Gator Country

Okay, that didn’t turn out so hot, but you get the point. The Florida Gators have turned the SEC Tournament into their own semi-private recreation center in the past four years. Think if it. Entering Today’s SEC Tournament Championship game, Florida has won eight straight in the event and ten of the last eleven.

Now if only we could come up with a good new name for that city in Georgia.

No analysis Needed

I was all set to offer up my assessment of the Ole Miss game Saturday afternoon until I realized I was watching the same game we had all seen the night before. Okay, so it wasn’t 28-to-4 (it was 28-15) and the Gators didn’t lead by 21 at halftime (the margin was 15). Florida didn’t duplicate holding their opponent to just 14 first half points (Ole Miss had 22), but that’s just nit picking. It was the same game, right down to the telecast.

Just like Friday night, the Gators opponent got the announcers all a-twitter with a minimal rally. Georgia got it down to 15 with just over four minutes left, but Florida closed it out at the free throw line. Ole Miss closed to ten with 12:32 to play only to spark a 13-2 Gator run to put it out of reach.

Arkansas Tough to Figure

It’s not so surprising that Arkansas advanced to the final of the SEC Tournament. After all, Stan Heath has assembled the finest collection of athletes in the SEC. what’s hard to understand is how this team was a mediocre 7-and-9 in regular season SEC games. There’s no way this team should have been below the .500 mark.

That said, the Hogs are a tough match up for the Gators this afternoon. Arkansas has the depth and athleticism in the front court to compete straight up with the Gators. They also have the SEC freshman of the year in stand out guard Patrick Beverley. The key to the contest may well be the point guard battle between Taurean Green and Gary Ervin. If Ervin can win that battle, Arkansas has a great chance of making the dance.

Still, you gotta like the Gators pulling off the three-peat. Florida’s play has been superb since the second half of the Kentucky game, and they sure look an awful lot like the team we saw a year ago at this time. The Gators are having a blast out there, and when these Gators have fun, their opponents do not.

1,000 Point Club to Grow

All year we’ve been counting down as one member of this team after another joined the 1,000 point club at UF. Well, four down and one to go as Lee Humphrey readies to make it a perfect set today. Hump-three scored 17 in the blowout of Ole Miss and is now just a single point shy of becoming the 42nd Gator to reach 1,000. He’s also bearing down on Brett Nelson for all-time three points, but it’ll take a couple of strong NCAA performances to get that done. Book it!

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