I posted a new thread on the Gator Envy Forums about finding a place in the starting lineup for Patric Young. If Kenny Kadji comes back healthy, Young will have to compete with for him and Chandler Parsons for playing time. The Gators already have Macklin and Alex Tyus solidified in the starting lineup. So who is Patric Young? He’s a five star recruit out of Jacksonville, Florida. 6′8″ 220 lbs and is listed as a Center, though he’ll be more of a PF at Florida.

Florida Gators Men’s Basketball junior forward will submit his name into the NBA Draft. By submitting his name into the draft without hiring an agent, he will still maintain his NCAA eligibility should he decide to withdraw his name at a later date. Basically this lets Tyus get a feel of where he might be drafted – if he’s a projected first rounder, I’d expect him to leave for the NBA.

As rumors of Billy Donovan being pursued by other colleges (St. Johns and oddly enough, Oregon) developed during the week, many Gator fans were getting worked up. Some were saying “how could he do this to us after we took him back from the Orland Magic” and other were saying ” good – let him go, we’d rather have Anthony Grant anyway.” Well, we can put all those rumors to rest. It looks like Billy Donovan is here to stay.

Well that didn’t take long! The Florida Gators and BYU Cougars were the first two teams to hit the court in the NCAA Tourney, which started today … and it didn’t end well for the Florida Gators, who were knocked out in a double overtime loss by a score of 99-92. The Gators were down by as many as 13 points in the second half, but rallied back and actually had the lead with 41 seconds left – but BYU tied it up to force overtime.

After two years of play in the NIT, the Florida Gators are now headed back to the NCAA Tourney. The Gators finished the season with a 21-12 overall record, 9-7 in the SEC. Their performance in the SEC Tournament was OK – they beat Auburn, then fought back against a tough Mississippi State team even though they couldn’t pull out the win. However, it was enough to give them a No. 10 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament. The Gators will play No. 7 seed BYU in the first round on Thursday in Oklahoma City.