Colin Castleton named Preseason First-Team All-SEC

On3 imageby:Zach Abolverdi•10/19/22•

ZachAbolverdi

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Colin Castleton has been named preseason first-team All-SEC, the league announced on Wednesday following a media vote. The fifth-year forward opted to use his extra year of eligibility to return to Florida and build off his two previous All-SEC campaigns for Todd Golden’s inaugural season at the helm.

Castleton announced he was coming back to UF to play for Golden on April 11.

“Just him recruiting me back basically and talking to my family,” Castleton said of what convinced him to stay, “and then just giving me the pitch of what he saw this year and what he’s gonna bring to the table for me and the team, and what we can accomplish. Not just me personally, but also as a team, so all that stuff was great. When he talked to me, he talked to my parents, and they agreed with my decision to come back.”

Castleton was the lone preseason All-SEC selection for the Gators, who were projected to finish seventh in the conference by the media. Preseason SEC Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe and the Kentucky Wildcats were picked to win the league.

Castleton averaged 17.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in SEC play last season (16.2 and 9.0 overall) on the way to earning coaches second-team All-SEC honors. He had 10 double-doubles last season, the most by a Gator since Marreese Speights had 10 in 2007-08.

Castleton torn his labrum in January but returned to the starting lineup after six games, playing the final 12 through the injury and postponing surgery until after the season.

Castleton said he returned to full strength in early September.

“I’m 100 percent now,” he said. “You don’t realize it until playing five or six games on one shoulder how it really does affect you. And like it definitely affected my games in ways. I wasn’t blocking shots with my left hand and wasn’t trying to rebound with my left hand, because the first game back I went up and, like, injured it more. So, you kind of just realize, ‘OK, you have to go about it a different way.’

“With the rehab process, it’s a mental thing, too. Like, the (torn) labrum, you’re able to play on it. And it might not be the smartest, but I just really love playing basketball so that was just something I thought I would just do. There wasn’t really too much thought about it. I kind of just went with it, and then before every game we would do a bunch of rehab on it.”

The native Floridian has the opportunity to climb UF’s all-time blocked shots list, entering the year 10th with 116. He also sits 250 points away from 1,000 points as a Gator, a milestone only Dorian Finney-Smith has reached as an incoming transfer to Florida.

Castleton has an opportunity to earn All-SEC honors in three straight seasons, which would mark the first Gator to accomplish the feat since Kenny Boynton did so in 2011-13.

Preseason All-SEC teams

First Team All-SEC

Nick Smith Jr.ArkansasGFr.6-5185Jacksonville, Ark.
Colin CastletonFloridaF5th6-11250Deland, Fla.
Oscar TshiebweKentuckyFSr.6-9260Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Sahvir WheelerKentuckyGSr.5-9180Houston, Texas
Santiago VescoviTennesseeGSr.6-3192Montevideo, Uruguay

Second Team All-SEC

Brandon MillerAlabamaFFr.6-9200Antioch, Tenn.
Jahvon QuinerlyAlabamaGSr.6-1175Hackensack, N.J.
KJ WilliamsLSUF5th6-10250Cleveland, Miss.
Josiah-Jordan JamesTennesseeGSr.6-6224Charleston, S.C.
Zakai ZeiglerTennesseeGSo.5-9171Long Island, N.Y.

SEC Player of the Year

Oscar TshiebweKentuckyFSr.6-9260Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Predicted Order Of Finish

1.Kentucky
2.Arkansas
3.Tennessee
4.Auburn
5.Alabama
6.Texas A&M
7.Florida
8.LSU
9.Ole Miss
10.Mississippi State
11.Missouri
12.Vanderbilt
13.Georgia
14.South Carolina

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