Some of you do know we only played 6 guys right?

[Noahtogo24]

Seriously.... I'm frustrated as the rest of you but c'mon guys, Frazier and Willy Y should be back this weekend. Don't give up on the guys yet.

[oragator1]

Originally Posted by Noahtogo24

Seriously.... I'm frustrated as the rest of you but c'mon guys, Frazier and Willy Y should be back this weekend. Don't give up on the guys yet.

Once they leave Gainesville they are an average team. We have played 4 decent teams on the road(I count KSU) and lost them all, in all kinds of ways - choking away a big lead, choking away a last minute lead, getting dominated, and now whatever to tonight was. Until they show they can do more than pound teams in Gainesville the frustration is warranted, short handed or not. Find a way in a tossup game, just once.

[GatorPlanet]

We played eight.

[HALLGATOR]

We legitimately only had 6 proven guys tonight and we sorely missed WY and MF II

[Gator40]

Originally Posted by Noahtogo24

Seriously.... I'm frustrated as the rest of you but c'mon guys, Frazier and Willy Y should be back this weekend. Don't give up on the guys yet.

We lost these same kind of close games on the road before Will and Frazier went down. The team is mentally weak on the road with or without them. Facts back it up.

[sec1]

i agree with gator1

[gatorev12]

...which is why many of us have championed the "radical" idea of rotating in guys like Braxton, Graham, and Walker for short 1-2 minute spurts alongside 4 regular starters when our team is 20-30 points ahead midway through the second half in order for those guys to gain experience and so that they wouldn't be looking like like does wandering out into the woods for the first time when in a pressure game like this.

I realize that with Braxton, Walker, and Graham, there's a significant drop-off in terms of court awareness and experience. Don't think anyone's advocated throwing them all in together at the 12 minute mark when up by 25...just rotating each in individually for small stretches. If they screw up, yank them real quick or give the spot to the next guy.

It rests our starters (which would have been invaluable tonight and later in the season when fatigue hits in) and gives us more than just 6 players when we're short-handed.

[sec1]

mentally weak n soft on the road

[channingcrowderhungry]

Without Yeguete we are 4-3. There you go.

[GatorsGators]

Teams who struggle on the road don't necessarily struggle on neutral courts.

[Gator40]

Originally Posted by channingcrowderhungry

Without Yeguete we are 4-3. There you go.

Ehh. Everyone knew our conference schedule was backloaded. At one point, we had played only one team in the top half of conference deep into the schedule. We've hit that part and combine that with hurt players and being bad on the road regardless, you get multiple L's.

[NorthCaptivaGator]

Originally Posted by gatorev12

...which is why many of us have championed the "radical" idea of rotating in guys like Braxton, Graham, and Walker for short 1-2 minute spurts alongside 4 regular starters when our team is 20-30 points ahead midway through the second half in order for those guys to gain experience and so that they wouldn't be looking like like does wandering out into the woods for the first time when in a pressure game like this.

I realize that with Braxton, Walker, and Graham, there's a significant drop-off in terms of court awareness and experience. Don't think anyone's advocated throwing them all in together at the 12 minute mark when up by 25...just rotating each in individually for small stretches. If they screw up, yank them real quick or give the spot to the next guy.

It rests our starters (which would have been invaluable tonight and later in the season when fatigue hits in) and gives us more than just 6 players when we're short-handed.

Did you happen to catch Braxton or walker in the game with the starters – there is a reason those guys don't play with the starters - they are not ready to play with the starters

[BengermanV]

Meh. This team isn't very good. They aren't bad, they just aren't very good either.

[HALLGATOR]

Originally Posted by Gator40

We lost these same kind of close games on the road before Will and Frazier went down. The team is mentally weak on the road with or without them. Facts back it up.

Which games on the road did we lose with a full compliment of players?

[oragator1]

Originally Posted by HALLGATOR

We legitimately only had 6 proven guys tonight and we sorely missed WY and MF II

I respect you Hall but it's a different excuse around here every time we play someone on the road who isn't horrible. Arizona we "should have won just a bad last minute", mizzou it was the refs and bad shot selection, tonight we were short handed...at some point the reality should be clear. We aren't a tough team at this point in the season, we haven't beaten anyone who has punched us in the mouth, we have had 4 games decided by less than 10 points and lost them all. The 4 highest rpi teams we have played away from home we have lost. We are 7-5 on the road with most of those games coming against the 8th rated conference in the SEC, and now in league we are what, 4-3 away without a quality road win or neutral win all year? MTSU is our best win away from Gainesville I think.

[Noahtogo24]

Originally Posted by GatorsGators

Teams who struggle on the road don't necessarily struggle on neutral courts.

This.

Again, it seems reasonable to mefor some to question Donovan about not playing the freshmen more minutes so the rotation could expand from 8 to possibly 10 or 11. And yes the Gators are far from road warrriors this season. It's just killing us since besides from the Hogs game, we were a couple of easy mistakes from each game from winning.

[HALLGATOR]

Originally Posted by oragator1

I respect you Hall but it's a different excuse around here every time we play someone on the road who isn't horrible. Arizona we "should have won just a bad last minute", mizzou it was the refs and bad shot selection, tonight we were short handed...at some point the reality should be clear. We aren't a tough team at this point in the season, we haven't beaten anyone who has punched us in the mouth, we have had 4 games decided by less than 10 points and lost them all. The 4 highest rpi teams we have played away from home we have lost. We are 7-5 on the road with most of those games coming against the 8th rated conference in the SEC, and now in league we are what, 4-3 away without a quality road win or neutral win all year? MTSU is our best win away from Gainesville I think.

An excuse is different from reasons and in this case there is no doubt that the loss of our two players was a big blow to us. Doesn't mean we couldn't have won more games with better play but you have to take those missing players into consideration when evaluating the losses.

[gatorcwboyfan]

Originally Posted by oragator1

Once they leave Gainesville they are an average team. We have played 4 decent teams on the road(I count KSU) and lost them all, in all kinds of ways - choking away a big lead, choking away a last minute lead, getting dominated, and now whatever to tonight was. Until they show they can do more than pound teams in Gainesville the frustration is warranted, short handed or not. Find a way in a tossup game, just once.

+100

[gator2109]

Originally Posted by GatorsGators

Teams who struggle on the road don't necessarily struggle on neutral courts.

This.

Close road losses, especially with the squad we have due to injuries, means little to none in the NCAA tournament. Past champions prove that. I will reserve any general judgement of this team until the SEC tourney as we should have our full compliment of players and won't have to worry about an unranked team making their season by beating us in their house.

[Jaggator]

UT had one day to practice for Florida after going 4 OT's against Texas A&M Saturday night. They flew back on Sunday and had only yesterday to prepare for Florida. You would think UT would have had some fatigue but they looked much fresher and had stronger legs than Florida. They were quicker to rebounds and were mentally and physically a much tougher team.