Now, It's Time For The Real Games To Begin
- carltonreese1306
- Mar 21
- 4 min read
The domination we saw Friday night will not translate into Sunday against Iowa.
By CARLTON REESE
The formality of Florida’s Game 1 in the NCAA Tournament now concluded, the Gators take their one-game winning streak into Sunday against the Iowa Hawkeyes, who present a far more formidable challenge than Prairie View A&M. Although Florida will again be a solid favorite to advance, something still gnaws at the psyche, something born in Nashville last week that is hard to ignore.
Complacency? Perhaps too strong a word, but more like comfort.
After being thoroughly manhandled by the Vanderbilt Commodores in the SEC Tournament semifinal, things seemed a bit too “business as usual” afterward, especially in the postgame press conference featuring head coach Todd Golden, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh. The typical platitudes lofted the way of the conquerors, but no visible anger, disappointment or even frustration.
Some may point to this as a good thing: Florida not getting caught up in the emotion of the moment, staying supremely focused on the greater task at hand. The golfer that gets too pumped up over a great shot risks a tad less focus on the next swing – the opposite true: Getting too angry and emotional over a bad shot distorts the clear mind over the next one.
Then there’s the B-side of this record: You know how good you are, and you take nearly too much comfort in the notion that the cream will rise to the top as an inevitability. And when that comfort translates into a loss like it did against a Vanderbilt team that dedicated itself to a fist fight when Florida was geared for checkers, perhaps the loss administers less of a sting, and those stings are what put a team into that extra gear when it matters most. During last year’s run to the title, the sting of that opening-round loss to Colorado in 2024 was still felt.
But, did the loss to Vandy sting that hard? Based on the outward reaction, not so much.
In the early part of Friday’s 114-55 win over Prairie View, Florida seemed not to care about defending the 3-point line, the same game plan against the Vanderbilt big men that blew up in their face. Given open looks from long range, Prairie View drilled them like free throws and even drew even with the Gators at 15-15.
Here’s a thought: How about defending the 3-point line no matter what? Good defense need not be a strategy of proximity – it’s about covering your man, and Florida has been known to excel at such endeavors. At 15-15, Golden shifted gears, called for denial of the perimeter and Florida outscored the Panthers 45-6 into the half.
Perhaps the Vanderbilt game and the first few minutes of the Prairie View game will close the book on this “surrender the 3-point line” strategy. That’s good news. More good news is the defensive intensity Florida exuded even when it rolled out to an ocean of a lead. It would have been easy to get lazy and sloppy – even understandable – but the Gators played every moment the rest of the way as though it was in a do-or-die battle, which is the most important ingredient in advancing all the way in one-and-done tournament formats.
The win over Prairie View A&M proved very little nor was it supposed to. By halftime, the game had become a televised scrimmage where habits are formed that carry on to the next game. Whereas Florida looked like it was having a lot of fun, thankfully, it did not appear a critical comfort level had been reached. Players were still making the extra pass for the assist in circumstances that make it very tempting to simply beat your guy on the dribble in order to raise your points-per-game average.
The domination we saw Friday night will not translate into Sunday against Iowa. The Hawkeyes physically match up more closely with Florida than Prairie View ever could, so those plays the Gators made look easy Friday will be more of a grind Sunday. That’s why the tournament starts this weekend – the practice rounds at the muny don’t translate to inside the ropes at Oakmont.
Todd Golden and the Florida Gators know all this. They know the domination of Prairie View is in no way an indication of what is to come. Florida knew this destruction was coming and never pretended as though the Panthers were more than they were. Give Golden credit, he’s not Vince Dooley, who would tell you William & Mary is a tough matchup. No, Golden said beforehand the Panthers weren’t a good rebounding team and was limited in his overall praise of the opponent, something that should help keep the players grounded after such a monumental destruction.
How does one rake 83-mph fastballs then step in against Nolan Ryan? That’s the adjustment Florida must make against Iowa and it’s not an easy one to make. To Florida’s credit, this is the very thing its monster schedule prepared them for. Miami-Ohio went 32-1 against a schedule of cupcakes, then was thoroughly dismantled once it faced a real team in the form of Tennessee. Florida won’t be so surprised.
Most interesting to note will be whether Iowa pulls a page from the Vanderbilt playbook of physicality. The Hawkeyes, though at a significant height disadvantage, have the bodies to do some pushing of their own while also strafing the net from the 3-point line. Their best chance at beating the Gators may just be to hack away and cause some frustration of their own.
Either way, Florida can’t afford to get comfortable Sunday because Iowa makes its living on a grinding pace that could make Ghandi angry. Friday night was fun; the starters enjoyed the last seven minutes as fans of their scrub teammates, and it was the expected way to start defense of a title.
As nice as it was, it still did not wash away whatever concerns arose after two bad performances in the SEC Tournament. The Vanderbilt game and the seemingly carefree acceptance of that debacle were not thrown down the memory hole by crushing Prairie View A&M. On Sunday, we find out for real the mental direction of this team as the real games begin.
Carlton, exactly.