Some interesting tweets from an advanced stat guy

[REM08]

This is all very interesting. I just don't know how much it matters. If this team just had worse defense, they'd have lots of close wins.

The 2010 - 2011 UK team stat is an interesting one. When we were losing close game after close game most fans thought the sky was falling and that the team wouldn't amount to anything in the NCAA's.

The problem was that UK fans didn't have a time machine to be able to look into the future and see that this UK team was just going to be late to click. Cal recently attributed that late improvement to Brandon Knight learning how to lead and getting comfortable being the guy who took the last shot. Remember he took and missed a number of them throughout the year that ended up as losses - including one at Florida.

Guess what. None of you have time machines either and I think worrying is a little premature. Technically, this Florida team is getting used to experiencing adversity at the end of close games. If they end up winning close games in the tournament then we'll all just say that they finally learned how to handle those moments. If they lose the first close tourney game they encounter, we'll say they blew too many teams out and never had what it took to win a close one.

Brandon Knight was young and just getting used to his position and role in college. Its probably not shocking that he improved in clutch situations late in the year. Does this sound more like Boynton or Wilkebin to you? This is why I want the ball in his (Wilkebin's) hands at the end of games. I think, no offense to Kenny, we've seen what he's like over the years facing adversity. Give Scotty a chance at figuring himself out.

[G8RNTN]

I hate stats!!!

[gogators73]

I'd prefer the ball in Scottie's hand at every crucial junction. He can drive to bucket and FINISH. And knocks down 3's at a higher rate than Kenny.

[tilly]

Here's my simple thoughts:

We have lost close games in hostile spots.
Home court is worth some points.
That amount of points is neutralized on a neutral court.

The tourney is played on neutral courts. Not hostile ones.

If all things were equal...injuries, etc...And all of our games were played on neutral courts, we would have just 1 loss IMO.

We haven't lost to Penn State. We haven't been beaten at home....

That's what matters in the tourney.

We will make a deep run.

[gatortv]

The issue in not winning close games is that we don't have a reliable bonfide "Go To" guy in crunch time. Our team approach is great as long as we can maintain a nice lead. But in close games we are at our weakest. We need someone with the confidence to drive the lane and draw a foul and knock down foul shots and not just settle for a top of the key 3-pointer (low percentance shot). The problem is our PG Wilbekin is not a great clutch free throw shooter. He is only a very average 64.7% shooter from the charity stripe. Rosario is a very good free throw shooter at 84% (although not very good lately) and can drive to the basket but he also has a tendancy to get a lot of charging calls against him. so pick your poison. I would almost rather put the ball in the Michael Frazier's hands as the best pure shooter both in FG & FT percentage. In other words, we need to set up some plays that get him the ball off a ball screen and he can use his 6-4 height as well to shoot over some other guards that Wilbekin or Boynton might have match up problem with.

[TampaGatorFan]

Home court advantage is huge in college hoops.

Familiarity with sight lines, crowd energy, and yes, officiating are all factors.

Thankfully, the tourney is played on neutral courts.

We'll be fine.

GO GATORS!!!!!

[gogators73]

Originally Posted by TampaGatorFan

Home court advantage is huge in college hoops.

Familiarity with sight lines, crowd energy, and yes, officiating are all factors.

Thankfully, the tourney is played on neutral courts.

We'll be fine.

GO GATORS!!!!!

Yep. I honestly was pretty upset over the Tennessee loss at first.

But now we are SO close to neutral courts. Playing our best on a neutral court at full strength? Good luck beating us.

[jmoliver]

Kenny get all the crap on this site and I guess he should to a certain extend but Murphy is also shooting 4-20 from three away from home.

[MichaelJoeWilliamson]

Style of play may have something to do with it. A team used to going into the post in close game might be more successful than team like Florida that look for open outside shots first. The team going inside probably has a better chance of shot success and a better chance of a foul.

[WESGATORS]

I've got FLORIDA down for 6-5 in close games in the NCAA Tournament under Billy Donovan. This includes the Oregon win in 2007 (led by 6 with 5 minutes to go; led by 6 with 1:30 to go) and the UCLA win in 2011 (led by 1 with 1:30 to go)...both games should also be a reminder that an 8-point win doesn't mean the game wasn't close down the stretch. I'd be curious to know how other teams are in comparison and how that relates to their regular season success rate (if at all).

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS