"The Florida conundrum" - Mike Decourcy

[REM08]

Nothing ground breaking here. The short article pretty much just summarizes 4 or 5 different threads on NBN. Worth a read though.

If we told you Florida’s second-best RPI victory was over Middle Tennessee State, what would your reaction be? If we said the Gators have a losing record against teams in the top 25 of the RPI, that they are unlikely to play another team ranked that high before they enter the NCAA Tournament, that their league is rated only eighth among conferences, how much would you respect their achievements?

If we told you, however, the Florida wins its games by 23 points on average, including 26.5 in conference, what would you say then? The Gators are ranked No. 1 in the Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings, No. 1 in the Sagarin ratings and probably No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This is the Florida conundrum.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-bas...state-michigan

[rserina]

Is K-State a RPI top-25 team? If not, then we are 1-1 against them. Regardless, this terrible league just goes to show we can't afford to lose more than a game or two and still hope to garner a top seed, even in a down year like this.

Fortunately, our RPI top-50 looks good (either 3-2 or 5-2, depending on the source) and if we find a way to win two of our remaining three against UK and Mizzou, then we are very competitive for a 1-seed.

[MadduxFanII]

Yeah, we could really use some ship-righting from Missouri and continued solid play from Kentucky, as much as the former pains me to say as a second-level Jayhawk and the latter pains me to say as a Gator. Good work from Ole Miss would also be helpful.

Two wins over a top 25ish UK team and a road victory over a better Missouri squad would look good.

Of course, weak SEC or not, an undefeated conference record gets us a one seed, so in that regard it doesn't matter.

[InstiGATOR1]

UF has played a tougher schedule than IU for example. I saw this article over the weekend and my view is:

1. The guy has a point.

2. They guy completely muddles his point by using something as stupid at RPI as his metric. Today, for example, UF is 2-1 against the Ken Pomeroy top 25.

[gatorump]

It is funny how opposite our football team and our basketball team have been this year. Our football team had a great resume in the best conference yet could never "pass the eye test". Yet our basketball team plays in a weak conference and yet passes the eye test with everyone who watches them. Count me in the camp that says we need to gut out a close win or two. As much as I love this team I want to be able to trust they can close it out when things get tight. 25 point wins don't allow for gut check moments.

[HALLGATOR]

I'm not going to lose any sleep over this kind of stuff. There's a bit more than what the writer would lead you to believe in how the Gators are playing. We were spanking Arizona at their own house until we lost the ability to bring the ball in and wound up losing by 1 point to the #8 team on the road. I'm glad our problem with pressure was uncovered early in the season rather than later. K State, also a ranked team, was a game I don't think the guys had their heads into. Florida has no control whatsoever over how the rest of the conference does and again I don't worry about that since it is the way it is. The focus, and I am quite sure Billy knows this, should be on how we are playing and how we can improve. Let the rest of the conference take care of themselves.

[corpgator]

Supposedly, the selection committee barely looks at RPI anymore. We're 2-2 against the top 25 and 4-2 against the top 50 according to Sagarin. Pomeroy says we've played a tougher schedule than Indiana.

[EvenParGator]

It will all work itself out in the end...always does.

[traubgator]

not worried about it. anyone who has watched this team play knows that we play defense like no other team in the country. add in our ability to shoot the ball, we will be a 1-3 seed in the dance.

[Bryan85]

Using a different index,..... ESPN's.....BPI..... UF lost @ #7, Arizona by 1. Beat #24 Ole Miss by 14 and beat, #25 Marquette by 33. So 2-1 vs Top 25 teams.

Also, beat #26 Wisconsin by 18. So UF would be 3-1 vs Top 26 BPI opponents.

BPI has UK rated #29. Has Missouri at #35, who UF beat by 31 points. Has K state at #39, who beat UF by 6 and Middle Tenn at #49, who UF beat by 21.

I tend to think beating good teams is better than slobberknocking bad teams but also, having watched SEC sports for many years.... a conference win is always a good win and a conference road win is almost always a very good or great win.

[g8rboy]

how do we do, statistically (effieciency, fg %, etc.), playing teams compared to other teams playing the same teams? that is a harsh sentence to read. point is, i bet we are much better than most teams against common opponents.

[HALLGATOR]

Originally Posted by gatorump

It is funny how opposite our football team and our basketball team have been this year. Our football team had a great resume in the best conference yet could never "pass the eye test". Yet our basketball team plays in a weak conference and yet passes the eye test with everyone who watches them. Count me in the camp that says we need to gut out a close win or two. As much as I love this team I want to be able to trust they can close it out when things get tight. 25 point wins don't allow for gut check moments.

Personally I would have no problem with them blowing out every team they play for the rest of the season. Of course I know that won't happen but it doesn't really concern me that other teams are not playing us close.

[xenythx]

We had to fly all the way across the country to play a pretty solid Arizona team, and we controlled almost the entire game up until the last 2 minutes.

K-State was definitely essentially a home game for them, but it was definitely a perplexing loss because I feel like we're much better than them. Chalk it up to a really bad game by us and great game by them and perhaps a psychological issue after the inexplicable loss to Arizona.

[63gator]

None of this means anything. We'll be a Top 3 seed in the tournament and we have to win 6 games to win the championship. All this other junk means nothing.

[austingtr]

:yawn:

[regurgigator]

Originally Posted by traubgator

not worried about it. anyone who has watched this team play knows that we play defense like no other team in the country. add in our ability to shoot the ball, we will be a 1-3 seed in the dance.

I agree.

And, I don't think we played that great defense from the Arizona game through about the Yale game.

Yes, we played well offensively against Arizona (minus the last minute breakdown), but I was trying to figure out during that whole game (even while we were ahead) whether: (1) our defense was less intense or (2) we were just playing a good offensive team. After seeing how that defensive intensity returned (as I predicted ) once we started playing regularly again, I'm convinced it was the former.


I'm okay with the doubts caused by the weak SEC. It should help keep the team from getting too full of themselves and maybe will provide some decent bulletin board material come Tourney time

[gatordee]

OHHHHHHHH!!! So now that we are playing bb, who you play does matter!

[jeffphillips21]

if we go undefeated in conference play and win the SEC tourney, there's no reason to believe we'd be anything but a #1 seed. All other discussion is pointless. Then we run the table in the Big Dance and silence all critics.

[SwampFox]

Other that the Big East, I simply do not see any kick ass conferences out there so say what you want about the SEC, there should be no chest beating from the others across the land.

March looms on the horizon and the truth shall be spoken......on the court.

[corpgator]

Originally Posted by g8rboy

how do we do, statistically (effieciency, fg %, etc.), playing teams compared to other teams playing the same teams? that is a harsh sentence to read. point is, i bet we are much better than most teams against common opponents.

We do better. That's how Pomeroy ranks and that's why his ranking has us at #1.