It isn’t exactly boot camp, but it is back to basics week for the Florida Gators as they prep for their encounter in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament with the winner of Wednesday night’s 11//14 matchup between Georgia (16-15, 6-12 SEC) and Missouri (8-23, 0-18 SEC). It’s not that Florida’s 79-78 loss to Vanderbilt back on Saturday set off alarm bells, but Todd Golden saw enough issues with rebounding and ball handling to demand the extra work. “I think, obviously, we didn't play well enough and a lot of that, like I said after the game, was things we can control,” Golden said Tuesday before the Gators got in their final practice in Gainesville before heading to Nashville for the tournament. “Tricky at the same time because we shot 51 [percent] from the field and we held them to 35 from the field so there were some things that we did very well but the rebounding and the ball handling was really discouraging.” Uncharacteristically, the Gators turned the ball over 16 times against Vanderbilt, the most in a game since 14 against Texas A&M, also a game the Gators lost by a single point. Although the Gators held a distinct size advantage over the Commodores, they were outrebounded 41-35. More concerning was Vanderbilt’s 20 offensive rebounds. The Gators came into the game leading the nation in rebounding, second in the SEC in offensive rebounds, yet it was Vandy that held a 20-6 advantage on the offensive backboards. Golden considers ball handling and rebounding things the Gators can control, so that has been the emphasis in practice the last two days. “The way I'm kind of thinking about it, the ball handling, we've been really good all year,” Golden said. “I kind of feel like that was a little bit of aberration. I don't expect that to continue. The rebounding has been a little bit trendy going the wrong way and so I think, for us, the biggest thing this week is going back and focusing on the things that don't require talent and to us, that's the rebounding and the ball handling.” Vanderbilt was an SEC bottom feeder, a team the Gators beat by a comfortable 13 points when they played at the O-Dome a couple of weeks earlier. This was a game Florida could have and should have won comfortably except the Gators were clearly outhustled by the Commodores. Now comes the winner of Georgia and Missouri Thursday night. The Gators were a combined 4-0 against them in the regular season, but what happened against Vanderbilt should serve as a wakeup call that it’s the SEC and even the teams at the bottom are talented enough and capable enough to play with any team in the league. “I think this SEC season has shown us what we can do,” point guard Zyon Pullin said. “It’s also shown that the games we don't show up what can happen? That’s something we’ve learned from, which is good. We need to keep a level mind. I think we're super confident. We know what this team can do. We’ve shown it. So here's no doubt in our minds what we can do.” What can the Gators do? This is the one-and-done portion of the schedule. There are no do-overs at the SEC Tournament and once into the NCAA field of 68, lose and the season is over. In Nashville, the Gators will be playing for seeding in the NCAA Tournament. With 21 regular season wins and 11 in SEC play, the Gators are mortal locks for the tournament. Of Florida’s 10 losses, six (Virginia, Baylor, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina) are to teams that will be playing in the tournament. The losses to Virginia, Baylor Kentucky, Alabama and South Carolina are by a combined 20 points. The Gators got their doors blown off twice, both times on the road at Ole Miss (by 18) and Tennessee (by 19). Florida’s combination of wins against NCAA mortal locks and close call losses to tournament-bound teams have bracketologists Joe Lunardi (ESPN) and Jerry Palm (CBS Sports) projecting the Gators as a No. 7 seed. A win Thursday night against the Georgia-Missouri winner will solidify the Gators as a No. 7. Anything higher will probably require a combination of Florida advancing beyond Alabama in the quarter-finals or some unexpected losses to teams projected with higher seeds. Golden believes the Gators are capable of heating up and going on a run in Nashville that could carry over into the NCAA Tournament. But, that depends on the team that blew out Auburn and Alabama and beat Kentucky at Rupp shows up. If it’s the team that essentially gave away a very winnable game to Vanderbilt, then the offseason will begin rather quickly. “I think we can use this as a good learning lesson to remind ourselves that we came off a great game against Alabama and we won by 16 or 18 or whatever it was,” Golden said. “I think human nature took over a little bit and not just our players, our whole program was like, 'Hey, we're pretty good,' and maybe we got ahead of ourselves a little bit. But this should be a good reminder and kind of a centering for us like, 'Hey, we have the capacity to be really good but if we don't play hard and we don't do those things that have made us what we are all year, then we can be average.' Obviously disappointed with it but I do feel like we can use it the right way this week and think we started to yesterday." Samuel makes 2nd team Associated Press All-SEC Seton Hall transfer Tyrese Samuel was the lone Gator to make the Associated Press All-SEC team. Samuel averages 13.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while leading the Southeastern Conference in field goal percentage (56.4 percent). Neither Pullin, who made first team All-SEC chosen by the coaches, nor Walter Clayton Jr., a second team selection by the coaches was voted on to either the first or second teams. It’s the first time a first team selection by the coaches wasn’t named to either the first or second team All-SEC by the coaches. To say Todd Golden was miffed by the oversight would be the understatement of the week. “I don’t know who votes, so I’m not sure,” Golden said. “I think that was a little bit of an oversight. I think it’s pretty clear to everybody who has followed the league that he’s one of the five best players in the league this year. The good thing, ZP is really mature and I don’t think he would care one bit about it. I don’t think it’s going to bother him or upset him. I think he knows what he’s capable of and our program appreciates what he’s brought to the table. He was recognized by the league, which I think is the most important thing for us.” Associated Press All-SEC First team: Antonio Reeves, Kentucky; Mark Sears, Alabama; Dalton Knecht, Tennessee; Johni Broome, Auburn; Tolu Smith, Mississippi State; Jonas Aidoo, Tennessee Second team: Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M; Reed Sheppard, Kentucky; Zakai Ziegler, Tennessee; Jaylin Williams, Auburn; Tyrese Samuel, Florida Coach of the Year: Lamont Paris, South Carolina; Player of the Year: Dalton Knecht, Tennessee; Newcomer of the Year: Dalton Knecht, Tennessee SEC Tournament Wednesday’s gamesGame one: No. 12 Arkansas (15-16, 6-12 SEC) vs. No. 13 Vanderbilt (9-22, 4-14 SEC)Game two: No. 11 Georgia (16-15, 6-12 SEC) vs. No. 14 Missouri (8-23, 0-18 SEC) Thursday’s games Game three: No. 9 Mississippi State (19-12, 8-10 SEC) vs. No. 8 LSU (17-14, 9-9 SEC)Game four: Winner game one vs. No. 5 South Carolina (25-6, 13-5 SEC)Game five: No. 10 Ole Miss (20-11, 7-11 SEC) vs. No. 7 Texas A&M (18-13, 9-9 SEC)Game six: Winner game two vs. No. 6 FLORIDA (21-10, 11-7 SEC) Friday’s games Game 7: Winner game 3 vs. No. 1 Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC)Game 8: Winner game 4 vs. No. 4 Auburn (24-7, 13-5 SEC)Game 9: Winner game 5 vs. No. 2 Kentucky (23-8, 13-5 SEC)Game 10: Winner game 6 vs. No. 3 Alabama (21-10, 13-5 SEC)

