A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: A WIN OVER ARKANSAS WOULD GREATLY ENHANCE UF’S NCAA CHANCES Beating 2nd-ranked Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC) at the O-Dome Saturday is a rather nice first step toward getting back in the good graces of the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee. A win over Arkansas (21-6, 10-4 SEC) Tuesday night could be the ticket if the Gators can follow that up with road wins at Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8 SEC) and Georgia (6-21, 1-13 SEC). By knocking off Auburn, 63-62, the Gators made up some ground lost by their 56-55 loss to Texas A&M earlier in the week. The win over Auburn was worth a six-place jump to No. 47 in the NCAA Net Rankings. Arkansas moved up to No. 23 with its win over Alabama so a win over the Hogs would be a third Quad 1 win for the Gators and it would be the eighth SEC win. Wins over Arkansas, Vandy and Georgia would give UF 10 SEC wins and 20 overall in the regular season with Kentucky still to play in the O-Dome. It will be hard to keep the Gators out of the NCAA Tournament if they can win the next three. Auburn game observations: Tyree Appleby scored 20 of his 26 points in the second half including 15 in the game’s final 10 minutes. Auburn tried four different players on Appleby in the last 10 minutes and none of them could handle him … Colin Castleton’s two games against Auburn and 7-1 Walker Kessler – 41 points, 18 rebounds, two assists, five blocked shots, three steals. Kessler 17 points, 11 rebounds, one assist, three blocked shots and one steal. Kessler didn’t block a shot against the Gators Saturday … The Gators were +12 with Niels Lane on the court and +16 with Anthony Duruji in the win over Auburn. SEC Men’s Basketball Sunday’s score: Mississippi State (16-11, 7-7 SEC) 58, Missouri (10-17, 4-10 SEC) 56 Saturday’s scores: FLORIDA (17-10, 7-7 SEC) 63, No. 2 Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC) 62; No. 4 Kentucky (22-5, 11-3 SEC) 90, No. 25 Alabama (17-10, 7-7 SEC) 81; No. 23 Arkansas (21-6, 10-4 SEC) 58, No. 16 Tennessee (19-7, 10-4 SEC) 48; Ole Miss (13-14, 4-10 SEC) 85, Georgia (6-21, 1-13 SEC) 68; South Carolina (16-10, 7-7 SEC) 77, LSU (19-8, 7-7 SEC) 75; Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8) 72, Texas A&M (16-11, 5-9 SEC) 57 Tuesday’s games: No. 23 Arkansas (21-6, 10-4 SEC) at FLORIDA (17-10, 7-7 SEC); No. 16 Tennessee (19-7, 10-4 SEC) at Missouri (10-17, 4-10 SEC); Georgia (6-21, 1-13 SEC) at Texas A&M (16-11, 5-9 SEC); No. 25 Alabama (17-10, 7-7 SEC) at Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8 SEC) Wednesday’s games: Mississippi State (16-11, 7-7 SEC) at South Carolina (16-10, 7-7 SEC); Ole Miss (13-14, 4-10 SEC) at No. 2 Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC); LSU (19-8, 7-7 SEC at No. 4 Kentucky (22-5, 11-3 SEC) FREE THROWS KILL UF WOMEN’S CHANCES AT LSU For the want of a few free throws, second place in the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball race could have belonged to the Florida Gators (20-7, 10-4 SEC). The Gators typically shoot close to 75 percent from the foul line, but Sunday at LSU, they were just 11-22 as they dropped a 66-61 decision to the 11th-ranked Tigers (23-4, 11-3 SEC) before a crowd of 13,620 at the Maravich Assembly Center. Florida outshot the Tigers from the field and the 3-point line but couldn’t overcome LSU’s 22-32 day at the foul line. Defensively, the Gators held LSU to 33 percent from the field and 0-8 on 3-pointers. Nina Rickards led the Gators with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Kiki Smith had 13 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Zippy Broughton chipped in with 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. The Gators travel to Vanderbilt Thursday before returning home next Sunday for their final regular season game against Missouri. The Gators have a chance to tie or exceed the all-time school record of 11 SEC wins in a season. SEC Women’s Basketball Sunday’s scores: No. 11 LSU (23-4, 11-3 SEC) 66, NO. 17 FLORIDA (20-7, 10-4 SEC) 61; No. 1 South Carolina (25-1, 13-1 SEC) 67, No. 12 Tennessee (21-6, 10-4 SEC) 53; Auburn (10-15, 2-12 SEC) 65, No. 21 Georgia (18-8, 7-7 SEC) 60; Ole Miss (20-6, 8-6 SEC) 57, Vanderbilt (12-16, 3-11 SEC) 47; Missouri (17-10, 6-8 SEC) 76, Mississippi State (15-11, 6-8 SEC) 66; Kentucky (13-11, 6-8 SEC) 78, Arkansas (16-10, 6-7 SEC) 55; Alabama (14-11, 5-9 SEC) 81, Texas A&M (14-12, 4-10 SEC) 79 Thursday’s games: NO. 17 FLORIDA (20-7, 10-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (12-16, 3-11 SEC); Mississippi State (15-11, 6-8 SEC) at No. 12 Tennessee (21-6, 10-4 SEC); Alabama (14-11, 5-9 SEC) at No. 11 LSU (23-4, 11-3 SEC); No. 21 Georgia (18-8, 7-7 SEC) at Arkansas (16-10, 6-7 SEC); Kentucky (13-11, 6-8 SEC) at Missouri (17-10, 6-8 SEC); Ole Miss (20-8, 8-6 SEC) at Auburn (10-15, 2-12 SEC); No. 1 South Carolina (25-1, 13-1 SEC) at Texas A&M (14-12, 4-10 SEC) A PAIR OF PERFECT TENS We got a pair of perfect 10s this weekend and both from expected sources. The first was Friday night when Trinity Thomas delivered her fourth 10 of this gymnastics season and the 12th of her UF gymnastics career on floor. She followed that up with a near perfect 9.975 on the balance beam as the 2nd-ranked Gators rallied to beat Kentucky 197.575-197.350 in Lexington. Thomas is absolute money when a meet is on the line. She’s had a perfect 10 on floor to seal a win over Alabama, hit a 10 on beam to go with a 9.975 on floor to lift UF over LSU and now has the 10 and 9.975 finale to get the Gators a win over Kentucky. With the win, the Gators clinched at least a share of the Southeastern Conference championship, their fourth straight. UF can clinch the SEC outright in two weeks at Auburn. Next week the Gators host 3rd-ranked Oklahoma in what will be the feature gymnastics meet for the entire country. The second perfect 10 was the Florida men’s swimming team, which won its 10th straight conference championship at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in Knoxville. Perhaps they should start calling this the Florida Gator Invitational. This was total domination as the Gators had a commanding 478-point advantage of Alabama and Georgia, which tied for second. Florida won five relays and got two gold medal performances from Kieran Smith, one each by Trey Freeman and Adam Chaney. Smith also had a silver medal in the 400 IM and swam on four gold medal relays. What makes this championship even more spectacular is that it was achieved without two-time Olympic gold medalist and 9-time SEC gold medalist Bobby Finke, who was out because of health protocols. He’s expected to be back in time for 5th-ranked Florida’s NCAA national championship bid. The Florida women finished fifth with 905 points. Tennessee won, followed by Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia. UF SOFTBALL WEEKEND: GATORS 30, EVERYBODY ELSE 4 The 4th-ranked Gators ran their record to 10-0 by going 4-0 at the T-Mobile Tournament at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, outscoring No. 14 Duke, Villanova, Louisville and Florida A&M, 30-4. For the season, the Gators have outscored their 10 opponents, 77-6. Florida is hitting .356 as a team and the team ERA is 0.55. Hitting stars for the weekend were leadoff hitter Kendra Falby who went 8-14 with a double, two triples and three RBI, Hannah Adams, who was 6-12 with three RBI, and Charla Echols, who had a homer and seven RBI. For the season, Falby is hitting .548 with two doubles, two triples, a home run, seven RBI and 10-10 on stolen bases. Four different pitchers picked up wins: Elizabeth Hightower (4-0, 0.69 ERA), Natalie Lugo (2-0, 0.00 ERA), Lexie Debrey (3-0, 1.09 ERA) and Rylee Trlicek (1-0, 0.00 ERA). The Gators travel to North Florida on Tuesday and then return home to face North Florida on Wednesday. Next weekend the Gators will be in Orlando for the UCF Knights Classic that will include James Madison, which made it to last year’s Womens College World Series in Oklahoma City. PEDRO CERRANO DISEASE “Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.” Obviously, Pedro Cerrano Disease has infected the Florida bats. After opening with a 7-2 win over Liberty Friday night when Sterlin Thompson hit two homers, the second a grand slam, to back the 1-hit, 11-run strikeout pitching of Hunter Barco, Florida’s hitters needed plenty of help. The Gators lost their final two games of the weekend, 6-4 Saturday and 5-3 Sunday, a rather disappointing beginning to the season. The Gators went 18-97 for the weekend, which is a .186 batting average made worse by 31 strikeouts. You don’t win a lot of ball games when you strike out 31.9 percent of the time. Other than Barco, who was perfect through five innings and walked only one in his 6-inning outing, the Gator pitchers had problems finding the plate. Florida pitchers not named Barco walked 15 batters, hit seven and uncorked two wild pitches. Now, one thing to take into account is the number of kids Kevin O’Sullivan is playing. O’Sullivan played five true sophomores, four redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen. It showed particularly with the pitching where the Saturday starter was true sophomore Timmy Manning and the Sunday starter was true freshman Pierce Coppola and they were relieved by four redshirt freshmen and two true freshmen. The Gators will travel to DeLand Tuesday to face Stetson, return home for North Florida on Wednesday and face Georgia State at home for a three-game weekend set. Other UF sports: Florida’s 5th-ranked men’s tennis team (7-2) won two of three matches at the ITA National Indoor Team Championships in Seattle, falling 4-3 to 14th-ranked Texas and then scoring 4-2 wins over No. 7 Virginia and No. 9 Georgia … Florida’s 7th-ranked lacrosse team (1-1) fell to No. 2 North Carolina 15-11 despite six goals from Danielle Pavinelli … Heading into the final day of the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida’s women’s golfers are in third place, five shots behind first place FSU and two behind second place Virginia. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: If you’ve watched the replay of the handshake line after Wisconsin’s 77-63 win over Michigan, then you’ve probably seen Michigan coach Juwan Howard lose it completely during the handshake line. Howard got into it verbally with Wisconsin coach Greg Gard over a time out that Gard called with a few seconds remaining. Gard had cleared the bench, had his walk-ons in the game and they were being pressed by Michigan. With only four seconds left to get the ball across midcourt, Gard called time out so he could get a 10-second reset. Obviously, that ticked off Howard who stuck a finger in Gard’s face, then grabbed the Wisconsin coach by the shirt and shoved him. That escalated into both teams pushing and shoving each other. Pushed away from the fray by one of his own players, Howard surged forward, threw a punch and hit a Wisconsin assistant in the face. That created a full-scale brawl. I’ve watched the video of the end of the game and then the handshake line. I’ve also watched the press conferences of both Howard and Gard. Neither coach thinks he’s to blame, but one thing for certain, Juwan Howard is the one who lost his cool and threw a punch. He’s lost his cool before but this is the first time he’s ever thrown a punch. It should, without question, be the last time he throws a punch and it should be the last time he coaches this season. Juwan Howard is supposed to be an adult. He should act like one. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren should issue an adult-like punishment that is appropriate for someone who is supposed to be a mentor and role model by suspending him the rest of the season. A two or three-game suspension will not send the right signal. The coach who threw a punch at another coach needs a few months to think things over before he’s allowed to coach again.

