Well that wasn't great...

[bullish]

We didn't even compete in the first half. I was worried about being on the road again, getting mugged, but being out muscled, that was a real eye opener. I guess teams that won't guard us or they are just terrible, we have a chance on the road, but that isn't going to happen. We gave K state a great boost for their season and once again Billy played all kinds of weird combinations of players of which he always does when things aren't working which just helps the other team and not switching from the zone until they had a double digit lead. I don't think Scottie is a great pg but he is the best we got. He got more aggressive in the second half and this helped. Kenny right now is not helping this team. Mike can score but tonight was on the floor most of the time, again shooting whenever he has a little room. He is too thin to be a small forward, they just pushed him around. This is when I hate the 3 guard offense.

Overall, we just showed up in the first half and got in a hole. The second half we competed. But we just couldn't buy a shot from 3 pt land. We need offensive help and a pg that can control the game. Our inside game got taken to the woodshed. They should be embarrassed. Patrick hit a couple at the end, but in the first half didn't get position and couldn't even get close.

Right now if we don't get some of these problems worked out, an early exit in the NCAA tournament is in the cards.

[born2beagator]

Originally Posted by bullish

We didn't even compete in the first half. I was worried about being on the road again, getting mugged, but being out muscled, that was a real eye opener. I guess teams that won't guard us or they are just terrible, we have a chance on the road, but that isn't going to happen. We gave K state a great boost for their season and once again Billy played all kinds of weird combinations of players of which he always does when things aren't working which just helps the other team and not switching from the zone until they had a double digit lead. I don't think Scottie is a great pg but he is the best we got. He got more aggressive in the second half and this helped. Kenny right now is not helping this team. Mike can score but tonight was on the floor most of the time, again shooting whenever he has a little room. He is too thin to be a small forward, they just pushed him around. This is when I hate the 3 guard offense.

Overall, we just showed up in the first half and got in a hole. The second half we competed. But we just couldn't buy a shot from 3 pt land. We need offensive help and a pg that can control the game. Our inside game got taken to the woodshed. They should be embarrassed. Patrick hit a couple at the end, but in the first half didn't get position and couldn't even get close.

Right now if we don't get some of these problems worked out, an early exit in the NCAA tournament is in the cards.

Or an NIT trip.

[Noahtogo24]

Originally Posted by born2beagator

Or an NIT trip.

Oh please you know that is hyperbole.

[CAGator93]

So, basically - 2 wins over Marquette and Wisconsin, which look to be overrated, and losses in our only other real games.

Average season so far.

[tommyuf21]

Originally Posted by bullish

We need offensive help and a pg that can control the game.

Pretty much sums it up. Looking at the box score, we competed fine on defense. Our defense pretty much kept us in the game. However, defense isn't going to bail us out when we're taking bad shots and not executing on offense. We weren't able to get much in the way of spacing and all three of our guards started taking it to the basket and getting rejected by their big.

One of our three guards is going to have to step and be able to run the show for the majority of the time. I'm pretty sure that Scottie is the only one with the mindset to do this, so I sure hope he can do it.

[GatorsGators]

Originally Posted by born2beagator

Or an NIT trip.

Oh give me a break.

[tommyuf21]

Originally Posted by born2beagator

Or an NIT trip.

And I get accused of overreacting?

[GatorMcCluskey]

We really need Scottie to heal up... he runs the offense a lot better than KB, but you can tell he's not really able to go right very well with his fingers taped together and it hurts his ability to penetrate. Boynton is giving it a good effort, but he just doesn't have the passing instincts to run point as the main guy.

Murphy's lack of athleticism is getting exposed a little bit against better teams... he has a hard time defending or finishing inside against guys who are willing to play him physically. I'm surprised at how Yeguete looked tonight, though - you expect him to give us more hustle and intensity. He's also been pretty bad in transition defense lately.

Edit to say that right now I think our offensive focus should be on feeding Young down low, since that looks like our most consistent option. Let him go to work and try to collapse these defenses a little bit to open up the outside.

