***Official Game Thread BBALL*** Florida vs South Carolina

[MidwestChomp]

No argument that Dick Bennett was a fantastic coach!

so was his brother Jack....2 time D3 national champ at UWSP.

 

[Durfish]

Good comments on Tony Bennett and UVA. I see a lot of their fans here and we compare notes on our teams. Very similar make up with a 3 guard line up with one big post man. Their Hayes is a 6 10 Aussie named Salt. In a lot of ways the teams mirror each other. The difference I see is the consistent game by game defensive effort. UVA held a ranked Clemson to 13 points total in the second half. UVA knows it has mismatches in the paint and they do everything they can to deny the ball inside . Then they make you beat them with threes which is like eating soup with a fork. When the Gators are on it looks similar with defense turnovers and transition baskets. The Cock loss while disappointing is not surprising. Parity is the name of the game this year in the SEC. Remember the Cocks knocked off UK at home then laid an egg against UT. There will be more of that with no real great teams yet. Mike White a good coach and may reach Bennett's level. What Bennett does better than most is that he makes the sum of all his parts greater than the individuals. UVA doesn't produce a lot big stars but their team shows up every game. Egbunu and Stokes should help and maybe a vocal big man in the post will help cement the team. Don't quit on these Gators and there a lot of ball to play. But until they all sell out for the team every night, we will have more nights like last night.

Where you at, NVA? I'm over the mountain from Charlottesville in Waynesboro.

 

[diehardg8r]

Maybe we will see them again this year in the tourney and we can repeat that performance. They will surely be there. Don't know about us.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

I didn’t get to watch, but the stats were nearly dead even except for the 3 point shooting. It happens, but it didn’t have to. I agree we need to pick up the pace to get our guys shooting in the flow vs the stagnant half court crap we run. We played right into their game plan.

I went and then drove back home arriving very early this morning. So in some sense I did not get to watch either. I have two main thoughts about what I saw:

1. These guys just can not stand success and apparently must throw one or more away once they have a positive run.

2. It is a real shame to blow a game when you get such a productive effort from Bassett who you were almost expecting nothing from. I don't know how you lose such a game.

From the stands:

1. The defense on the 3s did not look terrible. I do agree with Lee, the danger of giving up early uncontested 3s is that your opponent gets confident if they hit them.

2. What I really blame White for is at the end of the game when UF was trailing he went small again. Sure UF needed to score, so he needed shooters in the game. But what a shock UF never got a stop and so could not really eat into the lead. UF needed 2 bigs in the game.

 

[NVAGATOR86]

Where you at, NVA? I'm over the mountain from Charlottesville in Waynesboro.

Hey Durfish,

I am about 35 miles N/NW of DC in Leesburg at the base of the Catoctin Mountain range. Only about an 8 minute pull across the Potomac from Maryland if you take the historic Jubal A. Early wire line ferry.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

Where you at, NVA? I'm over the mountain from Charlottesville in Waynesboro.

Well how about that. I grew up in Lexington, played for Rockbridge County HS. Waynesboro HS was our whipping boy in my day, not sure how it is anymore.

 

[Durfish]

Well how about that. I grew up in Lexington, played for Rockbridge County HS. Waynesboro HS was our whipping boy in my day, not sure how it is anymore.

Riverheads and Stuarts Draft are whipping most teams now. W'boro stays around .500 in football. Lee won state in B-ball last year.
I get a lot of patients from Lexington (our vascular surgeon who used to work that area retired).
Small world. Only been here about 16 months...love it.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

Riverheads and Stuarts Draft are whipping most teams now. W'boro stays around .500 in football. Lee won state in B-ball last year.
I get a lot of patients from Lexington (our vascular surgeon who used to work that area retired).
Small world. Only been here about 16 months...love it.

Stuarts Draft was pretty terrible back then, too. Lee was also incredibly good at basketball then, as well. My high school's current claim to fame is Andrew Rowsey, Marquette's best player. Averaging 20+ ppg this season.

 

[T REX]

Damn. Gotta win those games at home.

That said, let's see where we are at next in a few weeks.

Go Gators!

 

[diehardg8r]

Riverheads and Stuarts Draft are whipping most teams now. W'boro stays around .500 in football. Lee won state in B-ball last year.
I get a lot of patients from Lexington (our vascular surgeon who used to work that area retired).
Small world. Only been here about 16 months...love it.

I worked at Charlottesville HS for 3 years while my wife was in law school. Turner Ashby was always tough although not in our district. We lost to Park View Sterling in regionals 2 years in a row pretty badly. They were freaking stacked.

 

[Durfish]

I worked at Charlottesville HS for 3 years while my wife was in law school. Turner Ashby was always tough although not in our district. We lost to Park View Sterling in regionals 2 years in a row pretty badly. They were freaking stacked.

Football talent out here in west/central VA is kind of average (it's hard to impress ANYONE from Florida with talent from another state), but the b-ball talent is pretty impressive.

 

[GatorBart]

Just saw where Emmitt Williams committed to LSU.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

Just saw where Emmitt Williams committed to LSU.

Odd, did UF cancel his visit this weekend? Did LSU threaten to not hold a spot for him, if he visited UF this weekend? The story behind this decision being announced at this time has to be something.

 

[LeeForThree]

Odd, did UF cancel his visit this weekend? Did LSU threaten to not hold a spot for him, if he visited UF this weekend? The story behind this decision being announced at this time has to be something.

From what I have heard.....we stopped recruiting him entirely once he was charged with sexual assault. After a month or so since the charges were dropped we kind of started again. I'm assuming LSU was on him the whole time and basically said if he visits us (no guarantee we have a Scholly or how open our staff was) they would pull their offer. Sucks cause if nothing happened in the beginning he would have been a Gator months ago.

 

[diehardg8r]

Football talent out here in west/central VA is kind of average (it's hard to impress ANYONE from Florida with talent from another state), but the b-ball talent is pretty impressive.

I live in Hampton roads now. The football is a little different here.

 

[Double Gator Dad]

Sorry for being late to weigh in on this game, I have been traveling since Tuesday.

Just when you think these guys are turning the corner they revert back to the team that doesn't seem to really want to play.
We all understand that some nights the shots don't fall but defense is an every night thing and these guys just don't get it.

Although I typically blame coaching for poor defense, I know others will defend White vigorously.

I have two questions/comments:

1. I agree that some of the personnel decisions were questionable but White seems to love the "Villanova lineup" that is basically all guards.

2. Just imagine what Frank Martin could do with our roster. White was out-coached to the point where I was embarrassed for him. It is as if the team never even looked at the game plan. We have significantly more talent than USCe but...........