Think of Florida’s 81-65 win over 12th-ranked Auburn Saturday at the O-Dome as affirmation. Affirmation that the Gators (16-7, 6-4 SEC) really do have a good team that is capable of playing with and beating anyone on the schedule in the ever so tough Southeastern Conference. Affirmation that the Gators have evolved from a team capable of outscoring people into one capable of stopping them cold defensively as well. Affirmation that the Gators can hold onto a big lead. From Bruce Pearl’s perspective, affirmation that the Florida Gators got the right guy when they hired his former assistant Todd Golden two years ago after Mike White abruptly resigned and took the Georgia job almost in the same breath. “He’s one of the best young coaches in all of college basketball and he’s here at Florida,” Pearl said after his Tigers (19-5, 8-3 SEC) were flogged at both ends of the court by a team that played as if it was on a search and destroy mission. Almost as quickly as Mike White was gone, Todd Golden was hired by Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin. Whatever doubts Stricklin and whoever else was involved in the hiring process might have had, they were erased rather quickly when they called Pearl for a recommendation. “One of my messages was ‘Stop! You tell me who’s better? Who’s got a better basketball mind. Who has a better relationship with the kids? Who’s got a better family? Okay, maybe you’re not sure if he’s got enough experience. That’s fine.’” Apparently Golden had plenty enough experience and the call to Pearl was simply to affirm what Stricklin and his search people already knew. “I didn’t have to convince anybody at Florida,” Pearl said. “I think they knew what they had.” If beating Kentucky at Rupp ten days earlier was the signature win that had been missing from Golden’s coaching resume, then beating Auburn in blowout fashion was affirmation that the Gators have truly arrived. This wasn’t won in Florida’s typical white knuckles, hold on and pray someone misses a shot or two at the end fashion. This was bell-to-bell beatdown in which the Gators never trailed. Best of all, from Florida’s perspective, the Gators throttled Auburn’s offense at one end of the court with relentless defensive effort while preventing the Tigers from turning the game into a transition sprint by protecting the ball at the other end. “We had only one steal,” Pearl said. “We turn people over 13 or 14 times a game and we score off our turnovers. We only had seven turnovers. So what we were doing defensively did not disrupt them.” Florida’s defense, on the other hand, was disruptive enough to hold Auburn 18 points below its season average. Auburn shot only 17.6 percent (3-17) from the 3-point line. The Tigers turned the ball over 15 times which the Gators turned into 16 points at the other end. Led by Micah Handlogten, who blocked four shots and altered numerous others, the Gators turned Auburn’s outstanding front line very average. The trio of 6-10 Johni Broome, 6-11 Dylan Cardwell and 6-8 Jaylin Williams, who have been terrorizing interior defenses in the SEC, combined for only 24 points and seven rebounds. The Gators were credited with 10 steals. To beat Auburn, Golden knew he would need a strong effort from Handlogten and he got it. Handlogten scored only four points, but with Riley Kugel (22 points), Walter Clayton Jr. (20) and Zyon Pullin (19) routinely making the Auburn guards look silly, a big offensive game wasn’t necessary for the 7-1 sophomore transfer from Marshall, who finished with nine rebounds, one assist, four blocks and three steals. “We've been challenging him to play with more physicality, and transparently he wasn't good enough against [Texas] A&M that way,” Golden said. “Today I thought he accepted that challenge and really delivered. Great on the glass, really good around the rim – I think it four blocks which is the most he's had in a long time. Listen, their frontcourt is one of the best, if not the best in America. They got Johni, they go Jaylin and then they bring in Dylan Cardwell, who's like one of the biggest winners in college basketball. Chaney (Johnson) provides good minutes for them. So they just keep running these really good players at you. So a huge challenge but I thought Micah answered the bell really well today." Handlogten’s defense made the game easier for UF defenders on the perimeter. “So I definitely think Micah – he’s just coming into his own – obviously had a great game today,” Clayton said. “I think the main thing with him is just being tough. Today he was tough, so I think that was a big part of it. He had a great game.” The first 2:15 of the game was a foretelling of things to come. Clayton nailed a 3-ball 21 seconds after the opening tip and Pullin schooled the Auburn guards off the bounce twice for a 7-0 Florida lead. Following the Clayton 3-pointer, Handlogten altered a Broome shot at the rim and grabbed the rebound. On Auburn’s next two possessions, Handlogten outfought everybody for rebounds that led to scores at the other end. The 7-point margin to start the game was as close as Auburn ever came to making things competitive. A 3-pointer by Pullin with 12:17 to go in the first half gave the Gators a 19-9 lead, worth noting because Auburn wasn’t able to get the UF margin below 10 the rest of the way. Oh, the Auburn faithful did have one glimmer of hope and that came on a 7-2 run that whittled the Florida lead to 32-21 with 4:19 left in the first half, but the Gators countered with a 14-5 burst for a 16-point lead at the break, 42-26. This is where the Gators have had their problems this season. Big leads have had this tendency to dissipate after halftime, so Golden challenged the Gators to come out with the same intensity they began the game with to start the final 20 minutes. “One of the things that Duke Werner, our trainer, said to me at halftime, was ‘Hey, when Billy [Donovan] was in this situation, he would tell the guys we want to play all day, don’t worry about the clock, we want to keep this thing going and build the lead’, and I thought that was a really good point, and something to think about,” Golden said. “In the second half, was hey let’s not be satisfied being up 16, let’s try to get this thing to 25; let’s not worry about the clock, let’s play, let’s play, let’s play, and I thought we did a good job of that today.” Auburn got the first two points of the second half on a couple of free throws but all that did was delay the inevitable. A short jumper by Tyrese Samuel gave the Gators a 49-28 lead with 18:40 to go in the game. Pullin made it a 22-point game with 16:33 to go. Kugel made it 25 with a 3-pointer at the 15:32 mark and following a Cardwell dunk, got fouled while draining another three, then finished things off with the free throw to make it 62-35 with 15:06 left. Any hope Auburn had of eradicating the Florida lead and making a stirring comeback victory was ended in first five minutes of the second half. “I knew they’d start well both halves,” Pearl said. “I just didn’t think it would get away from us as much as it did.” Florida’s largest second half lead was 29 points. It was 27 (75-48) with 9:04 to go on a pair of Kugel free throws but even though Florida didn’t score again from the field, the outcome was never in doubt. The game got a bit chippy as Auburn tried to turn the final nine minutes into a rock fight but the only thing the Tigers accomplished was to shoot a bunch of free throws and trim 11 points off the UF lead. It wasn’t a case of the Gators losing their poise or trying to milk the clock. “We were just winning by a lot, so as long as we didn't stop winning by a lot, I was gonna be okay,” Golden said. “We were making our free throws. We were playing well, we missed some tip-ins, some second chances. I didn't think we went too much stall mode. It was more of just missing some shots. We were still getting to the line. That ain't gonna make me upset today my boy." Forget the last 9:04. The only chance Auburn had to make the game competitive was go ultra-aggressive. It had a street mugging feel to it as the clock wound down but at no point was Auburn going to mount a successful rally. Auburn never got the score closer 16 so there was no anxiety or wobbly knees either on the court or the sideline. For 31 minutes on the offensive end of the floor and for all 40 defensively, Florida played like a team that will be marching to the madness when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee announces the 68-team field in a few weeks. Unquestionably, this was the best game the Gators have played all season because the defense seemed to catch up with the offense against a team that Golden believes can make the Final Four. “If you were to ask me, you know, is Auburn in the mix of teams that could win a national championship, I’d say hell yeah,” Golden said. “They’re playing as well as anybody – top-10 offense, top-3 defense, a lot of continuity on the roster, a lot of really, really good players, you know, and then we come out and we play our best game of the year against them, and obviously it’s in the same bucket as the Kentucky win.” As important as it was for the Gators to knock off Kentucky at Rupp Arena, it was far more important to beat Auburn Saturday. Whether it’s the Associated Press, NCAA Net Rankings or KenPom analytics, Auburn is more highly regarded than Kentucky so this win will have a more profound effect on Florida’s NCAA Tournament chances. You won’t have to convince Bruce Pearl, not after the way the Gators manhandled his team Saturday. His Tigers lost not because they played so poorly, but because Florida played so well. “Give Florida all the credit,” Pearl said. “To blame my team because we didn’t do this or we didn’t do this would take away from one of the top five teams in the league. I think, been through and seeing most everybody, Florida will finish in the top five.” Next up: The Gators will be home Tuesday night to face LSU, which lost to Alabama, 109-92 Saturday. Saturday by the numbers: Kugel had 22 points, four rebounds, one blocked shot and one steal … Clayton had 20 points, six rebounds, one assist and one steal. He was 3-6 from the 3-point line and 9-10 from the foul line … Pullin had 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal … The Gators had 43 rebounds, 16 on the offensive end. Pearl on Florida’s guards: “Florida’s guards are good, like really good. As good as anybody’s. When Pullin plays … I don’t know what guard is better than Pullin when he has a 1-on-1 matchup. You tell me who’s better than Pullin in his 1-on-1 matchup. You tell me who’s a better scorer than Clayton. I don’t know if they’re going to lose those matchups very often. And then you know Kugel’s playing better now coming off the bench. He’s going to win most of those matchups.” Tournament math: The Gators have 16 wins overall, six in SEC play. A split of the last eight games (four home, four away) will get UF to 20 overall wins and 10 in SEC play, which should punch their tournament ticket. The Gators are 10-1 at home this season. SEC BASKETBALL Saturday’s scores: FLORIDA (16-7, 6-4 SEC) 81, No. 12 Auburn (19-5, 8-3 SEC) 61; Texas A&M (15-8, 6-4 SEC) 85, No. 6 Tennessee (17-6, 7-3 SEC) 69; No. 15 South Carolina (21-3, 9-2 SEC) 75, Vanderbilt (6-17, 1-9 SEC) 60; No. 16 Alabama (17-7, 9-2 SEC) 109, LSU (12-11, 4-6 SEC) 92; Gonzaga (18-6) 89, No. 17 Kentucky (16-7) 85; Mississippi State (16-8, 5-6 SEC) 75, Missouri (8-16, 0-11 SEC) 61; Arkansas (12-11, 3-7 SEC) 78, Georgia 14-10, 4-7 SEC) 75 Tuesday’s games: LSU (12-11, 4-6 SEC) at FLORIDA (16-7, 6-4 SEC); Texas A&M (15-8, 6-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (6-17, 1-9 SEC); Ole Miss (18-5, 5-5 SEC) at No. 17 Kentucky (16-7, 6-4 SEC) Wednesday’s games: No. 6 Tennessee (17-6, 7-3 SEC) at Arkansas (12-11, 3-7 SEC); No. 15 South Carolina (21-3, 9-2 SEC) at No. 12 Auburn (19-5, 8-3 SEC) SEC in KenPom analytics as of February 10: 5. Auburn; 6. Alabama; 7. Tennessee; 26. FLORIDA; 27. Kentucky; 34. Mississippi State; 38. Texas A&M; 44. South Carolina; 60. Ole Miss; 84. Georgia; 86. LSU; 117. Arkansas; 144. Missouri; 210. Vanderbilt

Florida took on Arkansas in the 18th annual link to pink meet, bringing awareness about breast cancer prevention and treatment. Team colors were set aside to wear pink to show support. Gator senior Chloe Clark's mother, Rhondi, successfully battled breast cancer last year. We all took a moment to reflect on those we know that have been affected with this terrible disease.