THAT WAS THE WEEKEND THAT WAS Sitting at the podium answering questions from the media Saturday afternoon, Tyree Appleby and Colin Castleton were still beaming from being in the middle of the storm-the-court mayhem at the O-Dome. It was a day of firsts. The first time in O-Dome history that the Gators had knocked off either the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the country and the first time since a 1986 buzzer beater NIT win over Southwest Missouri State that the fans had poured over the O-Dome rails to celebrate with the team on the court. Florida couldn’t have scored Saturday’s 63-62 win over No. 2 Auburn without Appleby erupting for 20 second half points or without Castleton providing a constant inside presence on both the offensive and defensive ends. Appleby finished with 26 points (5-10 from the 3-point line, 7-8 from the foul line), one rebound, two assists and one steal. Castleton, Florida’s lone big man who did battle against Auburn’s three bigs – 7-1 Walker Kessler, 6-10 Jabari Smith and 6-11 Dylan Cardwell – scored 19 with eight rebounds, one assist, three blocked shots and a steal. They were warriors on the court. In the media room, they were kids, enjoying what might be a once-in-a-lifetime moment. In between insightful answers, they grinned and giggled. As they got ready to leave for the showers, Appleby was asked if he has many more games like this would he be expecting an NIL deal with the Applebee’s restaurant chain? “I wish! I wish!” came the reply. “I’m going to call their CEO,” Castleon chimed in. “I’ve been trying to get with them all year,” Appleby added. Then came Castleton’s reply that broke up everyone in the media room. “Is White Castle for me?” he asked. “The closest ones are in Orlando so I have to drive there!” Winning is fun. Winning when you, your teammates, coaches and family might be the only ones who believe in you is twice the fun. That’s what happened Saturday when a team that suffered a devastating loss on the road to a Texas A&M team that played its best game of the season after losing the previous eight in a row. That was an emotional beatdown. “Our guys were as dejected in the locker room in College Station the other night as I’ve seen them, probably any locker room in a couple, if not a few years, for a regular season game,” Florida coach Mike White said. “It’s different than the NCAA Tournament. It’s over. It was that type of feeling. “But you’ve got to bounce back. You’ve gotta bounce back quickly and this is a resilient group. Now, if we don’t find a way to hold on to this one [Auburn], it would be even harder to bounce back. We didn’t finish it strong. We didn’t, but that said, what an incredible, physical, intensity-level effort for 40 minutes led by Colin and Tyree. Auburn’s got a chance to win the whole thing and we just beat them.” Auburn is that deep, that talented and that good. Beating the Tigers would have been a longshot even if the Gators had beaten the Aggies last Wednesday night. Beating them shorthanded and off the loss to the Aggies? Let’s just say the game had a rather impossible dream feel to it, particularly since the Gators closed out the first half unable to score in the final 4:03. It had one of those here we go again feelings in the first four or so minutes of the second half when they found themselves in a 9-point hole. That was the turning point. Rather than give in and give up, the Gators began to scratch and claw their way out of a mess that was of their own making. It’s a funny thing about effort. It gets the adrenaline flowing and when you add it to a full house in an arena where fans are willing to yell, scream and provide the decibels, dreams start to have a come true feel. When Appleby went into a shooter’s coma and the basket started looking the size of Lake Alice, a new energy transformed the entire building. Appleby felt it. He was everywhere on the court, pushing the ball, stutter-step dribbling through Auburn’s trees, launching threes that turned the O-Dome into a Deaf-Dome. With 10:33 left in the game and Florida trailing by eight, Appleby went to his knees when he tried a crossover dribble. Instead of killing his dribble when he got to his feet, Appleby caught Auburn flatfooted by continuing his dribble, spinning past one defender and then driving to the rim. Expecting Appleby to dump the ball off to Castleton, Dylan Cardwell took a step toward the Florida big man. Big mistake. Appleby dropped in a layup that made it a 46-40 game. The O-Dome was never the same. Jet engine takeoffs had nothing on the 42-year-old arena. Contained by the arena, there was no place to go for the noise, so it simply torqued up the energy level of the Gators. That play, essentially, was when the Florida rally and the Florida fans became one and the same. The Gators were suddenly in their yes we can mode. The fans were thinking the same thing. The sensed the upset that no one expected was becoming an unexpected reality. The 1,500-2,000 Auburn fans must have felt the same thing. They came to the O-Dome thinking blowout, especially when the score was 35-26 and the Gators were struggling out the second half gate. Appleby’s layup told them they were in for a rock fight. Nine points disappeared and when Phlandrous Fleming Jr. nailed a shot clock running down three to give the Gators a 48-46 lead, Auburn needed an answer. Freshman Jabari Smith, the likely first pick when the NBA drafts in the summer, had been answering all afternoon. When he drove to the rim with 6:53 to go it seemed like a sure thing that he would either dunk or get fouled. Smith, you see, rarely comes away empty-handed whenever he takes it to the rack. He lost this time. Smith went high. Castleton went higher. The dunk Smith thought he was going to thunder down was met by Castleton, who got his hand on top of the ball for a clean block. There was no contact as Smith crumbled to the floor. Auburn fans screamed for a foul but replays were clear. The block was as clean as it gets. Smith scored 28 points in the game, most of them on 3-pointers (he was 4-5) or at the foul line (10-11). He’s a great talent, but Colin Castleton owned the paint. Another great talent is Walker Kessler, who leads the nation in blocked shots and is thought to be the odds-on winner of national defensive player of the year. An emerging offensive talent, Kessler did score 11 points, but one of them was a 3-pointer. Of the other four made shots, none were directly challenged by Castleton. As for Kessler and shot blocking, he tried ever so hard to jam one back in Castleton’s face but he never got one. For just the second time all season he didn’t block a single shot. Because the Gators were so good offensively in the game’s final 10 minutes, what UF did defensively tends to be overlooked. As good as Castleton and Appleby were, they got plenty of help from Fleming, Anthony Duruji, Niels Lane, Myreon Jones and Brandon McKissic. While Smith certainly got his, they made sure the other Auburn players didn’t get theirs. With 7.5 seconds remaining and the game on the line, we got a microcosm of what a total team defensive effort looks like. Auburn had the ball and all five players on the court were legitimate candidates to take the last shot. For Florida to stop the Tigers would take a perfectly executed defensive plan with all five Gators carrying out their assignments, and that’s exactly what happened. Everybody communicated. Everybody rotated. Rather than a final shot at a game-winner, Auburn turned the ball over. Mayhem followed. The Rowdy Reptiles ignored the pleas to stay in the stands. They climbed over the rails and courtside seats, pouring onto the court to surround Saturday’s heroes. “I enjoyed myself,” Appleby said. “Everybody enjoyed that one,” Castleton added. And now it’s back to work. Arkansas comes to the O-Dome Tuesday. The Hogs aren’t a top ten team but they’re ranked and a Florida win, coupled with the win over Auburn, most likely puts the Gators in the NCAA Tournament. UAA Photo ANOTHER SEC SWIM CHAMPIONSHIP: THAT’S 10 STRAIGHT The streak is alive. Florida closed out a dominating week at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in Knoxville with the men winning the title for the tenth straight year by a mere 476 points over second place finishers Tennessee and Alabama. The Gators won five relays and got gold medal performances from Kieran Smith (200 backstroke, 400 IM), Trey Freeman (1650 freestyle) and Adam Chaney (100 backstroke), plus silver medals from Eric Friese (100 butterfly) and Smith (500 freestyle). What makes Florida’s win all the more impressive is that it was done without two-time Olympic gold medalist and 9-time SEC gold medalist Bobby Finke, out due to health protocols. Finke is expected to rejoin the Gators for the NCAA championships where the Gators are expected to finish in the top ten once again. This was a brilliant performance for the Gators and coach Anthony Nesty, who will be the United States team head coach for the 2022 FINA World Championships. You have to wonder just how good the Gators would be and just how well Nesty could recruit if the Gators had decent facilities. The O-Dome pool is satisfactory, but this program could be so much better if UF had a pool of the same caliber as the ones at Georgia, Auburn and Texas A&M in the SEC, Texas and Stanford nationally. Gator Bait Media Photo by Chris