sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Great turnout by the students, who filled their sections in the lower deck and almost 2 full sections in the upper as well. The locals didn't do as good a job but 24K on a Friday night in early December is not bad. Crowd was good in the second half and made some noise. Biggest ovations of the night might have been when The Real Melo was introduced.
We zoned UF all game long. They are a very good offensive team...while we gave up some 3s, overall, it was another excellent defensive effort. Even when they made 3s, they were usually from way outside the 3 point circle. They have a couple of shooters on that team in Walker and Boynton.
Most of the other Gator players were good athletes but their ability to score was minimized by the active SU zone. Davis, the loud mouth center with the impressive build and the huge ego, was badly outplayed all game long by Fab Melo, who continues to impress. He looks like he might be one of those players who gets better the better the competition he faces. Started both halves with quick dunks, which made many in the Dome very happy indeed.
UF tried a variety of defenses on us. They opened in man, played some zone, pressed some. We have a veteran team and handled everything they threw at us pretty easily. We were able to get a lot of quality looks from the outside but were ice cold most of the game...that was the only thing that kept the Gators in it well into the 2nd half.
No MCW. Almost no Christmas. Keita did a capable job filling in for Fab as needed. Was surprised UF didn't go after him inside with Davis but they rarely looked to get the ball inside, content to settle for 3s and some mid range jumpers. They have some fine athletes and I am sure are at their best in transition but we did a good job getting back on defense and gave them some problems rebounding as well.
KJ had a fine 1st half, getting several big baskets to keep things close in the first half when UF came out hot and threatened to open up a big lead. He unfortunately had a bad 2nd half though he had a number of good shots go in and out.
CJ continued to look lost on offense early in the game but at some point Scoop hit him with a good pass and he got a dunk to get going. Did some nice work on the boards and played decent defense. Has to get better getting his shot off in the paint.
Scoop played some inspired defense, made a large number of either very good or very bad plays, as is his wont, but overall had a fine game, highlighted by a stretch in the 2nd half where he scored a barrel of points in a short period of time, holding off a UF comeback virtually by himself. I thought several of the shots he made were bad forces, and the 3 he made was an awful decision, but with Scoop, his worst shots often get the best results, and that was the case tonight. He also had a number of fine passes. It was his best game of the season.
Dion struggled some getting shots off against the quality UF athletes. Had some nice moves and a good steal. But when Boynton hit a couple of 3s in his area of the 2-3, JB pulled him, yelled at him and he did not get back in the game.
BT had another good game. They covered him tight on the perimeter and didn't run many plays for him so he was forced to attack inside, which he did with some success. Drew a lot of fouls and made a lot of FTs. Had some nice passes and forced some turnovers, as is his wont. His strong play helped keep the team in the game in the 1st game and played a big role in getting the big lead that won the game in the 2nd. I think his 3 to give SU a lead (49 to 46 maybe) was the biggest shot of the game.
Teabag Rosario had another bad game for UF. Airballs, bad TOs, bad defense, bad everything. You can take the player out of Rutgers but you can't take the Rutgers out of the player. Was not impressed with the rest of the UF bench. They had a skinny guard who played poorly and a skinny big guy who played poorly.
I thought the refs were really bad and blatently pro UF. Mystery goal tending calls, bad calls on balls that went OB, no calls when players were clearly pushed to the ground or hit hard. Was that an SEC crew? I thought I recognized the Caucasian guy as one of the worst refs in the BE. Did not recognize the others at all.
UF was able to limit our transition baskets to only a handful and really made us look bad running our half court offense for extended periods in the 2nd half. KJ tried to go 1 on 2 too many times. Scoop was forcing shots, Keita is a non factor on offense and Fair and Southerland really struggle to make shots for themselves against good defense. BT even forced a few awkward runners in the lane. Could have used Dion and his creativity but that was not to be.
Good win. Happy with the defense, as I have been all season. Rebounding was not bad. The offense is a work in progress but I was really happy with what Fab did tonight and I think it augers well for the future.