“When you can take this pebble from my hand, then you can leave.” – Master Po speaking to Kwai Chang Kaine, known by the nickname “Grasshopper” in the 1970s TV show “Kung Fu” The master that comes to Gainesville today is Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who gave Florida coach Todd Golden his biggest breakthrough when he hired him as an assistant in 2014. The pebble in hand is the chance for the kind of signature win that young coaches like Golden will cherish forever. It is more than just a chance for the apprentice to beat the master today at the O-Dome (3:30 p.m., SEC Network) when 12th-ranked Auburn (19-4, 8-2 SEC) faces Golden and the Gators (15-7, 5-4 SEC). Win or lose, Auburn is going to be in the NCAA Tournament, most likely as a top four seed. A win for Florida won’t get the Gators in the tournament, but it will look very good on a resume. When Golden sees Auburn, he sees a team that won’t just make the tournament, but has a chance to make a deep run. “I think they're playing like the best team in our league right now, and I don’t want to say it’s not close, but I think they've kind of separated themselves as the top team right now,” Golden said Friday afternoon before the Gators put their final preparations into a game plan for the Tigers, who are coming off a blowout win over Alabama. “Tennessee and Alabama knocking on the door right there, and then South Carolina has got to be in conversation with how well they're playing. And obviously Kentucky, and then I think we're in that mix as well. “The middle of the league is very, very tight, right. There's a lot of teams that have played really, really well. But I think Auburn – I think they’re 10th offensively and I think they’re third defensively on KenPom – they definitely have the potential to make a deep, deep run this year.” Florida is firmly in the middle of the league but well-regarded both by the NCAA Net Rankings (39) and KenPom (35). Joe Lunardi of ESPN has the Gators earning one of the last four byes for the tournament and a No. 10 seed in his latest bracketology while Jerry Palm of CBS has the Gators a No. 11 seed. The Gators are coming off a mid-week bye as they begin the second half of the SEC schedule today. With nine conference games remaining, one way for the Gators to break out of the middle of the pack is to score a couple of wins against ranked opponents while finishing with a winning record in league play. This is the kind of season that 9-9 in SEC play probably gets a tournament bid, but it should be noted that two seasons ago, the Gators went 9-9 and didn’t make it in. That was Mike White’s last season as the UF coach. His signature win was 63-62 over Auburn, which was ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time. White bolted for Georgia at the end of the season in 2022, which led to Golden being hired from San Francisco. In his first encounter with Bruce Pearl on the opposite bench, Auburn scored a 61-58 win at Neville Arena, a defensive struggle that saw the two teams combine to go 6-33 from the 3-point line. Auburn won the game largely due to a 40-28 rebounding advantage. This year, the Gators have more size than last year and they’re leading the nation in rebounding. If there is even a slight weakness on the Auburn team, at least from Golden’s perspective, it is in the rebounding department. “I think the main thing we're going to have to do is rebound, especially on our home floor,” Golden said. “If I were to point to one area where they're not elite, maybe somewhat average, it would be on the defensive glass. You look at when Alabama beat them or when Mississippi State beat them, they did a really good job getting second chances. On our home floor, producing those second chance opportunities and then playing with great physicality against Johni (Broome), Jaylin (Williams), when (Dylan) Cardwell is in there, we got to fight the fight. If we don't do that, we're going to really lower our chances of getting this thing done.” Anticipated starting lineups FLORIDA (15-7, 5-4 SEC): 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (13.4 points, 8.4 rebounds); 7-1 Micah Handlogten (7.0 points, 7.6 rebounds); 6-4 Will Richard (11.6 points, 4.0 rebounds); 6-2 Walter Clayton Jr. (15.9 points, 3.9 rebounds); 6-4 Zyon Pullin (15.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists) Auburn (19-4, 8-2 SEC): 6-8 Jaylin Williams (13.3 points, 5.2 rebounds); 6-10 Johni Broome (16.0 points, 8.7 rebounds); 6-6 Chris Moore (2.4 points, 1.6 rebounds); 6-4 Denver Jones (7.7 points, 1.9 rebounds); 6-3 Tre Donaldson (7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds) SEC BASKETBALL Today’s games: No. 12 Auburn (19-4, 8-2 SEC) at FLORIDA (15-7, 5-4 SEC); No. 6 Tennessee (17-5, 7-2 SEC) at Texas A&M (14-8, 5-4 SEC); Vanderbilt (6-16, 1-8 SEC) at No. 15 South Carolina (20-3, 8-2 SEC); No. 16 Alabama (16-7, 8-2 SEC) at LSU (12-10, 4-5 SEC); Gonzaga (17-6) at No. 17 Kentucky (16-6); Mississippi State (15-8, 4-6 SEC) at Missouri (8-15, 0-10 SEC); Georgia (14-9, 4-6 SEC) at Arkansas (11-11, 2-7 SEC) SEC in NCAA NET Rankings (as of February 9, 2024): 5. Tennessee; 6. Alabama; 7. Auburn; 23. Kentucky; 39. FLORIDA; 43. South Carolina; 44. Mississippi State; 46. Texas A&M; 62. Ole Miss; 88. Georgia; 90. LSU; 130. Arkansas; 145. Missouri; 238. Vanderbilt SEC in kenpom.com analytics: 4. Auburn; 6. Tennessee; 7. Alabama; 24. Kentucky; 35. FLORIDA; 38. Mississippi State; 43. South Carolina; 46. Texas A&M; 60. Ole Miss; 83. Georgia; 85. LSU; 119. Arkansas; 139. Missouri; 202. Vanderbilt UF GYMNASTICS: Gators whack Arkansas behind Wong’s perfect 10 The seventh perfect 10 of Leeanne Wong’s Florida career was the highlight at the annual Link to Pink night at the O-Dome as the 6th-ranked Gators (6-1, 3-1 SEC) scored a 197.850-196.050 win over 13th-ranked Arkansas (2-2-1, 2-2-1 SEC) in front of a crowd of 8.823, marking the 12th consecutive gymnastics sellout. Florida’s 197.850 was a season-high score, marking the fourth straight meet in which the Gators have established a best score. Wong’s 10 came on a flawless bars routine and marked the fourth time in her career that she’s gone perfect against the Razorbacks. With seven career perfect scores, Wong moved into sole possession of fourth place on Florida’s all-time list. Wong also scored 9.925 on the vault and balance beam, plus a 9.875 on floor to finish with a season-best 39.725 for the all-around win. Anya Pilgrim finished second in the all-around with a 39.600, which shares the national lead for freshman all-arounders. Eight Gators equaled or set a collegiate best against the Razorbacks: Lori Brubach 9.9 (floor); Gabby Disidore 9.9 (bars); Skylar Draser 9.875 (beam); Danie Ferris 9.95 (vault); Ellie Lazzari 9.925 (bars); Victoria Nguyen 9.925 (beam); Pilgrim 39.60 (all-around) and 9.95 (bars); Wong 10 (bars). The Gators will travel to St. Charles, Missouri next Friday night for a quad-meet hosted by Lindenwood University that also includes SEC opponent Missouri and Illinois from the Big Ten. UF SOFTBALL: Brown, Rothrock combine for 1-hitter Freshmen Ava Brown and Keagan Rothrock combined Friday evening to pitch a 1-hitter and All-American Skylar Wallace provided all the offense the Gators needed as 17th-ranked Florida opened the season with a 1-0 win over Oregon State in the USF-Rawlings Invitational in Tampa. Brown went the first five innings, gave up Oregon State’s only hit while walking three and striking out one in her collegiate debut. Rothrock came on to pitch the final two inning, striking out four of the six batters she faced to pick up the save. The only run the Gators needed came in the bottom of the third when Wallace hit a 1-1 pitch over the right field fence for the 28th home run of her Florida career. Wallace also had a fifth inning single. Florida’s only other hit came in the sixth when Korbe Otis lined a double into the right center gap. The Gators will play twice today, at 2 p.m. against Michigan (1-1) and 7 p.m. against Illinois State (0-1). Michigan beat Illinois State 5-3 Friday morning, but fell to host South Florida, 1-0, in the afternoon. THE COACHING SHUFFLE: O’Brien to BC; Chip Kelly to Ohio State as OC Just when you think things are calming down on the college football coaching front, Bill O’Brien, formerly the head coach at Penn State and the NFL Houston Texans as well as the former offensive coordinator at Alabama, leaves Ohio State before he ever calls a play to become the head coach at Boston College. BC, as you may recall, lost head coach Jeff Haffley to the Green Bay Packers of the NFL, where he will serve as the defensive coordinator. So, Ryan Day, the former Florida graduate assistant for Urban Meyer and Meyer’s successor at Ohio State, called on another of his former mentors, UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, convincing Kelly to take a significant pay cut to become an assistant coach again. When Day was a collegian, he both played and worked for Kelly at New Hampshire. When Kelly was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Day spent two years as an assistant before leaving to work for Meyer at Ohio State as the offensive coordinator. Confused? Well, now UCLA has to find a head coach. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic is suggesting former Stanford HBC David Shaw and current Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck as well as Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford and Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White. Pete Thamel of ESPN has Fleck, Alford and White on the list, but he also includes Baylor head coach Dave Aranda, UNLV head coach Barry Odom and California head coach Dave Wilcox. Now, if UCLA wants to make a real splash hire, one that will shake up Los Angeles and send tremors down the spine of crosstown Southern Cal, here’s a name they could consider: Pete Carroll. He won national championships at Southern Cal and a Super Bowl at Seattle. He’s famous for putting together star-studded coaching staffs (see Lane Kiffin, see Steve Sarkisian) and he’s a pied piper of a recruiter. After the kind of meltdown they had at Southern Cal this past year, the last thing Lincoln Riley would want to see is Pete Carroll. Pete doesn’t have a job now and would be happy to work for $5 million, which is about $5 million less than Southern Cal is paying Riley. How long do you think it would take for Pete Carroll to own Los Angeles. Ryan Grubb, who left Washington to join Kalen DeBoer as the offensive coordinator at Alabama, won’t have to sell his house in Seattle after all. He’s heading back to Seattle, this time to be the offensive coordinator of the NFL Seahawks. So, who would DeBoer hire as his play-caller? The first call probably goes out to Kirby Moore, the offensive coordinator at Missouri, who worked for DeBoer at Fresno State in 2020-21. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Wherever you look there is speculation that Florida football coach Billy Napier is looking to shake up things offensively, perhaps by turning over the play calling to someone else. At his Wednesday press conference, Napier said he’s defining roles for 2024, adding “I do think there will be different responsibilities.” Does that mean someone on the staff will take over play calling? O-line coach Rob Sale is listed as the offensive coordinator but he hasn’t called plays at UF nor did he call them when he worked for Napier at Louisiana. Tight ends coach Russ Callaway was the offensive coordinator and QB coach at Samford, which had one of the most explosive offenses in D1AA and record-setting QB Devlin Hodges, who won the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in 2018. To bring in an offensive play caller/assistant coach would require Napier dismissing a current member of his staff, a move that seems unlikely. However, given the nature of coaching and the continuous shuffle of coaches we’re seeing, it wouldn’t be a shock. Just a guess: Napier continues as the play caller but adds offensive responsibilities to Callaway and analyst Eric Kiesau, formerly the coordinator at both Boise State and Auburn.

