The Gators , hopefully, learned yesterday that they need to bring it every game. If they don't they could easily lose in the opening round of the ncaa's.
They should have at the start of the SEC schedule after losing to Kentucky. Unfortunately I think they have been exposed to what they truly are. Not much of threat on the inside and if the threes aren’t falling, the outcome doesn’t look so good.
I know that analytics saw….shoot the three….shoot the three. My opinion, we’re better when there is a balance of rim runs, mid-range & shooting the three
I think everyone is being a bit dramatic. I get it. It was an ugly loss. With that said, we're 18-3. One game isn't a trend. If we win Tuesday, we're back on track. Win the next two, and we're ecstatic. That place has always been a house of horrors for us. Our back to back teams didn't play well there either.
This team is not near the team that the 04’s were. I know the records are similar at this point but that team had a great inside game with Noah and horford, and dead-eye shooting with Humphrey, and a very effective point guard. It also had 3 NBA players. I’m afraid those expecting this team to go to the final four will be disappointed. This is a very good team but has several major weaknesses.
Tennessee came into our house as the number one team in the country, and we embarrassed them by THIRTY. Everyone questioned how good Tennessee was after that, including their own fans. Fast forward two weeks and now the roles are reversed. Don’t get hung up on one game. Especially a revenge game in their house.
Actually, they don't need to learn it because like the rest of us, they know that they need to "bring it" every game. Like every team in every sport, for a variety of reasons (mostly because they are human), they will play a few games each year without the necessary intensity. Most teams start games feeling that they are ready to give their all. Heck, they probably don't even know that they are NOT "bringing it" in a game until a good bit of the game has been played.
Like they say, almost all teams will have one game a year where the wheels simply fall off, and one game a year they play way over their heads. I'm just going with the wheels-fell-off theory about our 2nd UT game. They had their wheels-fell-off game when they came to Gainesville.
It's impossible to bring your "A game" every single game. Fans think this- athletes know better. It's certainly possible (and expected) to be ready to play each time- the Spurrier football teams are great examples of this. We never lost to an unranked team until year 11 during Spurrier's time here. (And Miss St. should have been ranked.) I would argue we weren't ready to play vs. Mizzou and USCe earlier this year. This past game vs UT is tougher to know. UT clearly is a good team and their back was against the wall. Finally- IMO our game vs Vandy Tuesday is a big one. A typical trap game- this is key to get to 12 SEC wins. (Road vs Miss.St also.) And if we get 12, IMO we get at least a 2 seed in the big dance.
That's a great point. Similar to what Ben Hogan (I think) said, that many golfers THINK they are "concentrating" but all they are really doing is worrying.
Couldn't agree more, at Tenn at Vandy and at Rupp I never feel good about. We all knew Tennessee wasn't going to lay down and they were going to bring their A game especially on defense. We had some open looks, but they just didn't fall enough. One game doesn't tank your season, we lost to unranked at the time mizzou and still ended up back in the top 5 before the next polls. As great as those title teams were, they didn't play an SEC schedule this loaded. Was there ever more than 3 teams ranked in the conference during that run? Cut this group some slack, if they win their home games and get a big win or 2 on the road they will still end up on the 2-3 seed line, which is better than I expected coming in.
Not the point. No one thinks they are the 04's. The comparison is simply that the 04's, as geat as they were put up some stinkers mid-season as well. If it happens to great teams, perhaps it happens to very, very good teams too.
I for one already learned these lessons against Kentucky and Missouri. That said..... Let everyone know, including every player and coach on this team, when you lose a game in the NCAAT your season is over. Lesson learned!
This is a good assessment, although I might not go so far as to say major weaknesses, at least not for a college team. But our bigs don't scare anyone from an offensive standpoint other than the offensive rebounding. That's what they are good at, giving our guards second chances. We have no elite scorers in the front court where we can say go get us a bucket. We rely on team defense and team offense, getting turnovers and getting out in transition. Saturday the team just shot horribly and I think the coach didn't do a very good job of dealing with UTs floppy action in the second half and they knocked down open 3 point looks on curls that they missed in Gainesville. We also couldn't turn them over even though they had no true point guard, so that was disappointing as well. It happens. They will bring it every game of the tournament and that is what matters.
Think this game did show that some adjustments need to be made offensively. It will probably be the worst game they play all year. Tomorrow is a big game to right the ship for now. It's a must win, with the next 2 games on the road vs ranked teams & Florida will be the underdog.
Here are some stats I found interesting; so far there have been 68 SEC games. Home team 40 wins Visiting team 28 wins Teams with the most wins on the road: Auburn (5) Alabama (4) A&M (3) 6 teams tied with 2 wins Georgia, South Carolina, and LSU are winless on the road Teams with the most home losses: South Carolina (5) MSU (3) Arkansas (3) LSU (3) 4 teams tied with 2 losses at home Auburn and Missouri are the only teams undefeated at home Average MOV for visiting winners: 7.7 5-point wins (5) 4-point wins (4) 3-point wins (2) 2-point wins (2) 1-point wins (3) (~57% of road wins have been by 5 points or less) Average MOV for home winners: 13.85 5-point wins (1) 4-point wins (1) 3-point wins (3) 2-point wins (1) 1-point wins (2) (22.5% of home wins have been by 5 points or less) 25 home winners by double-digits 12 home wins by 20 points or more I have no idea how this data compares to other conferences, but I think it speaks to the challenges that most teams face when traveling. Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
