Five-star point guard Tre Mann committed to the Gators on Tuesday evening over offers from North Carolina and Kansas, according to Mann’s Twitter account.
“HOMETOWN HERO” I’m 100% committed to The University of Florida 🐊 GO GATORS #GatorNation s/o @TiptonEdits for the edit 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/wMVUb9Jszr
— Tre Mann (@tre2mann3) August 28, 2018
Mann, a 6-foot-3, 170-pounder from Villages Charter School, is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 23 overall prospect in the 2019 class, giving UF coach Mike White his highest-rated commitment in his four years at Florida.
Mann is the first player to commit to UF’s 2019 class. He grew up in Gainesville as a Gator fan. Mann is a playmaker, but shoots well enough to play off the ball, and could team in the backcourt with Andrew Nembhard if/when Nembhard returns to UF for his sophomore season.
White and his staff are setting up another top class for 2019 after brining in a breakthrough class in 2018, which included his first five-star signee at UF, Andrew Nembhard, plus four-star shooting guard Noah Locke and four-star wing Keyontae Johnson.
Sun staff writer Kevin Brockway contributed to this report.
White has got his guards…..now go get the big men.
You are so right. Gotta have some big men to bring the whole thing together.
I’m not an expert and don’t disagree but I always hear the experts say guard play is what gets a team deep in the tournament. Mike is certainly checking those boxes.
Strongly agree!
Yesirrr. Now that we have an elite lead guard in the fold let’s go out and get C.J. Walker and Omar Payne two elite BIGS that defends and get buckets.
This could be a very special 2019 class.
The CJ Walker kid is special. Omar Payne transferred to Montverde from Kissimmee Osceola (you porb know this) and his stock is rising big time.
I can hear Mick now. “Tre for the trey. Book it.”
You the Mann coach! He won’t regret his choice! Keep them coming!
”Hometown” too, I can dig it! Go Gators! Seems Coach White’s very, very secret admirer, bf, is too busy weeping ’cause of this GATOR GREAT NEWS! Chomp-chomp!
Keep ’em coming, keep ’em coming! Great days ahead for the Gator round ball under Coach ‘W’.
Yes sir…he will be Silent Bob for sure with this news.
Ooh Rah! Go Gators!
88-89 Illinois? Nick Anderson, Kenny Battle, and Kendall Gill. That team made the Final 4. Just sayin’…
Steve Bardo too. That Illinois team was stacked and fun to watch.
The only thing I don’t like about these 5* guys is they typically leave after a year or two. I know there are always exceptions (e.g. Casey Hill, Patrick Young, Chris Walker, etc.) but one of the things I’ve enjoyed about Gator basketball over the past couple decades is being able to get to know and cheer for a guy for four years. Parsons, Murphy, Humphries, Wilbekin, Chiozza, Young, and Yuegette just to name a few of the many. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pumped for any five star player we can get. Just all of my favorite Gators have been guys who stuck around for four years and became all SEC type players when they were done. Chiozza and Wilbekin are two of my all time favorites because I watched them grow and improve for four years and they turned out to be some of the best. Go Gators!
The key is doing like Billy D seemingly mastered…sprinkling these guys among the 3-4 year guys.
Agree completely, Smith. It’s great to see Coach White making great strides in recruiting, but Mann won’t have a chance to contribute for another year, and even then it may take until his sophomore year to really be a force. KJV 1611 says “go get some big men”, and that’s great, but in the mean time, there’s still a season to play. We’ve got Stone, who showed flashes last season, Bassett, and Johnson and Stokes, who are 4-star guys with a redshirt season under their belts. If Gak and Hayes can be role players, and Hudson and Allen can both be productive at the same time, this year’s team can be really good. Go Gators!
Hayes a “role” player? ‘Lil Mikey likes him so well that he’s a starter!
Hayes can’t shoot, can’t shoot free throws and has the girlish hands.
Hayes is a role player alright, one that should always come off the bench.
From your post, I’m gathering you don’t think Hayes will start.
Under this coach, HAYES WILL START. Mike White, remember?
Oh, I’m sure Hayes will start, at least initially. Plenty of starters are role players. I was thinking along the lines of Will Yeguete, who averaged less than 5 points and 5 boards for his career, yet started on the 2014 Final Four team. He was stronger than Hayes and, in my opinion, had more desire than Hayes has shown to this point, but Hayes is more athletic. My point is that the Gators don’t need Hayes to be a go-to guy, just productive in some fashion, most likely with blocks and rebounds.
Joe Shiver, well said….Yes…people forget about Johnson and Stokes….who didn’t play last year. I do agree with bf on Hayes….stone hands is an understatement, but what bf fails to mention is that with the injuries, he was forced to start….and he bashes White unfairly. I “guess” what he is also saying is that it is on Mike White to have better players….but I disagree with that. People forget that he inherited a brick-laying, bad team. Hayes…he definitely has good size and shot blocks that would be great in a reserve role and I root for the guy. Not every player is an NBA guy…there are role players who are very much needed to win.
