Can The Gators Score a Much Needed Signature Win for Golden?

 “When you can take this pebble from my hand, then you can leave.” – Master Po speaking to Kwai Chang Kaine, known by the nickname “Grasshopper” in the 1970s TV show “Kung Fu”

Photo Credit Chris Spears

The master that comes to Gainesville today is Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who gave Florida coach Todd Golden his biggest breakthrough when he hired him as an assistant in 2014. The pebble in hand is the chance for the kind of signature win that young coaches like Golden will cherish forever. It is more than just a chance for the apprentice to beat the master today at the O-Dome (3:30 p.m., SEC Network) when 12th-ranked Auburn (19-4, 8-2 SEC) faces Golden and the Gators (15-7, 5-4 SEC). Win or lose, Auburn is going to be in the NCAA Tournament, most likely as a top four seed. A win for Florida won’t get the Gators in the tournament, but it will look very good on a resume. When Golden sees Auburn, he sees a team that won’t just make the tournament, but has a chance to make a deep run.

“I think they're playing like the best team in our league right now, and I don’t want to say it’s not close, but I think they've kind of separated themselves as the top team right now,” Golden said Friday afternoon before the Gators put their final preparations into a game plan for the Tigers, who are coming off a blowout win over Alabama. “Tennessee and Alabama knocking on the door right there, and then South Carolina has got to be in conversation with how well they're playing. And obviously Kentucky, and then I think we're in that mix as well.

“The middle of the league is very, very tight, right. There's a lot of teams that have played really, really well. But I think Auburn – I think they’re 10th offensively and I think they’re third defensively on KenPom – they definitely have the potential to make a deep, deep run this year.”

Florida is firmly in the middle of the league but well-regarded both by the NCAA Net Rankings (39) and KenPom (35). Joe Lunardi of ESPN has the Gators earning one of the last four byes for the tournament and a No. 10 seed in his latest bracketology while Jerry Palm of CBS has the Gators a No. 11 seed.

The Gators are coming off a mid-week bye as they begin the second half of the SEC schedule today. With nine conference games remaining, one way for the Gators to break out of the middle of the pack is to score a couple of wins against ranked opponents while finishing with a winning record in league play. This is the kind of season that 9-9 in SEC play probably gets a tournament bid, but it should be noted that two seasons ago, the Gators went 9-9 and didn’t make it in. That was Mike White’s last season as the UF coach. His signature win was 63-62 over Auburn, which was ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time.

White bolted for Georgia at the end of the season in 2022, which led to Golden being hired from San Francisco. In his first encounter with Bruce Pearl on the opposite bench, Auburn scored a 61-58 win at Neville Arena, a defensive struggle that saw the two teams combine to go 6-33 from the 3-point line. Auburn won the game largely due to a 40-28 rebounding advantage. This year, the Gators have more size than last year and they’re leading the nation in rebounding. If there is even a slight weakness on the Auburn team, at least from Golden’s perspective, it is in the rebounding department.

“I think the main thing we're going to have to do is rebound, especially on our home floor,” Golden said. “If I were to point to one area where they're not elite, maybe somewhat average, it would be on the defensive glass. You look at when Alabama beat them or when Mississippi State beat them, they did a really good job getting second chances. On our home floor, producing those second chance opportunities and then playing with great physicality against Johni (Broome), Jaylin (Williams), when (Dylan) Cardwell is in there, we got to fight the fight. If we don't do that, we're going to really lower our chances of getting this thing done.”