What used to be one of the more fun days in all of college sports – National Signing Day, the first Wednesday of February – was like going to Baskin-Robbins where they have 29 flavors of ice cream and being served a scoop of vanilla, probably sugar free and in a cup. Nowhere was National Signing Day as dull or boring as the University of Florida. Billy Napier didn’t have a single new player or any further changes to his coaching staff to announce. He certainly didn’t have to spend more time in the spin cycle than your basic Maytag trying to explain away an NIL public relations disaster that a year ago was akin to the Titanic going down in the North Atlantic. Exciting it wasn’t, but we knew that at 11:30 when Napier walked into the room minus his signature three-day growth of beard. A clean-shaven Napier was perhaps the most exciting revelation of the day, yet it wasn’t without some rather candid moments describing how the transfer portal has changed recruiting and how the University of Florida has grown in a positive direction from the Jaden Rashada NIL fiasco that has the enquiring minds of the NCAA’s men in blue suits knocking on the doors of The Heav. Napier explained that he couldn’t get into the details of the NCAA investigation. That didn’t stop Tennessee, which went scorched earth in its response when word that that $8 million NIL deal quarterback Nico Iamaleava has the Kojaks and Colombos of the NCAA picking up Marriott Rewards points in Knoxville. The Vols have reason for a scorched earth response since they’re already on NCAA probation, but give them credit for creativity. Who else could have turned 238 recruiting violations into more than $4 million in savings? Tennessee wanted to fire football coach Jeremy Pruitt but didn’t want to pay a hefty buyout, so it turned itself in, threw itself on the mercy of the NCAA courts and got probation plus an $8 million fine. It would have cost at least $12 million to fire Pruitt without cause, hence at last $4 million saved. Florida’s saving grace could be that no money ever changed hands with Rashada. That doesn’t change the fact that amateurs in a collective and at least one high profile booster with more money than brains created a perception that the Florida program is being run by the same terrorists that Norm Peterson swears took over his stomach and demanded beer for ransom. The Rashada ordeal was indeed a black eye but if you think there isn’t a list of NIL deals gone bad longer than your leg across the nation, then you’re terribly naïve. In the year since Rashada and Florida divorced when the NIL war chest lacked the $13.8 million it contracted to bring him to Gainesville, the amateurs have been discarded in favor of a collective called Florida Victorious. It took time and effort to get to a point where Napier believes the Gators have done a good job of leveling the playing field. “The amount of time and effort and energy that's been put into creating the system that we have in place now, I think probably took us about 18 months to get a pulse on the landscape and what it would require to be competitive but, more importantly, what our approach is going to be relative to who we want to be, the caliber of player that we need to compete and more importantly the type of people that you want to attract to your program,” Napier said. “I think to some degree the way we've structured this thing, we're built to be sustainable, repeatable.” Getting a handle on NIL in spite of an NCAA that is all too willing to enforce rules that seem to change like the direction of the wind is just one problem that Napier and every other college football coach in the country deal with on a daily basis. The combination of an early signing period combined with NIL and a transfer portal that is nothing more than free agency on steroids have brought about changes that threaten not only football but all collegiate sports. It's enough that Billy Napier goes to work every day wondering if we haven’t reached a point of no return. It’s like that way too often used analogy of once the toothpaste is out of the tube. Now that we have NIL (“Now It’s Legal”) and free agency removing all precepts of loyalty, many of the good values that college football can teach teeter on the verge of being lost forever. “I told staff yesterday at the staff meeting at 7:45, when I’m riding to work every morning I think the big thing for me is I would like to get back to the game’s about the players, it’s about the team,” Napier waxed nostalgically. “I think so much of this consumes your time and some of the things that are good about our game, I’m just hopeful we don’t lose those things. I think the game can teach you a lot about life. There’s a lot of intangibles and values we get to teach. I think the game has become a little bit more transactional – used to be a little more transformational. I think there’s an element to our game that I’m hopeful we get to keep.” How the good things will be maintained is anybody’s guess. The NCAA hired politician Charlie Baker, a former walk-on basketball player on the Harvard freshman team, to solve NIL matters by going to Congress but NIL is only a portion of what is changing the college game. Congress, of course, had no solutions to offer. Since when is that a surprise? NIL is here to stay. There are likely to be tweaks to the portal, but, like NIL, it isn’t going away. The calendar might be adjusted to at least make it easier for coaches to get a solid grip on how they deal with a roster that is constantly changing shape like an amoeba. “I think this is much like the old junior college model to some degree where, ‘Okay, hey, here's the roster that we have, here are the issues on the team, here are the depth issues here, here's where we need immediate impact,'” Napier said, offering examples of how the transfer portal has benefitted the Gators the last two years. “When we first got here, we needed a running back, right? So Montrell Johnson came. We knew we needed offensive lineman, O'Cyrus Torrence. We needed a receiver, Ricky Pearsall. We needed a quarterback, Graham Mertz. You know, there's some success stories there.” There have been 29 transfers since Napier arrived, 11 new ones that are enrolled and prepping for spring practice. Some have come and gone. Others are still around like Johnson, who heads into the fall as the leading returning rusher in the SEC, and Mertz, whose success was like a shot of Novocain to ease the pain of the Rashada fiasco. When the Gators take to the field for their season opener with Miami in the fall, it’s likely that 14 or 15 starters will be players who began their careers at another school. As much as Napier hopes to build the Florida program on a foundation of talented high school and junior college recruits, the portal has changed the way he and every coach in the country builds a team. “I do think from a sustainability standpoint, and just from a market value, overall big picture, I think you've got to draft your team, recruit your team, and then you answer questions with free agency,” Napier said. “And that's one cycle at a time, right? So you spend the recruiting cycle recruiting high school players, you get to the end, you know, the fluidity of your roster right before the portal, there's attrition and then you got to fill those spots. So, I think that it's much more complicated than it's ever been.” Napier on the amount of NIL money the Gators are going to need on a yearly basis to compete with the Alabamas and Georgias of the SEC: “I think each cycle, the market changes, if that makes sense. I think we've seen an evolution. We're talking about drastic change every six months since I've been the coach here, if that makes sense. It took us a little bit of time there to get in position but I don't know that there's a number. I think that number grows every six months." On adding Ron Roberts as “the head coach of defense” as part of a wholesale change that brings three new coaches to that side of the ball: “You think about Ron Roberts and what he brings to the table: veteran coach, been a head coach, been a coordinator and a play-caller. Austin and him, there's a mentor-type relationship there. And a ton of respect, mutual respect on both sides, so I think we get the wisdom … But this guy's mentored a million defensive coaches in his career, some of which are coordinator/play-callers in the NFL and college football. So I think it's a positive because I think the system that we run, Ron started that system at Louisiana … They call him the OG, the Godfather, whatever you want to call him. We get him back in the building and he’s going to make us better and he'll make the players better. His guys have always been productive, the guys that he coaches and the units that he coaches. So there’s a track record of really good defense and we're fortunate to have him.” The Gators are No. 4 nationally in returning production for 2024: “Yeah, I think ultimately the goal for a long time has been to build a veteran team. I think ultimately the playoff kind of proves that, to some degree. I think the two teams that played for it had really strong cultures, and I think they also had veteran teams, right? So it’s a process to get to where we want to go. We’re right in the middle of that. Part of that is building an experienced roster — continuity in system, experienced roster, the height, length and speed to win the matchups. Ultimately I think we’ve got to continue to get better here. We’ve got to grow up, and there’s got to be some maturity. This offseason will be a part of that. But we’re going to start in a much better place. All these guys that played – first-time starters, freshmen, sophomores last year — they start this offseason with a ton of experience and wisdom. I think that leadership component, too, with the talented group of rookies coming in, I think that’s good for the Gators.” On Tulane transfer safety DJ Douglas: “DJ Douglas is a player that we're excited about, the safety from Tulane. He's impressed so far. He's got a temperament about him. He's a leader, He's a good communicator. Think there's some continuity in the system he played in and he's an alpha and he's a worker. His work ethic has impressed so far. He’s 6-foot, 205, came from Thompson High School in Alabama, which is a really good football program. And then certainly playing at Tulane for Coach Fritz, there's a ton of respect there in terms of the type of program that they run.” On Alabama transfer corner Jameer Grimsley: “Grimsley, we all know is 6-foot-2 and change. He's like 190 pounds. He's a two way player, a guy that played receiver as well. But big, long corner, heavy handed, balls skills, was a little bit banged up as a senior but I think we feel really good about the skill set there. Certainly keeping a player from the state of Florida at home. And Jameer is a Gator. He grew up dreaming of playing for the Gators and we were able to get that done.” On Washington transfer safety Asa Turner:  “Asa Turner, 26 starts, 6-foot-2 and change. I think he’s 208, productive, good tackler, leader on the team. Had a voice. I think we really went for high character, leadership traits, production in the portal. That was kind of the theme of the year. Like okay, if we're going to add players at this point in their career, they need to really be team oriented and high character, bring some things to the team other than just the production on the field. So, I think we've learned that a little bit over time. I think it's so far so good in that regard.” On Northern Illinois transfer EDGE George Gumbs: “Gumbs is 6-4, he weighs like 242, unique story right started as a walk-on, Chicago Simeon HS. Started as a walk-on receiver, moved to tight end and then last year made the move to pass rusher, and then kind of took off and had a great year, so we’re getting a two-year player that’s got some traits there, maybe could help us on third down, and I think his best football in terms of being a defensive football player is in front of him.” On South Carolina transfer Grayson “Pup” Howard: “Good there to get Pup Howard back. I think with Pup we were really close, like one phone call away, in the beginning. I think Pup, Pup walking around here at 6-foot-4, 240 inside backer, you know and just the intelligence, that he brings, the character, the work ethic. I mean the guy is wired right, he’s what you want, so, we need more of that, we’ve got to keep the good players in our state at home and it’s a good win for us to get him back.” On NT D’Antre Robinson, flipped from Texas: “… Grew up a Gator. Kind of a unique dynamic with the defensive line coach felt like we were really close the first time, and then able to get him back … 6-3, 315 pounds, lean, twitchy, could play on all three downs. I think he’s got good things in front of him and a lot of work to do.”

