BPI Talk: Why Florida is the best team

[Orangeyes]

BPI Talk: Why Florida is the best team

 

[cusetown1]

People can explain away their losses all they want. In the past 2 months they've beaten Kentucky and a bunch of nit and bubble teams. Before that they had a home win against Kansas who has been all over the map this year. I said this before and I will say it again, the people beating the Florida drum are the same people that jumped off the Kansas, MSU, and Zona ships. Kentucky sucks by the way.

 

[cusetown1]

Another thing that I find funny is this whole "when their healthy" crap. It's really getting on my nerves. Nobody was making excuses for Syracuse without Keita the past few games. It was just articles that pointed out lack of depth, no mention of keita injury from the articles I read.

 

[Orangeyes]

People can explain away their losses all they want. In the past 2 months they've beaten Kentucky and a bunch of nit and bubble teams. Before that they had a home win against Kansas who has been all over the map this year. I said this before and I will say it again, the people beating the Florida drum are the same people that jumped off the Kansas, MSU, and Zona ships. Kentucky sucks by the way.

Don't forget there were those who said a one loss OSU was better than SU then they lost like 5 in a row and that argument went away. Writers got to write, web sites need hits.

 

[cusetown1]

Don't forget there were those who said a one loss OSU was better than SU then they lost like 5 in a row and that argument went away too. Writers got to write, web sites need hits.

Yeah it's so blatantly obvious. I was talking to few people before the Uk Florida game last week. I said I didn't have a rooting interest in that game because one of two things would happen the following day. The headlines would read "Florida best team in country after tonight's win" or "UK finally turning corner after huge win against Florida" . Hey it was pretty close to that lol.

 

[Mo_Cuse]

I love the line "Syracuse is No. 1 in the AP Poll, but that is based on the subjective votes of media members."

We are No.1 in the AP Poll because we have not lost a game. How subjective is that?

 

[Orangezoo]

Just freaking rank us 9th, give us the 3 in the east (buffalo) with a favorable bracket.

 

[wallacecuse]

Another thing that I find funny is this whole "when their healthy" crap. It's really getting on my nerves. Nobody was making excuses for Syracuse without Keita the past few games. It was just articles that pointed out lack of depth, no mention of keita injury for the articles I read.

Even Seth Davis, the band leader of the MSU injury march has relented after the loss at home to Nebraska. I think we have reached critical mass with excusing their losses.

 

[wallacecuse]

People can explain away their losses all they want. In the past 2 months they've beaten Kentucky and a bunch of nit and bubble teams. Before that they had a home win against Kansas who has been all over the map this year. I said this before and I will say it again, the people beating the Florida drum are the same people that jumped off the Kansas, MSU, and Zona ships. Kentucky sucks by the way.

I'm sure you are correct, but Florida has always impressed me more than the others due to the versatility of their roster.

 

[grepal]

I'm sure you are correct, but Florida has always impressed me more than the others due to the versatility of their roster.

I think Florida would easily be one of the favorites to win the NCAA Tourney. They are very good. I remember Coach Boeheim lauding that team in particular at the start of the year. That being said SU has as good a chance as any contender. Really if anyone in the top 15 or 20 wins would people be shocked (OK St. Louis might raise some eyebrows).

 

[Knicks411]

I guess the difference with Florida is they are healthy now.

I think Florida would easily be one of the favorites to win the NCAA Tourney. They are very good. I remember Coach Boeheim lauding that team in particular at the start of the year. That being said SU has as good a chance as any contender. Really if anyone in the top 15 or 20 wins would people be shocked (OK St. Louis might raise some eyebrows).

I agree, Florida is really good. They aren't perfect cause no one is.

But assuming we get the Buffalo/MSG road we've been looking for all year, and assuming the regions are roughly equally distributed as far as talent goes; (big assumption) I think that would give us the best shot of any team of reaching the final four.

 

[jncuse]

Metrics and rankings systems are valuable information, and provide indicators of whom may be underrated or overrated. I look at them in ranges, never in terms of absolute ranking. I see Florida and Syracuse at the top of the BPI, and I think this validates them both as great teams, not that Florida is better than Syracuse because they are #1

A system should never be the sole basis for assessing who is #1.

You have people who fall on both sides of the trap. People like this writer who say Florida is #1 because the BPI says so. Then you have people who say the BPI or ranking systems suck because Florida is #1. Both sides need to just look at it as a way to validate that Syracuse and Florida are elite teams.

If a team was #4 in the AP, but #12 in BPI and #13 in KP for example, I think its fair to question that team or at least be skeptical about it.

 

[Madbiker]

All the media blowhards loved Florida last year too. How'd that work out?

 

[690West]

I view this article a little differently. It tells me that a deeply analytical statistical model says we have a very good chance of being in the national title game. Yes please, great article

 

[CorduroyG]

1 thing is for sure about florida, theyll be in the elite 8. i dont know the #s but it sure seems like theyre in the elite 8 every freakin year. when im filling out my brackets i automatically have them winning their first 3 games.

 

[moqui]

But assuming we get the Buffalo/MSG road we've been looking for all year, and assuming the regions are roughly equally distributed as far as talent goes; (big assumption) I think that would give us the best shot of any team of reaching the final four.

