Jordan Jones is listed as one of Florida’s five newcomers for the 2009-10 season because she has yet to play in a actual game wearing the Gator orange & blue. She has, however, endured an entire year of practicing with the team without the benefit of suiting up for a game.

 

The 5-feet-9 guard transferred to the University of Florida from South Carolina following her freshman year, when she led the team in scoring her rookie collegiate season, netting 13.1 points, the fifth-highest average by a freshman in USC history, while ranking ninth among all Southeastern Conference players. Jones set the South Carolina freshman record with 97 three-pointers made and 243 three-point attempts, while shooting 39.9 percent (97-243) from 3-point range to rank third in the SEC, 31st in the nation and eighth in school history. She led the SEC and ranked third in the country with 3.03 three-pointers made per game, while averaging 34.72 minutes per game, the third-most in the SEC (all games), and seeing 37.29 minutes of court time in league games, to rank second among conference players.

 

When she finally steps on the court for the Gators’ season-opener against Stetson on Nov. 14, 2009, 601 days (or one year, seven months and 22 days) will have passed since the last time Jones played an organized collegiate basketball game.

 

Back on March 24, 2008, Jones hit 7-of-9 from 3-point range for 27 points in the second-round WNIT loss at N.C. State, one game after setting the WNIT postseason record and tied USC’s program record with nine 3-pointers (9-of-17) against North Carolina A&T in a first-round win, tallying a career-high 31 points on 11-of-23 shooting from the floor.

 

But those amazing shooting numbers don’t calm Jones’ anticipation for the 2009-10 season.

 

“This feels like my first real practice in two years so the excitement is different,” Jones shared after Tuesday’s practice. “It’s been like a new game for me. I’m a little nervous before every practice, kind of like a game feeling. I’m trying to take advantage of that because I didn’t have that feeling last year, when I would dread coming to most practices.

 

“This year, practice flies by and before I know it we’re huddling at the end,” Jones continued. “The excitement level for me, I can’t even compare it to last season.”

 

 

The Write Stuff

Each member of the 2009-10 Gator squad received a journal book during their first team gathering of the 2009 fall semester for them to write down at the end of every workout, practice, conditioning session or team meeting what they gained from that day.

 

“I want them to write about a positive experience that occurred during that workout. Even if they didn’t feel like they had a great workout or whatever, they have to find something positive and write about,” head coach Amanda Butler explained. “It’s all positive experiences and we reflect back on a positive moment.

 

“The genesis of it was that we’re challenging ourselves to be the hardest working team ever and that’s a hard thing to measure,” Butler continued. “By chronicling our journey this year, writing in a journal is one way to document how hard we’re working and make us confident that we’re moving toward accomplishing that goal. It’s been different for each player.”

 

Today after practice was the first time each team member shared one of her entries with her teammates.

 

Senior point guard Lonnika Thompson (New Orleans, La.) was the last Gator who shared a journal entry and she chose to read a quote she wrote down following the team’s first workout after receiving the journal assignment.

 

“It was my worst day of a workout ever,” Thompson shared. “I found a quote from the book ‘Talent is Never Enough’ that I liked. It read, ‘If you improve yourself, you will improve your team.’ I feel like it has definitely benefited me because it’s helped me think more about the day. It kind of feels like you have someone to talk to just by writing things down in the journal.”

 

SEC Preseason Media Poll
The Gators were picked to finish sixth in the SEC Preseason Media Poll released Tuesday, while being shutout of the individual awards that consisted of the top-10 players, as deemed by the vote of a select panel of both SEC and national media members.

 

Points were compiled on a 12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Each media member also voted for one team as an overall conference champion and a five-player All-SEC Team.

 

The SEC Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll will be released on Thursday, Oct. 29.

SEC Champion (First-Place Votes in Parentheses): LSU (12), Tennessee (6), Georgia (1), Vanderbilt (1)

Player of the Year: Allison Hightower, LSU (18), LaSondra Barrett, LSU (1), Angie Bjorklund, Tennessee (1)

Order of Finish, points
1. LSU, 206
2. Tennessee, 190
3. Georgia, 156
4. Vanderbilt, 126
5. Mississippi State, 120
6. Florida, 105
7. Arkansas, 92
8. Auburn, 85
9. Ole Miss, 70
10. South Carolina, 61
11. Kentucky, 40
12. Alabama, 24

First-Team
Ashley Houts, Georgia
Angel Robinson, Georgia
Allison Hightower, LSU
Alexis Rack, Mississippi State
Shekinna Stricklen, Tennessee

Second Team
C’eira  Ricketts, Arkansas
LaSondra Barrett, LSU
Bianca Thomas, Ole Miss
Angie Bjorklund, Tennessee
Merideth Marsh, Vanderbilt

 

-UF-