Good guys prevail: 60-53. Thank heavens for the win.

Of all the games Florida plays every year, there are two that stand out for me and most other fans. Kentucky away, and Kentucky at home. Beating Kentucky, no matter how poor they are in a given season, is always a treat. And of course, Kentucky fans should accept it as a token of respect for the history of their program that taking out Big Blue is always a big deal around these parts.

On a day when Nick Calathes was offensively inept, going a paltry 2-9 in 34 minutes of play, a glimpse of “old school” Gator basketball emerged when Walter Hodge and Alex Tyus stepped up their games. The senior and the soph combined for 29 points and a series of big plays: Hodge’s trey with Kentucky knocking on the door of a two-possession game was huge, and Tyus’ block of Jodie Meeks after a Kentucky steal kept an 8-point differential alive when the game was still in question. Erving Walker’s stock also continues to rise. The Tasmanian Devil, as I like to call him, hit a huge three with 5:01 to go to extend the lead to 8 points. He followed that up by drawing a foul from Patrick Patterson (remember him… the player who famously said “In the end, Kentucky will win” when he was recruited?) and knocking down a free throw, effectively a three-point swing with 1:56 remaining.
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No, unfortunately Al, Corey, Jo, Hump and Taurean will not be playing today. But there’s a reason for starting off with the best Gator basketball team — indeed one of the greatest teams period — of all time. I’ll get to that in a minute.

First, the scenario: Two NIT-bound teams, fighting for the opportunity to survive long enough to win one or more SEC Tournament games for the longshot chance of making the tournament.

That’s gripping television.

Whoever loses is definitely out. Whoever wins is probably still out.

But this is Kentucky, a team Florida has enjoyed great success against in recent years. And Kentucky is a dangerous program; with the resources they have available, and the intense desire of their boosters and fanbase to win, it is only a matter of time before the toothless ‘Cats become fearsome again.

I think Billy Gillispie has been exposed this year as a coach who recruits well and gets his players to work hard, but simply doesn’t know how to correctly strategize and set his Xs and Os up to win. As far as gameday coaches go, Gillispie is surely among the worst in the SEC, if not the worst. Some say he’s playing head games with his players and looking for some long-term benefit out of his bizarre substitution patterns and never-say-zone defense. How he’s managed to lose 11 games with a team that features Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson, two All-American candidates, is beyond me.

Meanwhile, Billy Donovan’s players have played to their potential this year and have at times exhibited the signs of being a well-coached team. It’s an incomplete team; one that suffers from the burden of early departures (Speights, Lucas, Mitchell), and never really recovered from the loss of the ’04s two seasons ago. Do they have the horses to beat Kentucky? By a hair, yes. Do they have the talent? Definitely. Are they physical enough? Maybe. Do they have the better coach? Without a doubt.

And they’re playing in the O-Dome. The Gators owe Kentucky one after losing an ever-so-close game in Lexington last month. The Rowdy Reptiles will represent.

This is important because if Florida is going to come back in 2010 resurgent with Vernon Macklin, plus the SEC’s best guard (Nick Calathes), a balls-out tasmanian devil (Erving Walker) and a hopefully improved 4/5 Kadji, it starts now. It starts with making a statement that Florida basketball, even in weakened form, can pull themselves together and provide Gator Nation with a cherished win over the heritage-rich Kentucky Wildcats.

Florida basketball, folks. Florida basketball. Do not forget those two orange national championship banners hanging front and center from the rafters. We are playing for the honor of those players and the great ones who came before them: Mike Miller. Matt Bonner. Udonis Haslem. David Lee. Al Horford. Taurean Green. Joakim Noah. Corey Brewer. Lee Humphrey.

Their legacy lives on, and this team must honor it when they take the hardwood today, the same court on which Florida won their first national championship in 2006.

Go Gators.

Two relatively even teams match up tonight in Kentucky’s Rupp Arena.

In one corner, Billy D and his well-coached, but unbalanced team wait for a chance to get a 3-game lead over Kentucky in the race for the SEC East. In the other, the ‘Cats field two phenomenal players in Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson, but feature a coach who seems so hard-nosed about doing it ‘his way’ that he’ll happily lose to the beat of his own drummer as often as the situation dictates. He’s just weird like that.

Both teams have a good chance to win. Being that the game will be played in Lexington, the ‘Cats are favored, as it should be when two equal teams meet. Both squads shine in individual areas, but neither are serious players on the national stage this season. This one’s about bragging rights and the chance to win a conference championship.

Billy Donovan hopes that his squad can out-shoot the ‘Cats and perhaps upgrade their level of defensive intensity such that their defensive rebounding improves a notch. No doubt he’s also hoping that Billy Gillispie sticks with the same gameplan that cost him a 3-game losing streak; that is, to run the Wildcat offense exclusively through Meeks and Patterson. Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Ole Miss have all dealt Kentucky losses by forcing the remainder of Kentucky’s players to take shots.

