And it was written, that years later they would meet again without the University of Kentucky involved in the slightest (and hopefully with better ties).
For the third consecutive week, the Florida Gators men’s basketball team went 1-1. After a big win over the Vanderbilt Commodores earlier in the week, the Gators closed it out with a loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. Florida–No. 9 in the USA Today Coaches Poll heading into the week–may have pushed themselves out of the top 10 with the loss. Regardless, the Gators will enter the SEC Tournament as the conference’s top seed.
* No. 7/8 Michigan hosts No. 2 Indiana on Sunday, March 10.
** No. 12/12 Michigan State hosts Northwestern on Sunday, March 10.
To the rundown:
• We can run through the teams that were undefeated during the week quickly. Florida does not have a chance of passing Gonzaga, Duke or Louisville. Those teams are done for the week and went a combined 5-0.
• Still without a loss, but with games on Sunday are Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State. The Hoosiers are safe regardless of the outcome of their games against the Wolverines. The Wolverines should be too because even if they lose the matchup it will be a quality loss to the nation’s No. 2 team. Michigan State is the wild card yet again. Already three spots lower than the Gators in the Coaches Poll, a loss to Northwestern would hurt the Spartans chances of jumping the Gators. However, that’s unlikely as Michigan State is expected to win big.
• Despite the fact that they all went 1-1, Kansas, Georgetown and Miami are safe because Florida did the same. So should be Kansas State. The Gators hold a one-spot lead on the Wildcats in the Coaches Poll, but Kansas State’s loss looks better than Florida’s. We could see the Wildcats ranked higher in both polls come Monday.
• Just behind the Gators in the polls, both New Mexico and Oklahoma State went 1-1. Florida could be safe, but the Cowboys do have a quality win over Kansas State to consider. Ohio State could be the problem. The No. 14/13 Buckeyes already have a win this week over No. 2 Indiana. A win over Illinois on Sunday could find Ohio State ranked higher than Florida. (UGH inducing, I know.)
It could all come down to that Big Ten team we love to hate–the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Gators have a chance to remain in the top 10 based on what occurred around them, but if the Buckeyes win again on Sunday, it’s a certainty that Florida falls further. Then again, after a 1-1 record last week, Florida fell three spots in both polls. The Gators fell three spots in the AP Poll and two in the Coaches the week before that. It might not matter what Ohio State does, Florida could be outside of the top 10 looking in anyway. Your thoughts?
The Florida Gators will head into the SEC Tournament without the momentum they were hoping to carry. After two big conference wins, the Gators fell to the Kentucky Wildcats 61-57 in the regular season finale. The loss drops Florida to 24-6 (14-4 SEC), while Kentucky improves to 21-11 (11-6 SEC). The Gators hadn’t won at Rupp Arena since 2007 and will have to wait another season for a chance to break that streak.
The game was one of streaks as both teams jumped out to big leads only to have the other fight back. It was good for Florida at times and bad at others. Unfortunately, the last of the bad times encompassed the final 7:36 of the game. With that much time left on the clock, the Gators went up 57-50. Florida would not score again. Yes, you read that correctly. The Gators would not add a single point to their total for the final seven minutes and 36 seconds. In that time, the Wildcats went on an 11-0 run to close out the regular season on the SEC champs.
The Gators shot better than the Wildcats across the board, but it wasn’t enough. Senior forward Erik Murphy and junior center Patric Young combined for 27 points on 11-for-22 shooting, but they weren’t helped by the other Florida starters. Senior guards Kenny Boynton and Mike Rosario and junior guard Scottie Wilbekin combined to go 8-for-24 from the field and 2-for-7 from behind the three-point line. None of the three were able to get into double digits in scoring.
While Kentucky didn’t shoot as well as Florida overall, they did when it mattered. The Wildcats only went 13-for-22 from the free-throw line on the day, but were 3-for-4 in the final 25 seconds. The Gators struggled to find a good look at the basket as time was running down as Kentucky kept up the defensive pressure and didn’t allow Florida anything easy.