Spears GATORS EARN A SHARE OF THE SEC GYMNASTICS TITLE It took a 9.95 by Nya Reed followed by a perfect 10 by Trinity Thomas on floor and a 9.975 by Thomas, a 9.95 by Megan Skaggs and a 9.925 by Sloane Blakely on the balance beam for the Gators to pull out a 197.575-197.350 win over Kentucky Friday night in Lexington. With the win, the 2nd-ranked Gators clinched at least a share of the regular season Southeastern Conference championship, their fourth straight. The Gators, who host 3rd-ranked Oklahoma Friday night in a non-conference meet that will be the national headliner, can claim the outright SEC title in two weeks at Auburn. For Thomas, it was the fourth perfect 10 of the 2022 season and the 12th of her collegiate career. She has a perfect score five times on floor, three times each on balance beam and uneven bars, and once on vault. Currrently, she ranks 5th nationally on vault, 18th on bars, 11th on balance beam, 1st on floor and 4th on all-around. Reed ranks 8th nationally on vault and 2nd on floor. As a team, the Gators rank 2nd nationally on vault, 4th on bars, first on balance beam and tied for 3rd on floor. UAA Photo AND SINCE WE’RE TALKING PERFECT … Tim Walton’s softball Gators are off to a 10-0 start after taking the T-Mobile Tournament at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium with wins over 14th-ranked Duke, Villanova, Louisville and Florida A&M. It was an impressive weekend because four different UF pitchers got wins and the offense came through with 30 runs despite wind gusts that made every fly ball an adventure. Elizabeth Hightower, Natalie Lugo, Lexie Delbrey and Rylee Trlicek all got wins. Hightower went six innings in relief Friday night when Delbrey struggled with her control. Lugo pitched a 2-hit shutout Saturday morning and then Delbrey went the distance against Louisville. Trlicek allowed two hits in a run-rule four inning game Sunday. Delbrey is Florida’s only real power pitcher and when she’s in the strike zone, she’s very difficult to hit, but even in the win over Louisville, she walked five and hit a batter. She’s quite a talent but Walton is going to have to coach the tendency to over-throw every pitch out of her. That’s not uncommon for freshmen who were accustomed to simply throwing the ball past every batter when they were in high school. The hitting star of the weekend – and probably the first 10 games of the season – is freshman left fielder Kendra Falby, who played for the Canadian national team. She’s Florida’s fastest leadoff hitter since Kelsey Stewart. A single or a walk is almost as good as a double as she is 10-10 so far on stolen bases. Falby was 8-14 for the weekend with a double, two triples and three RBI. She’s hitting .548 with 17 hits including two doubles, two triples, a home run and seven RBI. A slap-hitter who has relied on speed to beat the ball into the ground and then outrunning the throw to first, Falby is discovering that she can dig in and hit effectively. In the tournament opener against Duke, the Blue Devils followed the analytics, moved their second baseman in to become a fifth infielder and shifted the right fielder to center field. That left the entire right field open. It didn’t matter on the first at bat because Falby struck out on a bad ball off the plate. The second at bat was a totally different story, however. With Duke going to the shift again, Falby drilled the ball deep to the right center field fence. By the time the ball got back to the infield, she was standing on third with a very easy triple. “I thought to myself that if I get a middle-in pitch, I’m putting it in right field just to show them I can do more than just put the ball in the infield,” Falby said. Since arriving at Florida and working with hitting coach Aric Thomas, Falby has developed her game at the plate to the point that she has an entire arsenal of tools at her disposal. “I kind of grew up being a slapper and just relying on my speed and then coming here, he’s ways said ‘You can hit the ball. Hit the ball! You can be a triple threat,’” Falby said. “So, being able to bunt, slap, hit and kind of perfect all those and use those tools whenever I need to helps a lot. If there are five people in the infield I can do something different.”

It came down to 7.5 seconds. That’s all that separated the Florida Gators (17-10, 7-7 SEC) from the ecstasy of springing the biggest upset in O-Dome history over 2nd-ranked Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC) or another one of those close but no cigar losses that have plagued UF the last couple of years. Florida held the lead at 63-62 but Auburn had the basketball and a last chance to move one game closer to clinching the Southeastern Conference regular season championship. The Tigers had the ball a few steps shy of midcourt because the Gators had failed to execute a simple inbounds pass with 9.9 seconds to go. Phlandrous Fleming Jr. tried a high lob over 7-1 Walker Kessler to Colin Castleton but it was just enough off the mark that Jabari Smith tipped the ball away. Kessler picked up the ball on the bounce to start what could have been a game-ending fast break except that Tyree Appleby cut through two Auburn guards to knock the ball way from Kessler. The clock showed 7.1 seconds remaining. It was pretty obvious the ball went out of bounds off Appleby but the zebra crew wanted to check the replay to get the time correct on the game clock. While the officials watched the monitors, Auburn huddled around Bruce Pearl for final play instructions and the Gators huddled around Mike White. Everyone from the 11,255 in the O-Dome to the however many hundreds of thousands who were watching on ESPN expected Auburn’s first option would be Smith, the dynamic freshman who had boldly stated his case for the No. 1 pick in the summer’s NBA Draft by going off for 28 points. Smith’s range begins at the parking lot. For the day he was 4-5 on his 3-pointers. Since Smith was also 10-11 from the foul line, it didn’t take a Mensa candidate to figure out that Pearl was designing something that would free Smith for the final shot. Down at Florida’s end of the court, Mike White was trying to come up with a plan that would not only deny Smith the ball but adequately defend everybody else. “Coach told us not to let Jabari get the ball,” Colin Castleton said. “We knew they were going to go to their go-to guy. He had 28 points, definitely one of the best players I’ve ever played against.” One reason the Tigers are the No. 2 team in the country is because they are experienced making game-winning shots in the final 30 seconds and it isn’t always the same guy. Smith might have been Auburn’s go-to guy in this situation but Pearl had options. Lots of them and in waterbug quick point guard Wendell Green Jr. he had the perfect triggerman to give the Tigers a chance to win the game. Put the ball in Green’s hands and see who popped open. It’s a strategy that has been working so why change now? White was well aware that once Green had the ball, the whole court opened up and there was no shortage of shot makers. “We thought they would go Wendell Green with a ball screen or a quick elbow isolation for Jabari—he had so much success of course – but short clock and obviously with the middle ball screen there are so many different options that can take place who may end up taking the shot,” White explained. So many options. Defending them all would require a perfect plan perfectly executed. When play resumed, the zebras put .4 back on the clock so Auburn had 7.5 seconds, more than enough time to get the shot the Tigers wanted or get to the foul line. Green took the inbounds pass and just past midcourt, 7-1 Walker Kessler offered up a moving screen that he should have been but wasn’t whistled for (another one of those rules that is almost universally ignored in this day and age). What seemed like a traffic jam at the top of the key was exactly the way Pearl had drawn it up. A perfect pick and roll was set up with Alan Flanigan coming around Green’s back side to force a rotation that would open up a driving lane down the right side of the key. Because of the screen Fleming had switched off on Green and Castleton had Kessler. When Green backed off a step it signaled Kessler to slip underneath. Green intended to drive to the right and either take it all the way to the hoop, dump off to Kessler for a dunk or pass to Flanigan on the right wing for an open three. Appleby rotated to take the three away from Flanigan and Fleming took Kessler down low. Castleton stepped up and wouldn’t let Green past, forcing him to kill his dribble. With no place to go, Green left his feet but Castleton went straight up, taking away the option of a three. He then tried to force a pass down low to Kessler but his awkward pass was met by Fleming who swatted the ball away. The clock struck zero. Cinderella didn’t turn into a pumpkin because for once, the Gators executed perfectly in the final seconds. No mistakes and Florida had a 63-62 upset win that sent the packed crowd into a frenzy. White saw the play unfold like this: “When the ball was thrown in, I thought we were in stance, we were locked in, we communicated.” Communication was the key. When Flanigan cut behind Green, Auburn’s play was set in motion, but Castleton recognized and immediately shouted out orders that his teammates followed without the slightest hesitation “Colin yelled under and we got under a high, flat ball screen,” White said. “We swarmed to the ball.” Perfect execution saved the day for the Gators on that last defensive stand, but it was a lack of execution that saw the Gators blow seven points of an 8-point lead in the last 4:03 of the first half. After Myreon Jones hit a 3-ball from the corner to give the Gators a 22-14 lead, Florida hit the wall on the offensive of the court. On Florida’s final five possessions, there were four 3-point attempts, all of them SCUDs, and a turnover. Auburn scored the final seven points of the half to close the gap to 22-21 at the intermission. In the first five minutes of the second half, Auburn took command to jump out to a 35-26 lead with 15:22 left in the game. White didn’t like what he saw of the Gators coming out of the locker room. “We came out early second half and we just weren’t very good,” White said. “We didn’t match that same [first half] intensity. I thought that Auburn threw the first couple of punches the second half. I just thought we were stagnant offensively.” Whereas, the first 9:30 of the second half was a struggle for the Gators, the last 10:31 belonged to Appleby. He scored six in the first half, hitting his first 3-pointer and then adding three free throws, but after that first shot there were five SCUDs plus three bad turnovers. In the final 10:31 Appleby scored 17 of his 26 points. Auburn couldn’t guard him and when his shots began to fall, it opened up the game for everybody else. Down the stretch there were offensive contributions from Castleton, Fleming and McKissic. Fleming hit a 3-ball with the shot clock winding down and McKissic pulled the trigger on a late in the shot clock 3-pointer. Castleon, working against Auburn’s three big rotation of Kessler (7-1), Smith (6-10) and Dylan Cardwell (6-11) scored on the inside and contributed a devastating roof job block on Smith. Anthony Duruji and Niels Lane were all over the place defensively. The Gators were +16 when Duruji was on the floor, +12 with Lane. This was Florida’s best game of the season. By no means was it the Gators’ best offensive game although those final 10 minutes were something special, particularly when Auburn’s ferocious defense is taken into account. Auburn came into the game ranked No. 1 in the nation in blocked shots and Kessler had 42 in his previous six. The Tigers blocked only one shot and none of them were by Kessler, who was worn out by Castleton, whose game was good for 19 points, eight rebounds, one assist, two steals and three blocked shots. Defensively, there is no question this was Florida’s finest game. Auburn came into the game averaging 80.5 per game, largely because the Tigers are so successful working the ball inside-out. When there was no inside game (just 26 points in the paint despite superior size), the outside game struggled as well. Florida pressured the Tigers into 17 turnovers but it was that last turnover by Wendell Green that proved the difference in the game. When Fleming knocked the ball pass intended for Kessler away, the O-Dome clock flatlined at zero and the O-Dome crowd erupted. The Rowdy Reptiles, who were warned numerous times that storming the court would not be tolerated, weren’t about to let the moment pass them by. Almost from the time the final horn sounded, they were climbing over the rails and pouring out onto the court. It was the first time since 1986 that the O-Dome court had been stormed. Somewhere in the middle of all the celebratory mayhem was Tyree Appleby. This was his moment, his best game ever as a Florida Gator and it helped the Gators take down the highest-ranked opponent in O-Dome history. It was indeed a moment worth cherishing and remembering forever. “I enjoyed myself,” Appleby said in the postgame interview room. He grinned when he said it and the grin lit up the room.

“My baseball journey started very competitively,” Thompson said. “At age 7, I played up (above his age) on the Ocala Raptors for three years. Ocala has a lot of talented players to compete against and has good coaches to develop those players.” Sweet-swinging Sterlin Thompson hopes for a big year. (UAA Photo) By KYLE CURTIS GatorBait Intern Sterlin Thompson recalls playing catch with his dad as a toddler, seeing him throw the ball as high as the eye could see, until it plopped into his glove. That is where his love for baseball began. Now that toddler is one of the premier hitters in college baseball and has positioned himself as a possible future first-round draft pick. Thompson’s playing career began early. By age seven he was on a travel baseball team. Being from Ocala, he saw it played at a high level, because baseball is a staple throughout the city and county. “My baseball journey started very competitively,” Thompson said. “At age 7, I played up (above his age) on the Ocala Raptors for three years. Ocala has a lot of talented players to compete against and has good coaches to develop those players.” On that same travel team were current Florida Gator teammate and centerfielder Jud Fabian and his brother, Deric Fabian. “It’s nice because I’ve had a history of playing with them at a young age,” said Thompson. “I played with the Fabian brothers when we were young on that travel ball team. Hunter McMullen and I played together my freshman year of high school and we went to the regional semifinals. It’s crazy how we all ended up at the next level playing with the Gators.” Sterlin and the Fabins provide spark as the #OcalaPowerCompany which has already pounded quite a few home runs — 37 total — and figures to add to that total substantially with the arrival of Deric’s strong bat. Jud leads with 32 of those, Sterlin five. Sterlin has not always been all-baseball though. Growing up, Thompson loved playing all kinds of sports. He was the quarterback of his football team in middle school for the Marion County Youth Football League and led his team to a county championship. Thompson also played basketball from middle school through his sophomore year of high school until he ultimately ended up taking on baseball full-time. Sterlin spent his first two years of high school at Forest High School until ultimately finishing out his high school career at North Marion. He originally committed to Stetson his sophomore year before popping onto the scene his junior summer in a Perfect Game event where he gained national attention. After performing impressively in these showcase events, Thompson was graded a perfect 10 and then committed to the Gators in November of 2019. In high school, Thompson was mainly a middle infielder and did not see much time in right field, where he now plays for Florida. Coming out of high school, there was speculation he may consider going straight to the MLB. Through the rumors, Thompson stuck to his guns and chose the Gators and has improved his draft stock as some MLB insiders have him as a top 20 prospect. In his freshman year, Thompson was an everyday player for the Gators where he appeared in 55 games starting at right field. Throughout his freshman campaign, Thompson was able to pick up five home runs while batting .301 driving in 27 RBIs. He made the Freshman All-SEC team, SEC All-Tournament Team and SEC Academic Honor Roll. Deric Fabian (seen here) and Thompson figured to hit a lot of balls out of the park. (UAA Photo) Thompson talked about the transition from high school to college ball, his main mentors and the impact of playing with Ocala guys. “Right when I stepped on campus Kirby McMullen, one of the leaders on the team, helped me adjust to college ball,” Thompson said. “Also playing with all these Ocala guys, I began to realize how exciting it was that there was a possibility that all three of us Ocala boys would be in the lineup and contribute to our goal of going to Omaha.” Both Hunter and Kirby McMullen are Ocala guys who went on to play for the Gators as well. At Forest High School the McMullen brothers played big roles in deep playoff runs for the Wildcats After a somewhat disappointing end to the 2021 season, the Gators look to get back on track and live up to the championship culture which they established. “I want to help lead our team to host a regional/super-regional, to go to Omaha and win the College World Series,” Thompson said. “Some personal goals of mine for the year are first-team All-SEC and first-team All-American.” Thompson looks to bring his red-hot from last year into the 2022 season. He gets help from home. “My dad has always been the one to help me with my hitting, and my approach at the plate. To this day we still break down the videos of my at-bats after the game.” Sterlin also was able to recall the longest home run ball he’s hit so far. Last year against Arkansas in Fayetteville, he smacked one off of the third deck of the new baseball facility in right field. Jud Fabian: Another member of #TheOcalaPowerCompany (UAA photo) Coach Kevin O'Sullivan has been one of Thompson’s biggest supporters during the offseason. “Sterlin Thompson, in right field, in my opinion, is going to end up being one of the best hitters in the country,” O'Sullivan said. “He very well may be a first-round pick in a couple of months when it is all set and done.” Sterlin Thompson has his goals ahead of him for the 2022 season in place, now it is time to execute. He has kept his eyes on the ball ever since he was a toddler.

