After the great buzzer-beater win for the Gators, Coach Finley said on the radio (mostly exact but technically paraphrasing): Coach, this is one of those games you talk about for awhile, right? Tell me about that draw up in the huddle. I thought that showed tremendous growth from our team . . . and though we have some more experienced players on our roster, we're not experienced together. You know, six games in . . . just understanding each other's roles . . .what's expected and then how to be a leader in your role, whatever your assignment is. I thought we hit more adversity than we could've . . . I don't know . . . missed called time out . . . about everything that could not go your way, didn't . . . but that's how you make it go your way. Four players in double figures, talk about the importance of getting the ball inside, balanced attack from your post players as well as from your guards. Obviously Aliyah had a great game but you had to get . . . the kind of . . . ball inside and get them involved, both your post players in double figures . . . Yeah, you know, we had to change, you know Columbia . . . I've known Meg since, gosh, 16 years now [Radio: well coached] . . . Yeah, we coached in the Ivy League against each other. Um, I love Meg. I have the utmost respect for her. This team is (mumbled) for a win and competed well against every single opponent that they've had. They're relentless and they don't give up and I just think that the resolve that we have . . . . we knew . . . you know it's not common for us to have to play a high-low game and it was hard for Shea and Faith to have to guard on the perimeter. We did so seamlessly. We gave up a few more points than we probably would have liked . . . and even that mistake there at the end on the switch everything . . . guys, at the end of the day, as a coach, you can live with an aggressive mistake. Final one . . . How do you build off a game like this where, like you said, some things don't go your way . . . but you have a second left on the clock and that's a chance to win a game. Just the overall fight, resolve in your team and how you build off it. Players make plays. Just keep believing in each other, sticking together and finding a way night in and night out . . . but this was most definitely an elite tournament. We knew that these would be two of our tougher opponents so this was no surprise for us but all is great and now we can enjoy the beach!
Columbia is not a good team. Glad that UF pulled off the last minute shot to win but not a great game when assessing team readiness for SEC play. Hopefully just getting rust off
not true they are a good team, took Duke down to the wire. They led UGA in the 4th quarter then the wheels kind of came off, but came back against us with a passion. Last year they were 28-6 and made WNIT finals and beat Bowling Green on road who beat us. Beat some really good teams during the year and brought back leading scorer and some good players off last years team. So it was a solid win.
Columbia is 2-4. Lost to Stony Brook by 8 and lost to UGA by 17. Had a good record last year but did not play any SEC teams other than Vandy where they lost by 9. Primarily an Ivy League schedule. Different level in this league. We are recruiting well for future but the effort versus Columbia will not win many SEC games.
