VEGAS LONGEST SHOT: Gators Are Least Favorite To Win It All In Omaha

A happy bunch of Gators are winning the Clemson Super Regional (UAA Photo)

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:

The betting odds are out and it should come as no secret that the Florida Gators are the long shot to win the College World Series. In order, the favorites are Tennessee, Texas A&M, Kentucky, North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia, North Carolina State and then Florida.

It might make perfectly good sense to the oddsmakers to make Florida the longshot. After all, the Gators have 28 losses, seven more than North Carolina State, which made the field Monday night by beating Georgia, 8-5, in Athens. That win made it an even field – four teams from the Southeastern Conference, four from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Additionally, it might make perfectly good sense to the oddsmakers because Florida pitchers have the worst ERA in the tournament field at 6.16. Tennessee, by contrast, is at 3.83, and Texas A&M, Florida’s first game opponent, is at 3.94. When the Aggies played UF in Gainesville, the Gators won two out of three, scored 18 runs and hit eight home runs, including two in one game by Jac Caglianone. In that series, Caglianone was 6-14 at the plate and went 5-1/3 innings in game three, allowing one run and striking out seven in Florida’s 4-2 win over the Aggies, who were ranked No. 4 in the nation at the time.  

If the Gators are going to do what the oddsmakers would say is the unthinkable, which is to make a deep run in the CWS, Caglianone will have to be a big part in it. Since the most critical game of all in Omaha is the first and because he did such a good job taming the Aggies potent bats in game three in Gainesville, Caglianone would seem to be the logical game one starter for the Gators.

Caglianone update: Caglianone is hitting .411 with 33 homers and 68 RBI this season. In 236 official at bats, he has struck out only 25 times. For his career, Caglianone has played in 161 games. The Major League Baseball season is 162 games, so here are Cags’ stats over the course of what would be an MLB season --.351 batting average, 27 doubles, two triples, 73 home runs and 185 RBI.

Team stats: The Gators have committed only 41 errors all season. They are the top fielding team (.980) at the CWS … The Gators have hit 131 home runs this season, which is fifth nationally. Texas A&M has hit 132 and Tennessee leads the nation with 173 … Florida pitchers average 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings, which ranks 10th nationally.

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES SCHEDULE

Friday’s games

2 p.m. No. 12 Virginia (46-15) vs. No. 4 North Carolina (47-14)

7 p.m. No. 8 Florida State (47-15) vs. No. 1 Tennessee (55-12)

Saturday’s games

2 p.m. No. 10 North Carolina State (38-21) vs. No. 2 Kentucky (45-14)

7 p.m. FLORIDA (34-28) vs. No. 3 Texas A&M (49-13)

JUST SINCE THE SPRING SEMESTER BEGAN IN JANUARY

While the last couple of weeks have been thrill rides for the Florida athletic department with softball taking Oklahoma to the limits at the Women’s College World Series, the men’s and women’s track and field teams coming home with an NCAA title and a runner-up and the baseball team advancing to the College World Series in Omaha by winning the Stillwater Regional and Clemson Super Regional, the spring semester has been an almost constant stream of good news for the Florida athletic department. Here is a look sport-by-sport at what has happened just since the spring semester began back in January:

FOOTBALL: DJ Lagway and LJ McCray, 5-star recruits early enrolled. CB Jameer

Grimsley flipped from Alabama and transferred to UF. NT Joey Slackman, the Ivy League defensive player of the year transferred in from Penn. MLB Grayson Howard transferred in from South Carolina. Former 5-star CB Cormani McClain transferred in from Colorado. Washington starting safety Asa Turner transferred in from Washington and safety DJ Douglas transferred in from Tulane. Stud offensive tackles Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson (from San Diego State) and Devon Marshall (from Arkansas) transferred in to give the Gators a rebuild offensive line. WR Chimere Dike transferred to UF from Wisconsin and WR Elijhah Badger transferred in from Arizona State, to combine with future superstar Eugene Wilson III to give Graham Mertz serious receiving talent.  

MEN’S BASKETBALL: Gators made it to the SEC Tournament championship game and the NCAA Tournament as a No. 7 seed. Todd Golden went immediately to the transfer portal to bring in Alijah Martin, a 4-year starter and leading scorer on FAU’s Final Four team, 7-0, 250-pound rim protector  Rueben Chinyelu from Washington State and 6-9 Sam Alexis, an offensive rebounding machine from Chattanooga. Golden still has two scholarships remaining that could be going to talented Europeans.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Kelly Rae Finley got the Gators to the Women’s NIT, but better times are ahead for UF as evidenced by two McDonald’s All-Americans signing with the Gators: Me’Arah O’Neal, daughter of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, and Liv McGill, who will was invited to try out for the US Junior Women’s National Team. Finley also landed Alexia Gassett from Louisville in the transfer portal.

MEN’S SWIMMING: The Gators won both the men’s SEC Championship for the 12th consecutive year. At the NCAA championships, the Gators finished third. Anthony Nesty has won the SEC championship all six years he has been Florida’s head coach. He has also won back-to-back SEC championships with the UF women.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING: The Gators matched the men by winning the SEC championship, then going on to Indianapolis for a third place finish in the NCAA championships. Since the end of the season, Anthony Nesty has added two transfers and two freshmn to the 2024-25 roster. Julia Heimstead transferred in from Arizona where she competed in the butterfly, freestyle and relays. Nicole Maier is a grad transfer from Miami (OH) who will compete for Germany in the 4X200 relay at the Paris Olympics. Also coming to UF will be freshman Anita Bottazo from Italy. She was a finalist at the world championships in the 50 breaststroke and was bronze medalist in the 100 breaststroke at the European U23. The other freshman is backstroker Katelyn Schroder from Canada.