“Second verse, same as the first; a little bit louder and a whole lot worse” – from “Henery the Eighth” by Harry Champion, circa 1910 Except for the games Jac Caglianone has pitched the last two Sundays, the second verse for Florida pitchers is a bit louder and indeed a whole lot worse. Florida State hitters wore out nine Florida pitchers Tuesday night at Condon Family Ballpark. Thirteen hits, 10 walks and a hit batter equated to the Seminoles sticking it to the 8th-ranked Gators to the tune of 12-8 before an overflow crowd of 8,142. The Seminoles remained unbeaten (15-0) while the Gators (10-6) lost their fourth game in the last six. That in itself is bad news, but making matters worse is the opening weekend of Southeastern Conference play starting Friday when the unbeaten and 4th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies (16-0) come to Gainesville sporting the best team ERA (1.62) in the nation and an offense that hits at a .316 clip, scores 10 runs a game and hits the ball out of the yard with great frequency. Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan was hoping to get a solid 3-inning start from freshman Alex Philpott Tuesday. He got a rather good first inning but the wheels began to come off in the second when he loaded the bases on an infield single and a pair of walks. After giving up a sacrifice fly that gave FSU a 1-0 lead, Philpott induced a ground ball that should have been out three, but Cade Kurland couldn’t handle it, allowing two unearned runs to score. That was the beginning of a nightmare for the Gators. It was 7-0 through the top of the fourth when the Gators rallied for five runs on a sacrifice fly by Dale Thomas and a grand slam by Cade Kurland. That’s when O’Sullivan needed his relief pitchers to silence the Seminole bats, but no matter who he put out there, the Seminoles kept the pressure on, scoring three in the sixth and two more in the eighth. Florida did add one in the bottom of the eighth on a wild pitch and two in the ninth on an inside-the-park home run by Ty Evans. Before the game, O’Sullivan and his staff scripted what they wanted out of the pitching staff with the team, but obviously, things didn’t quite work out as planned. “I mean we kind of scripted it before the game,” O’Sullivan said. “We sat right in here and said okay, this is what we expect Alex to do and three innings max, and we get an inning and two-thirds and then we tried to follow a freshman with an older guy to kind of stop the bleeding. We brought the two lefties in, they went left, right, left at the bottom and turned the lineup back over to another left-hander. So we tried to set up everything perfectly for them. We tried to use, you know tried to be careful about who we brought in, in the middle of an inning. So it was all scripted, but obviously it didn’t go the way we wanted it to.” What is frustrating for O’Sullivan is that although this is one of the youngest pitching staffs he has had at Florida, it’s a staff loaded with quality arms that can throw with high velocity. After fall practice and when the team reconvened after New Year to begin preparation for the season, O’Sullivan felt confident his young guys could get the job done but 16 games into the season the Gators have a team earned run average of 5.72. “Anybody that’s in this room or anybody that came to practice, because they’re open, they’ve seen all these guys have success in the fall against our hitters,” O’Sullivan said. “Yes, so it’s a bit surprising. We’ve only played 16 games but this has been going on since the beginning of the year. So I mean, it’s not like things were kind of easy and we had success the first five or six games or so, seven games, and then all of a sudden they kind of got themselves in this situation. This started day since day one. I really don’t have any answer right now. We’ve got to figure this out.” It's easy to point a finger at coaches but O’Sullivan knows this is a two-way street moving forward if the Gators are to right the ship. Texas A&M looks formidable this weekend and that will be followed by a road trip to face No. 2 LSU, which beat the Gators in the championship game at the College World Series last year. There were no answers tonight, but the search for what it will take to fix the Florida pitching staff will begin in earnest today. “I'm going to sleep on it and we will practice tomorrow and we will go through it,” O’Sullivan said. “Tonight is not the night to go through it. There are so many things that I've got written down that continue to happen, and you know the bottom line is we put ourselves in really poor situations and a lot of it is self-inflicted. We're going to have to fix it, or you know somehow figure it out. But at some point, the players themselves are going to have take some sort of accountability with what's going on, but it's disappointing, honestly." UF SOFTBALL: 10th-ranked Gators host Stetson Fresh off winning their initial Southeastern Conference series of the season at Alabama, the 10th-ranked Gators (21-4) will begin an 8-game home stand tonight against Stetson (9-15) at Katie Seashole Presley Stadium (6 p.m., SEC Network+). The Gators rose to No. 10 in the ESPN and USA Today polls, to No. 11 in the D1Softball poll. Ava Brown, who splits her time between pitching and first base, was selected D1Softball National Freshman of the Week and Southeastern Conference co-Freshman of the Week. Brown is 9-1 in the circle (1.23 ERA) and hitting .346 with five home runs and 16 RBI. ESPN/USA Softball top 25: 1. Oklahoma 22-1; 2. LSU 22-0; 3. Texas 21-2; 4. Duke 19-1; 5. Georgia 20-3; 6. Stanford 18-4; 7. Oklahoma State 20-3; 8. Washington 18-3; 9. Tennessee 18-4; 10. FLORIDA 21-3; 11. Missouri 20-3; 12. Virginia Tech 18-2-1; 13. Baylor 14-5; 14. Clemson 17-6; 15. Alabama 19-3; 16. UCLA 14-6; 17. Texas A&M 23-2; 18. Florida State 15-5; 19. California 21-4; 20. Arkansas 20-5; 21. Mississippi State 19-4; 22. South Carolina 18-5; 23. Kentucky 14-7; 24. Oregon 14-9; 25. Arizona 19-5-1 USA Today/NFCA top 25: 1. Oklahoma 22-1; 2. LSU 22-0; 3. Texas 21-2; 4. Oklahoma State 20-3; 5. Georgia 20-3; 6. Duke 19-1; 7. Washington 18-3; 8. Tennessee 18-4; 9. Stanford 18-4; 10. FLORIDA 21-3; 11. Missouri 20-3; 12. Clemson 17-6; 13. Texas A&M 23-2; 14. Alabama 19-3; 15. UCLA 14-6; 16. Florida State 15-5; 17. California 21-4; 18. Virginia Tech 18-3-1; 19. Baylor 14-5; 20. Arkansas 20-5; 21. Mississippi State 19-4; 22. Arizona 19-5-1; 23. South Carolina 18-5; 24. Boston University 17-1; 25. Auburn 13-4-1 D1Softball top 25: 1. Oklahoma 22-1; 2. LSU 22-0; 3. Texas 21-2; 4. Oklahoma State 20-3; 5. Stanford 18-4; 6. Duke 19-1; 7. Georgia 20-3; 8. Washington 18-3; 9. Tennessee 18-4; 10. Baylor 14-5; 11. FLORIDA 21-4; 12. Missouri 20-3; 13. Clemson 17-6; 14. Virginia Tech 18-3-1; 15. Alabama 20-3; 16. UCLA 14-6; 17. Texas A&M 23-2; 18. Mississippi State 19-4; 19. Arkansas 20-5; 20. Arizona 19-5-1; 21. California 21-4; 22. Boston University 17-1; 23. South Carolina; 24. Florida State 15-5; 25. Texas State 19-6 UF TENNIS: Gators win doubleheader with Tennessee State In a rare midweek doubleheader, the Gators tuned up for their weekend SEC matches by beating Tennessee State 6-1 and 4-1, improving to 8-6 on the season. The Gators (2-2 SEC) will be on the road this weekend, at Auburn Friday and at Alabama on Sunday. Florida’s 16th-ranked women will be home this weekend, hosting Auburn on Friday and Alabama on Saturday. ITA Women’s top 25: 1. Oklahoma State 15-0; 2. Michigan 12-3; 3. Stanford 12-1; 4. Pepperdine 8-3; 5. Virginia 12-2; 6. North Carolina 13-2; 7. Texas 10-3; 8. North Carolina State 13-3; 9. Southern California 10-4; 10. Georgia 9-3; 11. Ohio State 7-5; 12. California 7-2; 13. Auburn 10-5; 14. Texas A&M 12-5; 15. San Diego 8-3; 16. FLORIDA 6-7; 17. Alabama 13-1; 18. UCLA 7-3; 19. South Carolina 9-4; 20. Miami 4-3; 21. Oklahoma 7-4; 22. Tennessee 10-4; 23. Georgia Tech 8-6; 24. Duke 9-5; 25. Wisconsin 10-2 ITA Men’s top 25: 1. Ohio State 16-1; 2. TCU 11-1; 3. Virginia 12-4; 4. Wake Forest 14-4; 5. Arizona 14-2; 6. Kentucky 12-2; 7. Columbia 9-2; 8. Tennessee 15-3; 9. Texas 10-3; 10. Harvard 10-4; 11. Illinois 7-4; 12. Texas A&M 13-3; 13. Florida State 13-2; 14. San Diego 10-2; 15. Mississippi State 10-4; 16. South Carolina 7-7; 17. Duke 11-7; 18. North Carolina State 10-4; 19. Baylor 14-4; 20. Memphis 10-3; 21. Oklahoma 10-2; 22. Arizona State 10-5; 23. Michigan State 14-3; 24. Alabama 11-7; 25. FLORIDA 6-6 UF WOMEN’S GOLF: Gators finish sixth at Briar’s Creek The Gators posted a 3-day total of 875 to finish sixth place in the Briar’s Creek Invitational at John’s Island, South Carolina. Florida’s 11-over par score was 15 shots behind tournament champion Michigan State. Freshman Ines Archer was -1 for the tournament (215) to finish in a tie for seventh place. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Let’s get real for a moment. The offense wasn’t and hasn’t been the problem the last two years for Billy Napier. Has it been as explosive or as efficient as he would like? You know the answer to that, too. The Gators have scored enough points to be at least 19-6 the last two years. The problem has been on the other side of the football, which is why Ron Roberts was brought in to be the fixer. He’s been a head coach and he’s earned a reputation as a defensive savant with his creeper defense. A creeper defense incorporates a 4-man pass rush that brings one or two second or third level defenders while dropping one or two first level defenders into coverage. The second or third level defenders are your creepers. It’s primarily a zone that looks like man coverage and if the creepers don’t give away their intentions too early, it can have devastating consequences for opposing quarterbacks. Roberts was the defensive coordinator at Auburn last year, brought in by Hugh Freeze to take a unit that was highly erratic the previous year under a different head coach and turn it functional. Despite obvious talent deficiencies, Roberts got the Auburn defense to slice a touchdown (from 29.5 to 22.6) and four first downs off its previous season. That is the task at Florida this year where Roberts reunites with Austin Armstrong, who was his graduate assistant at Louisiana. Roberts calls