Good morning!
It’s great to talk to you once again, particularly after the Gators FINALLY grabbed a marquee win, taking down #2 Tennessee. I can’t wait to get into it!
These are some thoughts I’m having about the Florida basketball team right now.
This could be the best defensive team the Gators have had since the 2014 Final Four squad.
Currently the best metric for evaluating a team defensively is by using KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric. The 2014 team was the third best team in the country according to that metric and this team is seventh after suffocating the Vols on Wednesday. Seventh is the highest the Gators have ranked since the 2014 team, and the eye test matches the ranking. This team is flying around when they need to be, they’re quiet and in position when they need to be, and more than anything else–they take extreme pride on the defensive end and always give max effort. It’s giving Florida a chance to win on most nights despite the offense being dreadful, and it’s the reason they were able to take down an excellent Tennessee squad.
If, and I mean IF the Gators are able to get their season back on track and make the NCAA Tournament, it will be kind of fun to cheer for a team that’s so scrappy and just grinding out wins on the defensive end. Would a run and gun offensive team be a bit more palatable to watch? Perhaps–but I think we should take wins however they come.
The Tennessee team the Gators beat was truly excellent.
Okay, okay, I know that the Volunteers aren’t great offensively and it meant that when they matched up with the suffocating Gators D they didn’t have much of a chance–but I still think they are an excellent basketball team. In addition to being #2 in the AP Poll, they were also #2 in the NET. And, perhaps most notably–they were 1st in KenPom.
Of course, Florida handing them a double digit loss will change that. The Vols dropped to 2nd in KenPom, which, well, is still very good, and they’ll likely have dropped a spot or two in the NET by the time you’re reading this.
If you’re watching how the Gators dismantled Tennessee you might be thinking that the Vols didn’t look all that good, but it should be full credit to Florida for their ability to make them look that bad. Tennessee has wins over Kansas, USC, and Texas–so they’ve shown they’re legit. Florida just really came to play.
After that huge win, where is Florida in Bracketology?
Entering Wednesday’s game the Gators weren’t first four out in any reputable brackets. Actually, they weren’t NEXT four out, either. They were generally in the next group, so, about 10-15 spots out of the NCAA Tournament picture. Getting a win like the one at Tennessee will absolutely change that, and while I don’t think it puts them into the NCAA Tournament field I do think it puts them into first four out territory. When looking at all these teams that are outside of the field, many of them lack an elite win which, well, is why they’re outside of the field. Florida’s win over Tennessee is a much better win than many of the teams that are ahead of them but outside of the Tournament picture, and I think the Gators just leapfrogged a bunch of them.
Florida’s offense is still bad, but Golden did an excellent job with after time out plays.
Basketball is a free flowing sport and coaches can’t always control exactly what happens schematically but they usually have a chance to draw things up in time outs, and Golden was really good with these situations against Tennessee. He used the timeouts to draw up counters to their regular offensive actions, and it caught the Vols on their toes and allowed the Gators to get some easy points they desperately needed. If the Gators are going to continue struggling offensively they’ll need every easy bucket they can get, and after timeout situations are a great time to steal one.
Thank you for reading, talk to you later!