Brittany Bowe started it: #TheOcalaTrio epicenter of speedskating. (USOlympic Photo) Huh? Ocala? Speed skating? The closest ice rink is 100 miles away! So they found a roller-skating rink less than a mile from my house where they crafted their championship on training wheels instead of blades. In the life of a columnist/editor and five-or-six -times a week talk show guy, you never get to take a beat. But February can be Death By Boredom for a sportswriter. Once asked why he quit this business, a famous journalist/playright allegedly said, “February.” It’s amazing how we find ways to keep going in life, let alone in the adult sandbox of sports after the Super Bowl. For me, it’s the power of the story. Pardon my self-indulgence today, but as I take up the challenging question of “Is There Life After Football?,” I must confess this has been a more interesting February than usual around here. Today I choose not to tackle the perpetual orange and blue hues and cries of “Fire Mike White,” or “Take The ‘Interim’ Off Of Kelly Rae Finley” or even “Will Anthony Richardson Win The Heisman – Or Even The Starting Job?” This week I found my ultimate-underdog-overcoming-hometown story right under my nose, inspired by the people and events surrounding Ocala, where I was born, grew up and spent most of my adult life. I am especially suckered in by the themes of underdogs overcoming their odds. I also love my hometown. Ocala is a little jewel of North Central Florida, where BTW, the University of Florida first took root as East Florida Seminary in 1853. It was known for its commerce and as a small cosmopolitan community at the turn of the 20th century and eventually became the “Horse Capital Of The World.” Ocala's Joey Mantia leading the way for a bronze medal. (US Olympic Photo) Suddenly in a matter of a few days, Ocala has grabbed the international spotlight as a hotbed of Olympic speed skating with the remarkable story of three medalists who grew up here and trained as inline roller-skaters. Huh? Ocala? Speed skating? The closest ice rink is 100 miles away! So they found an inline roller-skating rink less than a mile from my house where they crafted their championship training on wheels instead of blades. That’s like swimmers from the Sahara Desert diving in the sand and winning Olympic medals! This story will go down in history as an epic tale of how these three skaters and a grandmother/coach overcame impossible odds to achieve international fame without resources or even a venue. I hope Hollywood scriptwriters have been paying attention. I can’t possibly write it any better than the Associated Press’s Paul Newberry did after Bowe won the Ocala Trio’s third medal. How Ocala Became The Birthplace Of Olympic Speed Skating Brittany Bowe. Erin Jackson. Joey Mantia. All three are among the world’s best skaters and leading medal contenders at the Games, but that’s not what draws your attention. It’s the hometown beside each name: Ocala, about 100 miles north of Tampa, better known for producing some of the fastest thoroughbreds on the planet, earning the moniker “Horse Capital of the World.” “We have fast horses,” (their coach) Renee Hildebrand bragged, “AND fast skaters.” Hildebrand deserves much of the credit for transforming Ocala into the epicenter of the U.S. speed skating world. Just don’t go looking for the ice-skating rink. Ocala doesn’t have one. The amazing story of Erin Jackson, Winter Olympic gold medal winner. (USOlympic Photo) By mid-week, the Ocala Trio had snared its third medal (bronze) as Bowe won her first individual honor in her third Winter Olympics try. That followed a team bronze won by Mantia in the men’s pursuit. In a dramatic moment earlier, Jackson won the gold medal for 500 meters, an event she was allowed to compete in after failing to qualify only because her friend, teammate and training partner Bowe agreed to give up her spot (but later got it back). Jackson became the first black woman to win a medal in speed skating. After taking the podium with a stoic face, Erin burst out in tears mid-Star-Spangle Banner when she realized the full impact of her accomplishment. Most of us also had wet eyes. A product of Ocala’s Howard Middle School and Forest High School, Erin was an honors graduate in Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Florida who took up the sport at 25 and won the gold before she turned 30. Who among us can’t get behind such a story? And that’s not all I want to brag about concerning Ocala. As the Gator baseball team kicks off the 2022 season, it will rely heavily on three Marion County sluggers to carry them to what they hope will be a return to Omaha. (As written about on these pages elsewhere by GatorBait intern Kyle Curtis). Jud Fabian came back to make it three in #TheOcalaPowerCompany. (UAA Photo) The Fabian brothers, Deric and Jud, join fellow Ocalan Sterlin Thompson as Kevin O’Sullivan’s main sluggers on what he hopes will be a baseball team bound for Wichita again. Ah, just five weeks out from spring where we can enjoy the diversion of MLB and the PGA Tour for a bit. Wait! Baseball is still on strike? And The PGA Tour is about to have defectors to Saudi Arabia? OK, let’s get through the rest of February first and we’ll get around to that. Or maybe we won’t.

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: FLORIDA BASEBALL … As the Gators open a new baseball season with the opportunity for the beautiful Florida Ballpark to be filled to capacity, I’m reminded of the words of James Earl Jones playing the role of Terence Mann in the movie Field of Dreams: “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh ... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.” There is something truly enduring about baseball at the collegiate level. Players come and players go, but the game goes on and now Florida fans, after a year of limited capacity due to COVID, have a chance to enjoy a team that enters the season ranked anywhere from sixth to ninth nationally, depending on which poll you prefer. The Gators, who open their season tonight (7 p.m., SEC Network+) with Liberty, have become one of the perennial powers in all of college baseball under Kevin O’Sullivan. In O’Sullivan’s 14 years on the job at UF, the Gators have won a national championship (2017), made it to the College World Series seven times, the NCAA Tournament 13 times and they’ve claimed five Southeastern Conference championships. The Gators will go with three lefty starters this weekend, opening tonight with ace Hunter Barco (10-3 in 2021), sophomore Timmy Manning (0-0 in 2021) on Saturday (4 p.m.) and freshman Pierce Coppola Sunday (12 noon). WOMEN’S HOOPS: GATORS MOVE INTO TIE FOR SECOND IN SEC Not only did the Gators get their 20th overall win and 10th SEC win of the season Thursday night at the O-Dome when they took down Arkansas (16-9, 6-6 SEC) 76-67, but combined with Tennessee’s stunning loss to Alabama, UF finds itself in a three-way tie for second place in the SEC. This is Florida’s first 20-win season since the 2015-16 season, also the first time the Gators have won 10 SEC games since that year. Kelly Rae Finley has four games to equal or better the school record 11 SEC wins set by the 2000-01 Gators coached by Carol Ross. The Gators also have a chance to equal or better the school record for wins in a season (24) set by Ross (in 1998 and 2001) and Butler (2016). In beating Arkansas, the Gators placed four in double figures led by Kiki Smith, whose stat line read 19 points, seven rebounds five assists and a steal. Manu de Oliveira added 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals while Zippy Broughton had 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block and Nina Rickards had 10 points. The Gators travel to No. 11 LSU on Sunday. Thursday’s scores: NO. 17 FLORIDA (20-6, 10-3 SEC) 76, Arkansas (16-9, 6-6 SEC) 67; Alabama (13-11, 4-9 SEC) 74, No. 12 Tennessee (21-5, 10-3 SEC) 64; No. 1 South Carolina (24-1, 12-1 SEC) 75, Auburn (9-15, 1-12 SEC) 38; No. 21 Georgia (18-7, 7-6 SEC 74), Missouri (16-10, 5-8 SEC) 49; Kentucky (11-11, 4-8 SEC) 69, Vanderbilt (12-14, 3-9 SEC) 65; No. 11 LSU (22-4, 10-3 SEC) 71, Mississippi State (15-10, 6-7 SEC) 59; Ole Miss (19-6, 7-5 SEC) 74, Texas A&M (14-11, 4-9 SEC) 54 Sunday’s games: NO. 17 FLORIDA (20-6, 10-3 SEC) at No. 11 LSU (22-4, 10-3 SEC); Alabama (13-11, 4-9 SEC) at Texas A&M (14-11, 4-9 SEC); No. 12 Tennessee (21-5, 10-3 SEC) at No. 1 South Carolina (24-1, 12-1 SEC); No. 21 Georgia (18-7, 7-6 SEC) at Auburn (9-15, 1-12 SEC); Kentucky (11-11, 4-8 SEC) at Arkansas (16-9, 6-6 SEC); Ole Miss (19-6, 7-5 SEC) at Vanderbilt (12-14, 3-9 SEC); Mississippi State (15-10, 6-7 SEC) at Missouri (16-10, 5-8 SEC) CAN THE GATORS TAKE DOWN NO. 1 AUBURN? Florida can rectify a couple of losses in games that should have been won Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN) if they can score an upset over No. 2 Auburn (24-2, 12-1 SEC) at the O-Dome. This will be the second meeting of the two teams. At Auburn, the Tigers went on a 22-10 spurt in the game’s final seven minutes to take an 85-73 win. Florida comes into the game on the heels of a 2-game losing skid that has dropped their NCAA Net Ranking down to No. 54. Auburn is ranked No. 2 in both the AP and Coaches polls and has a No. 7 NCAA Net Ranking. Saturday’s games: No. 2 Auburn (24-2, 12-1 SEC) at FLORIDA (16-10, 6-7 SEC); No. 25 Alabama (17-9, 7-6 SEC) at No. 4 Kentucky (21-5, 10-3 SEC); Ole Miss (12-14, 3-10 SEC) at Georgia (6-20, 1-12 SEC); LSU (19-7, 7-6 SEC) at South Carolina (15-10, 6-7 SEC); No. 16 Tennessee (19-6, 10-3 SEC) at No. 23 Arkansas (20-6, 9-4 SEC); Texas A&M (16-10, 5-8 SEC) at Vanderbilt (13-12, 5-8 SEC) SOFTBALL: GATORS HOST T-MOBILE TOURNAMENT The competition toughens up a bit for Florida’s 4th-ranked softball team this weekend. The Gators (6-0), who have outscored their six opponents 47-2, host the T-Mobile Tournament, opening with 14th-ranked Duke (4-1) tonight at 6 p.m. The Gators will play two on Saturday, facing Villanova (2-3) at 11:30 a.m. followed by Louisville (4-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday, the Gators finish off the tournament with Florida A&M (1-3) at 2 p.m. The Gators have a 0.18 team ERA, led by freshman Lexi Delbrey (2-0, 0.00 ERA), Natalie Lugo (1-0, 0.00 ERA) and Elizabeth Hightower (3-0, 0.49 ERA). Freshman Kendra Falby leads the team in hitting at .529 with a homer and 7-7 on stolen bases. Cheyenne Lindsey and Reagan Walsh both have grand slams and eight RBI. SEC SWIMMING: UF MEN INCREASE LEAD; UF WOMEN MOVE INTO THIRD Kieran Smith’s gold medal 3:39.33 swim in the 400 IM was the highlight for the 5th-ranked Florida men as they continued to zero in on their 10th straight SEC Swimming and Diving Championship, stretching their lead through three days to 248 points over second place Georgia. Florida’s 17th-ranked women, in fifth place when the day began, finished strong to move up to third place, just 17 points behind second place Georgia. Day 3 men’s standings: 1. FLORIDA 744; 2. Georgia 496; 3. Tennessee 483.5; 4. Alabama 481; 5. Texas A&M 457.5; 6. Auburn 414.5; 7. Missouri 344; 8. Kentucky 322; 9. LSU 305; 10. South Carolina 221.5 Day 3 women’s standings: 1. Tennessee 758.5; 2. Georgia 537; 3. FLORIDA 520; 4. Kentucky 496; 5. Alabama 485; 6. Texas A&M 363; 7. LSU 314; 8. South Carolina 272; 9. Missouri 271.5; 10. Auburn 258; 11. Arkansas 170; 12. Vanderbilt 90 PRE-SPRING POSITION REVIEW: TIGHT ENDS Tight end and spring football is like a trip through uncharted waters. There are four tight ends who will be available for spring practice, but only one – Keon Zipperer Gamble (career 25 catches, 309 yards, 3 touchdowns) has ever caught a pass. In Billy Napier’s offense, tight ends will see the football, but rarely as the featured receiver. Napier likes a 60-40 run/pass ratio so he’s fond of tight ends who function like a third tackle. Of the four on the roster, none are that huge guy on the end of the line. Keon