Florida coach Billy Donovan said that he spoke with former UF guard Teddy Dupay briefly following his arrest on charges of rape, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault.
“He feels like he needs to take care of some things and that maybe the story that’s out there is not all truthful,” Donovan said during Wednesday’s SEC summer basketball teleconference.
“Anyone that you know in a situation like that, you feel for them. It’s a difficult situation, but at the same time it has to be a difficult situation for the girl, what she is going though right now.”
Dupay was a member of Donovan’s second recruiting class and a key player in UF’s run to an NCAA runner-up finish in 2000.
Some other comments from Donovan from the teleconference:
- On the loss of Marreese Speights: “We’re obviously losing our only guy who provided a semblance of post offense. Dan Werner is probably our most seasoned frontcourt player, so one of our biggest questions again this season is up front. We have three freshmen coming in (Eloy Vargas, Kenny Kadji and Allan Chaney) that are young. Alex Tyus played last season and gave us some good minutes. I don’t think there’s any question Marreese’s departure creates a void, and I think for our team right now with what we’ve lost, we’ve got to raise our level of play and our freshmen are going to have to come in and contribute right away.”
- On starting three guards last season, and if he intends to start three guards again next season: “There weren’t a lot of options last year. We had seven scholarship players. I thought Chandler (Parsons) had a difficult time defensively last season. We were left playing Adam Allen and Chandler and they gained some experience. We bring in Erving Walker and Ray Shipman, so it will give us some more depth at guard but it remains to be seen how that will impact things moving forward.”
