It sure was fun to see the new Gator squad this week. Now it's on to a much tougher task. The Gators play the Virginia Cavaliers on Friday, Nov 10, 7:00pm at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC. The game will be broadcast on ACCN. VA defeated Tarleton St 80-50 in its first contest. Early indicators are that VA is led by its guards McNeely & Beekman. They opened with a four guard lineup and I suspect that CTG will have to alter our starting lineup/rotations to match their guard-centric team. Pick the score, the Most Valuable Gator (MVG), and the Stat of the Game (SoG). SoG is required for eligibility. UVA shot 10/22 on threes, while the Gators were 6/16. For this game, SOG will be +/- three pointers (ex. +2 means Gators will make 2 more three pointers than UVA). Points are earned as follows: Closest to the score: 2 Gator score (if you nail it): 1 Opponent score: 0.5 MVG (per Value Pt Scoring): 0.5 SoG: Just for giggles My pick: Gators 68 Cavs 67 MVG Richard (bounceback) SOG -3
These early season pick ems are like throwing darts. UF: 72 UVA: 79 (come at me) MVG: Kugel SOG: even We show flashes, but UVA does its thing and keeps us throttled for long stretches.
It's true and I hope that this Gator squad matches up well against UVA like we have in the recent past. I'm not sure about your take on Kugel, though. VA being "the" defensive team, I imagine they will throw the kitchen sink at him on defense. I will be very interested to see how he responds to the kind of pressure he will almost certainly face in this game.