The Upside

[SWC75]

- This was like the old days- a nationally ranked non-conference opponent in the Dome- not in a tournament somewhere else. It brought to mind Houston ‘82, North Carolina and Oklahoma ‘84, Louisville, (as a non-conference opponent) ’87, Kentucky ’89, Kentucky in ’94, Arizona in ’96, UCLA in 2000, etc. We have the biggest arena in the country and should be able to bring in the best programs in the country. There should be an annual challenge between the top conferences in the country, each one playing one of the others, (Big East, ACC, SEC, Bog 10, Big 12, Pac12) on an alternating basis. The top ten teams in each conference could be involved. Then we’d have a game like this in the Dome at least every other year.

- Scoop Jardine, as JB said, won the game for us. 16 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and even a block. The play-by-play for the stretch of the game says: 9:41 Scoop Jardine made jumper…8:47 Scoop Jardine steal… 8:16 Scoop Jardine steal….8:16 Scoop Jardine offensive rebound….6:19 scoop Jardine steal…6:15 Scoop Jardine made lay-up….5:14 Scoop Jardine made jumper…2:34 Scoop Jardine made (2) free throw(s)….0:52 Scoop Jardine block…0:31 Scoop Jardine defensive rebound…0:16 Scoop Jardine made (2) free throw(s). There was a missed lay-up, a missed free throw and a turnover in there but you can see what JB was talking about. Jim has never been more effusive in his praise of a player after a game and noted that this was the same Scoop Jardine who is criticized so much and who was pulled out of the game in New York and cheer as Brandon Triche and Dion waiters led the team to victory. The guy bleeds orange and he deserves our respect.

- Brandon Triche led the charge to cover the shooters as we held a 43% three point shooting team to 3 for 14 in the first half and 34.6% for the game. He hit the biggest shot of the game, a three pointer at 9:08 that answered one Kenny Boykin got at the other end 12 seconds earlier and tied the game for the last time at 49. As I’ve said, we have three good guards and it isn’t about which one you like the most. If two of the three play well, we’re all set. It doesn’t matter which two.

- Patric Young had mocked Fab Melo for being a McDonald’s All-American and violently shoved Fab to the ground early in the game. But Fab kept his cool and out-played him with 9 points and 5 rebounds with 4/5 from the field vs. 6 points 5 rebounds and 2/5. Fab had only one official block but got called for goaltending three times. But those four swats gave the Gators something to think about every time they went to the hoop.

_ CJ Fair had a career high 11 rebounds to lead both teams and scored 9 points, including a trey and three pint play. But I loved his sweet jumper from 15 feet to the right of the basket. The medium range jumper is the mightiest weapon in basketball and it’s been underused for years.

- Defense.. Defense. We didn’t shoot very well, (3 for 17 from the arc and 23 for 47 inside of it., But our defense kept us in the game even when we weren’t scoring and gave us a chance to make the plays to win it at the end.

- Our streak of regular season non-conference wins continues at 35. We are a 70 foot desperation shot away from it being 49. We’d had 8 in the three priors years, (2005-08) and were that GMAC run in the NET away from missing the NCAA tournament all three years. It’s important to take care of business this time of year and are doing it.

 

[Orange Barrel]

three pint play

I had a couple of those myself last night.

 

[arbitragegls]

...whoa...yes our defense was good...and so was Florida's...we can say our defense stopped Florida; but how about Florida did well stopping us...neither team shot well...that is in part to defense played as well as "just missing shots"...you can not have it both ways...our offense sucks because we are bad shooters but our defense stopped them...just a thought

 

[SBU72]

I thought that both BMK and JS made significant contributions last night. Yeah, neither got big minutes but what both helped. Keita got 4 rebounds and 2 pts in 14 minutes did a good job replacing Melo when needed. JS missed his 3 shots (but then everybody else did too) but did not seem to be effected by it. JB even put him back in, in the 2nd half. Played decent "D", 3 rbs, 1 steal and 1 block in 11 minutes. His improving D is getting him playing time.

 

[SUSScuse]

A couple of Dions misses were put backs from offensive rebounds. Dion was animated after his misses today. His body language begged for those shots to fall through. Love how aggressive he was going to the basket. Thought our guards outplayed theirs but I expected that anyway.

Jim Boehiem said in the post game that he considered both Dion and CJ starters on this team and compared them with Scoop and KJ coming of the bench a few years ago. This is a good sigh for things to come.
Half of those threes Florida put in were from way deep and the one at the end was meaningless.
We shot 81% from the free throw line....81%!

 

[zhanjuzi]

First game of the year I got to see Cuse in action and it was a great game. Florida impressed me as quicker more physical team, one that will get better. For Cuse, Melo was the biggest surprise .. unrecognizable from last year against this type of competition. Young is a monster and Melo played well against him. As much as I loved Scoop's spectacular 2nd half performance, I hope we don't have to rely on such performances and can put instead put a team away with a more balanced offensive attack.

When we were up by 9 I thought it would be time for some of the freshman but Florida's NBA range three point shooting spree was a wake up call to regroup and patiently put this team away. Don't know if this is a final four team but seems to have the ingredients to challenge any of the other top 10 teams.

 

[tbonezone]

nba range 3's? some of those florida treys were at least 5 steps behind the nba line!

 

[Gatekeeper]

First SWC75 great post... Post of the year so far for me. Was at the game and Florida has a stud for a coach. They are a run and gun, pressing team and did not do that. They are a high rebounding team and didn't do that they got guys back and gave up the rebound. He took the air out of the ball last night and made it into a half court game. He knew that they wouldn't be able to run with us... That is what they do and they didn't do it. Everytime and I mean everytime we went on a run and the crowd was really into it he called a time out. The place was ready to explode and he did his best to make sure it didn't happen... Coaching...

But try as he might we still won the game. Why... JB & bench full of great players. I think JB is going to give most a chance and those that have a good night for what ever reason he is going to ride them in the 2nd half. After each game he will be able to look at the guys that didn't play much in the second half and explain why they didn't play and they will understand the reason and know they have a shot at the next game.

By Billy slowing it down with the best success last night so far this year our guys are going to have to learn and get better at a half court game. (You let us run and will will crush you let there be no mistaking that...) It will take time but they are growing each game and man they are going to be great come March Madness time...