Article: Florida Versus Alabama Basketball Preview

I do NOT like the Wednesday games...

 

at least Ole Miss is also playing Wednesday

 

Really appreciate these articles all year. Great job, Eric. It would appear based on your article that if we play great 3 point defense and work the ball inside on offense, that would be a recipe for a victory. However, I was surprised to see that they actually average 2 more rebounds per game and 7 more points per game than we do on fewer field goal attempts. The real key is they average six more FTs per game, which at 72% FT preventative explains 4 of the 7 point difference in scoring. If we get to the line, we have to shoot a high percentage, because they are going to get to the line all night.

 

They play at a much faster pace (78.4 to 71.9), but their points per possession are lower (1.165 to 1.161). We get more shots because we offensive rebound at a higher rate (36.7 to 33.9), but the difference is nominal (63.9 attempts to 63.8). They are definitely a more efficient shooting team (56.6 effective fg% to 54.4).

Ultimately, though, it’s our defense that gives us a shot. We are generally better in every respect (top 10 in all defensive efficiency metrics versus 20-60 range for theirs). They get to the line a lot more than us, but they also give up lots of looks at the rim. We have to keep them off the line and convert in the paint. Do those two things, and we are in good shape.

 

Biggest game of the year so far?

I'd say most impactful. Win and we have the inside track at the 4th 1-seed. But do we want that? I think I'd rather have a high 2 personally, if it means playing in Raleigh instead of CA.

 

Ole Miss is going to play a slow tempo snoozer game against Tennessee and will run up and down the court half as much as UF will vs Bama.

 

We aren't that far behind Houston in most of the metrics. If we beat Bama on the road, pretty sure that could put us in position to leapfrog them. Would be two elite road wins. That said, I would take the Indy regional as a one before Newark as a 2. As a 1, we could still get our first two rounds in Raleigh.

The committee will assign all four teams in each bracket group (seeds 1, 16, 8, 9), (4, 13, 5, 12), (2, 15, 7, 10), (3, 14, 6, 11) to the same first-/second-round site. There will be two ”pods‟ at each first-/second-round site which may feed into different regional sites.

 

What /where would potentially put us playing games in that RI venue?

Asking for a friend.

 

If we were a 4-seed, maybe. No hope for you.

 

I'm feeling good about tonight's game, but then again, I felt good about at slUT. 2.5 point dogs, Handles and Condo playing better; hopefully WR keeps it up and WC finds his footing again.

 

Actually surprised it is only 2.5. Bama playing on its homecourt coming off a last second loss with a chance to stake a claim to a 1-seed? Those are usually good bets.

That said, Golden really had Oats' number last year with a team that could play with pace and rebound like them: 5 pt overtime loss in their place, 18 pt win at home, 14 pt win in SECs. And they were 14 in KP versus 26 for us (and 4-seed Final Four team versus 7-seed first round exit for us). We match up well with them given our experienced guards, depth and size in the post, and offensive-defensive balance (still much better than them in that regard).