Anticipated starting lineups

FLORIDA (15-7, 5-4 SEC): 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (13.4 points, 8.4 rebounds); 7-1 Micah Handlogten (7.0 points, 7.6 rebounds); 6-4 Will Richard (11.6 points, 4.0 rebounds); 6-2 Walter Clayton Jr. (15.9 points, 3.9 rebounds); 6-4 Zyon Pullin (15.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists)

Auburn (19-4, 8-2 SEC): 6-8 Jaylin Williams (13.3 points, 5.2 rebounds); 6-10 Johni Broome (16.0 points, 8.7 rebounds); 6-6 Chris Moore (2.4 points, 1.6 rebounds); 6-4 Denver Jones (7.7 points, 1.9 rebounds); 6-3 Tre Donaldson (7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds)

SEC BASKETBALL

Today’s games: No. 12 Auburn (19-4, 8-2 SEC) at FLORIDA (15-7, 5-4 SEC); No. 6 Tennessee (17-5, 7-2 SEC) at Texas A&M (14-8, 5-4 SEC); Vanderbilt (6-16, 1-8 SEC) at No. 15 South Carolina (20-3, 8-2 SEC); No. 16 Alabama (16-7, 8-2 SEC) at LSU (12-10, 4-5 SEC); Gonzaga (17-6) at No. 17 Kentucky (16-6); Mississippi State (15-8, 4-6 SEC) at Missouri (8-15, 0-10 SEC); Georgia (14-9, 4-6 SEC) at Arkansas (11-11, 2-7 SEC)

SEC in NCAA NET Rankings (as of February 9, 2024): 5. Tennessee; 6. Alabama; 7. Auburn; 23. Kentucky; 39. FLORIDA; 43. South Carolina; 44. Mississippi State; 46. Texas A&M; 62. Ole Miss; 88. Georgia; 90. LSU; 130. Arkansas; 145. Missouri; 238. Vanderbilt

SEC in kenpom.com analytics: 4. Auburn; 6. Tennessee; 7. Alabama; 24. Kentucky; 35. FLORIDA; 38. Mississippi State; 43. South Carolina; 46. Texas A&M; 60. Ole Miss; 83. Georgia; 85. LSU; 119. Arkansas; 139. Missouri; 202. Vanderbilt

UF GYMNASTICS: Gators whack Arkansas behind Wong’s perfect 10

The seventh perfect 10 of Leeanne Wong’s Florida career was the highlight at the annual Link to Pink night at the O-Dome as the 6th-ranked Gators (6-1, 3-1 SEC) scored a 197.850-196.050 win over 13th-ranked Arkansas (2-2-1, 2-2-1 SEC) in front of a crowd of 8.823, marking the 12th consecutive gymnastics sellout.

Florida’s 197.850 was a season-high score, marking the fourth straight meet in which the Gators have established a best score.

Wong’s 10 came on a flawless bars routine and marked the fourth time in her career that she’s gone perfect against the Razorbacks. With seven career perfect scores, Wong moved into sole possession of fourth place on Florida’s all-time list. Wong also scored 9.925 on the vault and balance beam, plus a 9.875 on floor to finish with a season-best 39.725 for the all-around win. Anya Pilgrim finished second in the all-around with a 39.600, which shares the national lead for freshman all-arounders.

Eight Gators equaled or set a collegiate best against the Razorbacks: Lori Brubach 9.9 (floor); Gabby Disidore 9.9 (bars); Skylar Draser 9.875 (beam); Danie Ferris 9.95 (vault); Ellie Lazzari 9.925 (bars); Victoria Nguyen 9.925 (beam); Pilgrim 39.60 (all-around) and 9.95 (bars); Wong 10 (bars).

The Gators will travel to St. Charles, Missouri next Friday night for a quad-meet hosted by Lindenwood University that also includes SEC opponent Missouri and Illinois from the Big Ten.

UF SOFTBALL: Brown, Rothrock combine for 1-hitter

Freshmen Ava Brown and Keagan Rothrock combined Friday evening to pitch a 1-hitter and All-American Skylar Wallace provided all the offense the Gators needed as 17th-ranked Florida opened the season with a 1-0 win over Oregon State in the USF-Rawlings Invitational in Tampa.

Brown went the first five innings, gave up Oregon State’s only hit while walking three and striking out one in her collegiate debut. Rothrock came on to pitch the final two inning, striking out four of the six batters she faced to pick up the save.

