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Florida Basketball: It’s Faaaaaantastic!

Well, I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Since yesterday, we’ve knocked off two Top 20 teams–Wake Forest (18) and Syracuse (16)–to win the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

This year, I expected our team to be young, scrappy, a lot like the Kentucky teams of the past few years. No real superstar, but several solid players, most capable of scoring 15 or 20 points on any given night. I expected us to play high-octane basketball, pressing, smothering teams on the defensive end, and trying to run the fast break game whenever possible.

What I didn’t expect was the chemistry that our team has shown so early in the season. It’s still November and they look like they’ve been playing together for years. Our passing game is impressive and we looked right at home against Syracuse’s signature 2-3 zone. In fact, we forced them to go to man-to-man defense because we were shooting so well and passing so well inside and around their zone.

I’m very pleasantly surprised and I think this team can be very, very good. We’re starting 4-0 and I expect we’ll be ranked when the next rankings are released. I think the SEC is in for a surprise from a young, solid Gator basketball team this year. We might be able to defend the first SEC Championship in school history with an all-around better team than the one that won the Championship last year.

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Florida football falters

Well, we made a good run, but Spurrier bumped us off just when our SEC Championship hopes were peaking. Notice I said “Spurrier” and not “South Carolina.” That’s because their football team didn’t beat us, we were just flat out-coached. They played well, but they were coached better. Also, we just didn’t show up to play. Again, our offense sputtered and our defense decided to take it easy and give up some big plays at the worst times.

That about sums it up.

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Close as could be

Well, I sure didn’t expect Vandy to hang 42 points on us tonight, but it doesn’t surprise me all that much either. Everyone knows they’re a team that’s just waiting to break out and they almost did that in Gainesville tonight.

Ironically, I originally wrote the previous post to say something like, “I expect this one to be pretty close”, but then I remembered the game was in G-ville, so I changed it to “I think we can cover the spread.” I should’ve gone with my gut. Vandy is rarely an easy win and they’re better this year than they’ve been in many years.

We were lucky to escape with a win tonight and Spurrier’s team won’t be a pushover in South Carolina next week.

War Eagle.

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Big game tonight

I’m not even being sarcastic. The Gators need this game pretty badly, but not in the typical sense. Meyer has begun to retool the offense, but we’re far from polished. We squeaked by Georgia using a stripped down offense that mostly went north-south. But that’s not Meyer’s vision and I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten his beloved Spread.

This game will be a chance for the Gators to add some Spread plays and work on blocking in the more complicated schemes. We have to remember that we still have to beat South Carolina on their field, then we have FSU at home and a bowl game. But, if Auburn prevails in Athens, we’ll be playing in Atlanta for the SEC Championship, a likely rematch against the Tide. We already saw what happened in Tuscolusa and if we’re going to beat them the offense has to be clicking on all cylinders. Now is the time to start tuning up the engine.

I expect to see a good mix of old school play calling and some new school Spread plays. I also expect our defense to give Vandy fits. I’m not necessarily predicting a blowout, but I expect us to cover the spread (looks like about 19 points).

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Heading home for Thanksgiving

I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make it home this year because of the high plane ticket prices, but things have worked out just in time. I was able to get my return ticket paid for by my company, so that means I only have to buy a one-way ticket to Jacksonville, which I got for a reasonable price. Basically, I’ve arranged for a training session in El Segundo the week after Thanksgiving. I’ll fly to J-ville on Wednesday, the 23rd, hang with the family for a couple days, go to Gainesville on Friday or Saturday and hopefully get a ticket to the FSU game. Then I’ll continue hanging in G-ville for a few days and I fly to El Segundo on Tuesday afternoon. I’ll be in El Segundo until Friday afternoon, then I finally head back to Dallas to return to the grind.

Christmas travel plans

Tentatively, I’m leaving Dallas around December 15 and driving east. A friend of mine might be accompanying me so we can hit Shreveport on the way and maybe go to a casino or two. If he joins me, the plan is that he’ll fly out to Dallas (one-way) and then ride with me back east. After Shreveport, we’ll go to Atlanta (where he lives) and hang for a few days before parting ways to go spend Christmas with our respective families. Of course, there’s a 10-day gap between when I’ll leave Dallas and Christmas day, so I’ll have to see about visiting G-ville and maybe going to a Gator basketball game during that week.

After Christmas, I’ll probably head north to Atlanta to hang with all the locals I know and also to see all the Crusade Staffers that will be there for Christmas Conference. Last year, a friend of mine threw a pretty sweet New Year’s party, so hopefully she’ll do that again.

I’ll head back to Dallas around January 2nd and prepare to begin another year of boring work.