Armstrong “brilliant” but it will be his job as the co-defensive coordinator to bring out the brilliance. A year ago, in his first year as an SEC coordinator, Armstrong’s UF defense was near the bottom of the SEC in sacks, dead last in interceptions and one of the worst tackling teams in the entire country. Roberts is here, a second stint under Billy Napier, charged with turning the Gators into a team that can get stops, sack quarterbacks, turn the ball over and put opposing backs and receivers on the ground. It all starts with the tackling. “I think there are some certain basic fundamentals that you’ve got to believe in, that you’ve got to preach and make sure they buy in,” Roberts said after practice last Saturday. “One thing that helps is you do that for a couple of years and then it starts compounding, so it’s been going on here. It’s been going on here, but again, we’ve got to emphasize it. We’ve got to be great in that category. That’s what the game is about. You do all the all stuff, and you can draw it up, but if you can’t tackle them and get them on the ground, it’s kind of a problem. So, we’ll focus on those basics and those fundamentals and make sure we’re getting better as a group.” A few tackled opponents here, a few there the last two years and the outlook for 2024 for the Gators would be far different. Now with a revamped defensive staff, some key personnel brought in from the portal and kids who are a year older, the Gators should be better, but improvement will have to be made against a brutal schedule that is thought to be the most difficult in the nation for 2024. “We’re the University of Florida,” Roberts said. “We should expect to play the best in the country, and we expect to win on Saturday. I think there’s got to be that part, that the swagger has to come with it too. That’s it. That’s who you want to play on Saturdays. Bring it on. Bring out the best in us, too. Let’s go.”

After a historic weekend at the SEC tournament Kelly Rae Finley credits her seniors for laying the foundation. By Loren Meadows, GatorBaitMedia.com GREENVILLE, SC-- While most of the Gator faithful attention was focused on the beginning of spring football and the debut of prep star DJ Lagway, the Florida women’s basketball program was putting the SEC on present and future notice knocking off the 6th-seeded Vanderbilt Commodores in the 3rd round of the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Gators, who opened the tournament by defeating Missouri, secured their second win at the SEC tournament for the first time since 1997 when they were led by Carol Ross the winningest coach in Florida history. Unfortunately the were knocked out in a tough loss to Ole Miss, who had previously beaten Florida twice in the regular season. With an NCAA net ranking of 60, the Gators have an outside chance to make the NCAA tournament. With the historic win Kelly Rae Finley is building a program that will eventually find the Gators in the top tier of the SEC on a yearly basis. The addition of McDonald’s All-Americans Liv McGill and Me’Arah O’Neil to go along with freshman Leila Reynolds, a 2023 McDonald’s honoree has put the Florida Gators on the map as a destination for some of the nation’s top talent. If you ask Finley what has led to the resurgence of the Florida Gators she will say that while going 3-for 3 on McDonald’s All Americans is always a plus it is the foundation of her three seniors that have laid the foundation for what is to come in Gainesville. The Gators at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, SC (GatorBait photo) Zippy Broughton, Faith Dut, and Lielani Correa have cemented their legacy as members of the Florida basketball team. Broughton has been one of the SEC’s most versatile combo guards in her two seasons on the floor and is a vibrant breath of fresh air off of it. A member of the SEC’s Good Works Team Broughton also represented women’s program as a member of the GatorMade contingent that traveled to Greece in the summer of 2022. Faith Dut is the Gator women’s program personified. An extension of Finley on the floor, Dut has been the spiritual leader of the program this season and is truly emotional when speaking about the Florida Gators and her relationship with her coach. “I have so much pride in being a Florida Gator,” Dut stated recently. “Me and Kelly had been through a lot these last couple of years and we have always done it together. "I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else, I’m so grateful for Kelly”. Correa the SEC’s reigning Sixth Women of the Year rounds out the building blocks of Finley’s senior class. Finley asked Correa to come off the bench this season to balance out the Gators rotation and with the support of her parents accepted her role and flourished. Correa scored 21.4 points per game in SEC play and is the only player in the SEC averaging 20 points off the bench. Correa, who transferred from St. Johns in 2023 has accumulated 2,107 career points which is the record across both the men’s and women’s basketball programs. “Our seniors are elite," stated Finley. “They’ve done some pretty remarkable things. I thought over the course of this season and in this tournament we took a lot of positive steps forward thanks to Faith, Zippy and Leilani. They sacrificed a lot for the University of Florida and our women’s basketball team and I’m extremely proud of them.” Senior Zippy Broughton (GatorBait photo) Unfortunately for the Gators their SEC tournament run would come to an end Friday evening with a loss to the 4th-seeded Ole Miss Rebels 84-74. Despite the loss, Finley remained reserved and humble. While other coaches in the conference have resorted to loud, more brazen antics, tantrums and misguided hostilities to bring attention to themselves, Finley remained focused on the future of her program and her players. “ We lost several games by one possession, two possession or less. We just need to learn how to close those games” stated Finley. “I love who they are, I love what they stand for, I love how they carry themselves.” With two wins in the tournament the Gators are currently 16-15, giving Finley her third straight winning season in as many years as interim or head coach. If the Gators fail to get an invite to the NCAA, a winning record also makes them a candidate for the inaugural 32-team Women’s Basketball Tournament reserved for the top 32-teams who do not receive and NCAA invite. The selections for the Women’s NCAA tournament will be announced Sunday on ESPN. #kellyskicks (GatorBait photo)

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:

For one game, at least, Kevin O’Sullivan didn’t have to worry about pitching. Those same Saint Mary’s hitters who wore out Florida pitching for 20 runs and 25 hits of which five left the yard Friday night and Saturday afternoon, couldn’t touch Jac Caglianone Sunday afternoon at Condron Family Ballpark. In perhaps the most impressive six innings of his Florida career, Caglianone no-hit the Gaels with a mixture of changeups and sliders to go with heat that sometimes reached the upper 90s to lead the Gators to a 10-0, 8-inning run-rule win that salvaged the weekend series. Building on a 6-inning performance against Miami a week ago when he gave up three hits and struck out 11, Caglianone struck out nine, walked three and allowed only two balls to reach the outfield. “It all starts on the mound,” O’Sullivan said after the Gators (10-5) played not only their best game of the weekend, but the best game they’ve played all year. For the first time all season, the Gators looked and played like the No. 4 team in the nation. Caglianone was the dominator for six innings using his changeup and his slider so well that he rarely had to throw the serious gas. “When the offspeed’s kind of there, you don’t have to worry about trying to blow anything by these guys, especially when you start off two sliders or something,” Caglianone said. “You just go fast ball 93, it probably looks a lot harder.” O’Sullivan said it’s simply a matter of Caglianone learning how to pitch. A year ago, coming off a freshman season in which he was strictly a designated hitter as he healed from Tommy John surgery, there was this tendency to overthrow. As a result there were control issues from time to time. Sunday, Caglianone was in complete control and it was rare when he let loose with a pitch that was more than a couple of inches off the plate. “He’s pitching now,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s fairly common with young pitchers, they tend to overthrow … he’s in a really good rhythm right now.” Caglianone is in such a good rhythm that O’Sullivan is going to adjust his weekend rotation. Instead of starting off with sophomore lefty Cade Fisher on Friday followed by freshman Liam Peterson on Saturday and Cags wrapping up the weekend on Sunday, things will change starting next weekend when the Gators open Southeastern Conference play with Texas A&M. “We’re thinking about maybe shuffling around