The Gators regular season has to be considered a successful one, but ultimately it’s all about how you finish. Florida is 3-3 over the final six games and all three losses came to unranked opponents. While the Gators do have quality wins, the selection committee will be taking recent play into account and the end to the season will hurt Florida when it comes to seeding.
Florida has a chance to shake off the Kentucky loss before the SEC Tournament, but that will be here soon. The Gators should find themselves in the conference tourney title game, but they have to get there first. The regular season is over. It’s tourney time. There’s no excuse for losses of any kind.
We’ve made it to the end of the regular season. On Saturday, the Florida Gators will close out the regular season with a trip to Kentucky to take on the defending national champion Wildcats. We’ve discussed this before, but it’s worth mentioning again, Kentucky is not the Kentucky of last season. The players that won that title are in the NBA for the most part and this is a very different Wildcat squad the Gators will face.
Florida, on the other hand, is not all that different from last season’s Elite Eight squad. Gone are Bradley Beal–drafted immediately following two former Wildcats–and Erving Walker, but the other major parts from last season’s roster are all intact. Even with Beal and Walker, the Gators went 0-3 against the Wildcats during the 2011-12 season. This season, without the two former starters, Florida is 1-0 with a 17-point victory over the new look Kentucky squad. A Kentucky squad desperately needing a win if they even hope to sniff the NCAA Tournament.
The 24-5 (14-3 SEC) Gators are in regardless of what happens. They could lose to the Wildcats and immediately exit the SEC Tournament with a loss in their first game and still make it to the big dance. Kentucky, though, needs help. At 20-10 (11-6 SEC), the Wildcats needed a strong finish to the regular season. Instead, they have gone 3-4 over the last seven, including bad losses to Arkansas and Georgia in their last two. Both teams want a victory, but one team needs it infinitely more.
That shouldn’t mean much though. The Gators won’t roll over just because they don’t necessarily need the win. A victory would help them secure a higher seed, but so would multiple wins in the conference tournament and an SEC tourney crown. Defeating this season’s Kentucky team doesn’t have the impact that beating last season’s would have, but going into Lexington and getting a win is still something to remember.
The Gators haven’t won at Rupp Arena since 2007 and are 0-2 in their last two SEC road games. Florida plays great at home, but has been shaky on the road in conference play. This is the time of the season to get over that. The Gators must play as they know they can. They defeated Kentucky once this season, and by a good margin, and should do so again. There’s no reason for a letdown, road game or not. Florida rebounded from a loss to Tennessee with a thin lineup to win two in a row in solid fashion. That momentum must be carried into Lexington and beyond. The regular season will be over in a few short hours, but the Gators shouldn’t look to the SEC and NCAA tournaments until that point.
The Florida Gators men’s basketball team claimed the program’s fourth outright SEC title on Wednesday night with a 66-40 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores. A conference title was the ultimate goal, but the Gators also capped off an undefeated home record with the win. The last Florida team to do that–2006-07–just happened to win a national championship.
The Gators put the game out of reach early, jumping out to a nine-point lead midway through the first half. The outcome was never truly in question after it took the Commodores nearly 16 minutes of game time to reach the double-digit mark in points. Florida would go on to lead by 10 at the half and extend that lead in the second frame.
In addition to the SEC title and undefeated home record, Florida claimed the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Gators still travel to Kentucky to close out the regular season against the Wildcats, but their place in the SEC tourney is already known.
The three Florida seniors went out on a high note. Guard Kenny Boynton led all Gators scorers with 15 points while forward Erik Murphy added 10 and guard Mike Rosario had five. It surely was a great feeling for all three to get a big victory and win a regular season conference title in their last game in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Florida still has that final hurdle–the regular season finale at Kentucky–to get over before thinking too much about the tournaments ahead, but they will both be here soon enough. This is the time of season to stay focused and build on wins like Wednesday night’s.
Congrats to the Gators and the senior class on an impressive victory.
It’s hard to call the Kentucky Wildcats the defending national champions. They are, but at the same time they aren’t. Most of the roster is now in the NBA and the team we see this season is largely a new one. But there sits John Calipari, coaching a program that hoisted the trophy just one season ago. Commanding the other team is one Billy Donovan, masterfully leading the Florida Gators to a 69-52 win over the defending champs.