[born2beagator]

Originally Posted by tommyuf21

And I get accused of overreacting?

Whatever. Games like tonight worry me. Doesn't sit well in me when I watch my team look helpless out there

[tommyuf21]

Originally Posted by CAGator93

So, basically - 2 wins over Marquette and Wisconsin, which look to be overrated, and losses in our only other real games.

Average season so far.

It's tough to find promise when you have no respect for any of our opponents.

I think Marquette and Wisconsin will be better in the end than you give them credit for now.

Also, Arizona and Kansas State are NCAA tourney teams too. To think we would sweep our non conference season is very unrealistic. Our defending champion team didn't do that, why would be expect this team to do it.

[tommyuf21]

Originally Posted by born2beagator

Whatever. Games like tonight worry me. Doesn't sit well in me when I watch my team look helpless out there

I'm not worried. I think we're the best in the league and will prove it in January and February.

I also believe that we'll make a good run in the NCAA. We're a better team at this point in the season than we were last year and that was with #3 pick in the draft. We have noone on our roster with Beal's talent. I don't see us crapping out like we did against the poodles last February.

I just take issue with those who think we are the best team in the country.

[CAGator93]

we got worked tonight. We looked about as good as Arizona did for 39 minutes against us last week. K-St just closed out that lead with ease. It was almost hard to believe that we basically held the same advantage with one minute left last week.

You can still be a good Gator fan and be frustrated with the way the last 2 Saturdays have gone.

[GatorsGators]

Originally Posted by CAGator93

You can still be a good Gator fan and be frustrated with the way the last 2 Saturdays have gone.

Of course. I'm frustrated too. But NIT predictions are a bit much, no?

We're not going to win many games when Boynton and Rosario can't throw one in the ocean, Murphy is a non-factor, and Yeguete and Prather are hurting more than helping. The only two who even seemed to show up tonight were Young and Wilbekin.

Tonight sucked. Is it the end of the world? No.

[CAGator93]

I'm not predicting NIT, but I think we really took a step back with tonight's performance.

[gogators73]

It tempers my expectations for sure but I'm far from panicking.

We've seen what the team is capable of. IMO, the Arizona game left a hangover effect.

[UFG8rGuy3283]

We didn't play great tonight by any means, but Wil was killing us tonight as well as Rosario and to add to it, we just didn't show up in the first half.

I'm not saying we are going to the Final 4, but good grief. We were a top 10 ranked team playing on the road 3 days before Christmas against a team that wanted the win on their home court.

Does it suck to lose? Hell yes it does. But some of you guys need to go back to watching football if you're going to mail it in or say we're NIT bound after 2 tough road losses, both of which were winnable.

With that said, REM was spot on. No excuse to not work that damn ball inside out with Pat getting a touch every single posession.

[HALLGATOR]

I also believe we need to give K State credit for playing a darn good game tonight. Hopefully they will go on to have good season.

[tommyuf21]

Originally Posted by HALLGATOR

I also believe we need to give K State credit for playing a darn good game tonight. Hopefully they will go on to have good season.

I think they're a good team. The fact that they are not ranked shouldn't mean anything to anyone. How many weeks over the last 6 years have we been unranked, yet still were a really good team during most of that time (except 07 and 08)?

A lot has changed since two years ago when we desperately needed that win over them in Broward County to build up our resume.

[CAGator93]

We'll see how good K-State is. They lost their other 2 tough games by double digits

[HALLGATOR]

Originally Posted by tommyuf21

I think they're a good team. The fact that they are not ranked shouldn't mean anything to anyone. How many weeks over the last 6 years have we been unranked, yet still were a really good team during most of that time (except 07 and 08)?

A lot has changed since two years ago when we desperately needed that win over them in Broward County to build up our resume.

No doubt their new coach had a good game plan tonight. If this was not a fluke on their part tonight I look to see them in the rankings before too much longer.