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: On the way out of the Heavener Football Center Wednesday, I was able to spend a short time with Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin. Here are four questions and four candid answers about the future of college football and the University of Florida when it comes to NIL money. Are there contingency plans in place or else being formulated should all these lawsuits against the NCAA bring the organization to its knees? Scott Sticklin: “Well, what’s next is the great question. The current model has been under attack, those attacks don’t seem to be weakening. If anything, they’re gaining momentum. We’ve got to figure out what’s a sustainable, defensible model for college athletics and right now the model that we have, because of all the litigation going on there are questions if this is the right model. In a perfect world at some point we are going to figure out – I say we: college athletics, the presidents, the commissioners, the NCAA, the courts, Congress – somebody has to figure out what a defensible model is that can be sustained.” The NLRB just ruled Dartmouth players are employees and can unionize. Is this going to spread quickly throughout college sports or will it take awhile? Scott Stricklin: “My understanding is that will be a lengthy process, very similar to what Northwestern football went through several years ago. The National Labor Relations Board overturned the initial ruling in that case. We’ll see what happens in this one. That question continues to come up. What is the appropriate nature of the relationship between universities and their athletes who compete in sports.” Do you see a time in the near future when players are employees, on salary and each school/conference has a salary cap? Scott Stricklin: “I think I can imagine a lot of scenarios and without putting my thumb on any one in particular. I think it’s going to look different. It looks different now than it did 3-1/2 or 4 years ago. I think it will look different, even more so 3 or 4 years from now. Sometimes different is very uncomfortable but eventually we have to get to a point where different is very good. We have to give a lot of thought about what that means.” Is the University of Florida behind when it comes to the revenue needed for NIL to compete with the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Texas, etc.? Scott Stricklin: “I think we’re in a really good, competitive position. I want us to be in the best position. I’m not sure who has the No. 1 spot, but I think we’re in a really competitive, high end position. We want to make that better here.” SANKEY SPEAKS ABOUT THE ALIANCE WITH THE BIG TEN On ESPN Wednesday, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey addressed questions about the “joint advisory committee” formed with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petiti. The commish made it a point to emphasize that this “committee” is about leadership and not about the two conferences necessarily breaking away from the NCAA to form a super conference. "We have all been in rooms with people, big rooms filled with a lot of people," Sankey said. "We don't seem to be making a lot of progress on the key issues present in college athletics. Here's an opportunity to slim down the participants, focus on two conferences with the idea that we can introduce some concepts that others can consider and react to. ... We have a set of pressing issues upon us that merit this kind of conversation." Sankey is correct. There have been far too many voices with far too many rotten opinions about the future of collegiate athletics and that starts with the NCAA, whose inept president Mark Emmert passed the torch on to former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker. Emmert was clueless. Baker is a politician hired to bring about a political solution. When he rolled snake eyes on his trip to Congress, Baker turned to this very novel solution of the rich schools getting richer while paying all their athletes in all their sports $30,000 apiece. That went over like a fart in an elevator. By teaming with Petiti and the Big Ten, the two richest and most powerful conferences are willing to lead. Had the Big Ten, led by the inept Kevin Warren, followed Sankey’s proposal for an expanded College Football Playoff back in 2021, the Pac-12 would have survived and much of the mess college football is in could have been avoided. Petiti is a thinker who understands the role networks will play in keeping college sports alive,  unlike Warren, whose next goal in life seems to be turning the Chicago Bears into the worst franchise in the NFL. With the NCAA being bombarded on multiple fronts with lawsuits, intelligent proposals are in short supply. Sankey is the smartest man in any room he occupies, but he doesn’t allow ego to stand in the way of practicality. The problems facing college sports won’t be solved overnight and they won’t be solved by one man alone. "There are no magical answers," he said. "The idea that people out there might think I have magical answers to the problems facing college athletics – that keeps me up at night." SEC BASKETBALL: A logjam at the top Auburn and South Carolina sit at the top of the SEC standings with identical 8-2 records in league play with Tennessee and Alabama a half-game out. Auburn moved into a tie with South Carolina thanks to a 99-81 win over Alabama Wednesday night, a game in which the two teams shot a combined 85 free throws (50 by Auburn, 35 by Alabama). South Carolina got to 8-2 with a 68-65 win over Ole Miss on Tuesday. That sets up a Saturday in which 6th-ranked Tennessee, 12th-ranked Auburn and 16th-ranked Alabama will all be on the road, which has been a treacherous place for SEC teams this year. Tennessee travels to Texas A&M, which already has home wins over 17th-ranked Kentucky and Florida. Auburn will be at Florida, where the Gators’ only home loss is by two points to Kentucky. Alabama will be on the road to LSU, which runs hot and cold at home. No. 15 South Carolina gets a bit of a mulligan, playing host to Vanderbilt, whose only SEC win is over Missouri, which is 0-10 in league play. Wednesday’s scores: No. 6 Tennessee (17-5, 7-2 SEC) 88, LSU (12-10, 4-5 SEC) 68; No. 12 Auburn (19-4, 8-2 SEC) 99, No. 16 Alabama (16-7, 8-2 SEC) 81; Texas A&M (14-8, 5-4 SEC) 79, Missouri (8-15, 0-10 SEC) 60; Mississippi State (15-8, 4-6 SEC) 75, Georgia (14-9, 4-6 SEC) 62 Saturday’s games: No. 12 Auburn (19-4, 8-2 SEC) at FLORIDA (15-7, 5-4 SEC); No. 6 Tennessee (17-5, 7-2 SEC) at Texas A&M (14-8, 5-4 SEC); Vanderbilt (6-16, 1-8 SEC) at No. 15 South Carolina (20-3, 8-2 SEC); No. 16 Alabama (16-7, 8-2 SEC) at LSU (12-10, 4-5 SEC); Gonzaga (17-6) at No. 17 Kentucky (16-6); Mississippi State (15-8, 4-6 SEC) at Missouri (8-15, 0-10 SEC); Georgia (14-9, 4-6 SEC) at Arkansas (11-11, 2-7 SEC) SEC nationally in Kenpom.com analytics: 4. Auburn; 5. Tennessee; 7. Alabama; 24. Kentucky; 36. FLORIDA; 38. Mississippi State; 42. Texas A&M; 45. South Carolina; 60. Ole Miss; 81. Georgia; 83. LSU; 117. Arkansas; 137. Missouri; 205. Vanderbilt COLLEGE FOOTBALL STUFF Nick Saban will be joining ESPN’s College Game Day crew. Saban’s role will be announced in the near future, but it could be that he will take a regular position on the show with 88-year-old Lee Corso appearing only for big games. Vontrell King-Williams is being promoted from analyst to D-line coach at Auburn. King-Williams previously worked for Hugh Freeze as the D-line coach at Liberty. UCLA head coach Chip Kelly interviewed for the offensive coordinator job with the Seattle Seahawks. If he were to leave that would put two power five schools with a head coaching vacancy. Boston College is thought to be centering its search on former NFL head coach/Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, recently named the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. Although UCLA might seem like a lucrative job, facilities are subpar and Los Angeles is owned by Southern Cal, at least when it comes to college football. Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter will be joining Jim Harbaugh with the NFL Los Angeles Chargers. Former Florida defensive coordinator and Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins is the new defensive coordinator at North Carolina, where his base salary will be $1.1 million. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: During a phone conversation Wednesday I was asked to name my top 10 Florida football players of all time regardless of position, so here goes: 1. Tim Tebow: No surprise here. He was instrumental in the 2006 national championship and the driving force behind the 2008 national title. He won the 2007 Heisman Trophy and should have won in 2008 when Sam Bradford of Oklahoma got the trophy because he had Star Wars numbers, not because he was the nation’s best player. 2. Steven Orr Spurrier: Yeah, I know the stats aren’t anywhere close to what we see these days and times, but if you saw him play, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Opponents knew no lead was safe in the fourth quarter because SOS could bring the Gators back. Heisman Trophy in 1966. 3. Emmitt Smith: It’s not like the Florida offense was a big secret during two of his three years with the Gators. Emmitt left, Emmitt right, Emmitt up the middle and everyone in the ball yard including the other team’s DC knew it. The exception is his sophomore year when the offensive coordinator Lynn Amedee (The Amedeeville Horror) tried to convince us that Willie McClendon was a better running back. 4. Danny Wuerffel: Heisman in 1996 when he led the Gators to their first national title and fourth straight SEC championship. Interesting, isn’t it, that the fathers of the three Heisman Trophy quarterbacks in UF history were preachers. 5. Jack Youngblood: They didn’t keep sack stats in his day, but he and Robert Harrell sacked FSU QB Bill Cappleman so many times he still hears the footsteps. Unblockable and maybe the meanest player (on the field) to ever suit up for UF. 6. Wilber Marshall: Speaking of hearing the footsteps, mention the name Wilber Marshall in Sean Salisbury’s presence and his skin gets clammy. Two-time national defensive player of the year. 7. Wes Sandy Chandler: He was the lone wide receiver in Doug Dickey’s wishbone offense. If the Gators were going to throw, everybody knew who the receiver would be. Didn’t matter. No one could stop him. Averaged more than 20 yards a catch and would have been more if UF’s QBs could have thrown the ball better. Imagine him in the Fun ‘n Gun. 8. Scot Brantley: Try this on for size, 467 tackles in three seasons and a game-and-a-half before he suffered a season-ending concussion in 1979. If you saw him play, you know he belongs here. Sideline-to-sideline. 9. Carlos Alvarez: He caught 88 passes as a sophomore for 12 touchdowns. He was handicapped his junior and senior seasons by Doug Dickey’s offense and bad knees. If knee surgery then was what it was now he would have set receiving records at UF that would have never been broken. 10. Maurkice Pouncey: Surprised? Ask any nose tackle who got decleated about Maurkice. Started at guard as a true freshman in 2007, then every game at center in 2008-09. Strong enough and quick enough that he could handle nose tackles, no matter their size, without needing help from either of the guards. He won the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center.

