Orange and Blue Hue » How Florida Can Still Punch its Ticket

How Florida Can Still Punch its Ticket

Through all the joys and perils of 2007, through all of the laughing and crying, through all the doubts and worries and fears, the Gators have one last chance to save a season… or at least end it on a high note. With an eye for the future, I present five potential future scenes:

Overly Optimistic Scenario: Florida wins the tournament and becomes four-time SEC champion

Result: They’re in. There’s no way in heck that a tournament champion gets snubbed by critics.

Alternative Overly Optimistic Scenario: Florida makes tournament finals but loses

Result: If they can, at a very minimum, keep the game close, they’re in. Since they beat Alabama and Mississippi State, and possibly Kentucky, in this situation ,there are a few more marquee wins to add to the resume. The road to the SEC goes through the Volunteer State, so expect an opportunity for a marquee game.

Somewhat Optimistic Scenario: Florida loses in semifinals

Result: Tough call here. Will the bracket-makers give a 23-12 team with three marquee victories a chance? Maybe, but they should expect a high seed and a smackdown by a top-10 ranked team.

Somewhat Pessimistic Scenario: Florida loses in quarterfinals

Result: No way, Jose. You’ve blown your chance against the Bulldogs, and you fully deserve what’s comin’ to ya. Welcome to purgatory, otherwise known as the NIT.

Overly Pessimistic Scenario: Florida loses in first round

Result: Do I really have to say more?

Either way, it’s make or break time. The Gators could perenially tease the Big Dance big brass by winning good games, laying an egg or two, and going back to winning, but there’s no such luck in the tournament. One loss, and there are no second chances. Gulp, I can’t bear to watch…

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Because of the timetable the committee is under I think winning or losing would only effect seeding and UF would be in either way. There’s a possibility that as preference to the defending champs we could get in at just 23-11. Less likely but not out of the realm of possibility.

I think their performance in the last 10 games keeps them out of the dance. Honestly, as good as they looked earlier in the season, we can now see it’s because of opponent, not because of how we played. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see them in, especially if they happen to come here to Tampa.

Maybe we can be the team everyone else complains about and says they shouldn’t have gotten in.

If we make the finals of the SEC Tourney, we are in - win or lose. Anything else and we are out.

My prediction is an opening round loss to Alabama.

Other than keeping the streak of NCAA tournaments alive, making it and getting embarassed in the first round really does nothing for this team.

What encourages me is that this team can compete with anybody… they just didn’t win too many of those close ones. We lost decisively early in the season to OSU and FSU. Then, regroup to have a great start to conference play. We come within a skosh of beating Vandy and Kentucky twice, Tennessee once (and don’t forget, even in the “blowout” at UT, UF hung tough for 35 minutes before hitting the wall.)

Not making excuses for what happened — we lost, we deserve what’s probably coming. But you have to admit the future looks bright if we can just get these guys to buy in to Donovan’s philosophy for 40 minutes per game.

We gave you all the beat down at Kentucky and just let you all back in the game because we felt sorry for you guys. We took you all into overtime down in Fla. Good luck in the NIT!

That yarn makes just as much sense as FOX News announcing that President Bush will seek a third term.

Yeah, well good luck losing in the first round of the big dance.

I think the future looks bright - so long as Kadji and Vargas are for real.

Overall record:
Kentucky- 86
Florida- 34
I do like vacationing in Florida. Universal Studios is wonderful. Spiderman is the best ride ever! I also love Clear Water! I also love Vince!

National Championships in the last 30 years:

Kentucky-2
Florida-2

Ummm, I’ll take that as a compliment, John.

We won one in ‘78. So that would count as “in the past 30 years” which means we have won 3 in that time frame. What is wrong can you guys not count. Is that why you all mess up our voting every four years?

Actually, he’s got a legit point.

If you were to count the numbers in a span, including the beginning year, you subtract the two numbers as normal, but add one to the result.

For example, the number of pages in a book from 1-50 is 50-1=49+1=50

Extending this to the example, what he probably means is from

2008-1979=29+1=30

So Kentucky and Florida won two titles each from 1979-2008.

However, if it’s from 1978-2007, you’re right.

Yea people always mess that up. At least this season was a little more unpredictable than last season eh?