I was fully aware of the injuries. My point was that Bassett and Ballard, for example, should have had a lot of Hayes’ minutes. I’ve complained many times about White not going to the bench enough — and he’ll do the same thing this season. And now, no problem injuries have been reported and the damned guy (Hayes) is still going to start! If all are healthy and ready, who thinks Hayes should be starter?
bf, I can see your point about Bassett, although he didn’t impress early, and got hurt in the Bama game. But Ballard’s too small to play the four or five, and he shot the ball poorly all season. Hayes is certainly limited offensively, but he’s a good defender and shot blocker, and a fair rebounder, so he can play a role. If Gak is effective at center, I’d put Stone at the 4 and let Hayes come off the bench. If Bassett, Johnson, or Stokes progress, they could take time from him, but Hayes is going to play significant minutes early in the season, and probably throughout.
Wilbekin, when he wasn’t in trouble, was tough, unflappable and played with attitude. He was fun to watch. Taurean Green was similar but less flamboyant.
To me, mental toughness separates teams considered somewhat evenly matched. Duke, over the years, with their flood of big-time recruits, has lost a ton of games because their opponent wasn’t “frozen” knowing they were going to play Duke. Remember the S. Carolina/Duke game two years ago in the tournament? On occasion, when Duke gets punched in the face two or three times, all of a sudden they lose their Superman cape.
We’re not gonna miss Tripper Allen, are we? Don’t fret, Duke can always find a player America loathes.
Kasey Hill and Chris Walker were WAYYYYYYY overrated, and their time at UF showed
Yeah, and that is exactly why we should not recruit 5 Star players, right? Because, every 5 star player is just like Kasey Hill, right? Oh, no? OK, so let’s just wait and see how the players play. Thank you.
Kevin, I can’t argue with your assessment of Walker, but Hill ended up in the top 5 at UF in assists and steals. He made a significant contribution to the 2014 Final Four team as a freshman, and as a senior, he helped lead his team to the Elite Eight. Did he have trouble shooting the ball? Yes. Did he fail to live up to the extremely high expectations of fans? Probably. Was he WAYYYYYYY (did I use enough Y’s?) overrated? I don’t think so.
agree Joe……Hill was a much better defensive player but somewhat erratic on offense, which seemed to label him incorrectly.
Brockway gone and apparently shoved into News? Too bad. He recently wrote an article on a voter registration push on campus which begs my question: Were conservatives or right-leaners even allowed to register?
Based on high school rankings, this may turn into the best UF basketball recruiting class ever. Everyone knows the 04s were the best in hindsight.
It’s not even possible that any 5-star, coming to any school, could stink it up as badly as Kasey Hill and Chris Walker. Not…even…possible! So we can ditch any skepticism or pessimism toward Mann.
In fact, we could clean up the site a tad by never mentioning those two again.
I don’t care about previous 5-stars that came through the program. We’re not here to talk about the past.
Whether he will be a one and done or a 3-4 year player, no one knows at this time.
These are young kids that we’re talking about and it’s not their fault and that they were labeled all-world players (e.g. Kasey Hill/Chris Walker)
But, the one thing I know is that you have to have talented players and you have to coach them up, build a program that is consistently winning in order to attract top recruits.
Kids like to be a part of a winning tradition and that’s what Mike White is building at UF.
So for all you who are complaining about the past 5- star bust…do yourselves a favor and take the complaining somewhere else..you’re not welcome on this forum…no one knows for a fact who will live up to their 5-star ratings.
No one is talking about successful 4 and 5-stars like Bradley Beal, Noah, Mike Miller and Horford were a complete success at UF and laid the fountain of a winning tradition.
Coach White, I salute you for doing a great job..Go get the best player in the country and let’s keep it this winning tradition roooooolling!!!!
Coach White just picked up one heck of a linchpin for the 2019 class.
I love the fact that the Gators were able to keep an instate kid from leaving. The talent in the state of Florida is a giant waiting to wake. It reminds me of Bear Bryant’s quote many decades ago about the sleeping giant in Florida football. How many of these kids in the past left Florida for Duke, UNC, Kentucky and Kansas? Too numerous to count. Who knows if a 5 star will be a great college or pro player? I do know that the schools listed above have built tremendous traditions on 5 star kids. Mike White continues to build on the tradition started by Donovan. I’m excited for the future of Florida basketball.
It’s good to see so much interest in basketball this far in advance of the season.
Should be another great college basketball season PROVIDING THAT SOME TEAM…ANY TEAM… PREVENTS DUKE FROM WINNING THE TITLE.
So impressed with this young man – super addition to the Gator basketball team. Coach White is doing a great job both recruiting and coaching – tough to follow on the heels of the legendary Coach Donovan, but I am very certain White is up to the job – he has already proven his worth through his relentless dedication and hard work (thank you, Coach White – keep up your most excellent work) – GO GATORS!!!