Take a Deep Breath. It’s Basketball Season. Or Wait a Minute! They Didn’t Drop Out Of The Top 25 Yet!
Photo: GatorBait Media
By Buddy Martin
“Well, we’re a basketball school anyway.”
November has arrived, which means Gator fans can inventory the bruises from Georgia, check what’s left of their football optimism — even though they remained 25th in today’s latest AP poll — and reach for that dependable old crutch:
“Well, we’re a basketball school anyway.”
There. Feel better?
Don’t put the blood-pressure cuff away just yet.
Todd Golden’s team begins the real basketball season tomorrow night with a No. 1 ranking and considerably higher expectations than normal.
The Gators are supposed to be the distraction. Not another reason to lie awake staring at the ceiling.
So as football rivals Miami and Georgia enjoy the rarified air of #1 and #2, and the Gators are looking up at #8 Kentucky, #9 Alabama and #10 Texas, there are going to be more gridiron opportunities ahead as we see how long Florida can hold serve on the preordained top spot in hoops.
As Jackie Gleason used to say, “How sweet it is!”
Although Gleason probably hadn’t just watched his guards go a combined 0-for-17 from the three-point line.
That’ll take some sugar out of your coffee.
A Crutch With Championship Expectations
I’ve always appreciated a good fallback when I get a hitch in my get-along. For older Gators who have wandered through a few of football’s darker neighborhoods, basketball offers something better than a flashlight.
It offers a reason to turn on the television without first establishing an escape route.
Starting the season ranked No. 1 in America is a pretty comfortable holding pattern. This isn’t waiting for a studio apartment in the low-rent district. This is complaining because the penthouse elevator takes too long.
Still, Florida fans are entitled to enjoy the accommodations.
My grandmother would have said, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
I never understood why we were inspecting the horse in the first place. In today’s college sports, I’d check whether he had an agent.
The point, presumably, is gratitude.
And there is plenty to appreciate about Golden’s program.
There is also a small matter to address before we turn November into a four-month victory parade.
The basketball hasn’t been particularly pretty.
Exhibition Is Not an Alibi
Yes, I know. Exhibition games.
They don’t count.
Neither does a practice swing, but if you take out the beverage cart, somebody ought to mention it.
Florida’s first two exhibitions included poor shooting, uneven bench play and stretches when the effort didn’t look worthy of the number beside the school’s name.
Stetson led the Gators 42–40 at halftime.
No disrespect to Donnie Jones or Stetson, but the nation’s top-ranked team should not need a halftime reminder that rebounds are available to both clubs.
Against Baylor, Florida lost 82–76 in overtime. The three-point shooting was the sort of thing you normally watch through your fingers.
Denzel Aberdeen went 0-for-10 from deep. Urban Klavzar went 0-for-7.
Together: 0-for-17.
That isn’t a cold spell. That’s a missing-person report for the jump shot.
Aberdeen finished 3-for-17 overall. Boogie Fland tried to keep the offense moving, but when nobody believes the next perimeter shot is going in, the floor gets crowded in a hurry.
Suddenly, all that lovely frontcourt talent is working in a broom closet.
Tomorrow night against Miami in Tampa, the exhibition excuse expires.
They start keeping the receipts.
The Big Men Need Some Help
The good news is that Florida’s foundation remains substantial enough to require its own building permit.
Rueben Chinyelu. Thomas Haugh. Alex Condon.
That is a frontcourt worth getting excited about.
Chinyelu brings the muscle and rim protection, along with a personality that apparently doesn’t require him to scowl through the entire day to prove he’s tough.
Haugh plays as though every loose ball has personally offended him.
Condon supplies the Australian grit and the passing touch of a big man who understands that an assist is not an admission of weakness.
They give Florida size, skill, toughness and familiarity.
What they cannot give Florida is a permanent exemption from making outside shots.
At some point, somebody has to loosen the lid on the basket.
A No. 1 ranking is an honor. It is not a six-point lead at tipoff, and Miami is unlikely to stand around admiring the stationery.
Golden doesn’t need a masterpiece in the opener.
He does need a team that rebounds, competes and looks connected when the shots refuse to fall.
The standard, to borrow a word currently getting plenty of exercise around Gainesville, should travel from one end of the floor to the other.
Meanwhile, back to football, Jon Sumrall says things will improve.
“This is not our standard.”
Good. Hold him to it.
Gator fans have heard enough promises to qualify for continuing education credits in disappointment.
After the Billy years, another “check’s in the mail” speech isn’t going to buy much patience.
Sumrall deserves the opportunity to make his words mean something. The remaining schedule will provide ample supervision:
• Oklahoma, Nov. 7, at home.
• Kentucky, Nov. 14, in Lexington.
• Vanderbilt, Nov. 21, at home.
• Florida State, Nov. 27, in Tallahassee.
There is still football to play. I can see a 7-5 in there. Still something to salvage. A bowl bid may not be the destination anybody circled in August, but it beats spending December explaining the rebuilding process to the furniture.
Eventually, perhaps Florida won’t need one sport to administer first aid for the other.
For now, I’m grateful basketball is here.
I’m grateful for Golden, those big men and the possibility of watching a Florida team meet enormous expectations instead of explaining why expectations were unreasonable.
So take a deep breath, Gator fans. Just don’t hold it until the next three-pointer goes in.
Comments