Florida Pursuing Horford

Submitted by alum96 on

Obviously there is a connection there due to his brother but it is interesting Horford is leaving one Elite 8 team for another a Final Four team.   If he does land there it would quite a landing spot in terms of basketball and we'll definitely get to see if Horford's family's view of his skill set is realistic (and by definition he was being held back by Beilein's "emphasis on guards / wings") as UF plays a more traditional brand of bball.   Morgan seemed to do ok in this system last year as did Mitch but we'll see.

LINK.

Ghost of BCook…

April 17th, 2014 at 12:42 PM ^

Elite Eight team to a Final Four team, actually....  Don't know how many people expected him to transfer to a BETTER team, that's crazy. 

DavidP814

April 17th, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^

And this season will be one year ago next year.

The programs are about equivalent at this point--which (!!!!!) is unbelievable when I think about how sweet it was to see Michigan competitive w/ Oklahoma in a 2nd round game just 5-6 years ago.

And I can see it from Florida's perspective, given this site's analysis of all potential grad transfers available.  Horford seems about as good an option as any out there.

Tuebor

April 17th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^

But I thought he was transferring for academic reasons because he is so insightful.  He is published in HuffPo for cyring out loud.  Then I remembered, General Studies.  I still think he ends up at Central.

 

This interest Florida has is probably just Billy Donovan throwing Tito a bone.

BursleysFinest

April 17th, 2014 at 1:10 PM ^

  Horford never said it was academic reasons, that was one reason people guessed before he made a statement...Anyway, seems like Horford wants a chance to play with his back to the basket more, something Beilien's offense doesn't have a lot of. In his shoes, getting that chance to prove himself is probably worth the risk since he's still leaving here with a degree. Good Luck to him.

alum96

April 17th, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^

Don't beieve everything you read on the internet.

That was rampant speculation by message board posters who knew as much about it as you or I.  Until it came out after the fact his family had wanted him to transfer just about every year he was here, I think most of us didn't realize what pressure he was feeling from home and/or that he felt he was being underutilized to this degree.  So the first thought was "zen Jon" wanted to go find himself in an Ivy or Stanford or something. 

That's the beauty of internets - we all speculate on things we know little of.

Tuebor

April 17th, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^

He is leaving my basketball team. 

 

How is anything I said personal?  General Studies is a major at UM that is widely considered a crutch for athletes.  I even mentioned an accomplishment of his outside of athletics.  He wrote an article for HuffPo so I believe he has some interest in journalism.  CMU has a journalism department. 

 

My comment about his transfereing due to academics was pointed at mgobloggers who seem to think Horford is some super philosophical guy.  People were actually perpetuating thoughts that he would transfer to an Ivy League school when the news broke he was leaving.

 

You could say my post was negatively directed towards the General Studies Department.

WolvinLA2

April 17th, 2014 at 2:29 PM ^

So what you're saying is his general studies degree hasn't held him back at all?

I know a lot of non-athletes who were general studies majors. I was a sociology major, which unless I were to go on to be a sociology professor, is no different from a general studies major. The only difference is that I could have subbed out about 25 credits of 300-400 level soc classes with Econ, psych, Spanish, philosophy, or whatever else interested me. In fact, had I know what I was going to do for a living it probably would have been more beneficial for my career because it would have been more well rounded.

This whole general studies thing has been blown way out of proportion as if a general studies major just takes 120 credits of stats 100 and gets a degree.

Tuebor

April 17th, 2014 at 2:40 PM ^

I knew a guy who switched from LSA computer science to general studies.  He wanted to do computer games not just corporate coding so he mixed in art and design courses with programming.  I have no idea what Horford's academic background is but the stereotype of GS majors is there.  Can't help that JMO has 2 engineering degrees either.

FreddieMercuryHayes

April 17th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^

Hmm...I don't know how I feel about this. I mean I want him to succeed, but I don't know how I like the perception of that after Horford's words about Beilein's system and big men. I'm sure UF could use the experience though after like losing everybody.

Gulogulo37

April 17th, 2014 at 1:15 PM ^

I don't get this. The guy worked hard here for 4 years, and assuming McGary's back, he's only going to be a backup anyway. As for what he said about Beilein's system, everything I heard was entirely accurate. Wasn't Michigan right around the very bottom of the list for most post touches in college ball this past year? You can love Beilein and Michigan and still admit the obvious fact that it's not an offense predicated on feeding the post and letting a guy go to work down low.

Autostocks

April 17th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^

Frankly I don't care where he ends up.

Thanks for your contributions to the team while you were here, bro, and good luck in the future unless and until we play against you.

Everyone Murders

April 17th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^

I think his brother is a Florida alum (I recall him saying last year that he'd cheer for UF over MI in last year's NCAA tournament because MI mistreated Jon by playing McGary so much), so this is not terribly surprising to me.

Best of luck to Jon wherever he ends up.

Genzilla

April 17th, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^

I love Jon, but he's not Al Horford, despite the fact that his family seems to think he is. Jon's a good player, but he's not an NBA talent.

mackbru

April 17th, 2014 at 2:30 PM ^

I don't know. He got plenty of opportunity this year. When Mitch went down, the door was wide open. Horford did fine in spurts. But he really got pushed around by top-caliber bigs. And his offense is limited. Also, M's system is ideal for finesse big men: movement, transition, lots of second-chance opportunities. If he thinks Florida is gonna use him as a go-to player, I think he'll be disappointed.

 

bronxblue

April 17th, 2014 at 2:48 PM ^

Well, considering UM was down to Morgan and Donnal at the end of the year and Horford still couldn't grab more than a couple of minutes a game, at some point "I need more time" doesn't jive with "I am an asset on the court."  I'm sure Dakich wished he had more time to play as well, but you have to earn it by being better than the other options your coach has on the team.  I'm not questioning Horford or his desire to move to a different program, but this idea that he wasn't given 4 years to earn more playing time is silly and just a smokescreen for (what I suspect) is family pressures to make it to the league and the idea that Beilein and his system is holding him back.