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The football infestation continues…

Well, I said I didn’t want this to become a football blog, but since I have no life and I love football, I guess that’s just what’s on my mind. We beat Georgia… again. I’m not saying that in a cocky way, it’s just how it is. Yes, they were without their quarterback, but that elicits little sympathy from me. We’ve been playing without our stars all season–Chris Leak hurt his shoulder against Alabama and it clearly affected his next couple games; Andre Caldwell, our first receiver, broke his femur against Tennessee; several of our key defensive players have missed games and on and on–and we’re not looking for sympathy. We’re just playing good football, the same as Georgia. And this game wasn’t as close as it looked on paper, either. We should’ve scored just before the end of the first half, but we fumbled on the 5 yard-line when a Leak/Wynn exchange went poorly. That wasn’t good Georgia defense, it was a gift from the statistical gods. Also, Georgia’s only touchdown came on a trick play that only worked because it was botched. It was a nice catch by T3, but he wouldn’t have been open if he didn’t accidentally fall down earlier in the play. It was like hitting a 3-pointer off the glass–you get 3 points, but everyone in the game attaches a mental asterisk whose note reads, “3-point airball.”

Anyway, it was another SEC slug-fest and we were fortunate enough to win it. Our offense actually came alive in the first quarter and then it went back into hibernation as the defense dominated the rest of the game. Meyer is finally figuring out what to do with Leak and company. Keeping it simple is the best way with these guys. Zook’s problem in 2004 wasn’t offense–we torched most of the teams we played–it was a lackluster defense who took naps and drank drinks with little pink umbrellas in them during the fourth quarter. Our defense has totally transformed this year, but our offensive personnel are the same. Give Leak a pocket, let him pass and use our running backs to run it right down their throats. We are best on the ground when we’re running downhill.

So now what? Well, we should win out in the SEC, which means we’re going to be chanting “War Eagle!!” soon enough. I think it’s silly that we’re depending on UGA’s game with a Western Division foe to vault us into the SEC Championship. Each East team plays 3 random West teams and Florida had to play AT Alabama and AT LSU. Georgia? They get Auburn at home. They don’t have to play ‘Bama or LSU at all. Must be nice. The planets have aligned and UGA may have a shot at the SEC Title in spite of their second-best SEC East record.

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Two losses to two Top 10 teams

I guess Florida haters like to see that we have two losses and we’ve fallen to 5-2 overall. But I don’t think it’s really that bad. Of course, we didn’t look good against Alabama, but they’re still in the Top 10 right now. After this week, LSU should be Top 10 as well. All things considered, I think that’s reasonable.

Our hopes at a shot for the SEC title are all but gone, but I guess that’s just the way it goes. What’s frustrating is that we could be undefeated in the East and still not play on December 3rd in ATL. Something seems a little off there, but I’m just a biased Florida fan.

Speaking of Top 10 teams, our next opponent lives there as well. In two weeks, we go to Jacksonville to play Georgia. That should be a good game and could be Urban’s second win against a Top 10 team. Of course, we’ll be underdogs, but that’s the way it has been many times over the past few years. We’ve only lost to UGA once since I started school back in 1998 and I think we have a good shot at keeping that stat intact.

I don’t like that this has turned into a football blog, but at least I’m updating it with some frequency.

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It’s still great to be a Florida Gator…

But it’s a bummer losing like that. I’m still not sure what happened but, if I had to guess, I’d probably use the words “meltdown” and “unprepared”. Our defense stunk up the stadium and our offense was a one-trick pony with little resembling anything “spread” or “option”. ‘Bama played well, but they beat a team that was only a shell of the team I’ve seen the past few weeks. I don’t know where the Gators were on Saturday, but they weren’t in Tuscaloosa.

Hopefully we’ll play well and run Meyer’s offense this weekend against Mississippi State. I hope we’re able to get a win and gain some confidence in our schemes so that we’re prepared when we go to LSU in a couple weeks. I think the most important thing to remember right now is that we’re still in control of the SEC East. We do have a loss, but it was to West team, so it did the least amount of damage possible. If we get back on track and run the table in the East, we’ll go to the SEC Championship game and hopefully get a rematch against the tide.

Anti-Gator fans?

Since our loss to Alabama, I’ve had a few people–none of whom are Alabama students, fans or alumni–say to me or e-mail me a big “Rolll Tiiiide!!” I don’t get it. I don’t understand why people dislike Florida so much. My only guess is that Spurrier was so dominant and cocky that people just decided to hate the Gators. One of the people who said that to me is an Auburn grad. When they lost to GaTech earlier this year, I didn’t say a word to him. When they got snubbed out of the National Title game last year, I told him I thought that was stupid and the BCS was flawed. The only jawing I’ve ever done is to say, “We’ll see you in the SEC Championship.” That’s it. But when we lose to a tough football team, this guy starts giving me lip. Seriously?

