Gator Country

akaGatorhoops · 03-09-2013, 02:22 PM

But this team has lost its mental edge. It has collpased.
There was a time this group looked at a lead as a chance to step on its opponent's throat.
Now, a lead closes its throat. Choke.
I cant explain when or why it happened. Perhaps mental fatigue borne of a greuling season. But this team is mentally shot right now. Hopefully it regroups.

**oragator1** · 03-09-2013, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akaGatorhoops

But this team has lost its mental edge. It has collpased.
There was a time this group looked at lead as a chance to step on its opponent's throat.
Now, a lead closes its throat. Choke.
I cant explain when or why it happened. Perhaps mental fatigue borne of a greuling season. But this team is mentally shot right now. Hopefully it regroups.

It's the exact same team since Zona in December, people just refused to see it. I have been called names, a whiner among other things for pointing it out, but now most seem to see it. It only looked worse late because our schedule was backloaded, but nothing changed. Dominate at home, fall apart to anything decent away.
I still hope they find a spark for a run but it's getting harder and harder to see how, we have no inside game, no clutch shooters and have been consistently outfought when it matters. And now we could be a 4 or 5 seed so a first round bounce is starting to become a possibility.

gator07 · 03-09-2013, 02:31 PM

IMO we peaked when Wilbekin was playing out of his mind. He has come back to earth and now we are struggling to get assists, open looks for 3 that came so easily, or ANYTHING in transition. How can a team play such good defense and get almost nothing on fast-breaks or in transition??

Not to mention Rosario and Boynton are wildly inconsistent. We're just not solid when it comes to guard play.

LoyalGatorFan · 03-09-2013, 02:33 PM

Speaking of Wilbekin, I thought he had just as bad, if not a worse game, than Rosario....the one thing I have seen all year that we haven't improved on is turnovers/sloppy passes.....

BengermanV · 03-09-2013, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gator07

IMO we peaked when Wilbekin was playing out of his mind. He has come back to earth and now we are struggling to get assists, open looks for 3 that came so easily, or ANYTHING in transition. How can a team play such good defense and get almost nothing on fast-breaks or in transition??

Not to mention Rosario and Boynton are wildly inconsistent. We're just not solid when it comes to guard play.

I noticed this too. Our transition game has been non-existent, and that was our bread and butter early on.

**mdgator05** · 03-09-2013, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoyalGatorFan

Speaking of Wilbekin, I thought he had just as bad, if not a worse game, than Rosario....the one thing I have seen all year that we haven't improved on is turnovers/sloppy passes.....

He certainly did. As did Frazier. And these games haven't been anomolies for any of the three of them lately. This team simply can't win without at least 2 guards playing good basketball. And right now, we have one playing okay basketball (Boynton) and 3 playing awful basketball (Frazier, Wilbekin, and Rosario).

xenythx · 03-09-2013, 02:36 PM

I know exactly when it happened - the second half against Missouri. We had a poor shooting game from three that probably cost us the game and ever since then this team has been trying to force passes to the post and force drives to the rim.

1bobcat · 03-09-2013, 02:37 PM

This team is playing with a very low basketball IQ right now and certainly doesn't have any sort of mental toughness to them at all. They are ripe for an upset in the tournament unless Billy turns it around.

LoyalGatorFan · 03-09-2013, 02:40 PM

Our offense has really tanked the last 5 games or so....58 against UT, 60 against Mizzou, 66 against Bama and Vandy, 57 today....what is encouraging however is that we are still playing good D....not letting our bad O translate into bad D....whats also encouraging is that in those 3 losses we still had the chance to win the game....just gotta learn how to close...all there is to it....

108 · 03-09-2013, 02:43 PM

Could it be that Billy has made a huge effort to gt this team away from shooting the 3ball like we were and it's just not our guards strong suite to drive

gator07 · 03-09-2013, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BengermanV

I noticed this too. Our transition game has been non-existent, and that was our bread and butter early on.

It reminds me of our football team. How could such good defense not lead to points for the offense. South Carolina game aside, we would squander the good field position and kick field goals (at best).

**oragator1** · 03-09-2013, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 108

Could it be that Billy has made a huge effort to gt this team away from shooting the 3ball like we were and it's just not our guards strong suite to drive

Yeah I said this after the Tennessee game, I would love to at least try to get the ball inside late in a close game because it was clear the chuck and hope strategy wasn't working. Even though we lost in a terrible fashion, at least we tried something other than what had been proven to not work.