the rotation, not necessarily changing the names but move things around and maybe that will be a spark plug for us,” O’Sullivan said. Eventually, that will mean Caglianone will be the Friday night starter, but first O’Sullivan will have a conversation with his junior lefty to ensure he’s good with the change. Once that happens, it will take at least a couple of weeks to adjust the rotation. “We’re not asking him to go Friday night, pitching on four nights rest, but maybe the situation he’ll go Saturday [against the Aggies], then on Friday [in the future],” O’Sullivan said. When Caglianone reached his pitch limit Sunday, Ryan Slater came on to mop things up with two more shutout innings. The Gaels got both their hits off Slater, but he got a double play in the seventh and pitched out of a leadoff double in the eighth. It didn’t take much in the way of offense the way the Gators swung the bats all weekend, but Sunday they rocked six Saint Mary’s pitcher for 14 hits including four doubles and the fifth homer of the season by Tyler Shelnut. Everybody in the lineup had at least one hit while five Gators had two including catcher Tanner Garrison, whose double down the left field line in the second inning was Florida’s first hit of the game, and whose run-scoring single to left in the bottom of the eighth gave the Gators the 10-run lead to end the game on the run-rule. Florida scored two in the second on a walk to Thomas and back-to-back doubles by Garrison and Mikey Robertson. In the fourth, a single by Thomas, a hit by pitch of Cade Kurland, a swinging bunt by Caglianone and a single to center by Luke Heyman made it 4-0. The Gators scored on a double play grounder in the fifth and added three more in the seventh on a single by Shelton, an RBI double by Ty Evans and Shelnut’s homer into deep right center field. The final two runs came in the bottom of the eighth to provide the run-rule ending. Consecutive singles by Heyman and Shelton and a walk to Evans loaded the bases for Thomas who brought home Heyman with a sacrifice fly to center field. Garrison followed with his walk-off single down the left field line. Garrison was also the defensive star of the game, nailing two Saint Mary’s runners trying to steal with laser-guided rockets to second base. With two outs in the top of the second, Saint Mary’s sent Dalton Mashore but Garrison’s throw arrived in plenty of time, which evoked a leap and a fist pump from Caglianone. In the fourth, there was a strike out, throw out double play as Garrison cut down Gavin Napier on what was intended to be a hit-and-run. In addition, there were two other double plays by the Florida defense. The sixth inning ended on a third unassisted to first double play begun by Dale Thomas. The second was a short-to-second-to first double play that Colby Shelton started to account for the first two outs of the seventh. At the plate and in the field, the Gators have a team that can play with anyone in the country. The issue was and is pitching. Shuffling the rotation could bring dividends if Caglianone continues to be dominant. There is no substitute for starting a Southeastern Conference weekend with a win. Does the move to Friday for Caglianone simply move Fisher and Peterson back one night? Or will there be other changes? In his post game remarks Friday after the Gators walked it off on a 3-run homer by Shelton in the bottom of the tenth, O’Sullivan said that all pitching options are on the table including moving closer Brandon Neely into a starting role. If that were to happen, then Slater would probably close, but who would set the table for Slater? Undoubtedly there are more questions that Kevin O’Sullivan has answers at this point of the season, but he does believe he has a better handle on where the Gators are and what he has to do to make the appropriate corrections. “We’ve been through 15 games,” O’Sullivan said. “It hasn’t been pretty at times, but I think we have a better feel for our team before we head into SEC play.” The Gators have only one midweek game this week against arch-rival Florida State (14-0) Tuesday at Condron Family Ballpark. The Seminoles swept New Orleans over the weekend. Texas A&M (16-0) will be in Gainesville starting Friday for the first Southeastern Conference series of the season. UF SOFTBALL: Gators run-rule No. 11 Alabama, 11-2 Freshman Ava Brown (9-1) pitched a 3-hitter and helped her own cause with a home run and a run-scoring single as the 13th-ranked Gators clinched the series with No. 11 Alabama with a 5-inning, 11-2 win by run-rule in Tuscaloosa. The Gators (21-3, 2-0 SEC) and Alabama (19-3, 0-2 SEC) conclude their series tonight (6 p.m.). Brown, who walked three and struck out three, had only one difficult inning. In the bottom of the third, Alabama pushed across two runs on a walk, two bunt hits that loaded the bases and a pair of ground outs. Alabama’s only other hit came in the fourth and like the first two, the ball never left the infield. Florida, meanwhile, pounded out 11 hits while taking advantage of sloppy play in the field by Alabama, which committed six errors. Only six of Florida’s 11 runs were earned. Two Alabama errors, a single by Jocelyn Erickson and a wild pitch gave the Gators a 2-0 lead in the first. The Gators stretched it to 3-0 in the top of the third on a single by Kendra Falby, an Alabama error and a single up the middle by Skylar Wallace. Brown cranked a 2-2 delivery deep over the wall in left field to give the Gators a 4-2 lead in the fourth. Then came the seventh when the bottom fell out completely for Alabama. The Gators scored seven runs to finish off their 17th run-rule win of the season. Wallace doubled and scored on an Erickson single. A walk to Korbe Otis, a wild pitch and a run-scoring ground out by Katie Kistler plated Erickson. Brown had an RBI single, Cassidy McClellan had a sacrifice fly and Wallace hit her second double of the inning to score Falby, who had singled. The Gators have outscored opponents 221-24 this season. UF TENNIS: Women split two matches; men fall twice The 18th-ranked Florida women rebounded from a 4-3 loss to Georgia on Friday by taking out Tennessee 5-2 Sunday at the Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators are now 6-7 overall, 2-2 in Southeastern Conference play. The Gators will be home next weekend against Auburn on Friday and Alabama on Sunday. The men’s team (6-6, 2-2 SEC) was on the road all weekend, falling 6-1 to Kentucky on Friday and 6-1 to Tennessee Sunday. The Gators will be at home Tuesday against Tennessee State then on the road for two SEC weekend matches, at Auburn Friday and at Alabama Sunday. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: In the span of five days we saw Florida’s basketball team at their best and maybe not their worst, but certainly far less than they expected. Beating Alabama in the O-Dome was special, not only because it knocked Alabama out of the Southeastern Conference regular season championship race, but because the Gators thrived off an electric atmosphere in the O-Dome. Then came Vanderbilt, a game the Gators not only should have won, but would have won if they weren’t still basking in the glow of the Alabama win. That’s about the only logical explanation and it was confirmed post game by Tyrese Samuel, who admitted the Gators didn’t come ready to play. The regular season has ended and Florida is 21-10, 11-7 in SEC play. Going back through the 10 losses and it’s not difficult to conclude the Gators could be six games better. It is not far fetched to think the Gators could have won the SEC title. Had they finished the regular season with 25 or more wins and 13 or more in SEC play, they would be on everybody’s potential Final Four combatants list. Now, this isn’t to take anything away from the accomplishments of the season. Considering nearly every media outlet thought the Gators would be in the NIT, getting to 21 wins is a serious accomplishment. Getting to the NCAA Tournament in year two for Todd Golden is a serious accomplishment, particularly considering how the program had stagnated under Mike White. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that Florida’s first game at the SEC Tournament on Thursday could be against Georgia, which plays Missouri on Wednesday. Right now, Joe Lunardi has UF on a No. 6 line playing the play-in winner of Indiana State and Colorado in Brooklyn. Win it and it’s the 3-14 winner of Duke-Toledo. Over at CBS, Jerry Palm has the Gators on a No. 7 line against 10th-seed Northwestern with an imminent rematch with Baylor, whom the Gators lost to by four early in the season. One win in Nashville should solidify the Gators either on the six or the seven line. Two wins would almost guarantee a six seed … or maybe even a five. The sky is the limit if the Gators remember to play like they did in beating Alabama. If they play like they did against Vanderbilt, they could find themselves on the dreaded 8-9 line going against a No. 1 if they win their first game.

