The time is right, the Gator Boyz are hot, looking like a contender

Urban Klavzar, aka Lethal Weapon III, is Florida's designated shooter (Photo by Chris Spears)

It was about this time a year ago that the Florida Gators began shaping up as the best team in the country. A dominant 90-81 win on the road over then No. 1 Auburn was the game that opened the eyes of the nation that the Gators were the real deal and a serious contender to win a national championship.

One day short of a year later, the Gators (17-6, 8-2 SEC) scored a very impressive win over Texas A&M in College Station. Not only did the beatdown of the Aggies put the Gators in sole possession of first place in the SEC, it served notice to the rest of the nation that Florida repeating as national champion isn’t such a far-fetched dream.  

With eight SEC games remaining a year ago, the Gators stood 20-3 overall, 7-3 in the SEC, ranked No. 3 in the nation. As of today’s Associated Press rankings, the Gators are No. 14, which is too low, but Todd Golden will play that as a disrespect card. It will be awhile before the Gators sniff the rare air of the top five. Six losses will do that for you, but the losses are by a combined 26 points and they include white knuckles losses to now No. 1 Arizona in Las Vegas; No. 4 Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium and now No. 6 UConn in Madison Square Garden. All those losses were pre-Christmas and in each one, the Gators were in position to win in the last 30 seconds. With the exception of the 9-point loss to Auburn, the Gators were a last possession away from winning five of six games.

Now, top to bottom the Southeastern Conference is still the most competitive league in the nation but it won’t put a record 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament this year. Most of the experts predict 10 SEC teams, which will match the Big Ten. The knock on the Gators a year ago was the strength of schedule was built on a 14-4 SEC record. This year, Golden upgraded the non-conference schedule. Mix that in with having to do a rebuild of a team that no longer has one of the great backcourt combos in recent college basketball history. Start connecting the dots and you should be able to understand why it is just now that the Gators are becoming that tsunami wave that is going to continue to grow in size and strength.

It has taken the Gators this long to both create a new identity and grow comfortable with it. A year ago there was no state secret how the Gators were going to win games. Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard, Alijah Martin and Denzel Aberdeen would fill up the basket from the outside, the big guys would rebound and everybody played stifling defense.

This year Golden lacks shooters who can bail the Gators out of just about any circumstance, so he has gone about proving why he’s one of the best coaches in the country at adjusting on the fly. His perimeter guys are the gang that can’t shoot straight, but surprisingly, they’ve actually made more threes than their opponents. If there is a positive to all the missed threes it is the Gators are the best offensive rebounding team in the country and many of the misses turn into stickbacks.

The Gators shot 35.6 percent as a team from three a year ago. This year they’re struggling at 28.8 percent. Xaivian Lee is shooting 25 percent and Boogie Fland a dismal 18.2 percent. History says they’re better shooters than that and they’ve had games in which the threes dropped, but more often than not they miss. Urban Klavzar is in the process of becoming Lethal Weapon III for UF, sort of the designated shooter. He is hitting a team high 38 percent on his threes and everything he throws up looks good the moment it leaves his hand. Leave Isaiah Brown alone in the corner and he can nail a three, but he’s the team’s most explosive dunker, particularly off baseline drives. His minutes continue to increase. 

Although they don’t shoot the ball well from the outside, both Fland (11.3) and Lee (10.7) score and rarely turn the ball over. They’re so good handling the ball that they make the Gators almost impossible to press. Defensively, they’re both exceptional.

So it’s a tradeoff for Golden. While he waits to see if the shooting will ever come around, he has reinvented the Gators into one that is brutalizing opponents with their rebounding, defense and domination in the paint. The Gators lead the nation in rebounding (46 per game), offensive rebounding (16.64 per game) and rebounding margin (+15 per game). Defensively, the Gators are fourth nationally in defensive efficiency per Bart Torvik, sixth per Ken Pomeroy.

Scoring hasn’t suffered. In their 18 regular season SEC games a year ago, the Gators scored 100 in a loss to Kentucky and scored more than 90 just three other times. Through 10 SEC games, the Gators have scored 90 or more six times and 100 once. When the Gators hung 100 on Alabama, they did it by taking only 13 threes (made 3) the entire game, while scoring an unheard of 72 in the paint.