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: Billy Napier was scheduled hold his first press conference since the December 20 early signing period early today, expected to focus on the players Florida signed in the transfer portal, the new coaches added to the staff and questions about the roster with just a few weeks remaining before spring football practice begins. This is a critical spring in Napier’s plan to rebuild the Florida program to a championship level. The Gators have suffered three consecutive losing seasons (two under Napier), the first time that has happened since the 1940s. With a 2024 schedule that most experts consider the toughest in the nation, the preseason magazines that hit the news racks around Memorial Day are likely to peg UF for a fourth straight losing season. While Napier hasn’t taken a wholesale approach to restocking his roster via the transfer portal, he has added experience at every level. Napier added 11 via the portal for 2024, 12 for 2023 and six for 2022. Of the 29 transfers, one was drafted in the first round (O’Cyrus Torrence), three have used up their eligibility (Ricky Pearsall, Lyndell Hudson, Teradja Mitchell), one has retired from football (Jack Miller III), and three have transferred out of the program (Jalen Kimber, Kiyaunta Goodwin, Micah Mazzccua). When the two-deep is released either pre-spring or perhaps after the Orange and Blue Game, there could be as many as 14 players on the first unit whose collegiate careers began somewhere other than Florida. Florida scholarship roster: February 7, 2024 Offense Quarterbacks (3): Graham Mertz (6-3, 215, RSR); Clay Millen (6-3, 210, SO); DJ Lagway (6-3, 230, FR) Running backs (6): Montrell Johnson Jr. (5-11, 215, SR); Cameron Carroll (6-0, 230, RSR); Ja’Kobi Jackson (5-11, 220, RJR); Treyaun Webb (5-11, 210, SO); Kahnen Daniels (5-11, 190, FR); Jaden Baugh (6-1, 225, FR) Wide receivers (9): Chimere Dike (6-1, 200, SR); Ja’Quavion Fraziars (6-4, 215, SR); Marcus Burke (6-4, 200, RJR); Kahliel Jackson (6-3, 210, RJR); Tre Wilson (5-10, 170, SO); Andy Jean (6-1, 190, RFR); Aidan Mizell (6-2, 170, RFR); Jerrae Hawkins (5-9, 170, FR); Tawaski Abrams (5-11, 175, FR) Tight ends (6): Keon Zipperer (6-1, 240, GR); Arlis Boardingham (6-3, 240, RSO); Hayden Hansen (6-6, 265, RSO); Tony Livingston (6-5, 250, SO); Gavin Hill (6-3, 255, RFR); Amir Jackson (6-4, 223, FR) O-linemen (16):  Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson (6-7, 310, SR); Austin Barber (6-6, 300, RJR); Jake Slaughter (6-5, 300, RSO); Damieon George (6-6, 350, RJR); Kamryn Waites (6-8, 365, RJR); Riley Simonds (6-3, 305, RSR); Devon Manuel (6-9, 310, RJR); Christian Williams (6-4, 310, RSO); Knijeah Harris (6-3, 315, SO); Roderick Kearney (6-4, 285, RFR); Bryce Lovett (6-5, 335, RFR); Caden Jones (6-8, 350, RFR); Fletcher Westphal (6-8, 335, FR); Mike Williams (6-7, 310, FR); Marcus Mascoll (6-5, 295, FR), Noel Portnjagin (6-5, 335, FR) Defense D-linemen (11): Joey Slackman (6-4, 300, GR); CamRon Jackson (6-6, 360, SR); Desmond Watson (6-5, 435, SR); Justus Boone (6-4, 265, RJR); Brien Taylor (6-6, 270,  JR); Caleb Banks (6-6, 320, RSO); Jamari Lyons (6-4, 305, RSO); Kamran James (6-6, 270, SO); LJ McCray (6-6, 260, FR); Michai Boireau (6-5, 390, FR); D’Antre Robinson (6-4, 320, FR) Linebackers/EDGE (15): Derek Wingo (6-1, 235, SR); Shemar James (6-1, 230, JR); Mannie Nunnery (6-1, 225, RSR); Ja’Markis Weston (6-3, 230, RJR);  Tyreak Sapp (6-3, 275, RJR); Jack Pyburn (6-3, 250, JR); Quincy Ivory (6-3, 260, JR); George Gumbs (6-4, 242, JR); TJ Searcy (6-5, 245, SO); Kelby Collins (6-4, 270, SO); Deuce Spurlock II (6-0, 225, RSO); Jalen Robinson (6-0, 230, SO); Grayson Howard (6-4, 241, SO); Myles Graham (6-1, 212, FR); Aaron Chiles (6-3, 220, FR) Corners (8): Jason Marshall (6-1, 200, SR); Devin Moore (6-3, 200, JR); Ethan Pouncey (6-1, 170, RJR); Ja’Keem Jackson (6-1, 185, SO); Sharif Denson (5-11, 180, SO); Dijon Johnson (6-1, 200, SO); Teddy Foster (6-2, 170, FR); Jameer Grimsley (6-2, 185, FR) Safeties (9): Asa Turner (6-3, 200, RSR); RJ Moten (6-0, 220, SR); Trikweze Bridges (6-3, 198, SR); DJ Douglas (6-0, 205, SR); Bryce Thornton (5-10, 205, SO); Jordan Castell (6-2, 220, SO); Aaron Gates (6-0, 200, RFR); Josiah Davis (6-1, 185, FR); Gregory Smith (6-4, 200, FR) Special teams Placekicker (1): Trey Smack (6-1, 200, SO) Punter (1): Jeremy Crawshaw (6-4, 200, JR) Long snapper (1): Rocco Underwood (6-3, 225, RSO) GATORS IN THE PORTAL New faces in new places (17): TE Andrew Savaiianea (6-3, 270, RFR) to Nevada; OL Jalen Farmer (6-5, 310, RFR) to Kentucky; EDGE Princely Umanmielen (6-5, 255, JR) to Ole Miss; RB Trevor Etienne (5-9, 217, SO) to Georgia; Miguel Mitchell (6-1, 215, SO) to Arkansas; S Jadarrius Perkins (6-2, 190, SR) to Toledo; CB Jalen Kimber (6-0, 185, RSR) to Penn State; OG Micah Mazzccua (6-5, 325, RJR) to Nebraska; Scooby Williams (6-2, 230, RSO) to Texas A&M; G Richie Leonard IV (6-2, 320, RJR) to Florida State; CB Jaydon Hill (6-0, 195, JR) to Texas A&M; OT Jordan Herman (6-8, 375, RSO) to Charlotte; WR Caleb Douglas (6-3, 200, SO) to Texas Tech; QB Max Brown (6-2, 220, RFR) to Charlotte; S Kamari Wilson (6-0, 205, SO) to Arizona State; Chris McClellan (6-3, 320, SO) to Missouri; TE Jonathan Odom (6-5, 250, RJR) to Eastern Michigan Homeless (4): DL Will Norman (6-4, 300, RFR); PK Adam Mihalek (6-2, 200, SO); WR Thai Chiaokhaio-Bowman (6-0, 200, SO); DT Keenan Landry (6-1, 305, RJR) UF BASEBALL: Caglianone first unanimous preseason All-American Junior Jac Caglianone, who will divide his playing time between first base, designated hitter and weekend starting pitcher, was named first team All-America by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCWBA) Tuesday. Caglianone is the first unanimous preseason first team All-American by the publications that cover college baseball extensively. The NCBWA writers selected Caglianone as a utility player because of his versatility. Also named first team was righthanded pitcher Brandon Neely, last season’s closer but expected to be a weekend starter this year. Neely was named to preseason second team All-America by Perfect Game, D1Baseball and Baseball America. Caglianone led the nation with 33 homers last year while driving in a school record 90 runs. He hit .323 and posted a 7-4 record with a 4.34 ERA on the mound as the Sunday starter. Neely, who appeared in 34 games, had a 3.58 ERA while saving 13 games in 14 save opportunities. The Gators, who open their season February 16 with St. John’s at Condron Family Ballpark, will start the 2024 season No. 3 in the USA Today Coaches poll, their fourth top four preseason ranking. The Gators will begin at No. 2 in the D1Baseball preseason poll and No. 4 in both the Baseball America and Perfect Game polls. USA Today Coaches preseason top 25: 1. Wake Forest; 2. LSU; 3. FLORIDA; 4. Arkansas; 5. TCU; 6. Vanderbilt; 7. Oregon State; 8. Tennessee; 9. Clemson; 10. Texas A&M; 11. Virginia; 12. East Carolina; 13. Texas; 14. Duke; 15. North Carolina; 16. North Carolina State; 17. Alabama; 18. (Tie) UC-Santa Barbara and Coastal Carolina; 20. Iowa; 21. South Carolina; 22. Texas Tech; 23. Stanford; 24. UCLA; 25. Northeastern NCBWA preseason top 25: 1. Wake Forest; 2. LSU; 3. FLORIDA; 4. Arkansas; 5. Tennessee; 6. TCU; 7. Vanderbilt; 8. Oregon State; 9. Texas; 10. Texas A&M; 11. Virginia; 12. Clemson; 13. East Carolina; 14. Duke; 15. South Carolina; 16. North Carolina; 17. Stanford; 18. North Carolina State; 19. Coastal Carolina; 21. Iowa; 22. UCLA; 23. Alabama; 24. UC-Santa Barbara; 25. Auburn SEC BASKETBALL Tuesday’s scores: No. 15 South Carolina (20-3, 8-2 SEC) 68, Ole Miss (18-5, 5-5 SEC) 65; No. 17 Kentucky (16-6, 6-4 SEC) 109, Vanderbilt (6-16, 1-8 SEC) 77 Wednesday’s games: LSU (12-9, 4-4 SEC) at No. 6 Tennessee (16-5, 6-2 SEC); No. 16 Alabama (16-6, 8-1 SEC) at No. 12 Auburn (18-4, 7-2 SEC); Georgia (14-8, 4-5 SEC) at Mississippi State (14-8, 3-6 SEC); Texas A&M (13-8, 4-4 SEC) at Missouri (8-14, 0-9 SEC) Bracketology: Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has Florida making the NCAA Tournament field as a No. 9 seed, facing Utah in the first round in a South Region game in Memphis. Palm’s brackets feature nine teams from the Southeastern Conference, which equals the Big 12. The Big Ten and Big East have five teams while the ACC has three. Also making Palm’s tournament field from the SEC are: Tennessee (2, South); Alabama (3, Midwest); South Carolina (3, West); Auburn (5. West); Kentucky (6. East); Ole Miss (8., West); Mississippi State (10., Midwest) and Texas A&M (12., play-in Midwest). ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: In a little publicized event on Monday, a National Labor Relations Board manager ruled the players at Dartmouth have the right to unionize. The ruling means Dartmouth players are now employees of the school with the right to collectively bargain for salaries and benefits. Dartmouth plans to appeal the ruling so it could take years to litigate if it goes all the way to the United States Supreme Court, but this ruling is just another major hit for the NCAA and its amateur model. Also Monday, an East Tennessee Federal judge denied a temporary restraining order in an anti-trust suit filed by the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia that claims the NCAA’s NIL rules effectively deny athletes the ability to earn as much money as possible. The judge in Tennessee set a full hearing for June 13. The language of Judge Clifton Coker’s ruling Monday would indicate that he expects the lawsuit to succeed based on Federal anti-trust statutes that are already in place. There are currently four anti-trust suits that have been filed against the NCAA and then there is House v. NCAA, a class action suit seeking $4.2 BILLION in back compensation for players seeking NIL money starting in 2016. The importance of all these lawsuits cannot be understated because they are in the process of bringing down the entire foundation of collegiate athletics. The NCAA is like blood in shark-infested water, not expected to survive much longer. As badly as the NCAA needs to be eliminated altogether, it is important for the powers that be in the conferences and at the individual school level to begin moving as quickly as possible to have an organization in place that will be ready to take over the moment the NCAA draws its final breath. The worst thing that could possibly happen would be for the plug to be pulled on the NCAA without a prepared organization ready to seamlessly take over with new leaders who understand first and foremost that college sports are a multi-billion dollar business, fewer but enforceable rules in place and a plan to deal fairly yet harshly with cheaters. It is no longer a case of will the NCAA go belly up, just a matter of when.