It’s 2008, so I’m counting the current year as one of the ‘last 30′ I know it’s hard for you UKats to count the current year because you always seem to be living in the past!!!

UK: the SEC team for the 20th century
UF: the SEC team for the 21st century

How can you be the team of the 21st century while playing in the NIT? Speaking of the current, I believe we won the last game with like 6 players playing.

SEC titles in the past 30 years…UK 12 Florida 2
All-time SEC tourney titles….UK 25 Florida 3
All-time SEC titles…..UK 43 Florida 4
All time heads up record kentucky leads 84-30
Last matchup…Kentucky won
Looks like it’s an uphill battle for Florida supremacy in the SEC…more like an upmountEverest battle

I beg your pardon, but for that matter, how can you even be the team of the 20th century when you’re the 1946 and 1976 NIT champs?

Yeah, you’re seeing properly. Not only have your ‘Cats played in the NIT, they won the NIT…twice. And they’ve been led there by none other than the Brown-Suited One himself.

Yeah, I know it was better back then, but a name is a name is a name. You ‘Cats sure do keep a lot of skeletons in your closet.

“Last matchup…Kentucky won”

And the seven before that?

You Florida guys are absolutely ridiculous. Dan nailed the comparisons of the two schools with facts. And you still don’t get it! I guess with your nearsighted arguments you can say that Tennessee is the premiere college basketball program in the SEC (since history means nothing in your arguments) and Florida is a middle of the pack program in the Eastern Division of the SEC. Once again with your arguments, history means nothing and the present is the only thing with which we have to judge.

They can buy a ticket and sit in the seats to watch the Wildcats play.

I think John and me should be running this blog, Vince can still hang out though, as long as he doesn’t make fun of the red baron ever again.

“I think John and me should be running this blog”…

And that sentence’s cruddy grammar shows exactly why you’re not…

UK fans hired a medium so that Billy G could talk to Rupp from beyond the grave.

Ya, that set us back a few pennies but it was well worth it. His words were beat Florida twice in a row, and they will go back to caring about football only. Then he said “What the heck is that on Billy D’s head”
Now Gatorhippy, that wasn’t very nice…I ain’t ashamed of my kentucky edumacation

As for running the blog, you have A Sea of Blue and Cats Pause to discuss Magloire vs. Speights or whatever. Run those. This is our house.

Gatorhippy,

I am a college professor. I am not kidding. I teach 3 classes each semester at a small liberal arts school here in Kentucky. My grammar and Dan’s I’m sure is perfectly fine. So do not call people on grammatical errors on a blog. If you get the point then that is all that matters. Enough of that…I visit Madeira Beach each summer in Florida and absolutely love it. Florida is a great place to go and visit. However, UK is a better basketball program and all of you know it.

Vince, wherever I am is my house!
Seriously…have you ever visited the horse farms here in Lexington? Absolutely beautiful. Looking forward to visiting Madeira Beach this summer! It is right next to Treasure Island.

I can tell you’re more of the nomadic type.

But, now, I need to bring up a very important point, one I mentioned in my Tim Tebow two-minute drill blog. After all, you’re the college professor, and I’m the inquisitive college student (Not a joke.)

Why do we rate our basketball programs and our NFL quarterbacks the way we do? Are we truly making objective decisions, or are we just having a “he said”-”she said” discussion?

I believe that before we randomly stamp UK as #1 or UF as #10, we must first ask ourselves what the standard is for a great school.

National titles? No, not by themselves. Otherwise, UCLA is #1, UK is #2, and UF is tied for #6.

Final Fours? Certainly not! UCLA is #1 (17), UNC is #2 (16), Duke is #3 (14), and UK only #4 (13) Please correct me if I missed any schools in this range.

Number of coaches with national championships? That’s a good start. UK is #1 with 4 and UNC #2 with 3.

Conference championships? Tough one. UK undoubtedly has more SEC titles than either Duke or UNC, but the ‘Cats haven’t had major competition in the conference, well, not from the 1940’s to the 21st century anyway. However, Duke and UNC have to beat all the ACC creampuffs AND each other. They have fewer titles, but more competition.

See what I’m getting at here?

My point is that UK fans take a historical viewpoint for their superiority. The ‘Cats have more tradition, and thus more prestige.

However, we Gator fans are modernists. We believe that past glory means little unless it is backed up by contemporary results.

