Florida basketball: Gators deservedly ranked high in preseason poll

Kind of hard to believe we are already thinking about Florida basketball when Florida football is only half over.

Associated Press voters expect Florida basketball to make one of the biggest jumps this season and indicated that with the men’s preseason Top 25 poll.

Without a ball being tipped in anger on the court, Florida basketball has earned the No. 6 overall ranking in the preseason poll.

Last week, Florida basketball was picked to finish second in the SEC behind Kentucky.

And, we have graduate transfer Kerry Blackshear as well as point guard Andrew Nembhard to thank for our recent poll blessings.

(Oh, and on another note, Florida is the only program in the country to have both its men’s basketball and football team ranked in the top 10 — just thought you should know that).

If you remember, Nembhard considered jumping to the NBA after his freshman season where he shot 41% from the field — including 35% from 3-point range — and 8 points, 5.4 assists and 3 rebounds per game.

He later pulled back on that decision and elected to return to Gainesville.

Thanks, Andrew! Good decision.

Then, there’s Blackshear.

The sweepstakes for Blackshear was rampant, but Mike White and Florida basketball came away with the 6-foot-10 forward graduate transfer from Virginia Tech.

Oh, did we mention, he was recently named SEC Preseason Player of the Year?

Blackshear adds a dimension to the Gators most thought they may be without this season: experience in the paint.

At Virginia Tech, Blackshear averaged 11.2 points and 6 rebounds over his 103 games with the Hokies. In three NCAA tournament games, Blackshear averaged 17.3 points and 9.3 rebounds.

If the Gators had not picked up Blackshear, their inside forward would have either been 6-11 freshman Jason Jitoboh (who’s actually listed as a center), 6-9 junior Dontay Basset (who’s averaged a shade over 2 points and 2 rebounds per game in the last two seasons) or 6-11 Australian junior Gorjok Gak (who is back after a redshirt year following off-season knee surgery).

So, as you can see the height inside was a little bare until Blackshear was signed.

I think Blackshear and Nembhard warrant a No. 6 national ranking, especially considering they are playing the much weaker Southeastern Conference.

Voters are banking on Blackshear and Nembhard being dramatic impact players — and I believe they are right for doing so.

With 10 on the court at a time, two can make a huge difference.

Oh, and it’s also safe to mention that Florida basketball has NO seniors on the squad. I just wanted to point that out.

Florida basketball will have its exhibition game at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29 against Lynn University. They open the 2019-20 season at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center against North Florida at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 before hosting Florida State Nov. 10.

Their first SEC game will be Jan. 4 in Gainesville against Alabama.