Zipperer (6-3, 234, JR): He’s spent as much time in the slot and flanked out wide as he has in a traditional tight end stance. Can he handle the blocking? Will he be moved to slot or function as an H-back. Jonathan Odom (6-5, 245, SO): The son of Gator All-American offensive tackle Jason Odom, he doesn’t have dad’s size but he has a frame that could add the pounds. He played in seven games last year, mostly on special teams. Nick Elksnis (6-6, 232, RFR): He early enrolled last spring and drew rave reviews, but in the fall played in only four games and took a redshirt. He’s supposed to have great hands and athleticism to be a serious threat in the middle of the field. Gage Wilcox (6-4, 241, RFR): He took a redshirt and played in only one game in 2021. He’s added 20 pounds since arriving at UF. Turned down Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State to come to UF. Assessment: It’s anybody’s guess how Napier is going to use these guys. Zipperer and Elksnis seem better suited for H-back or slot. Odom and Wilcox need to add some weight and strength if they’re going to play the traditional hand in the ground role. Napier signed three tight ends who will arrive in the summer, two of which have prototypical tight end size. NICK SABAN ON ALABAMA’S LOSS IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Nick Saban didn’t call out players by name Thursday but he made it perfectly clear that three underperforming wide receivers didn’t get the job done in the national championship loss to Georgia. With John Metchie III out with a knee injury suffered in the SEC Championship win over Georgia and Jameson Williams going down in the second quarter of the national championship game, it was up to some of the younger wide receivers to pick up the slack but their inability to get open stymied the Alabama offense. At the Alabama Football Coaches Association meetings, Saban made it perfectly clear that he holds the younger wide receivers accountable for their lack of a consistent work ethic during the regular season: “Now, we were playing with guys that typically didn’t have to play at those positions. The lesson to be learned is there were three guys, and I’m not calling out any names, that basically didn’t do the things they needed to do throughout the season because they were frustrated with their circumstance … They’re frustrated with their circumstance because they’re not playing as much as they want to. They’re outcome oriented, they want to worry about how many balls they catch or how much playing time they get or whatever it is. So they don’t focus every day on being a complete player at their position, and they don’t work in practice and prepare for the games because they say to themselves, ‘Why should I do this? I’m not gonna play anyway.’ “So, we had three guys, they all had a significant role in the national championship game, and not one of them, not one, could take advantage of the opportunity that they had, because they never ground through it. They never made themselves the best player they could be. When they got the opportunity, they couldn’t do it. That’s a lesson for everybody. What comes first? Playing time? Or making sure that you’re ready to play and create value for yourself when you get the opportunity?” ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: ESPN basketball analyst/commentator Jay Bilas, who is also a member of the NCAA Basketball Competition Committee, has a serious issue with officiating in the college game. To put it mildly, Bilas thinks officiating sucks this year and he says it’s only getting worse the farther we get into the season. He won’t get any argument from me. Bilas writes, “Turn on any major conference game, and you will see arm bars on ball handlers not in the post, handchecking, bumping and chucking of cutters, illegally riding cutters and screeners off of their paths, and overt physicality in the post area, including a lack of enforcement of verticality on shooters. Whatever you see on the floor in major conferences this season is not basketball and would not be allowed in the NBA or FIBA. Hell, it would not be allowed in the NFL on wide receivers. It is wrong and needs to be seriously addressed.” Bilas points out several times that foul calls are at an all-time low but the game is more physical than it has been in years. In the four games since he returned from his shoulder injury, Colin Castleton has been to the foul line 16 times (made 13), an average of four times a game. There are people doing hard time in Raiford for less than what Castleton has had to endure in the paint. He gets pounded and should have been at the foul line at least 10 times every single game. What bothers me most – and I’m not just talking Florida basketball here but college basketball in general – is that a post guy like Castleton can get pounded and there is no call, yet those same zebras will call a touch foul. It’s beyond weird. It’s disgusting. Some of this is the fault of bad officials, which the SEC seems to have an abundance of. Coaches don’t mind a game called by Doug Shows, Doug Sirmons or Ted Valentine because they know they’ll get a consistently called game. That’s not true of most of the officials in the league, however. Joe Lindsay, Pat Adams, Ron Groover and a few others keep getting worse. Tony Green? His sell-by date expired 10 years ago. Nice guy but too long in the tooth and no longer quick enough to handle the game.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” – Sun Tzu from “The Art of War” This is not a hit piece on former Florida football coach Dan Mullen and his staff. They had their own way of doing things and for their first 35 games – UF went 29-6 – what they were doing worked. Then, for reasons which are still uncertain, things went sideways in a hurry, starting with three straight losses at the end of the 2020 COVID season. The carryover to 2021 was evident as the Gators took a roller coaster ride that drove the fan base insane. How could a team that could dominate Alabama for three quarters lose by 23 to South Carolina? How is it that the Gators struggled to win their final two games just to get invited to a third tier bowl? The questions linger. How can you go from a team that plays in the Peach, Orange and Cotton bowls on consecutive years go so far in the tank that it can’t get fired up to beat UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl, knowing fully well that UCF was treating it like its Super Bowl? Well, the past is the past and there is no sense in lingering there. As is said so often, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Mullen and his staff were pink-slipped, Billy Napier was hired, and a brand new era of Florida football has been ushered in. Perhaps, we should change that. Ushered doesn’t begin to explain what Napier has done in a little more than two months. It’s like he’s brought in a HAZMAT team and they are busy sterilizing everything football related, diligently removing the toxicity that was allowed to creep into and destabilize the entire program. Rather than go into gory details, here is just one example of how things have changed. Shortly after taking over as Florida’s head coach, Napier brought in Kelsee Gomes from UNC as the director of sports nutrition. Immediately, the food got better and more importantly, the way the players ate was improved. Instead of hot boxes where players got their food and took it home, buffets became the norm. Instead of carloads of unopened, uneaten food being taken nightly to a homeless shelter, players saw their diet improved. Better nutrition makes for bigger, stronger, faster football players, the kind you need if you intend to not only compete with but win against the likes of Alabama and Georgia. A better diet was only one element of each player’s daily routine that Napier changed immediately. He came to UF determined to grab each player by his football lapels and shake out the old way of doing things. “The self-discipline of the player, what he eats, is he hydrated, the sleep component, the attitude of the player, the body language of the player,” Napier said in describing just a few of the changes that have taken place. It amounts to a total team makeover that begins with taking personal inventory. No two players are alike, but understanding what each player puts in his body, how he rests and what goes on in his head contribute to the overall wellness of the team. Getting everybody on the same page in the first few weeks led to the second phase of Napier’s eight-phase plan for 2022 success. We’re now in the Identity Program. It’s a good name for this phase because it goes far beyond what we’ve grown to know as mat drills, those early morning workouts designed to push players to their competitive limits and toughen them up both in the weight room and with drills intended to increase strength and agility while stressing teamwork and camaraderie. It is an exercise in team building, every bit as important as improved strength and agility. Napier understands, as did the ancient Chinese warrior Sun Tzu, that the preparation for the battles that will be fought on the football fields of the Southeastern Conference in the fall has already begun. Knowing the enemy is certainly important, but right now the focus is on knowing yourself. It’s important for every player to know that he’s capable of exceeding his perceived limitations and understanding the importance of working together with teammates. “This has nothing to do with physical talent or ability,” Napier said a week ago when he met with the media to answer questions about the pre-spring practice preparations that are his Identity Program. And just what is an Identity Program and what makes this different than the approach taken at any one of the 130 Division I football schools that engage in some sort of pre-spring workout program? “Identity is the qualities and beliefs that make a group different than other people,” Napier said. “I think every team around the country does an offseason program. We would like to think we do it better and that we have a specific plan in this area, so the key here is that the players make a commitment to the prescribed work the right way, really believe in the power of routine, structure discipline. And, certain this workload will challenge self-discipline for the players. We need to control the controllables and we need to work hard to create the identity of our team and that starts inside out. “It starts with the players as people. We all know that significant change is always made from the inside out.” Hone in that word discipline. Now think back to the SEC Championship Game against Alabama in 2020. Florida lost that game, 52-46. Kyle Trask, who lit up Alabama for 408 yards and three touchdown passes, might tell you the Gators simply ran out of time. There was no stopping him that day. Another two minutes? Well, maybe the Gators would have been in the College Football Playoff. So why didn’t Florida win the game? You could point to key penalties, all of them involving discipline, that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. There was that first quarter personal foul that negated a third down stop at the Alabama 34. That kept a touchdown drive alive. In the second quarter a Florida player eased up before he reached the sideline. Alabama got the snap off while he was still on the field. A substitution infraction negated an incomplete pass on third down. For the second time, rather than punt, Bama went on to score a TD. Two touchdowns right there, both of them because of a lack of discipline. A week earlier Florida lost to LSU in the “Shoe-Gate” game. Another case of no discipline. In 2021, the Gators lost to Kentucky in Lexington, a game in which UF was flagged for 15 penalties. There were eight false starts and two delays of game. Florida took a 20-13 loss in a game that a disciplined team could have and should have won by two touchdowns. Fast forward to the Gasparilla