"Freddie Wehbe is the person who can really help us" -- Nate Barbera The Florida Gators are making more noise in the NIL department as they have officially announced a new Director of Revenue. Freddie Wehbe joins Nathaniel Barbera, the Chief Executive Officer at Florida Victorious, and the rest of the team in hopes of bringing a local touch to the University’s main NIL entity. Wehbe is no stranger to the Gainesville community as he has already made his mark with the founding, development and operation of Spurrier's Gridron Grille. Wehbe is managing partner at the popular restaurant in Gainesville’s Celebration Pointe. Spurrier’s has become a favorite spot for tourists, recruits and opposing coaches visiting town. According to Nate Barbera, "everything he touches turns to gold," making him the ideal addition. Both Barbera and Wehbe appeared on the Buddy Martin Show Tuesday night to discuss the move. “Freddie Wehbe is the person who can truly help us,” Barbera said. “His experience, knowledge, intellect, and drive immediately drew us to him. He aims to elevate Florida Victorious to the forefront.” The goal is for Florida Victorious to establish connections with major corporations and become one of the top NIL organizations in the nation. This move signifies another step forward for Florida in competing with other big-name schools in the SEC, where the competition is increasingly fierce. Nonetheless, Barbera remains confident in the power of the Gator Nation. “Gator Nation is powerful,” Barbera said. “They want to help us win.” Wehbe is determined to showcase what Florida Victorious stands for. “Appreciate Florida Victorious, appreciate what we do,” Wehbe said. “We are shaping these student-athletes into leaders and providing them with valuable lessons and skills.” He is confident that by spreading the word and effectively marketing the positive impact they have on athletes across all sports, fans will rally behind their cause. “The days of not knowing what Florida Victorious stands for are over,” Wehbe concluded. Progress in NIL and Gainesville appears promising. The first step is securing the right individuals to drive the initiative forward. Now, it's time to build momentum for the orange and blue. Barbera mentioned that Florida Victorious is currently involved with 11 out of the 21 sports on campus and over 200 athletes, but the ultimate goal is to represent all sports and athletes. As the interview ended, Martin spoke on behalf of all Gator fans, expressing relief that progress is finally being made. “It is nice to feel like something is finally getting done,” Martin concluded.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: It was the aftermath of the 2007 Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament at the Georgia Dome. Florida had just destroyed Arkansas in the championship game, the Gators’ third straight blowout win, sort of an announcement to the rest of the college basketball world that the giant had awakened and would be pillaging and plundering anyone brave enough to get in their path on the way to a second straight NCAA championship. At midcourt as Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery of CBS were interviewing Billy Donovan, Al Horford and Joakim Noah, the Florida pep band began playing the fight song. Noah couldn’t contain himself. Joakim Noah danced, not like anyone you’ve ever seen. Noah was creative. He was wild. He was so entertaining. Raftery was almost stunned. Verne laughed until he almost cried. Billy just shook his head while laughing. Three years with Jo had taught him to expect the unexpected. Al just pointed to his roomie and buddy with a giant grin on his face. Verne regrouped and announced, “Joakim Noah!” Twice. He couldn’t get through the third time. Minutes later in the Florida locker room, Noah was surrounded by media eager to hear about the spontaneous outburst they had just witnessed. A few feet away, Taurean Green sat in a chair, thoroughly amused by the attention Joakim Noah was getting. Looking up to the two reporters sharing his space, Taurean said, “Jo can’t dance. He thinks he can dance, but he can’t dance. I’m a lot better dancer than Jo. He doesn’t win all the arguments. I win most of them and he definitely can’t dance.” Moments later, Taurean reached over and tapped Noah on the shoulder. At the time, Jo was answering a question about his grandfather sacrificing a chicken in Cameroon to keep the evil spirits away from the Gators. “Jo, you can’t dance!” Taurean said. Noah immediately shot back, “I can too dance! Yes, I can dance! What a hater! You’re a hater!” This went on a couple more exchanges at which time, Taurean Green offered some consolation as the air from Noah’s Fred Astaire alter ego kept leaking. “You can sing, Jo, but you can’t dance.” Knowing that sometimes winning is totally out of the question, Noah accepted his consolation prize, “I can sing! I really can sing!” to which Taurean made it a point to get in the last word, “But you can’t dance … you really can’t dance.” Taurean Green was the point guard on Florida’s two national championship runs. He made All-SEC in 2006, All-America in 2007 when he led the Gators in scoring at 13.3 per game. He was the MVP of the 2006 SEC Tournament. He scored 1,174 points in his Florida career, hit 38.9 percent of his 3-pointers, 84.9 percent of his free throws and led the Gators in assists in 2006 and 2007. For that, Taurean Green will be honored as an SEC Legend when the league holds its annual shindig in Nashville in a few weeks. Taurean’s stats speak for themselves, but two things that escape the numbers probably say more about Florida’s consecutive NCAA championships than anything else: (1) He is the only one of Florida’s starting five that never missed a game in the two NCAA championship seasons; and (2) he was the psychologist in residence who knew and understand how to punch the buttons for his teammates. The locker room scene with Noah was just one example of how he knew how to bring teammates down to earth. Taurean was as happy as his teammates that the Gators won the SEC Tournament but he also knew it was time to put fun aside and start focusing on the mission ahead. Over the next three weekends, the Gators went 6-0 to do what no team since Duke 1991-92 had done by winning two consecutive national titles. Along the way, Florida’s backcourt of Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey made their share of clutch threes. Overlooked was their lock down defense. In the semifinals, UCLA’s future pros Darren Collison and Aaron Afflalo combined to go 4-15 from the 3-point line. Two nights later against Ohio State, they locked down the Ohio State foursome of Mike Conley, Ron Lewis, David Lightly and Daequan Cook to 1-9 from the 3-point line. Taurean (3-3) and Hump (4-7) ate the Buckeyes alive. People remember Noah’s flamboyance, Al Horford’s toughness at both ends of the court, Corey Brewer’s defense and Hump’s 3-pointers. Taurean was the glue that held the team together. He was also the only point guard on the roster. If he hadn’t answered the bell every single game, the Gators wouldn’t have won two national titles. There is that ever so true saying that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. As good as all the parts were on those two UF NCAA title teams, it wouldn’t have happened without Taurean Green running the point and knowing when to be the effective psychological needle for his teammates. Now the lessons learned under Donovan while competing for two national titles along with the competition of a dozen years playing the European circuit are translated into coaching up the Gators as one of Todd Golden’s assistants. Just call him the legend in residence. SEC basketball Today’s games: Ole Miss (18-4, 15-4 SEC) at South Carolina; No. 10 Kentucky (15-6, 5-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (6-15, 5-4 SEC) Wednesday’s games: LSU (12-9, 4-4 SEC) at No. 5 Tennessee (16-5, 6-2 SEC); No. 24 Alabama (16-6, 8-1 SEC) at No. 16 Auburn (18-4, 7-2 SEC); Texas A&M (13-8, 4-4 SEC) at Missouri (8-14, 0-9 SEC); Georgia (14-8, 4-5 SEC) at Mississippi State (14-8, 3-6 SEC) Associated Press top 25: 1. UConn 20-2; 2. Purdue 21-2; 3. North Carolina 18-4; 4. Kansas 18-4; 5. Houston 19-3; 6. Tennessee 16-5; 7. Marquette 17-5; 8. Arizona 17-5; 9. Duke 16-5; 10. Illinois 17-5; 11. Wisconsin 16-6; 12. Auburn 18-4; 13. Baylor 16-5; 14. Iowa State 16-5; 15. South Carolina 19-3; 16. Alabama 16-6; 17. Kentucky 15-6; 18. Dayton 18-3; 19. Creighton 16-6; 20. Florida Atlantic 18-4; 21. BYU 16-5; 22. Utah State 19-3; 23. Texas Tech 16-5; 24. San Diego State 17-5; 25. New Mexico 18-4 Coaches top 25: 1. UConn 20-2; 2. Purdue 21-2; 3. North Carolina 18-4; 4. Kansas 18-4; 5. Houston 19-3; 6. Tennessee 16-5; 7. Marquette 17-5; 8. Arizona 17-5; 9. Wisconsin 16-6; 10. Duke 16-5; 11. Auburn 18-4; 12. Illinois 16-5; 13. Baylor 16-5; 14. Iowa State 16-5; 15. Kentucky 15-6; 16. Alabama 16-6; 17. Dayton 18-3; 18. Creighton 16-6; 19. BYU 16-5; 20. South Carolina 19-3; 21. Utah State 19-3; 22. Florida Atlantic 18-4; 23. Texas Tech 16-5; 24. San Diego State 17-5; 25. New Mexico 18-4 UF TRACK AND FIELD: (Indoor) Women No. 2 nationally; men No. 6 USTFCCCA women’s top 25: 1. Arkansas; 2. FLORIDA; 3. Oregon; 4. Texas; 5. Texas A&M; 6. Southern California; 7. Illinois; 8. Georgia; 9. BYU; 10. LSU; 11. Washington; 12. Texas Tech; 13. Oklahoma State; 14. Ole Miss; 15. Tennessee; 16. Alabama; 17. South Carolina; 18. Stanford; 19. Notre Dame; 20. Kentucky; 21. Northern Arizona; 22. Minnesota; 23. Harvard; 24. Colorado State; 25. Oklahoma USTFCCCA men’s top 25: 1. Texas Tech; 2. Northern Arizona; 3. Arkansas; 4. Texas; 5. Washington; 6. FLORIDA; 7. Alabama; 8. Nebraska; 9. Southern California; 10. Texas A&M; 11. Kentucky; 12. Florida State; 13. Georgia; 14. Oklahoma State; 15. Illinois; 16. Arizona State; 17. LSU; 18. Penn State; 19. Virginia; 20. Iowa State; 21. South Carolina; 22. Louisville; 23. Tennessee; 24. North Carolina; 25. Oklahoma UF GYMNASTICS: Gators move up to No. 6 WCGC top 25: 1. Oklahoma; 2. California; 3. LSU; 4. Utah; 5. Kentucky; 6. FLORIDA; 7. Alabama; 8. UCLA; 9. Denver; 10. Michigan State; 11. Michigan; 12. Missouri; 13. Arkansas; 14. Auburn; 15. Ohio State; 16. Minnesota; 17. Arizona; 18. Oregon State; 19. Georgia; 20. Arizona State; 21. Ball State; 22. Iowa State; 23. Clemson; 24. Nebraska; 25. Illinois ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Tomorrow is National Signing Day. It used to be such a big deal that recruitniks would schedule a day off of work so they could either celebrate the ones their school got or agonize at the ones that got away. That was then. This is now. The early signing day in December has taken away the suspense and luster of the first Wednesday in February, not to mention how the transfer portal has changed the way coaches recruit. More on that later. When Florida coach Billy Napier talks to the media Wednesday – at least we think he will have a press conference – he will be talking about defensive lineman D’Antre Robinson, who was released from his Texas letter of intent and committed to the Gators; corner Jameer Grimsley, who is already enrolled at Florida and officially is an Alabama transfer, having opted out when Nick Saban retired; signees from the portal and the new additions to his coaching staff, co-defensive coordinator Ron Roberts (inside linebackers), Will Harris (secondary) and Gerald Chatman (defensive line). It will be as exciting as watching paint dry on a sunny afternoon. That isn’t to say Napier lacks anything of substance to talk about. Although his early signing period class saw some defections that dropped the Gators from third to nearly 20th in the team rankings, re-evaluation of the players has seen Florida’s team ranking rise. DJ Lagway was ranked the No. 1 quarterback in the country and D-lineman LJ McCray got his fifth star and the No. 4 overall player ranking by 247Sports. Both On3 and ESPN gave the Gators a final ranking of 10thwhile 247Sports gave UF a final ranking of 14th and Rivals No. 15. The class would have been better no doubt had Napier been able to hold onto some of the high profile players that were committed to UF up until the December signing day. Still, Napier filled needs at every position thanks to the combination of high school and juco kids along with 11 players from the transfer portal. This is a talent acquisition business, but it’s also a game that requires development. Whereas Georgia and Alabama prior to Nick Saban’s retirement have taken very few transfers, relying instead on high school recruits that can be developed and held onto, that’s about to change dramatically. Alabama lost 31 players to the portal and has replaced only five. Georgia lost 21 and has brought in six. At the other end of the spectrum is Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. Ole Miss can’t compete with Georgia, Alabama and some of the bluebloods when it comes to landing top high school recruits, but Kiffin has been a pied piper when it comes to landing players from the portal. He’s brought in 19 newbies who played collegiately at St. Somewhere Else last season, but he’s strengthened his roster to the point that on paper at least the Rebels are legitimate contenders for the College Football Playoff next season. Napier’s approach has been somewhere in between the Georgia/Alabama way of accumulating talent and the way Lane Kiffin is doing it at Ole Miss. Florida lost 21 to the portal, added 11 transfers and wound up at the 85-scholarship limit. While spring football practice will offer a much more comprehensive look at a potential starting lineup in the fall, right now it would appear the Gators will have as many as 14 starters who began their careers elsewhere. Here is an early look at Florida’s potential 2024 starters and where they began their collegiate careers (previous schools in parenthesis): Offense: QB: Graham Mertz (Wisconsin); RB: Montrell Johnson Jr. (Louisiana); WR: Chimere Dike (Wisconsin); Tre Wilson; Kahliel Jackson; TE: Arlis Boardingham or Hayden Hansen; LT: Austin Barber or Brandon Crenshaw Dickson (San Diego State); LG: Knijeah Harris; C: Jake Slaughter; RG: Damieon Anderson (Alabama) or Kamryn Waites (Louisiana); RT: Devon Manuel (Arkansas) Defense: DE: Justus Boone or Brien Taylor (Juco); NT: Cam Jackson (Memphis); DT: Joey Slackman (Pennsylvania); EDGE: George Gumbs (Northern Illinois); ILB: Grayson Howard (South Carolina); ILB: Shemar James; CB: Jason Marshall Jr.; CB: Devin Moore or Jameer Grimsley (Alabama); S: DJ Douglas (Tulane) or Jordan Castell; S: Asa Turner (Washington); Nickel: Trikweze Bridges (Oregon)

