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Florida Gators: New Look Now Kasey Hill Running Point

By DJoumbarey A. Moreau

Mar 8, 2014; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators guard Kasey Hill (0) drives to the basket as Kentucky Wildcats forward Willie Cauley-Stein (15) fouls during the first half at Stephen C. O
Mar 8, 2014; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators guard Kasey Hill (0) drives to the basket as Kentucky Wildcats forward Willie Cauley-Stein (15) fouls during the first half at Stephen C. O /
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Fast, quick, athletic, strong. All of these words can be used to describe the typical athletes in the Southeastern Conference, which is also one of the most underrated conferences in college basketball.

Due to the fact that most of the primed athletes in the SEC go to play major college football, we often overlook the quality of talent that the SEC offers during the college basketball season.

In the last decade, the SEC has been represented four times in the NCAA National Championship game, twice by the Kentucky Wildcats and the Florida Gators respectively.

Speaking of the Florida Gators, they are coming off of a year where they went to the Final Four.

Their leader Scottie Wilbekin (one of the most underrated college point guards ever!), has now moved on to attempt to live his hoop dreams and play professionally.

Now the scene begins to shift, as we and the Florida Gators enter into the reign of Kasey Hill. Hill is a dynamic young point guard who has all of the tools to be a lottery pick next season. He has the ability to score, manage a team and run point, he can defend and he understands how to get his teammates open. Hill could be called “Jet Life” because of his quickness and quick decision making, the man never stops playing at 1000 miles an hour.

Feb 11, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; Florida Gators guard Kasey Hill (0) dribbles the ball against as Tennessee Volunteers guard Antonio Barton (2) defends during the second half at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Gators won 67-58. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 11, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; Florida Gators guard Kasey Hill (0) dribbles the ball against as Tennessee Volunteers guard Antonio Barton (2) defends during the second half at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Gators won 67-58. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /

Coming off a great NCAA Tourney run with the Florida Gators, Hill at times looked dominant, and at other times looked out of place (and other times he just looks like Currensy).

That happens sometimes when you are playing substantial minutes at guard as a freshman (Brandon Knight, Shabazz Napier, Ryan Harrow started slowly too).

However, one of the reasons why Hill was getting 22 minutes a game from Head Coach Billy Donovan was because of the skill set that he brings. During the senior year of his teammate Scottie Wilbekin, Hill was asked to distribute (his best attribute) since Wilbekin was generally used as a scoring point guard for the team.

Wilbekin played his role for the Florida Gators and during his final season he never recorded a game where he had double digit assist.

Despite playing 10 fewer minutes per game than his senior counterpart, Hill and Wilbekin each had nine games where they had five or more assists.

In the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, Kasey Hill got the career high with 10 assists pushing the Gators to a Final Four game with the eventual, National Champion Connecticut Huskies.

Hill is a great distributor and has the ability to get into the lane. Last season in the NCAA tournament alone, he averaged five assists per game.

Nov 12, 2013; Madison, WI, USA; Florida Gators guard Kasey Hill (0) moves the ball up the floor as his team plays the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin defeated Florida 59-53. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2013; Madison, WI, USA; Florida Gators guard Kasey Hill (0) moves the ball up the floor as his team plays the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin defeated Florida 59-53. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports /

Next year the Florida Gators will be playing even faster than they did last year.

The only difference is the way that they score points will change. The Florida Gators gameplan last season was to shoot a lot of three pointers and take long jumpshots and shoot their opponents out of games against them. Their style of play worked for most of the portion of the season. The only problem with their style of play was the commonly used basketball cliche, “live by the jumper, you die by the jumper.”

Next season with Hill as the starting point guard, their team will have a bit of a different approach to their offense. The Florida Gators will be in the hands of Hill’s ability to understand when to push the tempo, and when to get a quality shot and slow the ball down.

The difference that will be seen from next year’s team from last season is that with Kasey Hill he has the ability to not only create fast break opportunities, but he is a smart enough player to breakdown defense’s in the half court setting. Hill understands timing and has the ability to move on the basketball court the way Scottie Wilbekin never had.

Having stud athletes on the will help Hill rack up his assist totals. One of the players that should have a monster season with Hill starting at point guard should be Chris Walker. With Walker’s ability to block shots and run on the fast break, there will be plenty of easy baskets for him to score.

With most of the Florida Gators roster returning from next year, they should be heavily favored in the SEC alongside with Kentucky to have an opportunity to make another long title run.

Next season it should be smooth sailing for the Florida Gators with Hill running the show, for the rest of the nation who hasn’t been exposed to his talent yet just say you already knew about him.