Bowl. Florida players were seen partying well into the night on the eve of the bowl game. The Gators were nonchalant. Because they had never beaten Florida, UCF viewed this as the most important game in school history, which had everything to do with why the Knights won the game. In this 29-17 beating – and it could have been worse – the Gators committed eight penalties good for 85 yards. UCF on the other hand committed four. Penalties didn’t necessarily cause the Gators to lose the game, but they contributed in a mighty way. It is fairly obvious from Napier’s demeanor that he’ll live with effort penalties, but penalties that are the result of a lack of discipline? No way. Evident in the way the Gators ended 2020 and throughout the 2021 season was a lack of leadership. It’s easy to place all the blame on a coaching staff now departed, but players have to be held accountable as well. “When your best players are the most accountable players on your team, you have a chance to do something special,” Urban Meyer said during Florida’s run to the 2008 national championship. There is a trickle-down effect of accountability. When your best players lead by example and hold themselves accountable, their words resonate with the rest of the team. There is a reason why the Gators would have run through brick walls to follow the leadership of Tim Tebow, the Pouncey Twins, Ahmad Black and Brandon Spikes. Is there an alpha male or several alpha males capable of rallying the team around them by their work ethic? That’s another reason for the Identity Program. It is to help Napier and his assistants learn who the leaders are so they can lean on them once spring football practice begins. “We spent a lot of time talking to the team about the way you put yourself in a position to be a leader is to do that with your example,” Napier said. “It’s the most powerful tool that we have for them to be consistent, for them to establish some credibility so that down the road here when they do speak up and we do give the opportunity that they can be impactful. We’re in the process of figuring all that out.” Billy Napier has been on the job at Florida a little more than two months, during which time he has hired a coaching staff that most experts say is the most impressive group of assistants brought in by any new coach. Additionally, he’s brought in his “army” of support staff that is designed to significantly narrow the advantages of Alabama, Georgia and several other schools that have, in the past, spent more money and more man hours attracting talent and then doing whatever is necessary to develop the talent into the best players. By the end of the spring, Florida’s new stand-alone football facility will open its doors. It will not only have all the bells and whistles that attract recruits, but long needed improvements training, nutrition and every other aspect of a Florida football player’s daily life. When the fall arrives and it’s time for the battles to shift to the stadiums that make up the SEC, Napier’s team of assistants and analysts will have viewed hundreds of hours of film on every Florida opponent. Knowing the enemy is only part of the winning process. What happens between now and the fall will allow Napier to know his team, who the leaders are, who the followers are, where the strengths are and unfortunately, where are the weak links. There are no guarantees that the Gators are going to win every battle, but because Napier’s plan is to ensure there will be no lack of preparation for anything that comes there way, we can know there will be no fear and perhaps, there will be a level of confidence that we haven’t seen in some time. Back in the day, the Gators were known for their swagger. That has been missing for some time. From 1990-2009, the Florida Gators were the envy of the rest of the Southeastern Conference and the winningest team in the entire nation. During that 20-year span, the Gators were 202-52-1, nine games better in the win column than second place Ohio State, and 20 more wins than Tennessee, the second best team in the SEC. During that time, Florida won three national championships and eight SEC titles. Since 2010, the Gators are 95-57. They’ve endured three losing seasons. They haven’t won an SEC title and have only made it to the SEC Championship Game three times. There is no shock and awe when it comes to Florida football anymore. When the Gators show up, they’re still hated by everyone else but that’s because old habits are hard to break. No one thinks of UF as unbeatable anymore and that is precisely what Billy Napier intends to change. He knows that he what has to be done to physically close the gap between Alabama and Georgia, who reign supreme at the top of the SEC. That’s why he brought in strength and conditioning coordinator Mark Hocke, who is the assistant head coach. But in addition to transforming bodies and improving speed and agility, Hocke will be working daily to conquer an even greater distance than the physical gap between the SEC’s tough guys and that is the distance between the ears of this football team. If they don’t believe in what they’re doing and in the people who are leading them into battle, they won’t win on the field. The Gators need to regain the swagger and the confidence that made other teams quake at the thought of playing the University of Florida. As Sun Tzu once said, “Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.” That’s what Billy Napier is trying to instill, that confidence that comes with being stronger physically, tougher emotionally and supremely confident that there isn’t a team out there that can beat the Florida Gators.

Transcribed from an interview on The Buddy Martin Show By KYLE CURTIS, GatorBait Intern “I think my favorite position to play is inside linebacker, because during the season on scout defense I was playing inside linebacker and when I was playing it was much easier. I was there every time as inside linebacker. It was much easier than holding an inside slot receiver, so I like that more than star.” --Diwun Black Question: What is it about your game that translates so well to this defense? Answer: “Just being so big and long and versatile with my speed. Going sideline to sideline is my biggest aspect on defense.” Question: Why was wearing the orange and blue and coming to Florida so important to you? Answer: “I was committed to Mississippi State under Dan Mullen and then once he left, I didn't get a UF offer yet, but I always wanted to play at UF. So, when Dan Mullen went to Florida, I texted him and was like ‘I guess I’m about to be a Gator now.’ And then a couple of weeks later he had sent me my official offer. I went to my first visit, and I had been to a bunch of different college campuses but when I went to Florida it was different. I had to be here.” Question: How are the players feeling after recruiting season has ended? Answer: “We feel good. We are always on Twitter trying to build the recruiting process. Trying to get it bigger than what it is now. But right now, I think we just did it alone. So, we just started pushing forward.” Question: You already seem to be a fan favorite, what is it about the fans that excite you? Answer: “After I committed, since the first day I wanted to be a Gator, even after I went JUCO they stayed loyal, they stayed the same. They would even inbox me, motivate me through JUCO. Some would even watch my games, and it was fans that I wouldn’t even follow them. It’s just the love and support through two years of going through JUCO the love still stayed the same, it’s just unreal here.” Question: How much does your mom mean to you and what has she done for your football career? Answer: “My mom means everything to me. She keeps me pushing through school, football. She was there for me when I had to move to Florida to attend another high school. She was scared for me moving, but she knew what we had to do to get where I needed to be. That’s my queen.” Question: How has NIL affected you and your teammates up to this point? Answer: “We all love it; I love making it to events. We get to see the fans, eat with them, and take pictures. I love all of that, I love doing it. My favorite one we went bowling, it was a bunch of fun.” Happy to be at Florida, Diwun Black shares the joy. (UAAPhoto) Question: How much did JUCO prepare you for ultimately ending up at Florida? Answer: “I think it prepared me a lot, especially with all the workouts and keeping a straight mind. I think it gave me an extra edge instead of coming straight out of high school. I really like that I went JUCO first because I picked up a lot of things that help me at Florida.” Question: You were so happy to put on the uniform when you got to campus, can you talk about your excitement to be a Gator? Answer: “First day I got to campus, and I moved into keys it was really unreal… It is still so surreal to me. I go outside and I’m looking at the building like yeah. I walked to the stadium and tapped on the gator head and it’s crazy.” Question: What do you bring to the team, not from an athletic standpoint, but rather in the locker room as a teammate? Answer: “I bring a lot of confidence. I bring energy to my teammates, and I will be competitive with them. I will race them, beat them out in a drill, whatever. It’s just the whole vibe of being great and being cool at the same time. My energy is always there, never down.” Question: Through JUCO you were always Florida, what was it about UF that kept you committed throughout that process? Answer: “When I went JUCO I actually picked up more division one offers. I used to tell my coach if a coach came and talked to him tell him ‘I’m UF, I’m good’. I wouldn’t change. After I went and I made a post that I’m coming back home.” Question: What’s your strength as an inside linebacker? Answer: “Recently I just weighed in at 218 but now I’m 227. Me and AR can do the most with our size on the team. Our body movement and our size, I think me and him have versatility.” Question: What are learning about you through Gator Collective that you wouldn’t have known without it? Answer: “I think I came down I never knew I was that social. I never thought I’d be hanging around that many people and love it. When I started Gator Collective, and I was hanging out with friends and fans I didn’t want to leave. It was so cool to me seeing kids happy to see me in their presence. I don’t leave until everyone else leaves.” Question: What is your favorite position to play and where will you lineup this year? Answer: “I think my favorite position to play is inside linebacker, because during the season on scout defense I was playing inside linebacker and when I was playing it was much easier. I was there every time as inside linebacker. It was much easier than holding an inside slot receiver, so I like that more than star.” Question: Basketball background? Answer: “When I moved to Osceola, we won a state championship. My senior year I didn’t lose a game in Florida. I used to play five on five with the girls basketball team, they used to call me LeBron.” Question: Can you tell me about Mark Hocke and the matt drills? Answer: “I puked the first day I think, matter of fact, I think half of the team of puked. It’s tough, I even breathe hard during the warmups. He makes it fun though, it’s hard, but he makes it fun and competitive… I can’t wait until the season starts.” Question: How good can Anthony Richardson be? Answer: “He’s deadly now. We watch him in practice, and he can run and if he gets more than three seconds in the pocket it it’s over. He can throw on the run, he’s getting bigger and better every day.” Question: How do you feel about the new staff coming in and how welcoming has it been? Answer: “It hasn’t been hard. They are really open; each coach come in every day and shows us where they came from and show us their family. I love my strength coach. It’s amazing to me how everyone has bought in so fast to the process already.”