Neither of us are really wrong, but we see the same situation through different glasses. In fact, if you look at the top of the website, you’ll see our motto, “The world through Gator-colored glasses”

History or not, I give the ‘Cats partial credit for maintaining excellence throughout the 40’s and beyond. That’s something perhaps no other basketball programs except North Carolina and Indiana can claim.

Vince,
Are you really just a college student? You write very well and I truly enjoy your website. Please do not call me the “professor”. I do not believe I am any different than anyone else and have never acted that way. I am a fan of UK and that is all I claim to be. My comment was a response to the putdown of Dan. Just thought there was a little bit of stereotyping in that comment.

Yup. In fact, not only am I a college student, I’m a first-year math major. Yea, makes about as much sense as Peyton Manning hitting the hardwood.

As for the professor thing, I did it out of respect. I have a lot of diverse teachers at UF, and not all of them in the classroom (Whoops, didn’t mean it like that.)

I’ll be honest here, I actually enjoy this site above a number of other UF fans sites, like tebowzone.com, because I get to debate with guys like you and Dan.

You’ve made my time here both enjoyable and somewhat irritating. I guess that wouldn’t have happened if a Pitino disciple started coaching here twelve years ago.

Maybe if we were at or near the top in just one of the categories you mentioned, then I would agree with you dear Vince. But as you see and stated yourself, we are at the top of nearly every one, including the most telling stat, all-time victories. Fact number two is that the ACC was not always as great as it is, perhaps, today. Much like Florida football, Duke basketball isn’t exactly a long-standing tradition in terms of winning every year. As far as the modern age goes, we still have more SEC titles in the last decade than any other SEC school. We have the longest running NCAA tournament streak and our down years(2006, 2007) are defined by us making the second round of the NCAA’s. Kind of like the Yankees, making it to the world series or the playoffs just isn’t enough. If you are the Blue Jays, or in this case, the Gators, always going to the tourney is considered a great success. Many Florida fans try to say we were too hard on Tubby and we expect too much, then the next sentence is something about how we’ve sucked recently. Well, it can’t be both. In the eyes of the blue and white faithful, our teams have been down lately. But most programs would take our bad seasons in a heart beat. I very much so liked the past two florida teams, but I think this year’s squad is much more telling of the type of coach Billy D is, and the type of performance that is required in Florida. Just like Florida fans wouldn’t put up with Zook in football, we don’t put up with mediocrity in basketball.

Way to bring it Dan! Vince, I was in graduate school at UK when Kentucky went on the great run in the ’90s. I know how much fun it is when your school wins championships. I know you have been having a lot of fun! But it is over and Kentucky is coming back to rule the world! Going to go check out what is going on at kentuckysportsradio.com. Also, Spring Break should be up for you guys soon if not right now. Be safe!

Either way, you can’t argue with either Donovan’s results or Kentucky’s history.

As far as success is concerned, these things take some time. It took six years for Kentucky to go from a Final Four appearance to a national championship, just like it took six years for Donovan. You can’t judge the development of excellent teams by short-term growth.

We’ll get some athletic big men, maintain a solid core of players, and start doing some postseason damage. But you couldn’t tell it by looking at this team alone.

Just like some other people I know…

hey Vince what year are you? I’m a junior

First-year junior. I’m a freshman by age classification, but I’m listed as a junior by virtue of college credit earned in high school and in prior terms.

wow. Howd u get to know GP and KG?

John, I think you may take yourself a little too seriously…

Still it’s a jesting comment made in jest on a Gator homer blog…

Relax…

Interesting tidbit though to test the truth of your claims…

I played two years of NAIA football and soccer at a now defunct historical Eastern KY liberal arts institution…

Without me naming the city within which it was located, can you name it?

BTW - I was in Lex the night UK beat UMass in the FF enroute to that last NC…

Had a fantastic time out on the street as the bars dumped out…

Must have took ten shots of Beam from some yahoos that kept driving around the block in front of Millenium(?) downtown…

Really wanna know, GB?

I googled “Tim Tebow” and they were one of the first entries.

Then, I wrote some stuff as a guest columnist and they were impressed.

Finally, they invited me to join the crew and I accepted.

Yeah, that’s how it happened. Am I right, RF and SR?

Better get used to the mediocrity….until you get back to the top (and you aren’t really that close), I will contend that the Kentucky dominance in the SEC is ancient history.