Florida’s pitching, or lack of, was a problem once again Saturday afternoon when the Gators dropped game two of their weekend series with Saint Mary’s, 9-7, at Condron Family Ballpark. Six Florida pitchers combined to allow nine earned runs, 11 hits and four home runs Saturday. In two games so far against Saint Mary’s, Florida has allowed 20 runs, ballooning the team ERA to 6.02. Starter Liam Peterson, staked to a 4-0 lead, cruised through the first three innings Saturday, shutting out the Gaels on a leadoff single. The Gators took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a run-scoring single by Ty Evans. In the second, Cade Kurland followed consecutive singles by Brody Donay and Jalen Guy with an opposite field homer to right, his second home run of the season. Then the bottom fell out. Saint Mary’s cut Florida’s lead in half on one-out, back-to-back home runs by Nathan Chong and Brian Duroff. When Saint Mary’s got its first two runners on in the fifth thanks to a walk and a single, Peterson was lifted for Blake Purnell. Purnell gave up three hits, the most damaging a bases loaded infield single to third that Dale Thomas threw away, scoring all three runners for a 5-4 Saint Mary’s lead.  Grayson Smith came on for Purnell, allowing a run-scoring grounder that put Saint Mary’s up 6-4. Florida struck back with Colby Shelton’s ninth home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth. The Gators took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Luke Heyman hit a 2-run homer, his fourth of the season, to left field. When Alex Philpott gave up a leadoff homer to Coleman Schmidt in the seventh that tied the game at 7-7, he was replaced by Luke McNellie who promptly struck out the first batter he faced. Then came a walk to Chong and Duroff’s second homer of the game. The Gators (9-5) close out the series with Saint Mary’s today at 1 p.m. (SEC Network+). Jac Caglianone is scheduled to get the start for UF. UF TRACK AND FIELD: Valby’s distance double leads UF to runner-up finish Parker Valby, the nation’s premier collegiate distance runner, pulled off the distance double at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston, winning the 3000 meters Saturday after setting a collegiate record to win the 5000 meters Friday night. Valby’s outstanding performance led the Florida women to a second place finish. The Florida men finished third. Grace Stark produced a second place finish in the 60 meter hurdles and a sixth place finish in the 60 meter dash. Alida Van Daalen had a fifth place finish in the shot put. On the men’s side, the 4X400 meter relay team of Jevaughn Powell, Robert Gregory, Jenoah McKiver and Reheem Hayles ran a 3:02.53 for a runner-up finish. Theirs was the third fastest time in the world this year. The Gators got a fifth place finish from Sean Dixon-Bodie in the triple jump, a seventh place finish from Parvej Khan in the mile, a fourth place finish from Wanya McCoy in the 60 meters and 200 meters, and a fourth place finish from JeVaughn Powell in the 400 meters. NCAA women’s top 10 team finishes: 1. Arkansas 55; 2. FLORIDA 50; 3. Georgia 33; 4. Oregon 31; 5. Ole Miss 30; 6. LSU 29; 7. BYU 28; 8. (TIE) Oklahoma State and Southern California 27; 10. Notre Dame 26 NCAA men’s top 10 team finishes: 1. Texas Tech 50.5; 2. Arkansas 41; 3. FLORIDA 39; 4. Northern Arizona 31; 5. North Carolina 26; 6. Texas A&M 24; 7. (Tie) Oklahoma State and Southern California 23; 9. Iowa 21; 10. Washington 20 UF SOFTBALL: Rothrock shuts out Alabama on a 1-hitter Freshman Keagan Rothrock extended her scoreless streak to 35-2/3 innings Saturday when she pitched a 1-hitter to lead 13th-ranked Florida to a 2-0 win over 11th-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Rothrock (9-2), who hasn’t allowed a run since February 19, has the longest scoreless innings streak for any Gator pitcher since Kelly Barnhill threw 37 consecutive scoreless innings in 2018. Florida (20-3, 1-0 SEC) managed only three hits, but two of them came in the second when the Gators got the only runs they would need to take out Alabama (20-2, 0-1 SEC). After Jocelyn Erickson reached on an infield error, Reagan Walsh doubled her to third. Freshman Ava Brown followed with a hard single up the middle to drive in both runs. Rothrock benefitted from three outstanding plays in the field. Center fielder Kendra Falby had an extra base hit-saving catch in the fourth, Mia Williams knocked down a ball heading up the middle and got it to Skylar Wallace at second for a force, and Erickson threw out Alabama’s Lauren Johnson trying to steal in the fifth. Erickson has gunned down seven of the eight runners trying to steal this year. The Gators and Alabama will square off at 6 p.m. (SEC Network) this evening for game two of the 3-game series.