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: The Last Boy Scout passed away Saturday night. That’s what I call my late friend Bill Carr, Steve Spurrier’s roommate and center during their All-American playing days at the University of Florida, and the athletic director at UF from 1979-86. Like Spurrier, Carr was the son of a preacher. Whereas Spurrier spent 10 years playing in the NFL before pursuing a career in coaching, Carr lasted one year in the NFL, tried coaching and decided that wasn’t going to be his life’s calling. Instead Carr went into athletic administration, serving first as an assistant to Florida AD Ray Graves before taking over as the assistant athletic director and eventually succeeding Graves. His seven years as the AD at Florida are probably best remembered two events: (1) Firing basketball coach John Lotz and bringing Norm Sloan back from North Carolina State to succeed him; and (2) the NCAA battle that resulted in the firing of Charley Pell in 1984 and subsequent removing of the interim tag from Galen Hall after the Gators finished the season 9-1-1. A semi-regular at a Thursday lunch gathering hosted by Bill Feinberg, Carr lingered one day after nearly everyone had departed the deli around the corner from the Haile Plantation Publix and talked about his time as the Florida AD and second career in the intercollegiate coach/executive search field. “I was 33 years old when I became the assistant athletic director, 36 when I was named to succeed Coach Graves,” Carr said. “Difficult times to say the least for the University of Florida, but also for me, personally. I liked John Lotz and I had to fire him. Liked Charley Pell and we had all the NCAA trouble ...” He paused at the mention of Charley Pell. “I really liked these people. One of the harsh realities of college sports when people you like …” He paused again. No need to say more. I’m not sure Bill Carr ever disliked anyone, at least no one that I know. He had the same optimistic personality as his mom, who often sat in the pew in front of me at First Baptist Church when it was in downtown Gainesville. His mom always managed to find something good to say about everyone, even those who probably didn’t have a lot of good going on in their lives. Bill had that same outlook, which, I’m sure, had everything to do with the way he hung on to the concept of amateur athletics even when it became obvious the amateur model was on life support. Bill saw something special in athletes playing a sport in exchange for a scholarship and a college education. He understood completely that only a very small percentage of college athletes ever get a chance to play a professional sport and that the average pro has a very short career. “You come to school, you make friends for life and you learn all about life,” Carr said that day. “You play a sport that teaches you competition and bonds you with teammates, coaches and your school. It makes you a better person. Winning and losing prepares you for life because that’s the way things work in the real world – you experience success, you deal with failure. Nothing teaches you better how to handle the real world better than college sports. “That’s why I don’t like the direction we’re heading in. It’s too much about the money, not nearly enough about what goes on when your playing days are over, a whole lot less about what that college education can do for you. We’re losing something special with NIL and free agency, which is what I call the transfer portal. It’s taking away loyalty. It’s taking away what has always made college sports special.” When Willie C., as Steve Spurrier called him, said his good-byes that day and walked out, I looked over at Bill Feinberg and said, “There goes The Last Boy Scout.” Looking at the spiral in which we find collegiate athletics I think we need a lot more Boy Scouts. We need Bill Carrs to remind us of that old saying by the Roman philosopher Seneca: “Money never made anyone rich.” That applies to life as much as it does college sports. Real riches are in things like faith, loyalty, trust, respect and integrity. Bill Carr had all those things. He died a truly wealthy man. UF BASKETBALL: A much-needed week of rest for the Gators First things first. The zebra crew of Joe Lindsey, Olandis Pool and Rob Rorke were beyond bad Saturday night when Texas A&M shot 20 second half free throws to Florida’s two while eking out a 67-66 win. As physical a game as the Aggies play, you can’t have officials swallowing their whistles at one end of the floor and blowing them frequently the other. Now, despite Joe Lindsey once again showing why he’s as inconsistent as any zebra in the country, the Gators should have won the basketball game. The Gators were 5-9 from the foul line in the first half, 1-2 in the second. Two more free throws and it’s a Florida win. One more made three (Gators shot 3-13 in the second half, 10-29 for the game) and the Gators win. One more stop although UF was handicapped on that end by the zebras. Oh, and there was that out of bounds call on Will Richard. He wasn’t. Blow it up on your iPad. His heel never hit the line and it wasn’t too close to call. With all that being said, it’s midseason and the Gators get a much-needed midweek bye. The next time the Gators lace up the Air Jordans in a game is next Saturday when Auburn comes to town. There are nine SEC games remaining, five at the O-Dome. The Gators will be favored to beat LSU and Missouri at home, plus they are home and home with Vandy. That should be three wins. Win four and they should make the NCAA Tournament field. Win five and they won’t have to sweat. SEC basketball Tuesday’s games: Ole Miss (18-4, 15-4 SEC) at South Carolina; No. 10 Kentucky (15-6, 5-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (6-15, 5-4 SEC) Wednesday’s games: LSU (12-9, 4-4 SEC) at No. 5 Tennessee (16-5, 6-2 SEC); No. 24 Alabama (16-6, 8-1 SEC) at No. 16 Auburn (18-4, 7-2 SEC); Texas A&M (13-8, 4-4 SEC) at Missouri (8-14, 0-9 SEC); Georgia (14-8, 4-5 SEC) at Mississippi State (14-8, 3-6 SEC) SEC in NCAA Net Rankings: 5. Alabama; 6. Tennessee; 8. Auburn; 26. Kentucky; 38. South Carolina; 39. FLORIDA; 44. Mississippi State; 49. Texas A&M; 61. Ole Miss; 85. Georgia; 93. LSU; 130. Arkansas; 137. Missouri; 226. Vanderbilt SEC in kenpom analytics: 5. Auburn; 6. Tennessee; 7. Alabama; 27. Kentucky; 33. FLORIDA; 40. Mississippi State; 43. South Carolina; 46. Texas A&M; 63. Ole Miss; 73. Georgia; 79. LSU; 116. Arkansas; 126. Missouri; 187. Vanderbilt THE MOST ENTERTAINING (AND BEST) BASKETBALL PLAYER IN THE COUNTRY If Iowa is playing and the Hawkeye women’s game doesn’t conflict with a Florida game that I’m writing about, my TV is tuned in to watch Caitlyn Clark, often described as “the female Pete Maravich.” After her 38-point game against Maryland Saturday, she has scored 3,462 points in her Iowa career, closing to within 66 points of becoming the all-time leading scorer in the history of women’s collegiate basketball. Her stats this year: 32.4 points per game, 7.0 rebounds, 7.9 assists. She’s shooting 48.2 percent overall, 40.1 percent on 3-pointers. Clark is absolutely fearless. She drives into the lane and scores against anyone. Watch her shoot a stepback three and you will become a believer. In transition when she pulls up to shoot a three, it seems automatic. As much as she scores, she’s not some unconscious gunner. She takes good shots and isn’t afraid to pass up a shot for a teammate who has a better one. She would be averaging 15 or so assists per game if teammates simply hit shots when she delivers the ball. Iowa, which made it to the NCAA championship game last year where the Hawkeyes lost to LSU, is 21-2 and ranked third nationally. Unless you have the Big Ten Network, you won’t be able to see her Thursday game against Penn State, but her game next Sunday at Nebraska will be nationally televised on Fox at 1 p.m. That’s a nice prelude to the Super Bowl. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Sitting with Billy Donovan at the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, South Carolina about 15 years ago, I asked why the NBA held such intrigue for him. “It’s all about basketball all the time,” he answered. “You have a draft, you don’t have to recruit, you aren’t worried if your best player is going to pass all his classes, no rules about how much time you can spend practicing or dealing with your players.” Several years later, still before there was such a thing as the transfer portal or NIL, Billy finally had it with the college game and left Florida for the NBA. Eight years later, he’s still in the NBA with absolutely zero intentions of ever coming back to college basketball. Trying to recruit top talent to Florida only to see kids who loved Billy, loved UF go somewhere else at the last minute (not that anyone cheated, wink wink!) was bad enough without the portal and NIL. Jay Wright retired as Villanova’s basketball coach rather than deal with the portal, NIL and an NCAA that lacks anyone with a clue how to come up with solutions for the problems that threaten to bring collegiate sports to their knees. Nick Saban never said he’s retiring because the NCAA keeps making things worse instead of making things better. He didn't have to. Perhaps he not only saw what the NCAA was trying to do to Jim Harbaugh but was clued in that NCAA enforcement was going to try to make examples of FSU, Florida and Tennessee for NIL violations. Jeff Hafley was never going to have Nick Saban-like success at Boston College but he was a head coach at a power league school that gave the great Frank Leahy his coaching start and produced a Heisman Trophy winner in Doug Flutie. Last week he announced that he’s leaving a head coaching job in college for the defensive coordinator’s job with the NFL Green Bay Packers. Do you see a trend here? Kirk Herbstreit does. After the Hafley announcement, Herbie tweeted: “CFB in its current state will be seeing more and more coaches heading to the NFL. Without boundaries and regulation that make sense coaches that get real opportunities in the NFL will be gone. This trend will continue until there is a new governing body and it creates a CBA with a players entity or union that would include issue like NIL-Transfer Portal-and eventually revenue sharing. The sport is spiraling out of control as we know and many of these coaches are not sticking around and waiting. Just a new reality for the sport.” Circle those words “until there is a new governing body.” When someone as well connected and whose voice is as powerful as Kirk Herbstreit starts calling for an end to the NCAA, then you know we have reached a tipping point in college sports. That high school kids who have never taken a college snap or shot a free throw can command  six- and seven-figure NIL deals is a warning shot across the bow. The number of lawsuits the NCAA has to answer are more than warning shots. They are torpedoes in the water and they’re honing in on the SS NCAA. Prolonging the agony won’t do anyone any good at all. Negotiating won’t solve anything. It’s time to start drawing up the divorce papers and at the same time find someone other than college presidents to come up with what’s next.

