When you field a “below the rim” team like the 2008 Florida Gators, you live and die by your shot. They didn’t fall for Florida in their NIT semifinal game against the Minutemen. With a pretty good defensive effort and some made free throws, you can make up for that; but the Gators were good for only one of two, holding the Minutemen to 42% field goal shooting, while going a miserable 8-21 from the charity stripe.

Game over. Season over.

It was a roller coaster ride of a season: sometimes exhilarating, occasionally terrifying and often downright frustrating.

The Gators didn’t lose to UMass because of heart or intensity, they lost because they’re simply not a complete basketball team that is capable of shifting gears and winning games with “Plan B.”

This team is a work in progress. The pieces are not fundamentally flawed, but the puzzle hasn’t come together yet, and it might take another season to really get things to gel.

Still, I’ve grown to appreciate this squad again. Not just because they made a deep NIT run, which was nice, but because of the way they banded together and tried to pull out a championship. Maybe it just wasn’t in the cards this year.

Next year, fellas, Gator Nation expects you to be better. Much better. With the talent on this squad, a year of off-season conditioning, and a quick glance around the SEC at what’s returning, I see no reason why you shouldn’t be contending to win the SEC. No reason at all. And without question we should be discussing which seed you’ll earn, rather than which tournament you’ll play in, next February. (more…)

Everyone here knows that Florida has gotten better. But do we know why Florida has gotten better? I feel that it’s important to examine exactly what’s making the young Gators tick right now. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take this data and use it for next season.

Below are the averages for assorted statistics of three starters (Nick Calathes, Mareesse Speights, Walter Hodge) and one often-played reserve (Chandler Parsons) before and after Gymgate:

(more…)

Thank heavens for good 3-point shooting and great guard play. Overall, this was one of the Gators’ better efforts this season as the Georgia Bulldogs went down 77-64. Incidentally, it was the 10th straight win over UGA… basketball imitates football (this past season’s football loss notwithstanding), it would seem.

Florida won thanks to 43% shooting from behind the arc, smothering defense of Sundiata Gaines and Georgia’s utter failure (2-15) to get the trey to drop. I’d poke a little fun, but hey, the Gators have had a few bad shooting nights this year too (cough). Glass houses…

What I liked most about this game is the fact that Florida controlled the contest from the tip and never relinquished their grip, even in the game’s closing moments when the Dawgs were down big with little hope of making a comeback. Hopefully, Donovan’s kids remembered what happened in the South Carolina game, which was a cardiac experience for fans as a big lead dwindled down to a deuce in the final seconds. That didn’t happen this evening, however. Georgia wasn’t given any chance to make it a game in the second half and trailed by double digits for all but a couple of possessions in 2H.
(more…)

80-61, Arkansas spanks the Baby Gators. One word: Ouch.

I’m not particularly inclined to be upset over this loss. It was frustrating to watch, but there was no lack of effort and the Gators ran plenty of nice offensive sets; the shots simply wouldn’t fall. The Gators couldn’t hit a 3 to save their lives and went well into the second half before ending the drought.

At one point I believe we were 0-15.

It was disappointing to see the Gators start to give up more and more easy baskets as the second half wore on, but see how enthusiastic you can manage to be when you’re down by almost thirty points. Considering the lead the Razorbacks had at times, losing by less than 20 was a small moral victory.

When the shots don’t drop, this team will lose. When young teams get behind, things can occasionally snowball. That is what happened for this group today. Arkansas starts three seniors and have lights-out sophomore guard in Patrick Beverly. They showed why they were a pre-season SEC contender and they were in top form today. With the two-time defending national champs in the building, the crowd was loud and wanted blood.

They got it. (more…)

I was worried about a trap, and rightfully so, it appears. South Carolina had a full week to prepare for the Gators and were lying in wait.

Despite trailing by as many as 9 points in both the first and second half, the Gators never stopped fighting and overcame yet another lousy 3-point shooting night on the road to win the game in the final moments. Final: 73-71. (Hey, what do I win? I predicted 74-70.)