The four on the front line – 6-9 Tommy Haugh, 6-11 Alex Condon, 6-11 Rueben Chinyelu and 7-1 Micah Handlogten – are the focus on both ends of the floor. They are the reason the Gators dominate the paint and force opponents into a lot of one-and-done trips down the floor. The offensive rebounding means a lot of extended possessions for the Gators, who are No. 9 nationally in Bart Torvik’s offensive analytics, No. 13 at Ken Pomeroy.

As well as the Gators are playing Boogie Fland has issued a warning.

“We haven’t played our best basketball,” Fland said after the Alabama blowout win. “That is the crazy part. We're scoring 100 and not playing our best basketball yet. So that is crazy. We still have more to grow, more room for improvement."

That is crazy. It’s also scary for whoever gets in the path of this team moving forward. A year ago this was when the Gators found the extra gear that carried them to the Final Four and a national title. This isn’t last year’s team, but it’s one that is heating up and starting to look very capable of cutting down the nets in the future.

BEDIAKO RULED INELIGIBLE

Judge Daniel Pruet in Tuscaloosa, Alabama revoked the temporary restraining order that was allowing Charles Bediako to resume playing college basketball after spending two years in the G-League. The judge denied Bediako’s motion to overturn NCAA eligibility rules which prohibit him from playing because he signed an NBA 2-way contract. While under the protection of the TRO, Bediako played in five games, averaging 10 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots per game.

Associated Press top 25: 1. Arizona 23-0; 2. Michigan 22-1; 3. Houston 21-2; 4. Duke 21-2; 5. Iowa State 21-2; 6. UConn 22-2; 7. Nebraska 21-2; 8. Illinois 20-4. Kansas 18-5; 10. Michigan State 20-4; 11. North Carolina 19-4; 12. Gonzaga 23-2; 13. Purdue 19-4; 14. FLORIDA 17-6; 15. Virginia 20-3; 16. Texas Tech 17-6; 17. St. John’s 18-5; 18. Saint Louis 23-1; 19. Vanderbilt 19-4; 20. Clemson 20-4; 21. Arkansas 17-6; 22. BYU 17-6; 23. Miami (OH) 24-0; 24. Louisville 17-6; 25. Kentucky 17-7

Coaches top 25: 1. Arizona 23-0; 2. Michigan 22-1; 3. Houston 21-2; 3. Iowa State 21-2; 5. UConn 22-2; 6. Duke 21-2; 7. Illinois 20-4; 8. Nebraska 21-2; 9. Kansas 18-5; 10. Michigan State 20-4; 11. Gonzaga 23-2; 12. Purdue 19-4; 13. North Carolina  19-4; 14. FLORIDA 17-6; 15. Virginia 20-3; 16. Texas Tech 17-6; 17. St. John’s 18-5; 18. Clemson 20-4; 19. Saint Louis 23-1; 20. Vanderbilt 19-4; 21. Arkansas 17-6; 22. BYU 17-6; 23. Louisville 17-6; 24. Miami (OH) 24-0; 25. Iowa 16-5

Tuesday’s games

No. 19 Vanderbilt (19-4, 6-4 SEC) at Auburn (14-9, 5-5 SEC)

No. 21 Arkansas (17-6, 7-3 SEC) at LSU (14-9, 2-8 SEC)

Wednesday’s games

No. 14 FLORIDA (17-6, 8-2 SEC) at Georgia (17-6, 5-5 SEC))

Missouri (16-7, 6-4 SEC) at Texas A&M (17-5, 7-3 SEC)

Alabama (16-7, 6-4 SEC) at Ole Miss (11-12, 3-7 SEC)

Tennessee (16-7, 6-4 SEC) at Mississippi State (11-12, 3-7 SEC)

Saturday’s games

No. 25 Kentucky (17-7, 8-3 SEC) at No. 14 FLORIDA (17-6, 8-2 SEC)

Texas A&M (17-6, 7-3 SEC) at No. 19 Vanderbilt (19-4, 6-4 SEC)

