Franz Beard’s Basketball Confidential

By
Franz Beard
-

It’s too early to pencil in the Gators on the NCAA dance card, but if they can go 2-0 this week you have to like the odds that they will make it in for the tenth straight year. A win over South Carolina on the road is do-able although South Carolina has the kind of guards that could give the Gators fits, and I like the Gators’ chances playing Vanderbilt at home. If Florida could go 2-0, that would put the Gators at 18-3 overall and 5-1 in the SEC with 10 games left. I’m told three wins will do it and Jay Bilas of ESPN tends to agree that a two-time NCAA champ that wins more than 20 games and breaks even in its league is not going to be denied. Four wins and there’s no doubt about it.

Read the rest on our members only, exclusive Full Court Press forum!

Not a member? Join Gator Country today and get the REAL inside scoop.

Franz Beard
Franz Beard
Back in January of 1969, the late, great Jack Hairston, then the sports editor of the Jacksonville Journal, called me on the phone one night and asked me if I wanted to work for him. I said yes. The entire interview took 30 seconds. It's my experience that whenever the interview lasts 30 seconds or less, I get the job. In the 48 years that I've been writing and getting paid for it, I've covered Super Bowls, World Series, NCAA basketball championships, BCS championship games, heavyweight title fights and what seems like thousands of college football, baseball and basketball games. I'm a columnist and special assignments editor for Gator Country once again, writing about the only team that ever mattered to me, the Florida Gators.