Cowherd says Gators are darkhorse to win March Madness

[stephenPE]

Here is the deal. Ive seen great teams barely win in the first or second round. Fla , if they lose confidence in game one may end up going home. IF they hit shots and hustle they can win 2 or 3 games. Then ANYTHING can happen because they will have gained confidence. I will give them this. Most of them have been there before. That run last year let them see what it is about. Their shots start falling they can scare sh#T out of any team.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

They have no fire in their belly, no anger. They'll probably agree with Seth Davis instead of getting pissed off about it.

I get this view completely. That certainly seemed to be the case in 2004 against Manhattan, but then it turned out that Walsh was injured much more than we knew.

Still with this bunch maybe we have an injured PG that UF is hiding the injury. He sure seems to be a shell of himself offensively in the last month or so. Maybe we have one guy just in a hurry to get ready for the NBA draft. Maybe it is a lack of fire as you and and no leadership.

Still I want to be optimistic. Maybe Stone has developed enough to make people play a bit of attention to him. Maybe at least two of Allen, Hudson, Koulechov and Stone will be on from the arc each game. Maybe Hayes will play within his limit and maybe White will keep two actual bigs in the game all the time. Maybe this group will continue to play good D. The optimistic me says this and a few breaks will lead to an interesting tourney for UF.

 

[rogdochar]

Coaching fail, all season long, rudderless practice after practice = no development, no corrective guidance.
Does the personality (spirit) of the HC exude drive? Does White too much want to be 'loved' by his players?
Hayes, Gak, etc during easy wins, should have turned fierce, become adept at never bringing the ball down, a become masters of the quick backboard kiss-shot - fouls be damn. Don't play neat & polite. Surely this team developed according to White's practice commands?

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

Anything can happen in a single elimination tournament, that’s why it’s so great.

 

[RiverRat]

Two glaring areas of concern : Lack of production in the paint. No dominate big men has really hurt this team.
Inconsistent fire in their bellies , were missing Jo Kims Chest thumping, where is the f#cking passion?

Grow some balls Gators and get after somebody! If your going down at least go down swinging.

 

[lizardbreath]

This team lacks the mental fortitude required to win multiple games deep in the tourney. I want to believe it’s possible, but I can’t.

Well said, right to the heart of the matter.

 

[lizardbreath]

Two glaring areas of concern : Lack of production in the paint. No dominate big men has really hurt this team.
Inconsistent fire in their bellies , were missing Jo Kims Chest thumping, where is the f#cking passion?

Grow some balls Gators and get after somebody! If your going down at least go down swinging.

No balls. No glory. No chance.

 

[NoGaGator]

They didn't get Egbunu back and that sealed their deal for any chance. With him in there and Chase they would have been a very popular choice to go deep in the Madness.

 

[Double Gator Dad]

Let's try and get out of the first round first. If our 3-pointers don't drop, this team could lose to Gainesville High School.

I agree

How can anyone predict or project anything with this team?
White knows them better than anyone and he has no idea....

 

[TLB]

Cuck Fowherd

 

[aka]

If they actually play D and play with even 2/3rds of what they are capable of offensively, they will be in any game.

 

[heversle]

This team can play like an Elite 8 caliber team in a few games, but they can also defend putridly for long stretches and look mediocre like an NIT team just the same. I could see them getting upset in the first game. But, I could also see them killing a few teams from 3 point range and giving the higher tier teams a lot of trouble in this tournament. As others have said, they tend to play to the level of their competition way too often despite how talented their roster is. If they can lean on the play making ability and veteran presence of Chiozza in tight situations, maintain good ball movement, and play stingy, disciplined team defense we have a outside shot. A lot of things need to roll our way though over the course of the tournament.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

Actually this team is 27th in tempo adjusted defense and 38th in tempo adjusted offense according to Kenpom.

 

[Wuerffel4Pres]

.
Bingo. It's maddening. It's possible they could catch fire and storm to another Final Four. It's also possible (and a much more likely scenario) that they bow out in the 2nd round going 4-31 from the arc.

Or the 1st