Florida played solid defense; South Carolina was forced to take tough 3s and very difficult 2s, often with the shot-clock winding down. Unfortunately for us, they kept making them. They were 52.5% from the field and 60% from behind the arc in the first half. Their white-hot shooting was the only thing that kept them in the game, because Florida led in every other category.

Speights was magnificent. Absolutely magnificent. He was 10-13 for 22 points and 14 rebounds. Billy Donovan was clearly jazzed by Speights’ performance, and mentioned the sophomore’s excellent play in his post-game comments. What seemed to impress Donovan most was that Speights has played at his highest level in back-to-back games. The Kentucky game seemed to really springboard him.
(more…)

The win itself was not a surprise. I predicted an 8-point win for the Good Guys, which turned out to be 11 when the buzzer sounded. The surprise of the night, of course, had to be Mo Speights schooling Patrick Patterson in how basketball is played in the SEC.

For the first time in conference play, “Good Mo” showed up. Not the hesitant, insecure soul we saw in the game against Ole Miss. A man. Our center answered roll call and played to the heights (literally) of his ability.

Speights’ application of his 6′ 10″ frame showed me that Patrick Patterson, while a great freshman center who plays longer than his length, is going to have a tough time in the SEC beating taller guys who match his physicality. Speights blocked several of Patterson’s shots and had an intimidating effect on the Kentucky freshman. Just as important, on the other end of the court, we saw the return of “Instant O”. Speights was 8-12 in 31 minutes on the floor for 20 points, grabbed 8 boards and blocked 4 shots.

It was an outstanding evening for Big Mo, as I’m choosing to nickname him, easily the best, most complete performance of his young career as a Gator. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Speights logged those numbers despite suffering from foul trouble in the second half, when he had to sit for long stretches. Since Patterson has widely been considered to be one of the best big men in the conference, Speights’ domination of the Kentucky frosh should provide some serious dividends in terms of confidence for both Marreese and the rest of the team. If Speights plays like that the rest of the way, the Gators stand a damn good chance of winning most of their remaining games and making it past the first round of the NCAA tourney.
(more…)

Hell of a good game. Hope you had a chance to watch it. Since I don’t get FSN here in Orlando, FL I was viewing it online, rotating between two laptop computers and my desktop as the nightly “put the toddlers to bed” routine raged in GP household. Life without DVR… horrible to contemplate.

So we lost, 89-87. The Rebels were on the verge of shutting the door on the Gators a handful of times, and spotted up double-digit leads in the first and second half. Each and every time, our young squad battled back. Frankly, I’m immensely proud of their effort. This will go down as a loss — no two ways about it — but the Gators are going to get some respect for the way they competed tonight.

It was a 2-point loss, on the road in an SEC game against a Top 20 opponent. The Gators had the ball and a chance to hit a winning bucket with 1.1 seconds remaining. It came down to that razor-thin margin despite the unacceptably poor play from sophomore center Mo Speights, a 16-point second-half deficit, atrocious free throw shooting (10-19), and 27% from 3-point land.

This team reminds me a lot of their championship predecessors. They find ways to win no matter what the circumstances. Or in the case of this year’s team, they found a way to give a superior team everything they could handle and almost a little more.

There are many, many positives to take from this game. Chandler Parsons’ play from the bench was outstanding. He played pretty good defense when he was in, and had a good night from beyond the arc. He was aggressive taking the ball to the rack and really sparked the team when they were down big in the second half. Calathes was, as usual, the shizzy despite his treys not dropping for most of the evening. I love the way the full court press completely knocked the Rebels on their ass in the second half.

I’m listening to the post-game audio. Billy Donovan rarely sounds upbeat after a loss, but he sounds that way right now. “A lot to build on, a lot to build on,” he keeps saying. I think he saw his team grow up a bit tonight and he knows this group is going to be really good in time.
(more…)

How ’bout them Gators? I’ll admit it, I’m quite surprised: all I was looking for here was toughness and grit.

Well, we got that. Got plenty of that. But we also got a road win. Final: Gators 90, Bama 83.

Truly did not expect that. Not in an SEC road opener.