Another person, an FSU fan, e-mailed me with nothing but “Rooolll Tiiiide!” I guess she may’ve been irked because, after she tried to tell me how we’re going to lose this year and UGA has our number, I called Doak “Ron Zook Field”. I never e-mailed her last year (or any of multiple opportunities) to say “Go ‘Canes!!!!” or “Go Terps!!” I didn’t e-mail her to talk smack after we beat FSU on their field last year. But we get a road loss to a Top 15 team that she doesn’t even root for and I immediately get an e-mail? Seriously? Nevermind that an astute FSU fan would realize that Florida’s record come November 26 could have a huge impact on FSU’s potential to play for the National Title, and a Florida loss doesn’t help their cause.

After UGA beat us last year, I was at Radio Shack buying some batteries or something. Some random dude saw my hat and came up to say, “You a Gator fan? Man, them Bulldogs beat y’all today, huh?” He was obviously trying to get a rise out of me and also obviously not a Georgia fan. I said, “Well, we have to give them one every 15 years or so. We figured this’d be a good year to do it since we don’t have a coach and all.” He just kinda’ sheepishly put his head down and walked away. I guess he hadn’t really thought his chiding through. But why say anything to begin with? I’m surrounded by Sooners fans. I haven’t said a word to any of them about their season so far. I work with several Aggies. I haven’t made a peep. It’s one thing to root for a football team, but it’s another thing entirely to root against a team just to spite its fans.

Yes, I know what a rivalry is. No, I don’t like FSU or Tennessee. But, no, I wouldn’t e-mail anyone from those schools if their team lost a football game to some team I don’t even root for. That just seems silly and sort of mean-spirited.

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It’s great to be a Florida Gator

Wow. Saturday’s football game was really incredible. I’m pretty sure the last time a home game held that much significance was Tennessee in 2001 at the end of the season. If we won that game, we would go on to play for the SEC Championship and possibly play in the National Championship. But we lost.

It’s been almost four years since then and we’ve had some big disappointments and a couple nice wins, but Saturday’s game was the first game in a while that’s meant something. We’re back in the Top 5. Our schedule is difficult, but if we remain undefeated and win the SEC, we’ll have an excellent shot at playing for the Championship. We still have to play LSU, Georgia, Alabama, another West team in the SEC Championship and so-far-undefeated FSU. If our schedule is as difficult as it seems it will be, we could have to win five games over Top 10 opponents.

But all that’s just chit-chat. The real deal was going to a big game in the Swamp and beating a solid opponent when it really counted. And the best part of the real deal was watching the game from the student section, 20 rows up on the 30-yard line. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had at the Swamp, and I’ve been to a lot of home games.

Now, I just have to see about getting tickets (plane and football) for the FSU game in November. I’m hoping to take Thanksgiving week off and travel home to see family, friends and some Florida football.

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Another basketball season in the books

Tonight was the last game of the season, a season that wasn’t as bad as it looks on paper. We finished 2-6, but our last 5 games were much better than the first 3. The first few games, we just got whooped and our team was awful. A big reason was that we couldn’t get anyone to show up and we hadn’t played together at all. The fourth week, we pulled out our first win and actually looked like a decent team. The fifth week, we looked even better and pulled out our second win. Then, we ran into the three best teams in the league and lost all three games.

What is promising is that we hung right in every game down the stretch. Our first losses are all by double digits. Our lost losses (against the best teams) were all single digits. If our schedule had been reversed, I think we could’ve finished 5-3 instead of 2-6. C’est la vie.

We still don’t know if we’ll get to play in the playoffs. We’re at the bottom of the league, so if they axe the teams with the worst records, we’ll be out. But, if we make the playoffs, I think we can actually make a run because our team has improved every week. Also, it’s likely we’ll get a rematch with the team we played tonight and I honestly think we can take them now that we’ve played them. They basically beat us in the first few minutes of the game when they killed us from the 3-point line. We outscored them by 4 in the second half after we switched to a 3-2 Zone defense.

Anyway, it was a good season. I think if we can get the same together for the Winter league, we’ll be in good shape.

As for my individual performance, I played pretty badly at the beginning of the season. I scored every game, but very few points. The last three games, I scored 12, 10 and 6 points respectively and hit 8 3-pointers. The 12-point game was a 4-for-6 shooting night beyond the arc. I’ve been pretty much exclusively running Point Guard since the middle of the season and I’ve been doing pretty well. I’ve had some turnovers, but I’ve also had some nice assists. For next season, I’d like to learn how to take better care of the ball and when to “camp out” at the 3-point line and when to be slashing and crashing.

That is all.