Could the SEC have 6 NCAA tournament Teams?
By Alex Miller
Florida Gators
It hasn’t been the start envisioned by head coach Billy Donovan and the Florida faithful. The Gators are currently 7-6 but have played one of the toughest schedules in college basketball.
Early on, they lost by 2 on the road at Miami, a place where currently undefeated Virginia needed two overtimes to escape with a victory. Then, they fell to Georgetown and North Carolina in the Battle for Atlantis tournament. They followed that up with a loss to Kansas on the road and have dropped their last two games. One in which they literally beat themselves on an own basket as time expired and then a stunning loss at home to UConn.
The Gators play hard, and are good defenders, but when it comes to shooting, they couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat. Only Michael Frazier and Dorian Finney-Smith are shooting the 3 ball at a respectable clip.
On top of the poor shooting, the Gators are turning it over on almost 20% of their possessions. When you’re a poor shooting team, you need to make sure you get a shot every time down the court to try to put some points on the scoreboard.
However, the Gators have more talent on their team than everyone else in the SEC excluding Kentucky. I think the talent will shine through eventually, but the clock is ticking – Florida needs to add some solid wins to their resume quickly or they might miss the tournament. Their first chance will be tomorrow at South Carolina.
Next: LSU Tigers