I just know that the committee is going to put Louisville in the east as our 4 seed, and no team scares me as much right now as the Cards.

 

[jordoo]

I'm sure you are correct, but Florida has always impressed me more than the others due to the versatility of their roster.

We haven't had much trouble with Florida in the last few years. They are a slightly better older version of what they have been in a down SEC (the SEC is always weak to start with). They lost half of their big OOC games. Prather is much improved and the guard play is steadier than it has been in the past but overall I just see pretty much the same team they have been an E8 type team that might make the FF with the right matchups. Depth and flexibility on your roster are nice but you can only play 5 at a time and flexibility is much more valuable when you aren't deep they kind of cancel each other out as advantages when you have both IMO.

 

[jordoo]

I just know that the committee is going to put Louisville in the east as our 4 seed, and no team scares me as much right now as the Cards.

I have mixed feelings about how good they are. Ricky always has them ticking well down the stretch and they are better than they were earlier for sure but when you look at their wins I think UConn and maybe SMU are the best ones. I'm simply not sold that they are all that dangerous although I'd like to avoid them purely because Pitino knows how to effectively attack our zone and they have players who are very familiar with it. Plus when they are losing they will not just throw the kitchen sink at you they will hit you with it over and over again and force the refs to either call it our let them win.

 

[seanmac1844]

It's all about match ups. I watch all SU and UF games. IMO, Florida doesn't match up well with SU. Prather would not be as effective against SU because he has almost no outside shot and the zone would take away a lot of his driving ability. If Frazier got hot from outside he could keep it close but that's a big if. Yuegete is a good defender but he cannot guard both CJ and Jeremi at the same time. Young and Rak is a wash.

Now, if Florida is playing a man to man team, it would be tough to find a team that I would favor over them right now.

 

[Knicks411]

I feel like Louisville is going to get real hot and be better than a 4.

 

[longtimefan]

I just know that the committee is going to put Louisville in the east as our 4 seed, and no team scares me as much right now as the Cards.

Maybe in the other side of the East bracket vs. Nova in the 2-3 game?

With UConn as the #4. A true BET setup.

 

[jncuse]

Maybe in the other side of the East bracket vs. Nova in the 2-3 game?

With UConn as the #4. A true BET setup.

They could not put UConn as the #4 in that situation, as it would be a violation of bracket rules. I guess they could put them as a #5.

 

[jncuse]

Maybe in the other side of the East bracket vs. Nova in the 2-3 game?

With UConn as the #4. A true BET setup.

They could not put UConn as the #4 in that situation, as it would be a violation of bracket rules. I guess they could put them as a #5.

 

[SoBeCuse]

It's all about match ups. I watch all SU and UF games. IMO, Florida doesn't match up well with SU. Prather would not be as effective against SU because he has almost no outside shot and the zone would take away a lot of his driving ability. If Frazier got hot from outside he could keep it close but that's a big if. Yuegete is a good defender but he cannot guard both CJ and Jeremi at the same time. Young and Rak is a wash.

Now, if Florida is playing a man to man team, it would be tough to find a team that I would favor over them right now.

Good post. Prather can still put it on the floor a bit. Nice player and very athletic. He and Cooney have to be two of the most improved players in the country. Offensively, I think they are pretty similar to us. Good forwards, a solid post defender and effort guy, one true reliable 3pt shooter like Cooney in Frazier, and a steady PG. They are getting a little more bench production naturally since DC2 went down for us. As others have said they are pretty much a lock for the E8. We got lucky playing them last time when Murphy was out for them. I like this Florida much better than in years past because they aren't relying on the 3 as much. Boynton and Erving Walker were chuckers and took lots of bad shots. This team is way more effective inside the arc.

 

[jncuse]

We haven't had much trouble with Florida in the last few years. They are a slightly better older version of what they have been in a down SEC (the SEC is always weak to start with). They lost half of their big OOC games. Prather is much improved and the guard play is steadier than it has been in the past but overall I just see pretty much the same team they have been an E8 type team that might make the FF with the right matchups. Depth and flexibility on your roster are nice but you can only play 5 at a time and flexibility is much more valuable when you aren't deep they kind of cancel each other out as advantages when you have both IMO.

Its a copout answer, but I really think this year once you reach the elite 8 it will come down to matchups. We will have the intangibles (ability to win close) that can't be ignored, but I don't think anybody has a cap of Elite 8 this year. Some teams could be round of 32, round of 16, but then I think after that its wide open.

It's caused in part by some of the potential questionable #1 seeds.

 

[Mano22]

This Florida team is so much better than they have been the last few years. Addition by subtraction with Boynton and Rosario. Those guys were textbook chuckers (especially Boynton, god he was bad.) But this team, with Prather's improvement and Wilbekin playing out of his mind (seriously watch that dude for a game, he does EVERYTHING extremely well) is very scary. Clearly amongst the favorites to win it all.

I think the top tier of teams this year is:
SU
Fla
Duke

Kansas right behind those, as is Mich St (with Dawson, although tougher to place them here after the Nebraska game.) Arizona is just behind these guys without Ashley.

None of these teams are unbeatable though (a la UK with Davis et al or UNC in 08/09.) Tourney is gonna be so great this year.