GYMNASTICS: Even without a couple of key gymnasts (Kayla DiCielo and Skye Blakely) who were taking a year off to prep for the Olympics, the Gators finished fourth in the NCAA. The Gators won the SEC regular season championship for the sixth straight year. Florida will be the prohibitive favorite to win the NCAA title in 2025. On the US Senior National Team are DiCielo, Blakely and Leanne Wong.

MEN’S GOLF: The Gators finished 12th at the NCAA championships.

WOMEN’S GOLF: The Gators got an NCAA invitation but couldn’t make it out of the regionals, finishing 10th. Maisie Filler was named second team All-American.

WOMEN’S TENNIS: The Gators made it to the NCAA second round. 

MEN’S TENNIS: The Gators made the NCAA field of 64 but were bounced out of the first round. Anthony Rossi, formerly the head coach at Virginia Commonwealth, was named associate head coach.

LACROSSE: The Gators won the American Athletic Conference title, Florida’s fifth straight in that conference and 12th consecutive conference title overall. The Gators made it to the Final Four and finished fourth in the final polls. Maggi Hall was named first team All-American while Emily Heller and Liz Harrison made third team.  

SOFTBALL: The Gators won the SEC Tournament and advanced to the Women’s College World Series where they finished third. In the WCWS semifinals, the Gators ended eventual national champion Oklahoma’s 20-game winning streak at the WCWS. Jocelyn Erickson was the NCAA Player of the Year. Five Gators made All-America: Skylar Wallace, Erickson, Korbe Otis, Kendra Falby and Reagan Walsh. Keagan Rothrock, who led the nation in victories (32) as a freshman, made freshman All-America.

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD: The Gator men finished third at the NCAA indoor championships and won the NCAA outdoor title. To win the men’s national title, the Gators had to finish at least third in the final event of the night, the 4X400 relay, while finishing ahead of both Alabama and Southern Cal. The Gators finished third and beat Auburn by a single point to win the 14th NCAA title in Mike Holloway’s coaching career. His 14 national titles are more than the combined coaching staffs of all sports at each of the other 13 SEC schools.

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD: The UF women finished second at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships. Parker Valby, who won the NCAA cross country championship in the fall, won two NCAA titles at both the women’s indoor and outdoor championships.

BASEBALL: It isn’t how you start or even how you play in the middle as long as you finish strong, which the Gators are doing. The Gators are 6-1 in NCAA play and they’re one of the top eight teams in the country. Should they win their first two at the College World Series, they’re guaranteed a top four finish.

CRUNCHING DIRECTOR’S CUP NUMBERS

Texas has already clinched the 2024 Director’s Cup with Stanford and North Carolina right behind. The Gators had 575 points before any spring sports were included, 13th in the standings. Ahead of the Gators were No. 10 Alabama (659.13) and No. 11 Tennessee (652.5). Florida and Tennessee will finish either fourth or fifth and it could come down to whoever finishes highest at the College World Series.

Here is a rough look at Florida points in the spring sports with approximate points: Men’s outdoor track and field 100; women’s outdoor track and field 90; softball 85; Lacrosse 85; men’s golf 73; baseball at least 73; women’s tennis 64; men’s tennis 25

By these rough calculations, the Gators should finish with somewhere around 1,170 points. If the Gators finish ahead of Tennessee at the College World Series, it will likely guarantee a fourth-place finish.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Two things, one good, one that makes me scratch my head and wonder what the hell these people are thinking.

The good: Dan Hurley, the UConn men’s basketball coach turned down the Los Angeles Lakers to return to UConn for a chance to win a third consecutive NCAA championship. UConn, Florida (2006-07) and Duke (1991-92) are the only teams to win consecutive national championships since the John Wooden era.

Hurley makes about $6 million a year at UConn. The Lakers offered six years, $70 million. Was Hurley insulted? The crosstown Los Angeles Clippers pay their coach, Tyron Lue, $13.5 million per year. The Clippies have never won an NBA title while the Lakers have won 17.

What the hell are they thinking?: Caitlyn Clark was left off the Team USA roster for the upcoming Paris Olympics. Caitlyn handled the snub like the pro she is but this is puzzling. If these folks truly want to expand the popularity of women’s basketball then they need their most marketable face on that team. Considering Caitlyn Clark WNBA jersey sales are through the roof, every game she plays is either a sellout or nearly so, and her games get TV ratings like the WNBA has never had, this is one of the stupider moves in history.

Stephen A. Smith, ESPN’s most popular talk host, says it’s a matter of jealousy for all the attention Caitlyn is getting. "There are girls – young ladies – in the WNBA who are jealous of Caitlin Clark. She is a white girl that has come into the league," Smith said on ESPN’s First Take show.

I can understand that the women in the league who have been toiling for years in near anonymity since no one has actually paid attention to the WNBA would be envious, but surely they’re smart enough to know that if people come out to see Caitlyn they will also see the many marvelously talented women on the other teams. And, when Caitlyn plays games are on television and people watch. Eyes on the tube will make money for everyone in the league.

But, like USA Basketball, some folks are just plain stupid when it comes to dealing with Caitlyn Clark.