The Gators are quickly approaching what could be a dream season by many standards. At 20-3 (10-1 SEC), Florida is one of the nation’s better teams and the convincing win over Kentucky further proved that. The No. 7/6 Gators have lost games to only No. 9/9 Arizona, No. 10/11 Kansas State and—most recently—Arkansas. While the double-digit loss to the Razorbacks hurts, the Gators counter that with an RPI currently at No. 4. Those are the types of things the NCAA Tournament selection committee will take into account. So is the fact that Florida has beaten opponents by double digits in each of its 10 SEC victories. Even more impressive, all 20 of the Gators’ wins—SEC or not—have come by double digits. This is a team that has struggled—three times to be exact—but is approaching near-impossible-to-stop status when running on all cylinders.
Take Tuesday night for example. The Gators stretched a 13-point halftime lead to a 17-point win. Florida shot 49.1% from the field against a team that had only allowed opponents to connect on 37.8% of their shots. The Gators also made 42.9% of their three-point attempts and connected on nearly 80% of their free throws. Offensively, the Wildcats didn’t have an answer. Defensively, they struggled to keep up with the orange and blue as well. Shot blocking freshman phenom Nerlens Noel—who would leave the game with an injury in the second half—managed three blocks, but that was also the total for Kentucky as a whole. The Gators blocked nine Wildcat attempts on the night.
Junior guard Scottie Wilbekin lead Florida with 14 points, but junior center Patric Young was the Gators best player for most of the night. Young put in 12 points to go with 11 rebounds and four blocks. We continuously thank him for decided to return to Florida for his junior season. Three other Gators had double-digit point totals, including junior reserve guard/forward Casey Prather. Prather—filling in admirably for injured junior forward Will Yeguete—had 12 points for the second-straight game.
Winning is good; beating Kentucky by 17 is better. The Gators have only done that once before in Donovan’s time as the Florida head coach. They’ve beaten the Wildcats numerous other times, but only once by that much. Even winning had become rare as Kentucky had taken seven of the last eight meetings. The win gives the Gators their 20th of the season and their 15th-straight season doing so. With seven regular season games remaining and both the SEC and NCAA tournaments to play, Florida has a good chance to make it eight 25-win seasons under Donovan and even possibly get to 30 wins for the third time. The other two times? You already know when those were.
Hearns expressed no ill will toward the Gators, simply stating that it was time for both sides to move on. The Florida coaching staff was concerned with his academic record and Hearns was hoping to look at a few other schools before National Signing Day as it is. He got the call from newly appointed defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, letting him know that he wouldn’t be a part of the Gators’ class.
Hearns is currently visiting a Florida SEC rival–Kentucky–and seems to favor the Wildcats. He’s also considering visiting either Houston, South Carolina or Washington over the last weekend before NSD.
SEC commentary in five parts, as in there’s one, two, three, four, five of them.
The SEC looked anew in 2012. With two programs – Missouri and Texas A&M (don’t forget, Florida beat them both #smugface) – joining the mix, change had come. When the Aggies overachieved by knocking off No. 1 Alabama and producing a genuine Heisman candidate, we all took notice and realized the future of the Southeastern Conference would be cast in a very different light.
This offseason doesn’t have the look of conference expansion or realignment for the SEC. The 14 teams that entered 2012 will remain in 2013 and no others will join. Sure, we’ll see a 16-team SEC one day, but that day isn’t immediately ahead of us. While 2012 was about new programs, 2013 will be about new coaches. Four, in fact. Out is a man with a secret exposed, a recent national champion and two that never found success. In are hopes and dreams.
1. Kentucky was the first program to find their new coach and we can hardly classify it as a good hire. That’s not a knock on Mark Stoops (Florida State’s former defensive coordinator who should have been run out of Tallahassee after the fourth quarter against the Gators. Uh, BOOM!). Stoops can be a good head coach one day, and at 45 he has plenty of time to do so, but this is Kentucky. The focus will always be on basketball and while the Wildcats will have a bowl season or two here or there, there isn’t much of a chance to make noise in the competitive SEC East. Stoops will most likely get the same three-year window Joker Phillips got.
