If the Gators stay focused for 40 minutes they can beat anyone

Alex Condon dunks on UConn's Liam McNeely (Photo by Chris Spears)

Two games into the NCAA Tournament and Todd Golden has plenty of teaching moments to offer up as the Gators (32-4) prep for their Thursday night West Regional showdown with Maryland (29-7) in San Francisco. It’s not that the Gators played badly in wins over Norfolk State and UConn in Raleigh, just that they played better basketball in winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament when they took down Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee back-to-back-to-back.

For the first 15 minutes against Norfolk State, the Gators were equally dominant at both ends of the floor. Then they got bored and boredom led to sloppy play. Still, it was Norfolk State, maybe a 1-in-a-million chance the Gators would lose that one. Average teams would have gone white knuckles against the Spartans. The Gators won by 26 in spite of themselves.

Against UConn, the Gators took on a team with a 13-game NCAA Tournament winning streak. Two-time national champs don’t go down without a fight and the Huskies brought their close combat weapons to try to even things up with the Gators. For awhile, it worked, but it stopped working when the Gators took a look at the scoreboard and decided it was time to end the nonsense. The Gators won a game that probably half the teams that made the Sweet 16 would have found a way to lose.

Several things separate the Gators and the good teams that are typical one-and-dones in the NCAA Tournament. First team All-American Walter Clayton Jr. is one of the reasons, but Clayton doesn’t have to go it alone. Walt takes and makes the big shots. He isn’t afraid to take the big shots and teammates trust him to not just take them but make them. When you throw in perimeter mates Will Richard and Alijah Martin you have a threesome that lives up to Clayton’s billing – “the best backcourt in America.”

No doubt Maryland will try to do the head of the snake thing, which is to attempt to cut Clayton out of the offensive picture. Other teams have tried, but gone down in flames. Richard and Martin can score in bunches and Denzell Aberdeen off the bench can heat it up in a hurry as well.

What could be different against Maryland is Florida’s offensive approach. There is no depth behind Maryland’s two big guys – 6-10 Derik Queen and 6-9 Julian Reese. Golden might structure the game plan around attacking Queen and Reese by running in wave-after-wave of bigs and feeding the post. With five bigs at least 6-9, the Gators have the depth to wear down the two Maryland big guys.

Rueben Chinyelu hammers down a dunk against UConn (Photo by Chris Spears)

What makes this potential strategy feasible is the way Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu, Tommy Haugh and Micah Handlogten pass the basketball. They are adept looking to teammates in the paint or kicking the ball out on the perimeter if the defense tries to collapse and double up.

Florida is ever so capable of playing any style the Terps want to play. The Gators run as well as any team in the country, but as they showed against UConn, they can mix it up physically and win in the halfcourt.

The Gators have the talent, the size, the depth and the coaching to wear down Maryland. What they can’t afford to do against the Terps is to play bored as they did for 25 minutes against Norfolk State or leave points on the floor as they did against UConn. Against UConn, the Gators missed 12 free throws in the second half, and in the first half turned the ball over nine times while giving up nine offensive rebounds. Think of that as 30 missed scoring opportunities.

When you get to this stage of the NCAA Tournament, the last things you need to do are fail to stay focused for a full 40 minutes and to leave points on the floor. If the Gators go into the Sweet 16 games in San Francisco fully focused and ready to play 40 minutes at a high level, there isn’t a team in the country capable of beating them.

Hovde to coach Columbia

Kevin Hovde, who is the strategist behind Florida’s record-setting offense, is the new head coach at Columbia, where he served as director of basketball ops and assistant coach from 2011-16. Hovde is Florida’s second assistant coach to take a head coaching job. Last week John Andrzejek took the head coaching job at Campbell.

UF assistant Carlin Hartman is on the short list at a few schools. Hartman, who coaches Florida’s big men, was thought to be a finalist for the job at UNLV before the Running Rebels settled on former Alabama assistant and Arkansas State head coach Bryan Hodgson.

SEC BASKETBALL

The Southeastern Conference set a record with 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament field. One weekend into the tournament, half those teams are still standing as the Sweet 16 games begin Thursday night.

There are four big surprises so far, two positive and two negative. On the positive side, No. 10 seed Arkansas advanced to the Sweet 16 as did No. 6 Ole Miss. To reach the Sweet 16 Arkansas had to eliminate West No. 2 seed St. John’s. Ole Miss took out No. 3 Iowa State to make the Sweet 16 in the South. On the negative side, Texas A&M lost its 4-5 game with Michigan in the second round in the South and No. 6 Missouri lost to 11 seed Drake in the first round.

Alabama (27-8): With Grant Nelson going 28 minutes (13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 blocked shot), the No. 2 Crimson Tide disposed of Saint Mary’s handily. Next up in the East Sweet 16 game is No. 6 BYU, which means finding a matchup to handle 6-9 freshman point guard Egor Demin (10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists per game). Alabama is favored by 5.5 points.

Arkansas (22-13): The No. 10 Razorbacks aren’t supposed to be here but they have wins over No. 7 Kansas and No. 2 St. John’s. To get past No. 3 Texas Tech in the West Sweet 16 they have to find a way to contain JT Toppin, a dominator who averaged 18.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Texas Tech is a 5.5-point favorite.

Auburn (30-5): The challenge for No. 1 Auburn Friday night in a South Sweet 16 matchup is handling No. 5 Michigan’s twin towers – 7-1 Vladislav Goldin (16.8 points, 7.0 rebounds) and 7-0 Danny Wolf (13 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists). In the Tigers’ Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell combined for only 14 points. Auburn is favored by 8.5 points.

FLORIDA (32-4): No. 4 Maryland goes into battle against the No. 1 Gators with all five starters averaging in double figures. The Terps have to keep 6-10 Derik Queen and 6-9 Julian Reese out of foul trouble while the Gators have to keep those two off the boards. The Gators are favored by 6.5 points in this West Regional Sweet 16.

Kentucky (24-11): Kentucky has already beaten Tennessee twice this season. Now, the No. 3 Wildcats have to make it a hat trick over the No. 2 Vols in the Midwest Regional Sweet 16. To do it Otega Oweh is going to have to do a defensive job on the Vols’ Chaz Lanier. The Wildcats are 4.5-point underdogs.

Ole Miss (24-11): The No. 6 Rebels aren’t supposed to be here, but no one told them. Somebody must believe they’re capable, however, because they’re only 2.5-point underdogs against No. 2 seed Michigan State in a South Regional Sweet 16. This will be a battle of Ole Miss quickness against the physicality of Michigan State.

Tennessee (29-7): For the Vols to beat Kentucky, they have to force the Wildcats into a halfcourt game that will be decided by tough defense. This could turn into a 3-point shooting battle between Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier (41 percent) and Kentucky’s Kobe Brea (43.8 percent). Winner of this all-SEC showdown probably takes on No. 1 seed Houston.