The final score, of course, is the number that matters most, but two numbers stand out prominently in Vanderbilt’s 79-78 upset of the Florida Gators at Memorial Gym in Nashville Saturday afternoon: (1) Twenty, as in 20 Vanderbilt offensive rebounds; and (2) 16 as in 16 Florida turnovers. The 20 offensive rebounds helped Vanderbilt take 18 more shots from the field than the Gators and allowed the Commodores to outscore Florida 21-6 on second chance points. The 16 turnovers were converted to 19 Vanderbilt points. There were two Florida turnovers in the final 23 seconds, the first that gave Vanderbilt the game-winning basket and the second that prevented Florida from even getting up a shot that could have won it. This was a very painful one-point loss for the Gators because it could mean the difference in who they play and where they play in the NCAA Tournament. A couple more offensive rebounds and at least two fewer turnovers and Florida almost certainly would find itself on the No. 6 line when they start calling out teams on Selection Sunday seven days from now. The Gators could still play their way onto the six line, but now they probably need two wins to get there. A Thursday loss next week at the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville probably means the Gators will be on that dreaded 8-9 line in the NCAA. The outcome of the game Saturday should have never come down to the final 23 seconds. It could have been a blowout and should have been a comfortable win, but it seemed rather obvious from the opening tip that Vanderbilt came into this game highly motivated and the Gators played as if they hadn’t had their morning caffeine jolt. Explaining what happened, Florida coach Todd Golden pulled no punches. “I thought they out-played us,” Golden said. “They had 20 offensive rebounds, we had six. We had 16 turnovers, they had eight. That’s the game right there. We held them to 35 percent from the field, we shot 51. But it was a numbers game – they had 76 field goal attempts, we had 58. They had 20 free throw attempts, we had 14. Really impossible to go on the road and to win a game like that when you let your opponent out-shoot you 18 times from the field and six times from the foul line. It’s just not a good recipe for success.” The recipe for success was to take advantage of Florida’s size, experience and quickness that were on full display back on Tuesday when the Gators blew the doors off Alabama in Gainesville. The team that took the floor Saturday looked nothing like the one that destroyed Alabama’s SEC regular season championship hopes. This team looked like it had only hours before taken time off the post-Alabama win party to play a nuisance game against a bad Vandy team. About the only thing that could have stopped the Gators from leaving Nashville with their 12th SEC win and a No. 6 seed when the 68-team NCAA field is announced was arrogance. Funny, but that’s exactly what Golden was warning Friday when he was getting ready to leave for Nashville. He was concerned enough to verbalize that Vanderbilt was plenty good enough to steal a win if the Gators left their game in Gainesville. Obviously, the Gators ignored the warning. “We came out lackadaisical,” Tyrese Samuel said. “We weren’t ready to play and they were just tougher than us. It was their last home game. They really had nothing to lose, and we came in here like a team that had just come off a big win and thought we were just going to come here and beat a good SEC team. The SEC is the best conference in America. Anybody can beat anybody. It showed today.” Vanderbilt is one of the anybodies in the league. Florida is supposed to be one of the somebodies, but the way Vanderbilt spent 40 minutes crashing the backboards and hustling to come away with every 50/50 ball, it looked like the Commodores belonged to the elites at the top and the Gators somewhere else. Now, many of the Commodores’ 20 offensive rebounds were the result of long rebounds but the Commodores were in a hustle mode, willing to run down any of the SCUDs that clanged off the Memorial Gym rims. They played as if the ball were a precious commodity to be desired and possessed. The Gators played as if the ball were infected with cooties. The Gators came into the game leading the nation in rebounding and second in offensive rebounds. Despite their vertical challenges, Vandy outrebounded Florida 41-35 and 20-6 on offensive rebounds. “They went to the rim harder than us,” Samuel said. “We didn’t box out, didn’t execute. Simple as that.” What happened on the offensive boards was just one part of the equation that cost the game for the Gators. The other part was turnovers. The Gators have lost 10 games this season. In eight of the ten losses, Florida turned the ball over 10 or more times. When the Gators value the basketball, they win. When they don’t, there’s a good chance they take a hit. This was the second straight Saturday when the Gators couldn’t hold onto a comfortable lead. A week ago, Florida should have departed Columbia with a win over South Carolina, but UF couldn’t hold the lead in the second half. Against Vandy, Florida led, 39-27, with 1:36 to go in the first half, but a pair of free throws on a second chance and a 3-pointer by Ven-Allen Lubin off a Florida turnover trimmed the lead to seven (39-32) at the half. The end of the half was a precursor of things to come. The Commodores came out of the locker room to begin the second half energized and feeling like they had a game to win. Florida played the first six minutes of the half like a team that thought it had better things to do. Vanderbilt outscored Florida 13-4 to take the lead at 45-43 with 14:52 left in the game. The go-ahead layup by Tasos Kamertos was made possible, of course, by a Florida turnover. Florida built the lead back up to seven, 69-62, when Riley Kugel scored on a fast break, but Vanderbilt kept chipping away, in large part because the Gators played like a team with a flight to catch and the Commodores played like a team determined to show the world they’re better than an SEC bottom feeder. Florida, obviously, has problems handling prosperity. It was only a matter of time before a 67-59 lead with 6:17 remaining in the game dissipated. A three off a turnover and a layup after an offensive rebound brought Vandy back within a single point at 69-68 with 2:41 to go. From there it was a matter of who wanted it worse. The Gators were good enough to get the lead, but not good enough to hold it. A pair of free throws by Zyon Pullin with 35 seconds to go gave Florida a 78-75 lead but Vandy trimmed it back to one when JQ Roberts was awarded a pair of free throws on a rather questionable foul call with 24 seconds to go. All the Gators had to do was inbounds the ball and Vandy would have fouled, but a lazy pass by Clayton was picked off by Lawrence, who drove in for what proved to be the game-winner with 15 seconds to go. Florida had a chance to win it at the other end, but Clayton bounced the ball off his foot with one second to go, ending Florida’s chance to pull it out. Florida wasted a brilliant game by Pullin, who scored 20 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out eight assists with only a single questionable turnover in which the zebra awarded possession to Vandy when it seemed a Vandy player touched it last. Samuel scored 16 points and Walter Clayton Jr., whose two turnovers in the last 23 seconds sealed Florida’s fate, had 14. Freshman Alex Condon had 11 points and eight rebounds. SEC Basketball Saturday’s scores: Vanderbilt (9-22, 4-14 SEC) 79, FLORIDA (21-9, 11-7 SEC) 78; No. 15 Kentucky (23-8, 13-5 SEC) 85, No. 4 Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC) 81; No. 13 Auburn (24-7, 13-5 SEC) 92, Georgia (16-15, 6-12 SEC) 78; No. 16 Alabama (21-10. 13-5 SEC) 92, Arkansas (15-16, 6-12 SEC) 88, OT; No. 17 South Carolina (25-6, 13-5 SEC) 93, Mississippi State (19-12, 8-10 SEC) 89; Texas A&M (18-13, 9-9 SEC) 86, Ole Miss (20-11, 7-11 SEC) 60; LSU (17-14, 9-9 SEC) 84, Missouri (8-23, 0-18 SEC) 80 SEC Tournament Wednesday’s games Game one: No. 12 Arkansas (15-16, 6-12 SEC) vs. No. 13 Vanderbilt (9-22, 4-14 SEC) Game two: No. 11 Georgia (16-15, 6-12 SEC) vs. No. 14 Missouri (8-23, 0-18 SEC) Thursday’s games Game three: No. 9 Mississippi State (19-12, 8-10 SEC) vs. No. 8 LSU (17-14, 9-9 SEC) Game four: Winner game one vs. No. 5 South Carolina (25-6, 13-5 SEC) Game five: No. 10 Ole Miss (20-11, 7-11 SEC) vs. No. 7 Texas A&M (18-13, 9-9 SEC) Game six: Winner game two vs. No. 6 FLORIDA (21-10, 11-7 SEC) Friday’s games Game 7: Winner game 3 vs. No. 1 Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC) Game 8: Winner game 4 vs. No. 4 Auburn (24-7, 13-5 SEC) Game 9: Winner game 5 vs. No. 2 Kentucky (23-8, 13-5 SEC) Game 10: Winner game 6 vs. No. 3 Alabama (21-10, 13-5 SEC) No. 16 Alabama (21-10, 13-5 SEC): Lock for the NCAA, but in trouble if opposing teams can defend the three. Arkansas (15-16, 6-12 SEC): The Razorbacks aren’t going anywhere but they did beat Duke this year, so they’re capable of springing an upset. No. 13 Auburn (24-7, 13-5 SEC): The way the Tigers defend, they’re capable of winning the tournament and going deep in the NCAA Tournament. FLORIDA (21-10, 11-7 SEC): The Gators are going to the NCAA Tournament but how well they do in Nashville and beyond has everything to do with which Florida team shows up. The one that beat Kentucky at Rupp, Auburn and Alabama can beat anyone and make a deep NCAA run. The one that lost to Vanderbilt could see its season end in two games. Georgia (16-15, 6-12 SEC): At Florida people would be calling for Mike White’s head. At Georgia, they think a winning season is acceptable. No. 15 Kentucky (24-7, 13-5 SEC): The Wildcats are capable of winning it all, both in Nashville and the NCAA Tournament. They’re the deepest and most talented team in the country and right now they’re on a roll. LSU (17-14, 9-9 SEC): They’re playing to get into the NIT. One win in Nashville should do it, but two for sure. Mississippi State (19-12, 8-10 SEC): The Bulldogs need to win two in Nashville to get into the NCAA Tournament. Missouri (8-23, 0-18 SEC): The Tigers have a top five recruiting class coming in, providing, of course, the recruits aren’t scared of the oh-fer in SEC play. Ole Miss (20-11, 7-11 SEC): NIT baby! The Rebels can’t beat anyone away from Oxford. No. 17 South Carolina (25-6, 13-5 SEC): They bring teams down to their level and then grind them. The Gamecocks can make it to the semifinals in Nashville and they can win one in the NCAA. No. 4 Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC): The Vols have a lot of ways to beat you and they have the SEC’s best player in Dalton Knecht. The only thing that can get in their way of winning the SEC Tournament and making the Final Four is depth. One game with zebras who like to toot their whistles is all it takes to send UT packing. Texas A&M (18-13, 9-9 SEC): This is the team absolutely NOBODY wants to play because it’s a 40-minute grind that can throw your game off for a week afterward. The Aggies need two wins in Nashville to make the NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt (9-22, 4-14 SEC): Will Jerry Stackhouse still have a job after Vandy loses its first game?