BLING · 03-09-2013, 02:47 PM

I wasn't worried about the "choke" at Arizona, or even how we fell flat at Arkansas.

But it's safe to say now that this year's team does not have the mental edge in close games (perhaps the understatement of the year). I had pretty much established that in my mind after UT, and hoped we could redeem ourselves here...

I wonder if it's some sort of record to actually have *EVERY* win decided by double digits, and then have a perfect level of failure in close games? I never recall such a dichotomy in one season, where we blew out some really strong teams out by as many as 30 points, even when we didn't have our best performances we rolled over plenty of relatively decent teams by 15-20 points, and then if we are trully "off" on a particular night, we simply CANNOT win the "ugly" close game. Crazy.

**gatorman_07732** · 03-09-2013, 02:53 PM

I'm glad I was unable to watch this game. I felt this was a must win for this team, and it seems that they just can't get a signiture win. AZ, K St, and KY on the road and could not pull away one of them. I could be wrong but I don't see us getting passed the sweet 16. I hope I'm wrong.

**regurgigator** · 03-09-2013, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oragator1

It's the exact same team since Zona in December, people just refused to see it. I have been called names, a whiner among other things for pointing it out, but now most seem to see it. It only looked worse late because our schedule was backloaded, but nothing changed. Dominate at home, fall apart to anything decent away.
I still hope they find a spark for a run but it's getting harder and harder to see how, we have no inside game, no clutch shooters and have been consistently outfought when it matters. And now we could be a 4 or 5 seed so a first round bounce is starting to become a possibility.

You guys can't have it both ways. You need to commit

Another trend continuing is that it's hard to win on the road in the SEC. I still think this team will go far in Tourney.

diamondted13 · 03-09-2013, 03:05 PM

Now who will call out AKA as a "bad fan" or "classless jerk" for calling it as he see's it? Because he is anything but those things. Veteran teams don't go the final 7:36 without scoring a single pt, especially against such an inexperienced team. That just NEVER happens. If you listened to Billy's post game w/ Mick, he basically implied it was a choke by saying "at some point, somebody's gotta make a play." Those of us who recognize it are just as heartbroken as those of you with a "no big deal" take on the game.

WESGATORS · 03-09-2013, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diamondted13

Now who will call out AKA as a "bad fan" or "classless jerk" for calling it as he see's it?

Fans calling their own teams chokers is classless, no matter who does it. It's a lazy analysis and easy cheap shot at the ones doing all the work.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

NoahBeanBizzel · 03-09-2013, 03:15 PM

I'm not sure what it really is. Part of it comes down to having nobody-like Beal or Parsons-who can take it through traffic consistently and light it up. Boynton and Rosario seem to both be inconsistent and, at times like Wilbekin, just seem to play out of control. Wilbekin doesn't have that ability to drive and draw double teams in the paint. He just seems lost lately when trying to get any kind of penetration.

Also, I think the injuries have disturbed the chemistry we saw early on. WY and Frazier aren't at all the same players they were prior to injuries, although Yeguete looked better today.

I also think it comes down to a lack of focus and mental toughness. There also isn't a player who's consistent enough take over a game at the drop of a hat. I believe that Prather is the best player on this team, he should be getting as many minutes as possible, yet for whatever reason he isn't starting. I think the whole loyalty thing with Boynton needs to be put on the back burner, and the best lineup for this team going forward would be Young, Murphy, Prather, Rosario and Wilbekin. Let Casey do his thing.

Something needs to change, though. Otherwise this team may not make it past the Sweet 16.

WESGATORS · 03-09-2013, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoahBeanBizzel

Also, I think the injuries have disturbed the chemistry we saw early on. WY and Frazier aren't at all the same players they were prior to injuries, although Yeguete looked better today.

I think this is a big factor and why Missouri, Tennessee, and even today are different than previous episodes. Getting Yeguete back in the flow of things will make a huge difference.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

gatorbogey · 03-09-2013, 03:25 PM

how do you get the mental courage back? didn't the bama game help?

while it may seem a chronic issue w/ this team, i'm not sure each game, each loss points to some sort of mental deficiency. we've folded or lost for different reasons. different issues in execution. perhaps a flawed strategy - end game scenario.

if it were all mental: we'd be choking at home. choking more frequently. we would have lost to bama for instance.