You are only as good as your last season and UF and UK split their games this season and will net a total of zero championships, so it looks like we are about even.

Interesting Vince nice work

Kentucky will win the SEC tournament. Florida should be cut off from the rest of the union. Good luck in the NIT. Gatorhippy is a clown.

Gatorhippy does not know his b-ball, Kentucky beat Stanford then Utah to win their last title. I guess forgeting history when you used to go to Pikeville Community College and your team just got dropped by a 4-12 squad is understandable.

What goes around…

That’s right Vince, you chose to celebrate Patterson’s injury, now your team and Patterson will both be watching the NCAA’s from a seat…except Patrick’s will be on the sidelines, Florida’s will be on their couch or at the hotel waiting to take on Temple in the NIT.

You can say all you want, but I thing at least we understand that our team just wasn’t very good in this rebuilding year.

You, on the other hand, are still living in the 70s and think UK is just going to roll to another SEC title. Think again.

What I meant was, you mocked Hippy back for mocking you back about the whole education thing.

I hope Tennessee channels all their rage into a rout of UK.

Think again Mr. Ski, I remember several months ago you saying something to the effect of “Have fun in the NIT”. Now it is your underachieving team headed there. UK is in a rebuilding year this year to, we have only two seniors and no juniors, not to mention the injuries, yet we are likely headed to the dance. Living in the 70s? Nah, I’m living in today. Today, we are once again headed to the dance. Today, Florida is still soft as cotton and got punked by an aggressive Bama squad. Billy D should have gone to Orlando while he had a chance.

In that case, I consider Pitino’s decision to coach the Celtics one of the wisest moves he ever made.

And if numbers alone determine how good a college basketball program is, then you need to win the next four national championships in a row just to match UCLA. Your hopes of being America’s #1 basketball team got Bruined.

Florida people are dumb. Please do not screw up our next Presidential election! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T!

Yeah. I still don’t have an explanation for your 2 NIT titles.

Call me dumb, but I can clearly see that 11>7 (titles) and 17>13 (Final Fours) And since Cat fans love numbers, that means UCLA>Kentucky.

What’s wrong, guys? ‘Cat got your tongue?

Ok: UCLA>Kentucky>Florida
Everybody happy now?

Yes, I am. This round is over.

You used to be able to chose to play in both the NIT and the NCAA’s, plus the NCAA field was half the size then. You guys are going because you’re not good enough to be in the NCAA tourney. And yes, UCLA does have the all-time titles record, but we have all-time wins, much more than UCLA, so I think a more depictive translation would be UCLA=UK>Florida

Hmmm, so I know that you’d definitely pick Brett Favre over Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana on the greatest quarterbacks in history.

Don’t forget, a program’s wins need to be weighed as well as counted; this year’s UF squad taught us this.

It’s like the dude said in The Godfather…power wears on those who don’t have it…saying all-time wins isn’t important is easy, if you don’t have those wins…as for football…we all know Dan Marino was the best QB ever…next to Jared Lorenzen

Damn, Daniel…

Your right…

That was when they LOST in the NC and I watched the BlueKats weep tears of sorrow across Appalachia…

That good stuff…

Very satisfying…

“Gatorhippy is a clown”…

John, John, John…

Are you sure your a professor and maybe not a janitor at the school…

Educated men don’t resort to name calling…

Gatorhippy…same guy who was making fun of my grammer earlier wrote:
That good stuff

That was when they lost in the NC

Don’t make fun of janitors either…in the words of Dave Chappelle…it’s Custodian D*ck

And once again you are wrong, we didn’t get beat that year by NC, we got slaughtered. Jerry Stackhouse made Rodrick Rhodes his little puppet. Kind of like John and I have made you.

Large difference between leaving a letter out of a word with errant typing and the grammatical error of usin gthe wrong pronoun, Danny Boy…

For the record…

It would be “John and I“…

Not “John and ME…

I guess your Pikeville Alma Mater didn’t teach that?

Or are you a Somerset kid?

And please point out at any point where John or yourself have made me your puppet?

