Official Final: Florida - 64 vs Alabama - 52, Saturday, Noon, ESPN

[HALLGATOR]

Saturday, for the first time in many days, the Gators will take to the floor with a full compliment of players available. With Bama coming to town Billy can look down his bench and draw on eight players whose experience, and ability, will be needed to finish out the season and carry over into post-season play. Although, from what I have read, Yeguete will not see a lot of minutes he is supposed to contribute and this will be a plus while helping to get him back into full playing form as we move further into March.

Bama, under the guidance of former Gator assistant Anthony Grant will come into the game with a record of 19-9 overall and 11-4 in the conference. The Tide need this win if they can hold out any hopes of a shot at the SEC title and a possibility of an NCAA bid. Florida, on the other hand, also needs this if they want to hold onto their league-leading record along with helping to determine how they will be seeded in the post-season tournaments.

With the players finally getting healthy once again I look for a very inspired Gator team to show up for this game. Kenny is due to come out of his slump and Will will be able to help out underneath the basket while once again Coach Donovan will be able to send in sharpshooter Michael Frazier II from the bench. All-in-all the next week should be a very exciting one for Gator fans as the team closes out the regular season.

Go Gators!!

Pregame notes are available here

You can listen to Mick and Mark here

More on the Tide can be found here

[gatorbogey]

take down the pachyderms!

[TWGator]

Heading over to the Dome in a few hours - first home basketball game I've been to in years - can't wait!!


GO GATORS!

[gatorbogey]

enjoy!

grab a 'shaker' on the way in.
when the announcer says 'gator basketball', answer back w/ 'Fantastic'

[Bazza]

Bama has a lot of momentum coming into this game.......glad we have all our players back - we will need them!

Go Gators!

[Efeezy]

I think we win but not by 16 like Vegas thinks.......$$$$$$$$

[gatorbogey]

i'm not expecting much from WY or MF2 today.
took prather a while to get back into the groove after his concussion(s). he seemed a step slow.
WY may be in a transition mode. get some play time just to get some confidence that the knee can hold-up. but not over-extend it or stress it too much.

i wonder if Braxton O and DWalker will be integrated into the gameplan today too and what extent they play.

[ETGator1]

Frazier II missed 1 game - he will play as usual without any limitations regardless of what Billy says.

Will Yeguete hopefully will be allowed to find his time of play based on in game strength and performance rather than have an arbitrary 5 minutes in each half put on him. He's not a pitcher working back from arm trouble under a pitch count.

[ETGator1]

Gators 72
tide 55

Gators cover the spread by 1.

[tegator80]

If our record is any indication, I envision a 20+ point win...that doesn't really mean anything except that we play well at home, especially after a loss on the road.

[DuPontGator]

Weird feeling about this one. Good guys by 3.

[gatorbogey]

Originally Posted by ETGator1

Frazier II missed 1 game - he will play as usual without any limitations regardless of what Billy says.

Will Yeguete hopefully will be allowed to find his time of play based on in game strength and performance rather than have an arbitrary 5 minutes in each half put on him. He's not a pitcher working back from arm trouble under a pitch count.

if BD is saying 'something': i'd listen. he probably is witnessing that MF2 isn't quite playing in practice like he did before the concussion. if he hits his shots - so much the better. there's an equally likely chance he's a bit off. of course, he could also be 'in the zone', too.

i'd rather WY be 100% for the ncaa's. don't want to risk another injury by overly stressing him at this stage of the season.

[lean_gator]

Easy W

[gatorbogey]

bama's got a top 30 [strong] D according to pomeroy,
but their offense efficiency ranks 166th or so.
gators are top 5 in both. but have been 'sliding' a bit in both w/out WY in the lineup.

[NorthCaptivaGator]

Go gators I'll be watching on DVR later!

[gogators73]

Let's Go Gators!

[xenythx]

I didn't like the matchup of Wilbekin against McRae in the UT game but I think Wilbekin does a good job of containing Releford.

[BengermanV]

Can't tell how I feel about this one. Generally, when I've had a bad feeling about a game, it's ended up being a loss. But I feel like we'll win by a 5-15 point margin.

[lean_gator]

Freethrows

[gatorbogey]

4 guard line up for bama