Who were all the giant heads in the student section? I saw Betty White and two people I did not recognize.
We zoned UF all game long. They are a very good offensive team...while we gave up some 3s, overall, it was another excellent defensive effort. Even when they made 3s, they were usually from way outside the 3 point circle. They have a couple of shooters on that team in Walker and Boynton.
Most of the other Gator players were good athletes but their ability to score was minimized by the active SU zone. Davis, the loud mouth center with the impressive build and the huge ego, was badly outplayed all game long by Fab Melo, who continues to impress. He looks like he might be one of those players who gets better the better the competition he faces. Started both halves with quick dunks, which made many in the Dome very happy indeed.
UF tried a variety of defenses on us. They opened in man, played some zone, pressed some. We have a veteran team and handled everything they threw at us pretty easily. We were able to get a lot of quality looks from the outside but were ice cold most of the game...that was the only thing that kept the Gators in it well into the 2nd half.
No MCW. Almost no Christmas. Keita did a capable job filling in for Fab as needed. Was surprised UF didn't go after him inside with Davis but they rarely looked to get the ball inside, content to settle for 3s and some mid range jumpers. They have some fine athletes and I am sure are at their best in transition but we did a good job getting back on defense and gave them some problems rebounding as well.
KJ had a fine 1st half, getting several big baskets to keep things close in the first half when UF came out hot and threatened to open up a big lead. He unfortunately had a bad 2nd half though he had a number of good shots go in and out.
CJ continued to look lost on offense early in the game but at some point Scoop hit him with a good pass and he got a dunk to get going. Did some nice work on the boards and played decent defense. Has to get better getting his shot off in the paint.
Scoop played some inspired defense, made a large number of either very good or very bad plays, as is his wont, but overall had a fine game, highlighted by a stretch in the 2nd half where he scored a barrel of points in a short period of time, holding off a UF comeback virtually by himself. I thought several of the shots he made were bad forces, and the 3 he made was an awful decision, but with Scoop, his worst shots often get the best results, and that was the case tonight. He also had a number of fine passes. It was his best game of the season.
Dion struggled some getting shots off against the quality UF athletes. Had some nice moves and a good steal. But when Boynton hit a couple of 3s in his area of the 2-3, JB pulled him, yelled at him and he did not get back in the game.
BT had another good game. They covered him tight on the perimeter and didn't run many plays for him so he was forced to attack inside, which he did with some success. Drew a lot of fouls and made a lot of FTs. Had some nice passes and forced some turnovers, as is his wont. His strong play helped keep the team in the game in the 1st game and played a big role in getting the big lead that won the game in the 2nd. I think his 3 to give SU a lead (49 to 46 maybe) was the biggest shot of the game.
Teabag Rosario had another bad game for UF. Airballs, bad TOs, bad defense, bad everything. You can take the player out of Rutgers but you can't take the Rutgers out of the player. Was not impressed with the rest of the UF bench. They had a skinny guard who played poorly and a skinny big guy who played poorly.
I thought the refs were really bad and blatently pro UF. Mystery goal tending calls, bad calls on balls that went OB, no calls when players were clearly pushed to the ground or hit hard. Was that an SEC crew? I thought I recognized the Caucasian guy as one of the worst refs in the BE. Did not recognize the others at all.
UF was able to limit our transition baskets to only a handful and really made us look bad running our half court offense for extended periods in the 2nd half. KJ tried to go 1 on 2 too many times. Scoop was forcing shots, Keita is a non factor on offense and Fair and Southerland really struggle to make shots for themselves against good defense. BT even forced a few awkward runners in the lane. Could have used Dion and his creativity but that was not to be.
Good win. Happy with the defense, as I have been all season. Rebounding was not bad. The offense is a work in progress but I was really happy with what Fab did tonight and I think it augers well for the future.
Who were all the giant heads in the student section? I saw Betty White and two people I did not recognize.