Florida traveled to Lincoln Nebraska on its final road meet against Nebraska, Lindenwood University and Eastern Michigan University. Florida won The American Masters Classic Quad Meet 197.700 over Nebraska- 197.50. Lindenwood- 196.325 and Eastern Michigan- 193.600. However, the streak of 198+ ended after two meets and Florida’s incredible run of higher scores every week ended as well There were a lot positives, however. Three members of the coaching staff all have ties to Nebraska -- Adrian Burde, Owen Field and Jeremy Miranda. Also Nebraska assistant Marissa King was a senior on Florida’s 2013 national championship team. Six gymnasts compete with Florida having the rotation of Uneven Bars, Beam, Floor Exercise and Vault. The five highest scores counting. On to the Recap: Uneven Bars: (Last week: 49.425, Average: 49.390, 8th Nationally) Skylar Drasser: 9.825, Victoria Nguyen: 9.875, Gabby Disidore: 9.875, Ellie Lazzari: 9.80 (The dropped score), Anya Pilgrim: 9.850 Score: 49.40 Florida leads by .175 after one rotation. Beam: (Last week: 49.575, Average: 49.495, 3rd Nationally) Skylar Drasser: 9.9, Ellie Lazzari: 9.9, Morgan Hurd: 9.7 (The dropped score), Anya Pilgrim: 9.875, Victoria Nguyen: 9.950, Leanne Wong: 9.925 Score: 49.550 Florida leads by .400 after two rotations. Floor Exercise: (Last week: 49.624, Average: 49.510, 11th Nationally) Lori Brubach: 9.825, Victoria Nguyen: 9.875, Kaylee Bluffstone: 9.850, Morgan Hurd: 9.850, Skylar Drasser: 9.825, Anya Pilgrim: 9.775 (The dropped score) Score: 49.225 (Season low) Florida leads by .475 after three rotations. Vault: (Last week: 49.50, Average: 49.410, 4th Nationally) Skylar Drasser: 9.9, Ellie Lazzari: 9.9, Victoria Nguyen: 9.925, Anya Pilgrim: 9.950, Danie Ferris: 9.850 (The dropped score), Leanne Wong: 9.850. Score: 59.525(2nd highest of the season) Florida wins by .550. Victoria Nguyen wins All-Around with a 39.625 Anya Pilgrim wins Vault at 9.950 Leanne Wong wins Bars at 9.975 Victoria Nguyen wins Beam at 9.950 The 197.700 dropped Florida to drop its lowest road score (197.47 at Georgia) for national qualifying used in postseason seeding. Florida rested Sloane Blakely, no routines. Leanne Wong skipped floor and there was some good news that Peyton Richards could return for the SEC March 23. The Floor exercise is the hardest on a gymnast. Even Trinity Thomas took some of those off. After the last two seasons of being runnerup in the finals, coach Jenny Rowland mixed up the schedule this season and Florida ends the year with two quad meets. Next Saturday is senior night and UF takes on Iowa State, NC State and Long Island University. This will help the team get into the routine of postseason where you are constantly matched up against multiple opponents. It feels like something special is going on and the Gators are poised for a deep run.

Todd Golden has a pretty good idea what to expect this afternoon (4:30 p.m., SEC Network) when the Gators (21-9, 11-6 SEC) face Vanderbilt (8-22, 3-14 SEC) in the final regular season game at Memorial Gym in Nashville. Just a couple of weeks ago when the Gators took out Vandy 77-64 at the O-Dome, the Commodores trailed the Gators by 22 in the second half when they unleashed a combination full court press with a 1-3-1 zone that slowed the Florida offense down considerably. The outcome of the game was never in doubt, but Vandy’s tactics were effective enough that head coach Jerry Stackhouse hinted that the Gators might see a heavy dose of press and zone when they come to Nashville. This is an important game for Florida, not because it will have any effect on seeding for next week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament, which will be played at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, but because it could definitely weigh on where the Gators are seeded for the NCAA Tournament. Right now, Florida is on the No. 6 line in Joe Lundardi’s brackets on ESPN, on the No. 7 line on Jerry Palm’s CBS brackets. The Gators are the No. 27 team in the NCAA Net Rankings. They are No. 24 in the KenPom analytics and No. 20 at Bart Torvik. That’s why taking care of business today against Vanderbilt is so important. “We want to get to 22 wins before the SEC Tourney so we're treating Vandy just like we treated Alabama on Tuesday night with our preparation and approach,” Golden said Friday afternoon. “We're going to be really upset if we don't win the game." The Gators will be the No. 6 seed at the SEC Tournament no matter if they win or lose today. First game will be Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s No. 12 vs. No. 13 game. The No. 13 is guaranteed to be Vanderbilt. No. 12 will be either Georgia or Arkansas, who are tied with 6-11 SEC records heading into today’s games. Florida is 4-0 against the three teams it could face next week (1-0 vs. Vanderbilt, 2-0 vs. Georgia, 1-0 vs. Arkansas). All three are dangerous, but the one that has Golden’s attention is the one that’s next on the schedule. Golden knows that Jerry Stackhouse runs multiple offensive schemes that emphasize Ven-Allen Lubin, Tyrin Lawrence and Ezra Manjin. Defensively, the Commodores run several different sets all with the intention of keeping opponents from getting comfortable. “Vanderbilt does a lot of things defensively and you have to be ready for all of it,” Golden said. “Whether it’s press or quick trap or whether they try to turn us over in the backcourt, they run a lot of different kinds of zones and they play man-to-man pretty much like everybody else. We had a really good day yesterday working on those things and today will be similar. We just have to be able to read and react a little bit, and be able to change up if they do switch defenses on us. Again, I think we’ll be ready for it, simply because we’ve been working on it.” If you go back to Florida’s loss to Texas A&M in College Station, a switch to a zone in the second half proved Florida’s undoing. The blew a 21-point lead against LSU after the Tigers switched to a 1-3-1. Florida won that game in overtime. Vanderbilt could very well show zone from the opening tip and then keep switching to prevent the Gators from every growing too comfortable with what they’re seeing. “I think we're going to have a challenge with that tomorrow,” Golden said. “Obviously Alabama is pretty consistent with their man-to-man defense and they switch a little bit which acts as a little bit of a zone but they're man and they didn't really press us a lot so we were able to get through that game without having to deal with that a whole lot but we know Vanderbilt's going to do that. We know that they're going to change the defenses up. We're going to see some zone. We're going to see some press. We're going to see some trap. We will get a good test on that tomorrow. We've worked on it, we've addressed it and my hope is that we're really confident and comfortable attacking it tomorrow." Anticipated starting lineups FLORIDA (21-9, 11-6 SEC): 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (13.7 points, 7.8 rebounds); 7-1 Micah Handlogten (6.0 points, 7.4 rebounds); 6-4 Will Richard (11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds); 6 -2 Walter Clayton Jr. (17.1 points, 3.7 rebounds); 6-4 Zyon Pullin (15.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists) VANDERBILT (8-22, 3-14 SEC): 6-8 Ven-Allen Lubin (11.4 points, 6.4 rebounds); 6-8 JaQualon Roberts (1.8 points, 2.1 rebounds); 6-6 Malik Presley (1.8 points, 1.5 rebounds); 6-4 Tyrin Lawrence (14.1 points, 5.1 rebounds); 6-0 Ezra Manjin (14.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists) Saturday’s games: FLORIDA (21-9, 11-6 SEC) at Vanderbilt (8-22, 3-14 SEC); No. 15 Kentucky (22-8, 12-5 SEC) at No. 4 Tennessee (24-6, 14-3 SEC); Georgia (16-14, 6-11 SEC) at No. 13 Auburn (23-7, 12-5 SEC); Arkansas (15-15, 6-11 SEC) at No. 16 Alabama (20-10, 12-5 SEC); No. 17 South Carolina (24-6, 12-5 SEC) at Mississippi State (19-11, 8-9 SEC); Texas A&M (17-13, 8-9 SEC) at Ole Miss (20-10, 7-10 SEC); Missouri (8-22, 0-17 SEC) at LSU (16-14, 8-9 SEC) SEC in NCAA Net Rankings: 5. Tennessee; 6. Auburn; 7. Alabama; 20. Kentucky; 27. FLORIDA; 39. Mississippi State; 47. South Carolina; 49. Texas A&M; 78. Ole Miss; 89. LSU; 102. Georgia; 116. Arkansas; 157. Missouri; 218. Vanderbilt SEC in KenPom analytics: 5. Tennesse; 6. Auburn; 9. Alabama; 18. Kentucky; 24. FLORIDA; 33. Mississippi State; 47. South Carolina; 52. Texas A&M; 76. Ole Miss; 90. LSU; 93. Georgia; 110. Arkansas; 150. Missouri; 200. Vanderbilt SEC in Bart Torvik analytics: 5. Auburn; 6. Tennessee; 13. Alabama; 20. FLORIDA; 23. Kentucky; 34. Mississippi State; 42. South Carolina; 58. Texas A&M; 64. Ole Miss; 75. Georgia; 76. LSU; 111. Arkansas; 138. Missouri; 202. Vanderbilt