2. Speaking of Joker Phillips, the Florida Gators finally have a true wide receivers’ coach. I like this hire and you should too. Phillips’s record at Kentucky was nothing special, but as mentioned above, it was Kentucky. It was no walk in the park to compete with the rest of the SEC. So Phillips goes back to the assistant coach ranks and the Gators should be pleased to have him (which I’m sure they are because otherwise Will Muschamp wouldn’t have added him to the staff). In addition to other responsibilities at times, Phillips has 18 years of experience as a wide receivers’ coach. And, oh yeah, he’ll also be the recruiting coordinator. Florida could do a lot worse. Welcome aboard Joker.
3. Gene Chizik came to Auburn from Iowa State where he compiled a record of 5-19. That’s right, he was 5-19. At Auburn, things got better and he brought the school a national title in 2010. Actually, Cam Newton and Gus Malzahn got the Tigers a championship. Did you know that without Malzahn on his staff, Chizik’s career record is 8-28? That’s bad, but even worse is that he went 2-22 in conference games. All he did with Malzahn was go 30-10 with a 15-9 record in conference play and win that title. So after Auburn fired Chizik, they hired Malzahn.. Good choice.
4. By default, I am a Wisconsin fan. Let’s be clear, my in-laws are Badgers’ fans and they would be my Big Ten team of choice if forced to pick a team from a conference that rarely crosses my radar. But over the past few years, I’ve learned to like Bucky and send good vibes the way of the Badgers. I was never much of a fan of Bret Bielema, but he won 10 or more games four times and three Rose Bowls in a row is three Rose Bowls in a row. Then he left to become the head coach at Arkansas, which I don’t understand. None of us do. Bielema has been outside of the Big Ten for exact two years of his coaching career (as co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State in 2002 and 2003). This should be interesting to say the least. I don’t know if the phrase “good fit” even comes close to touching this one.
5. And finally, we waited and waited and waited to find out who would want to coach the train wreck of a program Tennessee has become. It wasn’t Mike Gundy and it wasn’t Charlie Strong (PHEW!) and it came close to being nobody. The Vols are down and recruiting has become tougher. The SEC (and specifically the SEC East) isn’t what it used to be and this will be an uphill battle. Butch Jones took the job and, for him, it makes sense. Tennessee may have its problems, but it’s a definite step up from Cincinnati. I don’t wish him good luck, because I’m not permitted to. I can only hope they are looking for a new head coach again in Knoxville in a few short years.
With the football season more than halfway over, election day today, and the Florida Gators’ basketball season three days away, it’s safe to say that this year has been flying by. That being said, it’s always the right time to talk about basketball recruiting. Below is an update on how Florida stands with three elite basketball recruits.
Center, Dakari Johnson: Good news came for Florida when it was learned that former 2014 center Dakari Johnson reclassified to become the No. 1 center in the 2013 class. This comes a pleasant surprise for Florida because, of course, they can never have enough size up front. Even more of a pleasant surprise, Johnson is a teammate of Kasey Hill at the Montverde Academy of Florida. Kasey Hill’s friendship and Johnson’s already-formed relationship with Billy Donovan through the Under-17 Olympic team should factor as advantages for Florida to land the top recruit.
Leaders: Florida, Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, Georgetown, Ohio State, and Georgia
Prediction: Florida receives Johnson’s commitment thanks in large part to his ties to fellow recruit Kasey Hill and coach Billy Donovan.
Forward, Julius Randle: The player who is regarded as the No. 2 recruit in the 2013 class by Rivals has been one of Billy Donovan’s primary targets in a recruiting year that has already been quite great. Randle is somewhat of an athletic freak, drawing comparisons to a more-skilled Terrence Jones. Florida’s angle on Randle is similar to that of Johnson. Randle was also coached by Donovan on the Under-17 Olympic team, and the two have a very good relationship. On a team that would be already incredibly athletic with Chris Walker, Kasey Hill, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Demontre Harris (assuming Patric Young doesn’t return next season, even though that would be even more great), Randle would take it to a whole new level of athleticism.
