WOW, that was a tough one last night. Give UF credit, if you look at the box score for the game, just look at how many minutes their starters played, especially the three that KILLED us the most, Walker, Boynton and Parsons. Boynton was strong in regulation, Walker in OT #1 and Parsons in OT #2. We have Thompkins and Leslie play 47 minutes, for those of you that don't know, that would be all but ONE minute when you add 20+20+4+4. WOW. I think that could have had something to do with Trey missing the front end of the 1-1 in the first OT. That was costly of course as was the decision NOT to foul Walker-that little guy was their leading 3 point shooter, even though he only hit 2-8, that second one just killed us. The other one he hit would have been behind the NBA arc as well. I think Mark Fox is an outstanding basketball coach, but last night I do question that move. I honestly expected him to call a timeout after Price made his second free throw to set up his defense and instruct his guys to foul Walker before he got within shooting range. What would have then happend is, there is like about 3-4 seconds left in the game when we foul him. He then has to hit the first FT and purposely miss the second and hope UF can get the rebound and either get fouled or make the basket. If we get fouled, say another second ticks off the clock-so you have us shooting a FT with 3 seconds left, if we make both, great but even a miss they have to grab the rebound and basically heave it and hope for miracle. As it happened, they got a VERY good look at the basket and the kid hit a big shot. In the second OT, Parsons was on fire. Hitting shots, getting offensive boards, he just seemed to have a lot more energy than anyone else on the court. Again, it is easy to second guess after the fact but I would have liked to have Marcus Thornton out on the floor defending him instead of having Price/Barnes or even Leslie trying to guard him-Travis had played 47 minutes as I mentioned before. Marcus only played 4 minutes last night and I think his fresh legs on the defensive end would have helped us in the OT periods.
Another HUGE factor in the game was the foul trouble of our guards. Let's face it, after Ware and Robinson, we don't have a lot of depth at guard. Vincent Williams did score some points and didn't play horribly, Brantley didn't shoot well percentage wise but did have some shots just rim out. But, Ware and Robinson are critical pieces for our team and without them, (Ware fouling out in the first OT hurt big time for the second OT), it was asking a lot. Even with those guys, we turned the ball over 20 times which for a team that led the SEC in assist to turnover ratio, that was a killer. But, as I put in my preview post on the Gators, that might be the only team we play in conference that actually has more experience that we do. Walker is a Jr, Parsons, Macklin and Tyus are all seniors. Boynton is a soph but started for them last year. I mentioned that we needed to get Macklin in foul trouble and that did happen late in the game, but we could not get him fouled out after he picked up #4 with about 5 minutes to go in regulation.
So, now we are going to have to hope that our guys can get a couple more wins on the road. They have two opportunities coming up, against two teams that have traditionally been VERY tough to beat at their place but yet two places our teams seem to always compete at a high level. Lexington on Saturday and then Fayetteville next Wednesday. Of course we have already played UK this season so I will not do much of a preview on them later this week but needless to say, they will be ready for us. They have been off all week to prepare for us and we beat them earlier so they will certainly be up for the game. What we have going in our favor is the experience factor and knowing we can compete with them, after beating them earlier this year and the core of our team remembers the VERY close game we played up there last year. As for Arkansas, they are 3-3 in conference play after beating AU at home last night and play @Vandy on Saturday. They have not lost a conference game at home all year, in fact have only lost one game at home all year, that to UAB a team we squeaked by earlier this season at home. I feel the next two games will be tough to pick up a win but I feel like we really do need to split the road trip as that would put us at 4-4. If you look at the remainer of our schedule, you have to like our chances at winning out at home. We have AU, Xavier, Vandy, SCarolina and LSU left. IF we can win all those games, that gives us 7 wins in conference. That means we need to win 2 of the following on the road: UK, Ark, SCarolina, Tenn, Fla, and Bama. To me, our best chances at wins on the road would be Ark, SCarolina and Bama. If we can win 2 of those 3 and finish the year 9-7 in the SEC, that might get us in. It would be nice though to get a win at a place like Knox, Lex or Gainesville because those are teams we are likely to be battling with to get a spot in the dance. I am not ready to start talking NIT at this point, far from it, but if we go 0-2 on this road trip, the pressure is going to start mounting for our guys. I think there is far too much talent on this team for us to not make the dance this year, it will be a real big disappointment if we come up short. If we do, I think we can all point to these two home losses as being a BIG reason we didn't make it. But, we are only 6 games into the 16 game schedule so again, much too soon to be talking about why we didn't get in. That Xavier game will also be a biggie, because that team does have some national recognition and they are currently sitting at 13-5 and 5-0 in their league.
Only two more days until Ray Drew becomes a Dog, Tiger (LSU or AU) or Cane. From all indications, he will be saying UGA on Friday but until I hear him say it, I will not believe it. Also rumors Crowell will not take his AU visit, that would be fine with me. I still think he will pick UGA-I hear now that he will make his annoucement on signing day at 1:30pm. John Jenkins also might be a signing day decision but then I have read today he will not sign until the Saturday after signing day, 2/5. From all accounts, I think we land him as well. There are other kids with rumors right now but until I have more reliable information, I am not going to speculate. Let's just say, even without the rumors, if we get Drew, Crowell and Jenkins I will be one happy camper because I honestly believe all three of those guys will get PT this fall, Crowell and Jenkins I think will be starters at some point.
I find it funny that some people get so upset about recruiting, as in, why do people follow recruiting so much etc etc. Well, to me, how different is recruiting for college football fans than the NFL draft combine and draft itself for NFL fans. NFL fans have draft day parties, the draft is on TV, they have experts giving their opinions and rankings of players and projecting where they might be drafted or what team might select them. Bottom line, recruiting is the same thing because in both cases, you never know if the kid will pan out, but there is always fun in the speculation. You might not think Tebow is a first round pick or worthy of being a 5 star recruit etc, but for the team that gets him, they are thrilled and believe he will be the turning stone of their franchise/school. The only difference is of course, the NFL selects their players while in college, the player selects the school. So, that makes it different because a power school can put together a high school all star team and recruit them all to their school, much like our dream team concept. The NFL is a little more complex in that they have to evaluate all the players, and then slot who they want and wait and see if that player is still around. Still though, whether it be recruiting or NFL draft, I don't think fans of either are in the wrong for being excited about the process and following it with keen interest. The kids you sign today, will be playing for you as soon as the fall. In the pros, the kid you draft first, no doubt will be playing or expected to play for you in the fall.
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