It took Colby Shelton lining an opposite field 3-run homer onto the left field berm in the bottom of the 10thinning Friday night for the 4th-ranked Florida Gators to pull out a 12-11 win over Saint Mary’s at Condron Family Ballpark. Shelton’s walk-off homer was his second of the game, providing a dramatic ending to a game that left Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan battling his emotions. Sully was happy with the win – “A bad win is better than a good loss” is how he described it – but frustrated with Florida’s pitching. The Gators blew a 9-5 lead in the eighth and ninth, then fell behind 11-9 in the top of the 10th when Saint Mary’s first baseman Christian Alamanza sent a Brandon Neely pitch practically into orbit for a 2-run homer that had the visiting Gaels thinking they were about to spring a monumental upset on the road, no less. O’Sullivan sent five pitchers to the mound. Only Ryan Slater, who pitched 2-1/3 innings in relief of starter Cade Fisher, and Fisher Jameson, who got the third out in the 10th when he picked Dalton Mashore off first, were effective. This latest episode of ineffective pitching came on the heels of a 9-6 midweek loss to UCF, a game that saw O’Sullivan use six pitchers. The Gators (9-4) have had only one quality start all season, six shutout innings by Jac Caglianone last Sunday when he allowed three hits and struck out 11 Miami hitters. Based on what he saw in the fall and leading up to the start of the season in January, O’Sullivan is long on questions and frustration, quite short on answers and satisfaction. With two games against Saint Mary’s to go this weekend, Florida State coming to Gainesville Tuesday night and 7th-ranked Texas A&M coming to town to start the Southeastern Conference portion of the schedule next weekend, O’Sullivan said things have to change in a hurry. There are issues with both the weekend and midweek starters and the middle relief guys have at times poured gasoline on an already raging fire. Neely, an All-American closer last year who had 13 saves, has been ineffective to the point that O’Sullivan is even contemplating putting him in the starting rotation to see if that can get him untracked. “I think that's the thing that's most frustrating to me is we've done the entire fall,” O’Sullivan said. “We went through the whole preseason, we got a plan.” Obviously, the plan hasn’t worked so far. After 13 games, Florida’s pitchers have an ERA of 5.53, unheard of for a program that has produced numerous first round Major League Baseball draft picks. It’s true that the Gators are young, but O’Sullivan pointed out that Brian Johnson and Hudson Randall were freshman starters who got UF to the College World Series. Logan Shore and Alex Faedo are just two more freshmen who were outstanding from their first year onward. O’Sullivan struggled to explain the current situation. “I'm lost for words right now on how we have miscalculated up to this point on who should be starting and who's the middle guys to bridge the gap to Neely,” he said. Essentially, everything is on the table moving forward.  The entire pitching staff is up for evaluation. O’Sullivan has a team that can hit – a .301 team batting average, 114 runs scored in 13 games, 28 home runs – and the Gators can make the plays in the field. Heading into Friday night’s game, UF was fourth in the nation with a .990 fielding percentage. The problem is on the mound. UF pitchers average 12.5 strikeouts per game, which is 7th nationally. Opposing hitters have launched 41 extra base hits including 12 home runs. It’s not that there are that many walks allowed (56) it’s the timing of them. “We're not good, so I mean we’re gonna have to do some things,” O’Sullivan said. While the Gators try to solve the issues with the pitching staff, O’Sullivan does have the making of a wrecking crew at the plate. Shelton, who had a run-scoring single in the first and a solo homer that landed way behind the fence in right center field in the seventh, has taken the ball out of the yard eight times already and he’s driven in 20. Caglianone, who led the country in home runs last year with 33, has five so far. He’s hitting .473 while showing a willingness to go opposite field to beat the shift. He hit a scorching opposite field single to left in the first, drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder in the second and ripped a single up the middle in the sixth. Virginia Tech transfer Brody Donay had a single and a 2-run double and Ty Evans drove in two with a pair of run-scoring singles. In the bottom of the 10th, Armando Albert led off with a double down the left field line. Caglianone walked and one out later, Shelton hit his walk-off homer to win the game. O’Sullivan is confident the Gators are going to hit but can they win gorilla-ball games while waiting for the pitching to come around? He’s not planning to wait around to find out. “Everything is on the table right now,” he said, adding that drastic changes will be made “if that’s what we have to do, then that’s what we have to do. I mean we're here to win baseball games. And if we miscalculated for starters should be then that’s my responsibility to make changes.” Freshman Liam Peterson is the anticipated starter when the Gators face Saint Mary’s at 1 p.m., a game moved up to avoid expected weather issues. UF TRACK AND FIELD: Parker Valby sets NCAA record in 5000 meters Parker Valby beat the field by 17 seconds while setting the NCAA record in the 5000 meters Friday night at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Valby’s 14:52.79 was good for 10 points for the Florida women, who are in first place with 24 points after Friday’s events. NCAA women’s top 10 (six events scored): 1. FLORIDA 24; 2. Notre Dame 18; 3. Ole Miss 16; 4. BYU 14; 5. Oklahoma State 13; 6. Alabama 11; 7. (TIE) Arkansas and Iowa State 10; 9. (TIE) Ball State, Charlotte and Minnesota 8 NCAA men’s top 12 (five events scored): 1. (TIE) Arkansas and Northern Arizona 18; 3. (TIE) North Carolina and Oklahoma State 13; 5. (TIE) Harvard and Kentucky 10; 7. Penn 9; 8. (TIE) Arkansas Stae, CSUN, Florida State and Georgetown 8; 12. FLORIDA 7 OTHER UF SPORTS: Ole Miss pulled away in the fourth quarter to take a 84-74 win over the Gators (16-15) at the Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Championships in Greenville, South Carolina. Ole Miss outscored the Gators 28-20 in the fourth quarter. Aliyah Matharu led the Gators with 24 points while Leilani Correa added 18 … The 4th-ranked Florida gymnastics team will be competing in the Ameritas Masters Classic in Lincoln against Nebraska, Eastern Michigan and Lindenwood … The 11th-ranked Florida lacrosse team concluded its west coast swing with a 23-5 win over San Diego State. It was the fifth straight win for the Gators (5-2), who were led by Maggi Hall with two goals and five assists … The 13th-ranked Florida softball team (19-3) opens the Southeastern Conference portion of its schedule in Tuscaloosa against No. 11 Alabama (19-1) this afternoon (3 p.m., SEC Network+). The Gators and Crimson Tide play game two Sunday at 6 p.m. (SEC Network) and conclude the series Monday at 7 p.m. (SEC Network).