BTW - It’s only “custodian” to the guy actually cleaning the toilet…

Regardless of Chapelle’s movie lines…

And apparently, Dan, your reading comprehension could use some work as well…

It reads:

“That was when the lost in the NC…

As in National Championship…

I can understand though how you might have missed that…

Guess it’s been ten years since UK won or competed for anything that would use the initials “NC”…

Daniel-

How can this be a “rebuilding year” for UK when 50% of your scoring comes from your 2 seniors? You will see what a rebuilding year is in 2008-09.

To say that a team with no seniors and 1 junior that lost its top 6 players from the year before “underachieved” is just plain silly. They actually overachieved by winning 21 games and finishing .500 in the conference.

I didn’t know it was such a big deal for UK just to make the Big Dance. The way you guys are celebrating, you’d think you actually won a championship or something. Good thing Vandy got knocked out - they might have worked you guys by 40 again.

Ski and Gatorhippy would make a lovely couple. Those two seniors you are refering to did absolutely nothing until this year. We have no juniors and we haven’t played one game this year without at least one of our top 7 out. With us getting Meeks and Patterson back next year along with Jasper, Stevenson, Liggins and others, we’ll be A OK. Oh yeah and hippy, you are our puppet because everytime we prove your points wrong you just say something stupid like “hey man, you left out a pronoun” “hey dude, you’re not supposed to end a post with a preposition” “hey man, you use too many predicates”…I’ve been a journalist for ten years and have a minor in English, you work on junk cars in Christmas, Florida and used to be a water boy at Morehead, which is named after your mom by the way, when is the NIT draw?

Once again - Daniel reverts to the past. Who cares what your seniors did in the past - we are talking about THIS SEASON. Try once again to get that through you thick skull. THIS SEASON you had 2 seniors that accounted for 50% of your team’s entire offense. They will both be gone next year to shovel french fries in Louisville.

Meeks? surely you jest. You make fun of Calathes and then claim Meeks and Jasper as your saviors? That is comical my friend.

I can’t wait to play you. Also, how do you know Patterson is even coming back?

He could do the smart thing career-wise and take guaranteed NBA money.

No horsing around in Lexington.

You guys sound so bitter…i love it…of course I would to if my team choked against Michigan in football and then lost to hapless Alabama in the tourney…haha…now that’s this season chumpzilla…

I’d also sound bitter if my team lost to San Diego, UAB, Gardner-Webb, and a 4-win Georgia team in the semis of the SEC.

Oooooh, I’m a Kentucky fan! I’m so spoiled by my 40’s Billy Donovan that I’ll continue to rub it in to spite your face. My ‘Cats are going to win the SEC every single year for no other reason than the fact that they’re the ‘Cats. Not to mention, I had a cheater AND a traitor for former coaches. I’m sticking my fingers in my ears and saying “la-de-da” at Patrick Ewing and Mike Bibby.

We did have a traitor for a coach…his main assistant…Billy D…how ironic…speaking of cheaters…did Teddy Dupay ever cash those checks from Billy D? Just wondering. Oh, and Georgia and San Diego made the tourney, I’m more embarrassed by our loss to the NIT bound Gators…

FYI, Teddy Dupay gambled - he didn’t take checks from anybody.

Hapless Bama won more games in the tournament than UK did.

Mississippi Valley State and Texas-Arlington also made the tournament. You should still be embarassed.

I am STILL waiting to hear from you on how you are going to replace 50% of your offensive production from this season from your terrbile duo of seniors. Please enlighten us!

No one said they were terrible, but as I have said many times, Meeks and Patterson will both be back and healthy next year. No way Pat goes pro, he wouldn’t be a top ten pick. Jasper is turning into a baby Shawn Marion, Stevenson is becoming a beast inside, plus we have a solid scorer in Darius Miller coming in next year along with a true point in Liggins and at least one if not two juco transfers coming who are both long and athletic. It suddenly struck me why Florida fans are so opposed to our legacy, it’s because most of you didn’t even follow basketball until a couple of years ago, so you really have no idea about basketball legacy.

By the way, Dan, San Diego and San Diego State are two entirely different schools.

You lost to State-less SD, we play SDSU.

Yeah I know, when did I say otherwise? SDSU, where Steve Fisher went to coach a couple of years ago

LADAINIANNNNN!

Ladainian? Thought he played for TCU

He did. He went to the NFL San Diego Chargers, as you recall.

As did Marlon Mcree, go big blue!