The only run the Gators needed came in the bottom of the third when Wallace hit a 1-1 pitch over the right field fence for the 28th home run of her Florida career. Wallace also had a fifth inning single. Florida’s only other hit came in the sixth when Korbe Otis lined a double into the right center gap.

The Gators will play twice today, at 2 p.m. against Michigan (1-1) and 7 p.m. against Illinois State (0-1). Michigan beat Illinois State 5-3 Friday morning, but fell to host South Florida, 1-0, in the afternoon.

THE COACHING SHUFFLE: O’Brien to BC; Chip Kelly to Ohio State as OC

Just when you think things are calming down on the college football coaching front, Bill O’Brien, formerly the head coach at Penn State and the NFL Houston Texans as well as the former offensive coordinator at Alabama, leaves Ohio State before he ever calls a play to become the head coach at Boston College. BC, as you may recall, lost head coach Jeff Haffley to the Green Bay Packers of the NFL, where he will serve as the defensive coordinator.

So, Ryan Day, the former Florida graduate assistant for Urban Meyer and Meyer’s successor at Ohio State, called on another of his former mentors, UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, convincing Kelly to take a significant pay cut to become an assistant coach again. When Day was a collegian, he both played and worked for Kelly at New Hampshire. When Kelly was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Day spent two years as an assistant before leaving to work for Meyer at Ohio State as the offensive coordinator.

Confused? Well, now UCLA has to find a head coach. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic is suggesting former Stanford HBC David Shaw and current Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck as well as Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford and Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White. Pete Thamel of ESPN has Fleck, Alford and White on the list, but he also includes Baylor head coach Dave Aranda, UNLV head coach Barry Odom and California head coach Dave Wilcox.

Now, if UCLA wants to make a real splash hire, one that will shake up Los Angeles and send tremors down the spine of crosstown Southern Cal, here’s a name they could consider: Pete Carroll. He won national championships at Southern Cal and a Super Bowl at Seattle. He’s famous for putting together star-studded coaching staffs (see Lane Kiffin, see Steve Sarkisian) and he’s a pied piper of a recruiter. After the kind of meltdown they had at Southern Cal this past year, the last thing Lincoln Riley would want to see is Pete Carroll. Pete doesn’t have a job now and would be happy to work for $5 million, which is about $5 million less than Southern Cal is paying Riley. How long do you think it would take for Pete Carroll to own Los Angeles.

Ryan Grubb, who left Washington to join Kalen DeBoer as the offensive coordinator at Alabama, won’t have to sell his house in Seattle after all. He’s heading back to Seattle, this time to be the offensive coordinator of the NFL Seahawks. So, who would DeBoer hire as his play-caller? The first call probably goes out to Kirby Moore, the offensive coordinator at Missouri, who worked for DeBoer at Fresno State in 2020-21.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Wherever you look there is speculation that Florida football coach Billy Napier is looking to shake up things offensively, perhaps by turning over the play calling to someone else. At his Wednesday press conference, Napier said he’s defining roles for 2024, adding “I do think there will be different responsibilities.”

Does that mean someone on the staff will take over play calling? O-line coach Rob Sale is listed as the offensive coordinator but he hasn’t called plays at UF nor did he call them when he worked for Napier at Louisiana. Tight ends coach Russ Callaway was the offensive coordinator and QB coach at Samford, which had one of the most explosive offenses in D1AA and record-setting QB Devlin Hodges, who won the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in 2018.

To bring in an offensive play caller/assistant coach would require Napier dismissing a current member of his staff, a move that seems unlikely. However, given the nature of coaching and the continuous shuffle of coaches we’re seeing, it wouldn’t be a shock.

Just a guess: Napier continues as the play caller but adds offensive responsibilities to Callaway and analyst Eric Kiesau, formerly the coordinator at both Boise State and Auburn.