Auburn (14-9, 5-5 SEC) at No. 21 Arkansas (17-6, 7-3 SEC)

LSU (14-9, 2-8 SEC) at Tennessee (16-7, 6-4 SEC)

South Carolina (11-13, 2-9 SEC) at Alabama (16-7, 6-4 SEC)

Georgia (17-6, 5-5 SEC) at Oklahoma (12-12, 2-9 SEC)

Texas (15-9, 6-5 SEC) at Missouri (16-7, 6-4 SEC)

Mississippi State (11-12, 3-7 SEC) at Ole Miss (11-12, 3-7 SEC)

SEC teams in latest Bart Torvik analytics: 4. FLORIDA 17-6; 12. Vanderbilt 19-4; 15. Tennessee 16-7; 20. Alabama 16-7; 26. Arkansas 17-6; 28. Texas A&M 17-6; 30. Auburn 14-9; 40. Kentucky 17-7; 41. Georgia 17-6; 42. Texas 15-9; 52. Missouri 16-7; 59. LSU 14-9; 62. Oklahoma 12-12; 80. Ole Miss 11-12; 90. Mississippi State 11-12; 104. South Carolina 11-13

SEC teams in latest CBS Sports bracketology

West: 1. Arizona; 2. UConn; 3. Purdue; 4. Alabama (Other SEC: 6. Arkansas)

South: 1. Houston; 2. Illinois; 3. FLORIDA; 4. Gonzaga (Other SEC: 10. Texas)

Midwest: 1. Michigan; 2. Iowa State; 3. Michigan State; 4. Virginia (SEC: 5. Tennessee; 9. Texas A&M; 10. Georgia)

East: 1. Duke; 2, Nebraska; 3. Kansas; 4. Vanderbilt (Other SEC: 7. Kentucky; 8. Auburn)

SEC in NCAA NET rankings: 9. FLORIDA; 14. Vanderbilt; 21. Tennessee; 23. Alabama; 26. Arkansas; 28. Kentucky; 31. Auburn; 35. Georgia; 36. Texas; 40. Texas A&M; 58. LSU; 62. Missouri; 74. Oklahoma; 83. Ole Miss; 96. Mississippi State; 113. South Carolina

ESPN Bubble Watch Conference by Conference

BIG TEN

Mortal locks (5): Michigan; Illinois; Nebraska; Purdue; Michigan State

Should get in (4): Iowa; Indiana; Wisconsin; UCLA

Work to do (3): Southern California; Ohio State; Washington

SEC

Mortal locks (6): FLORIDA; Vanderbilt; Alabama; Tennessee; Arkansas; Kentucky

Should get in (3): Auburn; Georgia; Texas A&M

Work to do (2): Texas; Missouri

Long shot (1): LSU

ACC

Mortal locks (6): Duke, Virginia; Louisville; North Carolina; Clemson; North Carolina State

Should get in (1): SMU

Work to do (3): Miami; Virginia Tech; California

Longshot (1): Stanford

Big 12

Mortal locks (6): Arizona; Iowa State; Houston; Kansas; Texas Tech; BYU

Should get in (1): UCF

Work to do (3): Oklahoma State; Baylor; West Virginia; TCU

Big East

Mortal locks (3): UConn; St. John’s; Villanova

Work to do (1): Seton Hall

Long shot: Creighton

Everybody else

Mortal locks (2): Gonzaga (West Coast Conference); Saint Louis (Atlantic 10)

Should get in (3): Utah State (Mountain West); Saint Mary’s (West Coast Conference); Santa Clara (West Coast Conference)

Work to do (7): Miami Ohio (MAC); San Diego State (Mountain West); New Mexico (Mountain West); VCU (Atlantic 10); Tulsa (American); Boise State (Mountain West);  Belmont (Missouri Valley)

Long shots

Nevada (Mountain West; Grand Canyon (Mountain West); George Mason (Atlantic 10); South Florida (America); Liberty (Conference USA); McNeese (Southland); Yale (Ivy); Akron (MAC); Dayton (Atlantic 10); Stephen F. Austin (Southland)