Article: Florida Versus Vanderbilt Basketball Preview

Too early. Let's see how Vandy does against Texas first.

 

Noted in the second paragraph.

 

Right on Eric. Good article and glad he mentioned the tie break implications. If we lose, it gives Vandy basically a 3 game lead over us with the tie break. We only play them once in the regular season. I said before in another thread, I'm not sold on TA&M or Vandy yet. The Aggies lost last night. I expect a close game for Vandy tonight at Texas, since Texas upset Bama last Saturday at Bama. No matter how things turn out from the mid weeks this week, I still expect the Gators to win Saturday because of the matchups. Last thing and Eric missed, our bigs are such good passers, we should be able to lob it in quite often against Vandy. This could be the one thing that gets Vandy into foul trouble if we can dominate the high passing lanes.

 

I agree. I like the matchup.

A couple weeks ago I would have liked it less given their outstanding guards but our backcourt has learned to defend at a higher level.

While I doubt we'll shut their guards down like we did Wilkenson, Gillespie, and Pack, I think/hope we can contain them while our front court eats.

Our size has speed and quickness. I'm not sure they can smallball their way around with ease and they certainly will struggle physically.

That confounded gym is a problem. The refs will also play a huge role. If we can bang freely our chances go way up.

Then again, I thought we matched up poorly v UTk - so forget you read this.

 

Yeah the one thing that worries me is Doug Shows. If he shows up all bets are off. I do hope our inside game takes away any concerns shooting in that gym.

 

Texas decimated them in that paint: + 18 on the boards, + 16 points in the paint, 20-34 on 2s to Vandy’s 13-35. It will be entirely different on their home court, but our length, rebounding, and paint scoring/defense will give them fits. If it’s a close game, their guard play and perimeter shooting will be the difference. Absolutely have to punish them in the paint and on the glass, force them to foul us and send us to the line. IMO, given that building and our frontline advantage, we need to shoot the fewest threes of the season. 20 or less.

 

Now we can snatch a two game lead over them!

 

Are we playing a doubleheader?

 

I wasn’t happy about that. Technically it helps UF from the perspective of potentially winning a conference championship, but I wanted UF to be the one who gave them the first L, and I also don’t like Texas feeling good about themselves. Anything that makes Texas fans happy is a negative.

 

I get it. Fans, me included, think Vandy will play harder now that they've lost and we would have preferred that they felt complacent and unbeatable. I don't think that was likely though. Reigning champs, SEC on line, at home....

I do thank Texas for the blueprints though

 

Duke Sims signed with 7 schools and in his 6th year.

 

With Vandy losing at Texas,
it is now a five-way tie for first place in the SEC after about two weeks of competition:
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/standings/_/group/23

At 1st place (3-1), it's
19 Florida, 10 Vanderbilt, Texas AM,
Missouri and 17 Arkansas.

In 2nd place (2-2), it's
18 Alabama, 24 Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas,
Miss St, Ole Miss and 21 Georgia.

The SEC race is all bunched up together now.
We will soon see who can separate from the pack.
There will be a lot of scoreboard watching taking place.

 

In other news,
Georgia had lost to Ole Miss last night, thus depriving Florida of another Quad1 win. Georgia's net dropped from 23 to 33.
A Quad1 home game qualifies as one if the visiting team has a net 1-30.
A road Q1 game occurs if the hosting team has a net 1-75 (OU was 68).

However, Georgia has four upcoming Q1 games and can easily increase their net rating with some wins.

Florida now has three Quad1 wins:
31 Miami, 24 Tennessee and 68 Oklahoma.

Miami is doing really well in the ACC.
The Hurricanes are in a 1st place tie along with Clemson & Duke.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/standings/_/group/2

 

Game is @ Vandy, not home. Gonna be tough!

 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...ngs-florida-sec-favorite-vanderbilt-unbeaten/

After Iowa St lost to Kansas and
Vanderbilt lost at Texas,

there are three unbeatens left:

Arizona (17-0), kp #2, AP #1
Nebraska (17-0), kp #15, AP #8
Miami OH (18-0), kp #87 <-- Had to look this one up, lol.

 

Yeah - I was speaking from Vandys pov. Theyd be fired up even if they'd beaten ut

 

Watched Vandy last night. They have an extremely talented backcourt pair and run lots of different schemes. Going to be a tough cover. On the other hand they are very undersized in the front court where we should dominate. If their guards "go off" hitting threes or the zebras call a tight game in the paint we will be in trouble. If not we might crush them. I hate to say it but the style of play that the refs call will have a huge influence on the outcome. In a "let them play" game we win easily. In a "ticky tack" game we lose.