Billy Gillispie is not what one would call an imaginative coach, so the odds of seeing more of the same from the ‘Cats is fairly strong. If that happens, Florida has an excellent chance to win the game, being that Donovan and his coaching staff have had the chance to evaluate game film for the past week and install an offensive and defensive strategy which will spell doom for Kentucky.

On the flip side, if Kentucky switches things up, the Gators might face a difficult challenge.

Florida will need to show defensive hustle and intensity, improve their rebounding and most importantly make their treys if they hope to defeat the ‘Cats for the 8th time in the last 9 meetings.

I’d put the odds of a Gator win right at 50%. This one could go either way. Let there be no doubting the fact that this is a crucial game in Florida’s quest for the 2009 SEC Championship.

Normally, I’m supposed to happy that UF was able to get even with South Carolina and get one win closer to magic number 20.

But … this one feels hollow, superficial, and downright devoid of any real significance. Because while Florida scored 97 on one side of the ball, it allowed 93 on the other. And it REALLY tried hard to get USC to 93.

USC grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, and no, that is not a misprint. For Florida to show that lack of hustle on the defensive end almost completely overshadowed the fact that the Gators grabbed 10 offensive boards of their own. Furthermore, the Gamecocks, propelled by Chuck Norris protege Devan Downey, shot 49% from the field and 50% from the arc. If they shot better than 46% from the line, we could just as easily be trying to digest a loss.

While UF scored 44 points in the paint, and flat out dominated that area offensively, it also allowed USC to score 48 on the other end. The uncontested layup by Downey near the end said it better than words. And in the end, only UF’s ability to shoot free throws when it mattered most kept them from trailing.

If the Gators had to play a high-caliber Big East team, they would be absolutely ripped to shreds with a game like that. I can make that statement beyond any shadow of a doubt.

So enjoy it, guys. Because you’ll have to pull off a repeat performance at Rupp Arena in a week.

Proof that God loves college football: the black leather Citadel purse

Just kidding. How can you hate Citadel? This is basically a glorified bye-week. Florida will get to double-digit wins under Meyer and the Gators will have a chance to prepare for FSU — not that the coaches will publicly admit anything of the sort. Ideally Tim Tebow will be done at halftime and John Brantley, Emmanuel Moody and the rest of the backups will get some much-needed playing time.

Some Citadel-week thoughts, in random order:

1) I looked closely at the USC game and determined that Florida’s offense still has plenty of room for improvement. Of Florida’s 10 first-half possessions, only 6 “count” in terms of an actual kickoff and “reasonable” starting field position — the other four were considered “NA” due to turnovers or end-of-half. Of those 6 possessions, there were two fumbles, three punts and a single TD. Not so great. In the second half, the Gators had 8 possessions, and four went for TDs. Two of those TD drives started inside USC’s 42-yard line — again, thanks to defense (one possession started at USC’s 40-yard line after an INT) and special teams. If the Gators didn’t enjoy such great field position, it’s hard to imagine that they’d have gotten four touchdowns out of that deal. What it boils down to is this: without a superlative special teams and defensive effort, the Gators would probably have scored 28 to 35 points in this game. It’s not a big stretch to imagine that without such great starting field position in the second half they might have been held to as few as 21. Our boys on the offense better be thinking about playing better — Bama and/or a possible Big 12 opponent will be a lot better at scoring points than South Carolina, and likely won’t be as turnover-prone.

2) Speaking of turnovers, the Gators have “made their own luck” this year. Turnovers in big games have helped a great deal. Versus Georgia, Matthew Stafford was intercepted three times. Against LSU, the Gators picked off human-turnover-machine Jarrett Lee twice and recovered a fumble. And against South Carolina, the Gators intercepted three Gamecock passes and scooped up a fumble on the 1-inch line on special teams. Those are the three best teams Florida has faced, and in every one the defense has put the offense in a position to capitalize. And they have certainly taken advantage of those opportunities… but does anyone remember what happened the last time we lost the turnover battle?

3) The real story of the 2008 Gators should be the fact that this is a great team as represented by all three units — and I’m not convinced that the defense isn’t superior to the offense right now.

4) Looking ahead, I expect FSU to be a tricky game. If the Gators can blow the game open early, the ‘Noles will fold quickly. They are not a team that likes to be punched in the mouth. But if they fail to do that, and FSU starts to have hope and belief in themselves, this one could get pretty tight. Let’s not forget that Florida has won in Doak Campbell precisely two times in the last 19 years, and both of those wins were damn close (20-13 in 2004 and 21-14 in 2006). And for FSU, this is the Superbowl. Beat UF, and the season is saved. Better go in ready for a cage match.