Hey Dan, here’s something for you and your UK buddies:

http://www.tebowzone.com/2008/03/tim-tebow-should-play-basketball/#comments

Two words: bombs away!

You there, Dan? I gotcha started.

Wait Dan…..are you suggesting that players actually get “better” as they get older in college? How could Jasper and Stevenson possibly be better next season? I swear I thought you said (or at least insinuated) that great players should be able to come in and excel right away?!!?

In all seriousness, Stevenson did go off against us on the borad on senior day. Jaser I’m not sold on just yet. Patterson we all know is good (he would have looked much better in orange and blue). I don’t really follow basketball recruiting that much so I don’t know about your incoming guys.

What’s your realistic prediction for UK in the tourney?

UK in the tourney… probable first round loss, 2nd round at best.

Still a lot better than we were able to accomplish. Pisses me off that our guys sleepwalked through the first half against Bama in the tourney. Win that game… just that one game… and we’re probably in. But they couldn’t bother.

That’s okay- Billy-D took a page from Meyer’s book and kicked them out of the new practice facility and forbade them to wear any Gator logos until they “earn those rights back.”

I think you might see a little more hustle against SDSU.

I would be happy with one win but I’m still just happy we made it. As for Tebow, he’s the kind of athelete who’s probably good at anything he does. I don’t know if he could ball on an NCAA/SEC level, but I bet he would be a good sixth man who would bring some energy and toughness to Florida.

Big problem is, do you make him:

A. A overtly muscular point guard (Which would give them 4 guys to quarterback the team next season)

B. A shooting guard (Where he’ll have troubles meshing with Hodge. Both wear 15)

C. An undersized 3-forward (Guys could use their size to rebound against him.)

I could see him as a swingman. Oh well, I tried to throw you a bone.

Wherever you put him…it’s an upgrade from what you have now…is that what you were looking for?

Not at center! Certainly not at center!

You would just put him on the court playing all 5 positions.

We would definitely go 16-0 in conference play and possibly undefeated for the season.

But it doesn’t matter because Tebow thinks basketball is for sissies.

I do think Tebow is an excellent player, as much as it pains me to say it. Not sure that will translate to the next level though.

Andre Woodson, however…

Woodson made me mad this year. I covered him his first two years of college and told everyone he would be a top pick by his senior year, but he holds onto the ball longer than our basketball offense…too many sacks…but…if he gets over that flaw…he has a cannon…best arm in the nation including Matt Ryan last year

Look on the bright side, Daniel. For all of Florida’s football prowess, you guys did something we’ve never been able to do in 101 seasons of Gator football: Produce a first overall draft pick.

But coaching wise, I have to laugh at you. You’ve got a “coach-in-waiting”, named Joker?? Heh!

Sounds like someone Batman (Tim Tebow with offensive weapons) would look for.

I think Tebow will play at the next level. Probably not as a QB, but possibly a fullback or tight end. Maybe even linebacker.

That’s what I said in my spring game blog.

Personally, I see him as tight end material. He’s got the size and athleticism necessary at that position, and he’s got good foot speed.

Teams wouldn’t have to use him every play, which is good considering how often UF has used him as a QB.

Besides, good tight ends are a precious commodity in the NFL (guys like Tony Gonzalez and Jeremy Shockey don’t come around year after year, you know), and Tebow could create some offensive mismatches.

Another matt jones huh

Think Antwaan Randle-El…only ripped.

Think Larry Csonka, but smarter.

I see Tebow as an NFL QB, not at any other position. He doesn’t need to run the ball to utilize his strength and speed. Just be elusive in the pocket and run the occasional QB draw.

Exactly, GP…

The guy has two more years to refine his accuracy and touch while being complemented and working with a venerable arsenal of weapons…

Tim’s accuracy is dead on with anything requiring a dart and he can undoubtedly heave a long ball for a guy to run under but it seems to be the touch throws that give him the most problems right now…

The short fade over the shoulder on a tight sideline seems to be his biggest problem and yet he still manages to put those pretty damn near the money most of the time…

Bring that together with the points GP outlined above and Tebow’s fiery competitivness, belief in himself and natural leadership abilities and he’ll be successful at the next level behind center…

100 COMMENTS! WOO-HOO! THE WILT, THE CENTURY MARK, THE TRIPLE DIGITS! AW, YEAH!!

I don’t see TT as an NFL QB. He’s a great college passer, but he isn’t close to NFL stature yet. I realize he still has 2 years and that may change, but right now, not so much.

