Mike White has always been known as a defensive basketball coach, and for that reason Florida’s last two seasons were campaigns he’d like to improve on.
In 2020-21, the Gators were 41st in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency, the metric most accepted as gospel when it comes to evaluating college basketball teams. Now, 41st wasn’t great, but it was an improvement from the year prior where Florida was 61st.
This was a major departure from White’s early years in Gainesville where the Gators finished 14th, 5th, 24th, and 16th. It’s worth noting that in those last two seasons the Gators were young, undersized, and not particularly athletic–yet they still found a way to keep the ball out of their hoop at a high level.