5) Kentucky looked pretty bad against North Carolina on Tuesday night. Their uniforms looked worse: the “shorts” now fall well below the knees and look like high-water waders. Please tell me that Florida will not succumb to this insane new look for college basketball unis. EPIC FAIL.

63-5. This was a good showing by the Gators we expected to see at the beginning of this season. Kentucky had no chance from the beginning and to be honest, I felt the tiniest glimmer of sympathy for this team, who were playing without their two best offensive weapons… then I remembered our favorite commenter, Daniel, and the feelings of empathy subsided. Florida brought the pain early and often: 2 blocked punts and a blocked field goal in the first half drained the ‘Cats completely and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.

Key stats:

Total yards: UF 446 / UK 268
Rushing yards: UF 214 / UK 141
Passing yards: UF 232 / UK 127
Tebow: 11/15, 180 yards, 2 TD/1 INT, 2 rushing TDs (48 yards)

The game was over in the first quarter, but the second string didn’t take the field until late in the third. It was great seeing John Brantley throw his first TD pass as a Gator QB. We are seeing the future in Brantley; perhaps as soon as next year, but hopefully we’ll get to see Tebow off as a senior.

Superlative:

1. Special teams, obviously. You don’t block two punts and a field goal unless you’re really special.
2. Defense. Kentucky has been competitive against every team they’ve played until now, and the defense surrendered only three points.
3. Running game. This is quickly becoming Florida’s strength; Tebow attempted only 15 passes in this game. That stat shows just how good Florida’s o-line and speedster RB corps has become since the loss to Ole Miss.

Good:

1. Tebow. Not great, but good, perhaps very good. It’s hard to argue against 4 total TDs, but some of Tebow’s passes were less than crisp.
2. Kestahn Moore. It’s good to see the senior RB playing well. He appeared to cough up the ball in garbage time, but replay showed him down. Moore still doesn’t have an explosive burst, but he looks like he’s become a more-than-serviceable power back.

Not good:

1. Caleb Sturgis. Two kickoffs out-of-bounds? What the hell?
2. Ball security. Not sure why Tebow keeps putting the ball on the ground, but at least he’s been getting them back.

Overall grade: A+. There’s no other way to grade a 63-5 beatdown of a competitive SEC team. Keep in mind that Kentucky came within a whisker of beating Alabama in their own house, losing only by a field goal (17-14). Bama fans ought to be pretty nervous when considering the prospect of facing Florida meet in the SEC championship game, should that happy event occur.

It’s the 3rd quarter, Florida is up 49-3, and I’m calling it. Florida moves to 6-1 and is in full control of their SEC destiny. The ‘Cats fall behind, but perhaps a positive sign was the play of Randall Cobb, who certainly seems to offer Kentucky far more than Mike Hartline at the QB position.

Hopefully we’ll see John Brantley lead a couple of drives this game. Here’s to hoping we’ll be injury-free when the final bell rings.

Such that we understand our upcoming opponent more thoroughly, and perhaps develop a more sophisticated animus for the Boys of the Bluegrass, the fine folks at Over the Pylon agreed to a blog-de-blog interview. To read O&B Hue’s answers to OTP’s questions, click here.

O&B Hue: How agonizing was it to lose to Alabama that way? (17-14 in Tuscaloosa.)

OTP: Kentucky fans have had plenty of games through the years that qualify as “agonizing” so most just take them all in stride. To be truthful, I walked away from that game feeling okay about these Cats. I was genuinely concerned heading into the game that Kentucky would be heading home with a 40 point loss on their hands, so the fact that it wasn’t was rewarding. Truthfully, the game itself came down to two plays, both of which were successful because of Kentucky’s mistakes. So yes, they beat themselves, and yes, that’s frustrating. But given the absolute pounding that I expected, I’m okay with it all in the end. The frustration came later against South Carolina. A game that most looked at as a defining moment in the success of this season.

With Locke and Lyons out, who should we fear the most on Kentucky’s offense?

Depends on who you ask. Part of the fanbase will say Randall Cobb. The freshman phenom who was mentioned at QB, came up huge at WR during the Arkansas game, whose tears cure eczema, and who only takes 45 seconds to make minute rice. In all seriousness, Cobb is the kind of player with the skill and ability to turn run of the mill plays into something special. And that sort of player and skill will benefit this “basic” Kentucky offense a great deal. (Basic is Kentucky code for “Completely lacking any significant excitment, potency, or deep threats.)

Definitely not trying to insult you with this question, I’m honestly just curious. What’s it like being on the receiving end of a 22-year losing streak? Do Kentucky fans hate the Gators as a result?
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