against each other in middle school. His team smacked my team by 30. Our chemistry off the court really helps us on the court. That's not just with me and Nick. All the freshmen, all the sophomores, that's all we do is hang out off the court and I think that's really going to help us."

Parsons has already gained about 17 pounds since he arrived on campus this summer and said he's in the 210 range. He credited the spike in weight to lifting every day and drinking more protein shakes.

Calathes said he's about 193 pounds and is targeting 200. Parsons is 6 feet, 9 inches. Calathes is 6-foot-6 and can play either guard position or maybe small forward depending on matchups.

"Nick came from a great high school program and was really well coached," coach Billy Donovan said at media day. "But we put our guards in a lot of pick-and-rolls and right now that's been an area he's struggled with. It's not his fault. I feel bad because one day I'm working with him and then I'm gone for four (recruiting) and I try to come back and it's not that carry over that you want. He's got the ball-handling skills in the open floor to certainly be a point guard but how he handles the ball against pressure or against quick, athletic guards, that remains to be seen.

"We have to be a team ball-handling-wise that gets the job done with several different guys with Jai Lucas and Walter Hodge. Nicky's a versatile player that he'll be all over the place. He can be a one a two and a three. When you have interchangeable parts you have guys that can play multiple positions. When you have guys that can play multiple positions, there's more to learn. So now you talk about coming in as a freshman learning a new system, two or three presses, zone offense, zone defense and all they're going to get in front of them. Then you have to tell them now you have to learn not only this spot but also another spot."

Practice started Friday night. Florida's first exhibition game is November 1 against Flagler. There is not a lot of time to implement everything that needs to be learned. There is going to be a lot of teaching and a lot of learning this season with such a young squad. Hodge is the most veteran player. He averaged 17.7 minutes and 5.5 points per game last season.

The freshmen class, the No. 1 group by Rivals.com last recruiting cycle, is still getting used to living with each other. Forward Adam Allen wished Calathes, his roommate, was cleaner. Lucas and Parsons live together, next door to Allen and Calathes. Lucas called Parsons a jokester – but said only half of his jokes are funny. Parsons said he has to be nice to Lucas because Lucas is the one with the scooter.

Calathes remembered a time when he bloodied Parsons' nose in a pickup game. Parsons told a story about how he was intimidated to go in the paint and try to dunk on sophomore Marreese Speights during a pickup game. Being a competitor, he said, he's going to take it to the rim anyway. The standard – two straight national championships – has been set at the highest level. It's now time for this Florida team to make a mark of its own.

"First two months have been great just getting used to the college campus and being so far away from home," said Lucas, who played at Houston (Texas) Bellaire Academy. "I'm used to having my mom and my dad around but now the guys and I are real close and we just spend time together and come to the gym.

"I haven't won any championships so I'm not really defending anything. You don't want to be the person people try to come in and beat up on. We just try to do what we can…(The freshmen) all knew each other from AAU trips and camps but now that we're on campus and living together we've become real close. We know everything about each other so it's a lot of fun."

[TheTodd]

It's going to be exciting to have so many unknowns going into hoops season. Almost like starting fresh. Should be a fun year win or lose.

[annarborgator]

i'm really excited about watching this team grow up again. should be a badass roller coaster ride.