Well, Florida's season is over so I can talk about the team without fear of endangering their future prospects because, well there aren't any future prospects, not for this exact team at least.
I liked this Florida team much more than any of the past three seasons, they played with heart and desire that far surpassed anything we'd seen on the court from a Billy Donovan coached team in quite a while. David Lee was the major reason for this transformation. He began, in this his senior season, to finally play with the passion and intensity that Florida fans had always wanted from him. As a result, this team followed his leadership and was able to accomplish some things that nobody would've thought possible after Lee put up 4 points and 2 rebounds in an early January loss to FSU. I truly believe that Florida was a better team than Villanova, it just so happens that Villanova severely outplayed Florida yesterday. Lee did his best to keep the team in the game and had he gotten some offensive help, then the Gators may have had a shot, even with Jason Fraser doing his best Wilt Chamberlain impression.
What ended up killing the Gators is that their leading scorer, Anthony Roberson, went ice cold during the final 5 games of the season. He simply couldn't hit anything, inside or out and his confidence clearly waned in the first round matchup versus Ohio. You can get away with not having one of your "Big Three" playing up to par but you certainly can't get by with two of those three struggling and that's what happenned yesterday as Matt Walsh struggled to get his shot against the more athletic and aggressive Wildcat defenders. This was no surprise to anybody who has watched Florida on a regular basis. Walsh just doesn't possess enough quickness to create his shot against high-level defenders, even his big games in the SEC Tourney were more a product of him being freed by set plays and great screening. Was Villanova a better team than Florida? No. Did Villanova deserve to win yesterday? Absolutely. Make no mistake about it though, this was not the same type of Florida that crumbled in the tournament because they were too soft and lazy. No, this Florida team had enough heart to win this game and maybe even one more, it simply lacked the offensive firepower to stay with a very good Villanova team. Then again, when the conference's leading scorer gets 5 points in a second round matchup there are not many teams who would be able to overcome that and still walk away with a victory.
Most Florida fans' minds have already turned to spring football and the debut of Urban Meyer and his vaunted offense. I'd be lying if I said I haven't been reading practice reports for the past three days and I wasn't planning on being in Gainesville on April 9th to watch the annual Orange and Blue Spring Scrimmage (I have been and I am) but there are a few things that I want to address before we close the door on this year's Florida Basketball team.
- Congrats on the SEC tourney title, you made Gators everywhere proud.
-David Lee will end up being drafted in the mid-to-late first round, due to a combination of a fantastic finish to his senior year and his predictably sensational pre-draft workouts. Pretty impressive when you consider he wasn't even likely to be drafted at all in the middle of the year.
- Anthony Roberson: You had a very nice year but you are kidding yourself if you think you're ready for the NBA. Stick around one more year and improve your overall ballhandling ability and come back ready to average 24 ppg in the SEC, then you'll have a much better shot at making it in the NBA. Look at what coming back for one more year did for David Lee.
-Matt Walsh: Take a page out of JJ Reddick's book and come back next year in the best shape of your life...you need every physical advantage you can get.
-Corey Brewer: He has the potential to be a superstar if he can continue to progress offensively. Based on his athleticism and overall work ethic, the sky is the limit. As is his unintentional comedy potential, as my friend Vitas said on Friday he's "already the hands down team leader in unintentional comdedy." I agree...keep up the good work.
-Al Horford: Already a serviceable SEC Center with the potential to be a double double machine as he becomes more comfortable and proficient offensively. The thought of him and Chris Richard (has the light come on?) beating people down on the block next year actually makes me giddy with excitement over the possibilities.
I knew this Gator team wasn't going to win it all, but with the Kansas and UConn going down, I began to think that maybe the Gators had a magical Final Four run in them. Alas, it was not to be and we'll have to sit through another year of hearing how Florida can not win in the tournament. It's a load of crap but unless you can shutup the critics then you just have to grin and bear it. Hopefully all the upperclassmen come back with a big chip on their shoulder and and even better year than the one which just passed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I agree that these Gators played with more heart and intensity than the previous editions. They also finally had expectations under control.
They just played a bad game. It's the same thing that happened to Gonzaga - 2 or their 3 scorers didn't score. It's tough to win against a good team when you miss a lot of shots. That's life in the tourney.
I was a little surprised that Nova looked so much quicker than Florida.
Post a Comment