Bama football and hoops

Not unimpressive and probably not unexpected as they were pretty good in hoops last season(?). But they are still 11-3 at the and not in top 10.
NCAA college basketball rankings, polls from the AP and Coaches
NCAA college basketball rankings, polls from the AP and Coaches

The SEC appears to be a mess of mediocrity and unpredictability. Kentucky lost to a crappy georgia team and we beat a highly regarded Tennessee team. Hopefully we can handle the mutts Saturday.

 

We'll see if they can win a natty in Basketball. I seem to remember that there was some other school that won both in the same year.
Now if Najee Harris can win Dancing with the Stars, they can start braggin'.

 

Actually we had the back to back to back to back. Let's not let anyone forget it:
2006 Basketball NC
2006 Football NC
2007 Basketball NC
2008 Football NC

and for the cherry on top: 2017 Baseball NC. There is a very short list of schools with Natty's in all 3 major men's sports.

 

Florida
Michigan
Ohio State

That’s it. Florida is the only one to do all 3 in the last 30 years.

 

And Emmitt won Dancing with the Stars.

 

Interesting...is this what happens when a university actually cares about their sports?
Does Alabama have more billionaires and millionaires than Florida alums do? I doubt it.
Is Alabama simply smarter or more determined than we are about the coaches they sign?
Most likely.

 

And David Eckstein won World Series MVP in 2006.

 

Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. Bama has been a one-trick pony for my lifetime and they haven't won anything yet in terms of Basketball.

 

The good news is that Bama does not place the same emphasis on academics like football so they will never surpass UF in that regard!

 

That's one tricky pony.
I'll take their 18 football titles and bowl record over our 3 football Natty's and 2 NCAA titles.

All-time record 929–331–43 (.729)
Bowl record 44–26–3 (.623)
Playoff appearances 6 (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020)
Playoff record 8–3 (CFP)
Claimed national titles 18
(1925, 1926, 1930, 1934, 1941, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020)
Unclaimed national titles 4 (1945, 1966, 1975, 1977)

 

I'm happy to be a Gator, not a fan-boy for a school that mainly exists to support a football program. But just for $hits and giggles, 1925-1934 are titles they awarded themselves before there was even a national polling system. I particularly laugh at the claimed title in 1941 when they lost 2 games (to Vanderbilt and Miss St!) and came in 3rd in the SEC. Those clowns could teach FSU something about "creative" record-keeping. Every title between 1961-1979 and 2009-2020 should be marked with an asterisk that says "*Excessive cheating is likely to have occurred." That leaves them 1, in 1992, and we all know what Antonio Langham said about that

 

I'm a Gator through and through too.
But for the life of me I still don't understand how we squandered 1915-to-@1965.
0-10 to start against Tennessee, 1-10 to start against Georgia, etc.
After many years I've heard more ridiculous crap on here as to why we didn't succeed.
You know, great coaches but nobody wanted to come play in the swamp heat of Florida?
Yet Ole Miss thrived, Alabama certainly thrived, just about everyone but us in the SEC.

 

I give Oats plenty of credit for taking on this challenge that no matter how many championships he wins, he will always play second fiddle to football.

He came from a totally different region of the country and has managed to instill his own philosophy with 100% buy in. If we can't win it, I hope Bama does

 

They're not going to win NC in BB. I guarantee it.

 

Not only that, but if the baseball team wins another NC, Florida will be the only school to win multiple NC’s in all three sports. A feat that may never be duplicate!

 

It's hard to believe today, but Florida was a pretty small state for much of the time period in question.

For instance, the population of Florida in the 1930 census only ranked 31st among all states.
In contrast, Mississippi was 23rd, Louisiana was 22nd, Kentucky 17th, and Alabama 15th.
Georgia had literally twice the population of Florida.

And while Florida grew faster than other southern states from 1930-1960, it was not until the 1950s when Florida passed TN, Bama, Georgia in population.

So for most of that time period, Florida was much smaller than every other state represented in the SEC.
Even little ol Mississippi.

Then you had other factors- like the population going to college, etc.

 

Basically air conditioning and refrigeration to the masses are the 2 things that flipped Florida (really Miami area) from playground for the rich into normal state. Then Disney turned Orlando into a destination. Tampa of course grew along with the advancements too.

 

Yep, thank God for AC. I grew up in SWFL without it (I know hard to believe) and swore I would leave. I still hate the summers, but.....

 

Next time you're out near some undeveloped land in Florida or even just a thicket of palms and underbrush stop and think about how miserable it mist have been to settle the land in Florida way back when. Sure the south is hot and humid and the southern schools were still able to thrive prior to air conditioning but they sure didn't have to deal with the palms, mosquitoes, weather etc etc as well. I didn't understand what a forest floor looked like until I left the state and realized how uniquely challenging the terrain in florida was and is.