A 4 seed for them versus a 7 seed for us? Look at their schedule. Their early schedule was filled with losses. Granted they played a harder schedule but did not beat anyone. Losses to the lame Buckeyes, blown out by Clemson, Purdue, Creighton and Zona losses. The Gators are a better basketball team. Period. Should have been playing the Heels. Which would have been a great matchup for us. Losing Micah hurt.
Thought TG’s response that they drew a tough 10 seed in Colorado was weak. You eventually have to play everyone in the tourney. We lost in first round. TG needs to learn and get his teams deeper in the tourney in the future. Want a higher seed, don’t lose to a poor Vandy team and win more on the road.
I agree. The loss to Vandy was inexcusable. Losing to Wake on the road, despite the fix from Valentine, should have ended with a W. Bama at a four seed was bogus.
And don't forget losing Micah in the SEC championship game. I look at the entire Sweet 16 and if I were to thump one of their starters in their own conference championship game, would they be here. If we lost any of the 04s prior to the Big Dance, would we have won a title? No. So no matter what we drew, we wouldn't have gone very far - UNC would have eaten our lunch.
It's the antithesis of competitive sports but there doesn't seem to be much benefit to winning the conference tournament. Obviously the 04s won every tournament they played on for 2 years straight but extending the season didn't help our seeding or our injury status. Just a case of bad luck but extending the season for relatively meaningless games increases the chances for that type of luck. Unless a team is on the bubble, it doesn't seem to matter much. In hindsight, I'd take a loss to Bama in the SEC tournament and keep Micah than be watching Bama play in the Elite 8 while we are at home.
Yep. Then hold on vs Bama and USC. We would have been a top 2 seed in that case. But we lost. It is what it is
This team was talented enough to be a top 3 seed had they managed to hold on to late leads in conference play and found ways to win away from Gainesville during the regular season.
Some of the comments in the thread got me thinking about what an SEC Tournament title is worth. What would you rather have, an SEC Tournament Championship and get bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament or get bounced in the first round of the SEC Tournament and get to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament? The Elite Eight? I think we all know the answer if it is the Final Four. My cut off is the Sweet 16. I'd rather have an SEC Tournament Championship than Sweet 16, since we have so few of them, but would trade an SEC Tournament title for an Elite Eight appearance.
Thought Colorado was the toughest matchup early in our bracket despite the Buffalos playing two days earlier. I thought we would have matched up well with Marquette, NC State and Duke. Oh well
Can’t think about last years team without thinking that we really need to play better defense. It will be interesting to see what Golden does in the portal but I expect a better defensive team next year. With new charge rules, guys who drive hard and are good at drawing contact including speedy points are also at a premium. I think Golden will look to build next years team a little differently
And part of that may just be post players who move a little better in space, particularly at the four.