The only number that mattered Saturday afternoon in College Station was the one point that separated Texas A&M and the Florida Gators. Texas A&M 67, Florida 66. A huge win for the Aggies, who turned the game into a street fight that lacked only straight razors in the second half. A bitter loss for the Gators, never quite adjusted to the physicality of the second half. While the final score is the only number that will show up in the Southeastern Conference standings, other numbers mattered a whole lot, particularly for the Gators, who led by as many as 13 points in the first half and by a dozen within the first 1:18 of the second. The Aggies scored seven in a row at the end of the first half to go into the locker down by six, 40-34. Trailing by 12 at the start of the second half, the Aggies got to the foul line seven times in the next two minutes, part of a 20-2 second half free throw discrepancy. When zebra crews allow the Aggies to break out the brass knuckles in Reed Arena games they’re awfully hard to beat. By Aggie standards, the first half was rather passive. That changed in the second half when the Aggies pushed, shoved, elbowed and clawed their way back into the game, along the way taking the Gators out of any kind of offensive rhythm on one end of the floor while dictating a slower pace that is more suited to their street brawl style at the other. The Aggies weren’t in control of the pace in the first half when the Gators (15-7, 5-4 SEC) made 14-27 of their shots overall and 7-16 from the 3-point line. The Gators got pretty much any shot they wanted in the first half. That changed in the final 20 minutes when the Gators were reduced to settling for jump shots. The hot shooting went cold as the Gators managed a dismal 3-13 from the 3-point line. After a first half in which the Gators got to the foul line (nine times, made five) more than Texas A&M (4-4), the Aggies lived on the line. Will Richard shot Florida’s only two second half free throws at the 13:36 mark, splitting the pair. The Aggies meanwhile went 11-20 in the final 20 minutes. The turning point in the game was with 18:42 left in the game. Florida was leading 46-34 after Richard buried his second straight 3-pointer for a 46-34 UF lead. On the Aggies’ ensuing possession, Wade Taylor IV took a knee to the thigh while driving the lane. Taylor dropped to the floor holding his thigh. The Gators, meanwhile, moved quickly to take advantage of a 5-on-4 advantage. That’s when the zebra crew of Joe Lindsay, Olandis Pool and Rob Rorke inexcusably stopped play, a whistle that shouldn’t have been blown. Play should have continued until there was either a dead ball or change of possession. Florida coach Todd Golden argued the call with Lindsay as he should have, but the damage was already done. Strangely, over the next two minutes the Aggies went to the foul line for seven free throws as they cut a 12-point deficit to six. Whatever momentum the Gators had shifted to Texas A&M. The rest of the half was an Aggie parade to the foul line and that had everything to do with the outcome. Credit the Aggies for continually attacking the rim to get the calls and for making just enough free throws to counter Florida’s scoring advantage from the field (60-52). The Gators didn’t help their cause by launching jump shots instead of getting the ball inside. While the Gators were bouncing shots off the rim, the Aggies were scoring layups, second chance points on the inside and free throws. “The whole game changed from the first half to the second half,” Golden said. “There was a total of 13 free throws taken by both teams in the first half. It was much more open, kind of a free-flowing game. Then the second half, they get 20 free throws to our two. That, to me, is how the game changes … Really, the biggest thing for me was that there were a total of 13 free throws taken by both teams in the first half, and then A&M took 20 in the second half to our two.” That is the story of Saturday’s game, yet despite all the defensive breakdowns and far too many missed chances to pick up points, the Gators found themselves in position to win a third straight game in a white knuckles finish. With 19.9 seconds to go the Gators got the ball under their own basket when Taylor, despite being warned he couldn’t move his feet while making the inbounds pass, somehow was oblivious to the message. Down one with a chance to either tie or pull out a third straight miracle win, the Gators wound up with the last two shots of the game. On the first, Zyon Pullin nearly lost the ball and his balance trying to penetrate near the top of the key. Pullin had the presence to tap the ball to Walter Clayton Jr. behind the 3-point line. Three dribbles later, Clayton went up for a contested midrange jumper straight on at the foul line. Unlike Wednesday night when he drained the three that sent Florida into overtime against Kentucky, this one clanged off the front of the rim. Riley Kugel hustled down a long rebound, immediately flipping it out to Pullin on the left wing and behind the 3-point line. A pump fake disposed of 6-7 Jace Carter, but when Pullin launched 6-7 Andersson Garcia came flying at him. As was the case with Clayton’s shot, this one was short of the mark. There would be no third chance as Solomon Washington tracked down the rebound to preserve the win. “I’ll take a Walter Clayton pull-up and a ZP three and live with the results,” Golden said. “Walt’s a big shot-maker, obviously hit a huge one for us the other night. A little short [this time]. Thought we did a great fighting on the glass and obviously ZP’s a big-time player, did a great job getting – I think it was Carter – up in the air and got a good look. It’s hard to dictate the exact shot you get in those situations, but I thought our guys made good basketball plays to get the two that we got.” Although the Gators seemed to play a more passive offensive game in the second half, they played tough defensively despite the whistles that kept sending the Aggies to the line. The Gators held the Aggies to 40.7 percent from the field (24-59) for the entire game, 26.7 percent (4-15) from the 3-point line. The Gators blocked 11 shots and despite 13 offensive rebounds by the Aggies, gave up only six second chance points. Generally speaking, basketball games are won with that level of defense, but the ball still has to go in the basket on the offensive end, something the Gators failed to do with any regularity in the final 18 minutes of the game. The Aggies had very few answers when the Gators were racing up and down the floor in the first half, but once they slowed the game down and muscled up, Florida found it difficult to adjust to the physical nature of the game. “Obviously, they’re a tough team,” Golden said. “They play a unique style. They’re very physical, and we didn’t do a good enough job attacking their switching man-to-man that they play. I thought we were a little stagnant offensively in the second half.” The Gators have a week to recover from this loss and prep for a showdown in the O-Dome with Auburn next Saturday. Game notes: Pullin finished the game with 18 points to go with eight assists (also 1 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 blocked shot) … Riley Kugel had 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal … Will Richard finished with 12 points, one rebound, two assists and a steal … Although he scored only three points, freshman Alex Condon made his presence known with 11 rebounds and five blocked shots …The Gators were outscored 34-18 in the paint with only eight points off layups … The Gators are at the halfway point of the schedule. Of their remaining nine games (all SEC), five will be played in the O-Dome. Saturday’s scores: Texas A&M (13-8, 4-4 SEC) 67, FLORIDA (15-7, 5-4 SEC) 66; No. 5 Tennessee (16-5, 6-2 SEC) 103, No. 10 Kentucky (15-6, 5-4 SEC) 92; 16 Auburn (18-5, 6-2 SEC) 91, Ole Miss (18-4, 5-4 SEC) 77; No. 24 Alabama (16-6, 8-1 SEC) 99, Mississippi State (14-8, 3-6 SEC) 67; South Carolina (19-3, 7-2 SEC) 72, Georgia (14-8, 4-5 SEC) 62; LSU (12-9, 4-4 SEC) 95, Arkansas (11-11, 2-7 SEC) 74; Vanderbilt (6-15, 1-7 SEC) 68, Missouri (8-14, 0-9 SEC) 61 Tuesday’s games: Ole Miss (18-4, 5-4 SEC) at South Carolina (19-3, 7-2 SEC); No. 10 Kentucky (15-6, 5-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (6-15, 1-7 SEC) Wednesday’s games: LSU (12-9, 4-4 SEC) at No. 5 Tennessee (16-5, 5-2 SEC); No. 24 Alabama (16-6, 8-1 SEC) at No. 16 Auburn (18-5, 6-2 SEC); Georgia (14-8, 4-5 SEC) at Mississippi State (14-8, 3-6 SEC); Texas A&M (13-8, 4-4 SEC) at Missouri (8-14, 0-9 SEC)

It was a battle between two of the youngest teams in the SEC. Florida with the number one recruiting class and in Georgia third. UF had five freshmen scoring on 25 routines and Georgia had freshmen scoring on 44 routines this season. You knew it would be a question of who would be consistent throughout the meet. Six gymnasts participated with five scores counting. Road rotations were uneven bars, vault, floor exercise and beam. On to the recap: Uneven Bars (Last week: 49.350, Average 13th in the nation at 49.233) -Sloan Blakely: Nice start but a big step forward on the landing and almost fell- 9.575 (Dropped score) - Victoria Nguyen: Small hop on the landing. Nice routine after falling last week and returning to UGA after transferring. I'm sure she was nervous.- 9.825 - Gabby Disidore: Straight hand sands, stuck landing.- 9.875 - Anya Pilgrim: Full twist dismount, stuck landing- 9.875 - Ellie Lazzari: Legs really stuck together. Sticks her full twist landing.- 9.90 - Leanne Wong: Small leg separation. Tiny hop- 9.875 Score 49.350, Lead by .200 after one rotation Vault (Last week: 49.400, Average 9th in the nation at 49.258) -         Skylar Draser: Yurchenko 1 ½ Small hop- 9.90 -        Ellie Lazzari: Yurchenco 1 ½ -9.825 (Dropped score) -        Anya Pilgrim: Yurchenko 1 ½ Stuck landing. A 10 here?-9.925 -        Sloan Blakely: Yurchenco 1 ½ hop forward 9.850 -        Leanne Wong: Great vault!- 9.925 -        Danie Ferris: Big hop forward. Almost missed the table (That’s scary)-9.850 Score 49.450, Lead by .200 after 2 rotations Floor Exercise (Last week: 49.275, Average 11th in the nation at 49.400) -        Skylar Draser: First pass, back double tuck. Nice leaps. Second pass double Pike, clean- 9.80 (Dropped score) -        Victoria Nguyen: First pass, front double to a split. Connection bonus here. Second pass, 1 1/2 front layout twist.- 9.90 -        Morgan Hurd: First pass front twist to back flip. Second pass, back double Pike.- 9.90 -        Anya Pilgrim: First pass front flip to back flip, lean forward. Second pass back flip- 9.850 -        Sloan Blakely: First pass, under rotated double Pike. Second pass 1 1/2 front full twist- 9.825 -        Peyton Richards: First pass double layout flip nailed it! Second pass 1 1/2 back flip: 9.825 It was nice to see Peyton back on the floor this week. Score 49.300, Lead by .200 after three rotations Beam (Last week: 49.525, Average 2nd in the nation at 49.392) -        Skylar Draser: Stuck back flip on beam. Slight hop on landing- 9.850 -        Sloan Blakely: Front flip to back flip combo. Small hop on landing keeps this from a 10.- 9.925 -        Anya Pilgrim: Back handspring layout, smooth. Sticks landing. First 10 of the season?- 9.850 -        Ellie Lazzari: Triple series back flip. Slight balance check. Sticks side dismount- 9.925 -        Victoria Nguyen: Springboard mount. Back flip bobble. Blind backflip dismount, small hop- 9.775 -        Leanne Wong: Front springboard mount. Falls on beam! Finishes her routine with a nice triple combination and landing. Shakes off the fall.- 9.30 (Dropped score) Score 49.325 Florida survives in Athens, 197.425 versus 197.300 despite Georgia having its season high score. Georgia's Lily Smith wins the all around with a 39.60. Anya Pilgrim is second at 39.50. Anya is putting up some great routines however not cracking that 9.9 barrier enough to get to the next level. Florida has had 18-9.9’s or higher the last two meets. Only nine total in the first two meets. So they are getting there. Still no perfect 10’s on the season. I think that will get the team going in the right direction once that is out of the way. Possibly when they return to a sold out home meet against #7 Arkansas next week.