The Gators trailed for the entire first half and found themselves down by double digits — twice — but never stopped fighting. Nick Calathes is both baffling and amazing at the same time. He’s one of the best passers I can recall seeing in a Gators uniform, and he’s just out of high school. He also makes some boneheaded moves, but don’t think for a second I’m going to complain about our true freshman notching up 21 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. In his first SEC start. On the road. Calathes is a special player.

We also had a big scoring night from Jai Lucas, who put up 19 points. And I can’t say enough about Dan Werner, who I’m starting to really like as a David Lee-style player: not flashy, just an all-out grinder, who’ll wear you down on both sides of the court with his relentless effort. Okay, sure: there’s not a lot of similarity between those two players in terms of their roles on the team, but their playing personalities are similar. Dan Werner seems to have grown up a lot and is playing with more confidence. And he does so many things that don’t show up in the stats. I feel comfortable in saying his presence is an absolute requirement for the Gators if they have winning on their minds.

Anyone else get a kick out of Nessler referring to Walter Hodge (a junior!) as the “Old Man”? He played like a veteran tonight, racking up 17 points and making a critical bucket late in the game to stifle Alabama’s mini-run.

I can’t say enough about the grit and determination this team displayed. They came out energized after the half and really amped up the pressure on defense. They never lost their composure, even when Alabama made their runs and the crowd made lots of noise. They made mistakes, but they also played with a lot of poise.
(more…)

This year’s Capitol One game in Orlando, Florida showed the country one thing.  Despite the overall difference between the Big 10 and SEC conferences, Michigan and Florida are two teams with comparable talent.  I can understand why Wolverine fans were so outraged by the way their season began.  Their belief that Michigan should have been one of the leading candidates for the BCS game was not unfounded.  This game was not as much about planning and execution as it was emotion and will.  Michigan played with a high level of emotion and displayed the kind of intensity they lacked against both Wisconsin and Ohio State (not to mention early losses to Appalachian State and Oregon).  Buoyed by a healthy Henne and Hart, Michigan showed why preseason expectations had been set so high.
 
While the score depicts a close, high scoring game that most fans enjoy, this was by no means a well played game.  There are three phases to every game - Offense, Defense and Special Teams.  Florida won exactly NONE of these phases.  Florida entered the game with the Heisman Trophy quarterback and as the nationally recognized offensive “juggernaut“.  This was the one clear advantage the Gators seemed to have.  Yet on offense Michigan scored 7 times to Florida’s 5.  The Wolverines gained 524 yards (373 passing, 151 rushing) to Florida’s gained 399 (230 rushing, 169 passing).  Had it not been for their 4 turnovers (2 interceptions, 2 fumbles), two of which were inside the 5 yard line, Michigan might have scored 62 points on Tuesday.  The Florida defense had NO answer for the Wolverines.
 
Despite Urban Meyer’s focus on special teams the Gators made too many mistakes in this aspect of the game.  After a mistake by Brandon Minor who stepped out of bounds on the Michigan seven yard line on the opening kickoff (Michigan would go on to drive 93 yards and score regardless), Michigan’s kickoff return squad started their team on the 38, the 44, the 33, the 30 and the 33 yard line.  Not once did the Wolverines begin a possession inside their 30 from a kickoff return and outside the opening drive were never inside their 20.  In addition Florida failed to gather possession of a pooch kick to begin the second half which allowed Michigan possession at the Florida 38 (resulting in a TD).  In addition Florida missed one field goal and had another blocked later in the first half. (more…)

I miss them so much…

At least this time, the game had no real meaning. But that win had to feel good for the Buckeyes, who lost the last three matchups to UF in both hoops and football, twice with national titles on the line. Gators 3, Buckeyes 1.

I didn’t expect UF to win this game and I said prior to tip that I’d be happy with a competitive, physical performance from our boys.

I’m not sure we really got that from them.

The final: 62-49. It was a nightmarish outing for the Gators, going 4-23 from beyond the arc and shooting only 33.3% from the field. The Gators didn’t get to the free throw line terribly often, but they were often terrible there, managing a horrible 53.8%. That’s not going to cut it, folks.
(more…)