On this game, I'll be honest - I was out for most of the first half, and we had to leave with 10min left. My opinions are based on that brief second half viewing that concluded before we imploded.
As said on here, Handlogten hasn't been great ending out the season, but he has been one more big that can help the rotation. Losing him didn't mean losing a leader or heart&soul of the team but it does effect the mentality of the team. I'll give 'em credit for still fighting through and being in a 1pt game in the second half, despite playing the extra day and losing a big guy in rotation. Personally, in sports I'm a 'defense first' kinda guy, and with that I have no issue with how AU played - I wish all our teams played with that fierce intensity all game long. If the refs aren't calling it, bully the opponent as much as you can, smother them, body them, don't let them get any inch for free. They played with heart and fire, and weren't held back by tight whistles, so they kept that going. Our team, all season, has played fairly polite - we can bang for rebounds, but we don't get up on our man and make him miserable. I'm not even calling for a full court press (which UF sucks at attacking, and AU came out knowing that and energized to use it), but I'm saying the first half the season when we made every team look great at 3s is largely in part due to our weak marking during screens, unlike lately where we try to fight thru the screens. Our drive to the lanes are largely with Pullen or Clayton driving to the key and popping an 8' shot rather than driving hard to the layup and forcing the foul like other teams do to us. Yes, we make layups, often Kugel or Richard with nobody around as they make a back cut. But offensively and defensively we play polite. I don't want to call it soft, but we aren't playing hard defense, ever. Closest we get is staying a step behind the shooter as he rounds his screen, or backing up while their guy drives for a layup meaning our feet are moving and we get called for the block on an and-one. /tuffer defense soapbox
SEC Championship game didn't mean much for NCAA seeding. Losing Handlogten hurt us more than losing the game, though the blowout is hardly helping. I don't mind losing the game, I though we did fairly well for 3/4 of the match considering the factors. But I'll walk away believing the better team wanted it more and earned it. I'll take it as one more learning point for our guys, and our coach, in terms of playing through a grind of days, against a high energy team (that wasn't shooting a great % early on), of overcoming deficits (like earlier games) and injury (sucks, but is reality). I'm not embarrased in the slightest, they did better than many of us expected throughout the season, and this tournament was a blessing in terms of showing what we can do, what we can be, while giving our guys a bit more experience and preparation for the NCAA tourney.
For the NCAA, I don't have great/high expectations. Sweet 16 would be nice, and is possible, but isn't a given. It's up to the team to now go make some noise there.