Every team in a major conference besides Duke has at least 4 losses

[gogators73]

I'm as frustrated as anyone with our inability to win close games. It is infuriating as hell. But this team is 6 teams losing 1 game away from having the best record of teams in a major conference besides Duke.

Just look at our losses and keep in mind how many blowouts we've had with how little we have had to work with.

Not to mention of our Zona, KSU, Arky, and Mizzou losses, those teams have lose 4 games all year combined. COMBINED. Tennessee has lost 3 games at home but caught us at a time where we were incredibly low on firepower.


Arizona- full strength. Played a great game. Tough finish to the game. Need to do better.

Kansas State- full strength. Team's confidence was clearly down after the Arizona game.

Arkansas- Missing 18% of our rebounds per game, and 10% of our minutes per game. Prather's first major action since ankle injury. Arkansas red hot.

Missouri- Missing 18% of our rebounds per game, and 10% of our minutes per game. Close game and played tough.

Tennessee- Missing 27% of our rebounds per game, 17% of our points per game, 20% of our minutes per game. Had a chance to make it a 1 point game with a minute left and a 2 point game with 30 secs left but had a bad call.

No these losses haven't been fun or encouraging. But wait for this team to get on a neutral court at full strength.

[SmootyGator]

Nothing that has happened in the past few weeks has changed my mind with regards to our chances of getting to the final four. This of course assumes that we'll be healthy soon, and for the love of God, NO MORE INJURIES!!!!

Sure, the losses are frustrating, and I would have liked to win at least *one* of those games, but it is what it is. There aren't any teams in the country that look overly dominant this season. It seems that there are about 10-12 that could make a run and win the whole thing. UF is certainly one of those 10-12 teams no matter what happens the rest of the SEC season (unless injuries keep happening).

[gator2109]

We're going to have fans on either side thinking this is not a final 4 team regardless of health and those that still think we will make it there and have a good shot to win it all. The SEC tournament will tell a lot about this team as we should be full strength by then. If we breeze through that then we will be right back on top of everyone's favorite list for the tourney. Deserving or not that is how it will be viewed as we will have WY back who everyone will say is the key for us. Things change in CBB week to week and this season has had as much turnover at the top as any other.

[jmoliver]

We are losing at the wrong time of the year.

[HayGator]

The wrong time would be tourney time.

[108]

Originally Posted by jmoliver

We are losing at the wrong time of the year.

so was the last NC team we had....3 straight if i remember correctly

[gogators73]

Yep the 2007 team lost 3 of 4 before winning the regular season finale vs. Kentucky.

Get healthy heading into the tourneys. That's what matters most.

[gator2109]

Originally Posted by jmoliver

We are losing at the wrong time of the year.

Recent tournament champions:

2003 CUSE - 5-0 in the final 5 games regular season. Failed to win conference tourney.
2004 UCONN - 4-1 in the final 5 games regular season.
2005 UNC - 5-0 in the final 5 games regular season. Failed to win conference tourney.
2006 UF - 2-3 in the final 5 games regular season.
2007 UF - 2-3 in the final 5 games regular season.
2008 KU - 4-1 in the final 5 games regular season.
2009 UNC - 4-1 in the final 5 games regular season. Failed to win conference tourney.
2010 Duke - 4-1 in the final 5 games of regular season.
2011 UCONN - 1-4 in the final 5 games of the regular season.
2012 UK - 5-0 in the final 5 games of the regular season. Failed to win conference tourney.

As you can see, not one champ in the last decade has had a perfect resume down the stretch including the respective conference tournaments as they head into the big dance..

[GatorJeff]

Some of our posters need to relax and quit pouting. It's very clear to me that winning an NCAA tournament game at a neutral site against a really good team is easier than beating a motivated, fan-frenzied, mid-tier SEC team on the road. Emotion and officiating have a lot to do with it. Let's keep clear perspective on this.

With the old 16 game conference schedule, our 2006 national championship team was 4-4 in SEC road games (lost road games to Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas and Alabama), and our 2007 national championship team was 5-3 in conference road games (lost road games to Vandy, LSU and Tennessee). This year's team is 5-3 with one road game left to play under the new 18 game schedule.

Is there any difference between this team and those championship relative to sucess on the road? Absolutely not.

[gator2109]

Originally Posted by GatorJeff

Is there any difference between this team and those championship relative to sucess on the road? Absolutely not.

But I bet some of those road wins were close in those years! We can't win a close one recently which inevitably dooms any chance of success because we all know close wins = deep tourney run.

[GatorJeff]

Originally Posted by gator2109

But I bet some of those road wins were close in those years! We can't win a close one recently which inevitably dooms any chance of success because we all know close wins = deep tourney run.

Our '07 team, our best team, lost road games to Vanderbilt by 13, LSU by 10 and Tennesse by 10.

Our '06 team lost road games to Tennessee by 4, South Carolina by 6, Arkansas by 4 and Alabama by 5.

[gator2109]

Originally Posted by GatorJeff

Our '07 team, our best team, lost road games to Vanderbilt by 13, LSU by 10 and Tennesse by 10.

Our '06 team lost road games to Tennessee by 4, South Carolina by 6, Arkansas by 4 and Alabama by 5.

My post was tongue in cheek. I don't really project how a team will do come tourney time based on their road record or how they do in close games. Both can be indicators of a teams overall strength but really don't correlate to a March atmosphere.

[HayGator]

Originally Posted by GatorJeff

Our '07 team, our best team, lost road games to Vanderbilt by 13, LSU by 10 and Tennesse by 10.

Our '06 team lost road games to Tennessee by 4, South Carolina by 6, Arkansas by 4 and Alabama by 5.

And the same posters were saying we had no chance to go deep in the tourney those years.

[Brewski]

Originally Posted by HayGator

And the same posters were saying we had no chance to go deep in the tourney those years.

Knee jerk reaction baby. The message board way! Seriously though, get the boys healthy and this team can be dangerous.

[InstiGATOR1]

People need to understand that the SEC schedule is always back loaded because February is a month in which they measure tv ratings. So UF always plays tougher games and tougher road games late in the season. You tend to lose more when you play tougher teams and tougher teams on the road.

Recognition of this is part of the reason that the selection committee has been charged recently to look at the total body of work of a team and not focus on the last 10 or last 12 as much as in the past.

[whitelakegator]

A lot of comparisons with the '04's being thrown carelessly round here.

[Gatorsin96]

Frazier didn't play at Zona and SW had just broken his finger.

Truly KState is the only loss when we were at full strength.