Leaders: Kentucky, NC State, Florida, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma
Prediction: In what should be a very close race between Florida, Texas, and Kentucky, I can’t bring myself to bet against Kentucky pursuing a high-profile recruit that is very sought-after, though this one could go in any direction.
Forward: Jabari Parker: The 6’8″ Parker is the No. 1 prospect in all the land, but don’t count on Florida’s chances of landing him because they are slim. Florida was very fortunate to make his top-five, but the chances of Florida edging out Duke or BYU are very unlikely. Though it’s not likely to happen, stranger things have happened and the elite scorer would be an awesome surprise that I’m sure Gators fans would welcome.
Leaders: BYU, Stanford, Duke, Michigan State, and Florida.
Prediction: Duke beats out BYU in a close race. Michigan State is the dark-horse.
Video Time: Here’s a great video of the latter two of three recruits, Randle and Parker, battling against each other. Could they someday be teammates?
Another win, another new Florida Gators feature at The Bull Gator. The name is inspired by our quarterback Jeff Driskel and Sports Illustrated’s Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback, which discusses a plethora of topics concerning the week’s NFL games. We hope to do something similar, but on a minor, more pertinent-to-us level. Don’t worry, it won’t be nearly as long.
And another happy week in Gatorland.
This week, the Florida Gators continued their football domination of the Kentucky Wildcats, shutting them out. Will Muschamp’s squad rose to No. 11/12 in the AP and Coaches Polls. The big story was the extension of the Gators’ 26-and-counting win streak over the Wildcats, a probable reason for the Kentucky fans to continue to revert their focus back to the basketball season, which is quite a while from now.
What Happened
• Jeff Driskel continued his balling: Sir Driskel could eventually be one of the best Gators to play at Florida by the time he graduates. As a true sophomore, JD looks better in Brent Pease’s system than Brantley looked in Charlie Weis’. Part of that has to be because of Driskel’s mobility. His ability to avoid the pass-rush and make plays deep down the field thus far has been Roethlisberger-esque, and right now, he is leading our football team.
• The defense was, for the most part, dominant: Led by a surprise Jaylen Watkins pick six, the Gators’ defense forced three turnovers, all interceptions. All could pretty much be attributed to Morgan Newton’s erratic inaccuracy, which was really terrible, but we’ll still claim those turnovers. On a similar note, there were a lot of open Wildcats that Newton completely missed, which needs to be worked on. Other than that and some success for Kentucky in the run game, Florida’s defense did indeed look pretty dominant.
• Kentucky as, same-old Kentucky: There’s a reason none of the players on Kentucky have been alive since the last Wildcat win over the Gators. Kentucky is back this year with their usual football mediocrity, and their cause wasn’t helped much by starting quarterback Maxwell Smith’s unavailability.
• The game was secured early: The Gators led 24-0 at the half, and Jeff Driskel and other key starters started their rests in the fourth quarter. Mike Gillislee got his rest early, not playing after the first series in the second half.
• Receivers are getting open: This can be largely attributed to Driskel’s ability to extend the play and give the receivers more time to get open, but there’s no doubt that this team is better than last year’s in the receiving corps. Sure, no player is averaging 100 yards-per-game, but a good number of the Florida receivers are chipping in with a few catches in each game. With 10 players targeted in Saturday’s game, speedster Andre Debose, who was largely nonexistent in all areas of the game, was the notable exception.
• The defense is great in the fourth quarter: I put this up last week, and nothing changed this week, so I figured I’d put this up again.
• More raving for Jeff Driskel: Driskel threw his first interception of the year on a terrible throw up into double-coverage in the end-zone, but give him loads of credit. He followed up his mistake with another game that showed his improvement. Another game note: his accuracy is amazing.
Ouch Video Of The Day
• Tight end Jordan Reed sandwiched: I really don’t know how Reed got up after this play, let alone held onto the ball. He came out of the play with a shoulder injury, but he appears to be fine.
This is also the play of the game, simply because I can’t find video of Jaylen Watkins’ interception and touchdown return.
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