Well…

The Gators might not have made the tournament but at least they’ll be playing more basketball this month…

More than KY can say…

One and done…

Great showing, Cats…

Given that Marquette is is Milwaukee, I’ll drink to that.

Kentucky lost in the first round of the SEC-T and the NCAA Tourney, yet some of them still talk trash in our direction. Amazing.

I usually root for the SEC to win every game, but I have to admit the cold, dark lump of coal which has replaced my human soul this season was gratified to see another early exit for the ‘Cats.

Their two seniors are more than 50% of their offense. Next year will be a real struggle for them.

You’re stupid. They made up 50 percent of our offense because Meeks and others were injured. You guys had your whole team and you still stunk…NIT bound because your coach is overrated and your players are to. Next year our starting lineup will include Meeks, who can be every bit as good if not better than Crawford next year, Jasper, who is turning into baby Shawn Marion and a better defender than anyone on Florida’s roster, Paterson…no need to describe him, Liggins, who will give us a true point guard and another defensive stopper along with Stevenson who dominated you guys this year…I can’t wait…go ahead and name your top recruits coming in that BIlly D can’t do anything with

Your entire team was healthy, including Meeks and Patterson when you got embarassed by Gardner Webb.

Also, baby Shawn Marion? More like an aborted Shawn Marion - 0-3 for zero points in 40 minutes? When was the last time you saw that from Marion??!

You have a lot more question marks than we do - remember we split with you THIS season and you are losing 50% of your offense and we are losing nothing. Don’t look too forward to next season as it will be the start of another streak!!!

Let’s see how Liggins does as a Freshman compared to Calathes……

Hence the word baby, as in still developing. You guys had your entire line up when you were beat by LSU, at home. That’s about as bad as Gardner Webb. We were one shot away from beating you guys twice this year, don’t forget about that. With the juco players we have coming as well as Darius Miller, we will be deep next year. We beat Florida with six players, imagine what will happen with an entire roster and Patterson…in the end…Kentucky wins

I think this about sums it up…

My favorite part…

“Bottom line: Kentucky was gone before Cornell”…

But UK went to the tourney, Dan…

Let’s hear it for moral victories…

Daniel, Kentucky wasn’t very good this year. They ran out to an improbable 12-4 SEC record, which is a nice accomplishment, but since they flamed out in the first round of the NCAA tournament (not to mention SEC-T) it’s really just a flaming indictment of how bad the SEC was this year.

LSU is an SEC team. Gardner-Webb is not. LSU should be beat Gardner-Webb 10 out of 10 times and probably will. Kentucky’s loss to GW will be remembered for a long, long time. Florida doesn’t have a loss remotely as embarassing as that one.

You criticize Florida’s pre-season schedule. Guess what — unlike Kentucky, we BEAT our cupcakes. I guarantee you UF would have beaten San Diego, UAB and Gardner-Webb.

Next year will be more of a struggle for the ‘Cats. Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks are great players, but who else is there? Derrick Jasper is pretty good. Porter, Coury, Harris and Stevenson are marginal at best. Bradley and Crawford really stepped it up this year and without them, Kentucky would have been lucky to win 10 games let alone 18.

Florida enjoyed a better overall record, split the series with Kentucky and did it with a bunch of fresmen and sophomores. You’re in for a lot more pain at the hands of Billy Donovan and the Gators, and I think deep down inside, you know it. Hate while you can (but just be aware you look ludicrous hating on a team with a better record than yours.)

Your writing has more holes in it than Swiss Cheese. One sentence you’re saying our record didn’t mean anything since the SEC was weak. The next sentence you’re saying LSU would have beat Gardner Webb 10 out of 10 times. I don’t see how it can be both. We did beat our cupcakes at the end of the year, hence Florida. I think UAB, Houston, UNC, Louisville and Indiana would have all beaten you, just as they did us. So hate while you can, because deep down inside you know Kentucky is on the right track, while Florida is left wondering if the past two years were just a fluke.

What about the 2000 Final Four, where Florida almost won it all? If the championships were flukes, what about those guys.

They had Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem.

3 Final Fours (hell, 3 championship games) in 8 seasons. Yeah, must be a fluke…

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