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: PRE-SPRING POSITION REVIEW: WIDE RECEIVERS Billy Napier inherits nine wide receivers who have all caught at least one pass in their UF careers, but the closest thing to a go-to guy is Justin Shorter, a former 5-star recruit who oozes potential but has never been the focal point of the passing game. Xzavier Henderson is another one with marvelous potential but he’s never had a real chance to show it. Is it a case of needing a new offense with a better QB to bring out the best in Shorter, Henderson and the other receivers on the roster, or is it a case of Florida lacking the kind of receivers who can scare the bejabbers out of opposing defensive coordinators? In Napier’s four years at Louisiana, the Rajin Cajuns ran the ball 59 percent of the time (2,121 rushing attempts; 1,475 passes) but the numbers were remarkably balanced – 11,725 rushing yards (221.22 per game) and 11,545 passing yards (217.83 per game). We can probably expect a similar offensive style out of the Gators in the fall. Here are the nine scholarship receivers who will be going through spring practice: Jordan Pouncey (6-1, 210 Super SR): He’s been at Florida two years since transferring in from Texas and has a 27-yard catch for a TD against Oklahoma to show for it. He doesn’t count against the 85-man roster. He has a good work ethic that hopefully will rub off on the younger guys. Justin Shorter (6-5, 228, RJR): I am convinced that Shorter played all year with COVID. Why do I say that? Well, he ran wide open in opposing secondaries and nobody wanted to cover him. Emory Jones rarely threw it to him, obviously because he didn’t want germs on the football. Of course, I’m kidding, because Shorter did catch 41 passes for 550 yards but if he had gotten the ball as often as he was open, he would have had a monster year. With his combination of size and speed, he should be the focal point in Billy Napier’s new offense. He’s a former 5-star recruit who spent two years at Penn State. Ja’Markis Weston (6-3, 216, RJR): We’ve spent two years hearing that Weston is a raw but talented receiver who rips and shreds in practice. That hasn’t translated to on the field production when it counts, however. His production is six catches for 81 yards. He needs a big spring. Trent Whittemore (6-4, 210, RSO): Injuries have curtailed his production the last two years, but he’s as comfortable and capable outside as he is in the slot, which is his likely landing place in the new offense. His two-year totals are 29 catches for 328 yards and two touchdowns. He’s also 3-4 as a passer for 41 yards and two touchdowns. Ja’Quavion Fraziars (6-3, 212, SO): He’s another big, fast guy whose body and practice laurels have yet to show up when the games count for real. Last year he had five catches for 35 yards and two touchdowns. Xzavier Henderson (6-3, 193, SO): He’s another one that we keep waiting on to break out. He only had one game last year to write home to mom about and that was South Florida when he had four catches for 68 yards and a TD. His two-year totals are 35 catches for 425 yards and three TDs. This is a very important spring for him. He desperately needs to be productive. Daejon Reynolds (6-2, 208, RFR): He played in the South Florida game and then sat the rest of 2021. He was a big time recruit out of high school when he was just too big and too strong for the DBs he faced. Marcus Burke (6-4, 183, RFR): When he caught two passes for 73 yards in the loss to South Carolina everyone wondered where he had been all year. He has a chance to move way up the depth chart this spring. He’s long and deceptively fast. Assessment: Shorter, Henderson and Whittemore are a nice foundation but none of them has really shown the ability to consistently stretch the defense. Is that because they aren’t that fast or because the UF offense in the hands of Emory Jones just wasn’t geared to getting the ball down the field? A trademark of Napier’s offenses at Louisiana was spreading the ball around and throwing deep off play action. In 2021, 11 different receivers caught at least 11 passes. It’s probably too early to put a label on what the UF offense will look like, but the Gators will throw the ball vertically. More Florida football stuff: Former UF D-line coach David Turner is joining Geoff Collins’ staff at Georgia Tech. Turner and Collins worked together at Mississippi State when Collins was Dan Mullen’s DC … Billy Napier is reportedly hiring Benedict Hyppolite from Miami as a quality control assistant. KELLY RAE FINLEY AND THE GATORS COULD ACHIEVE SOME MILESTONES TONIGHT This remarkable turn for the better that the 17th-ranked Gators (19-6, 9-3 SEC) are going through under the direction of Kelly Rae Finley – if she’s not the SEC Coach of the Year then there is something wrong – has a chance for a couple of nice milestones tonight when Arkansas (16-8, 6-5 SEC) visits the O-Dome (7 p.m., SEC Network+). With a win, Finley could become the only first-year coach in Florida history to win 20 games. The Gators are 9-3 in SEC play so with a win tonight, they could become the first Florida team with 10 SEC wins since Amanda Butler did it in 2016. The Gators have only won 10 or more SEC games three times in school history. The first two were by Carol Ross, who went 11-3 in 2001 and 10-4 in 1998. The school record for wins in a season – 24, twice by Ross and once by Butler – could either be equaled or bettered by Finley. The Gators have won four in a row and nine of their last 10 games. What’s remarkable about this run that has turned UF into the second hottest team in the league is that the Gators don’t lead the SEC in a single team or individual category. SEC Women’s Basketball Thursday’s games: Arkansas (16-8, 6-5 SEC) at NO. 17 FLORIDA (19-6, 9-3 SEC); Auburn (9-14, 1-11 SEC) at No. 1 South Carolina (23-1, 11-1 SEC); No. 11 LSU (21-4, 9-3 SEC) at Mississippi State (15-9, 6-6 SEC); No. 12 Tennessee (21-4, 10-2 SEC) at Alabama (12-11, 3-9 SEC); Missouri (16-9, 5-7 SEC) at No. 21 Georgia (17-7, 6-6 SEC); Vanderbilt (12-14, 3-9 SEC) at Kentucky (11-11, 4-8 SEC); Texas A&M (14-10, 4-8 SEC) at Ole Miss (18-6, 6-5 SEC) SEC Men’s Basketball Wednesday’s scores: No. 1 Auburn (24-2, 12-1 SEC) 94, Vanderbilt (13-12, 5-8 SEC) 80; No. 25 Alabama (17-9, 7-6 SEC) 80, Mississippi State (14-11, 5-7 SEC) 75; LSU (19-7, 7-6 SEC) 84, Georgia (6-20, 1-12 SEC) 65 Saturday’s games: No. 1 Auburn (24-2, 12-1 SEC) at FLORIDA (16-10, 6-7 SEC); No. 25 Alabama (17-9, 7-6 SEC) at No. 4 Kentucky (21-5, 10-3 SEC); Ole Miss (12-14, 3-10 SEC) at Georgia (6-20, 1-12 SEC); LSU (19-7, 7-6 SEC) at South Carolina (15-10, 6-7 SEC); No. 16 Tennessee (19-6, 10-3 SEC) at No. 23 Arkansas (20-6, 9-4 SEC); Texas A&M (16-10, 5-8 SEC) at Vanderbilt (13-12, 5-8 SEC) SOFTBALL: UF 47, EVERYBODY ELSE 2 The Gators (6-0) got their third straight run-rule win Wednesday night at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium when they scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to walk off with an 8-0 win over Jacksonville. It was Florida’s fourth shutout of the season, lowering the team ERA to 0.18. Freshman Lexi Delbrey (2-0) overcame some control issues in the first inning when she walked the bases full to get the win. Delbrey struck out nine and allowed two hits. She hasn’t allowed a run in 12-1/3 innings. Elizabeth Hightower pitched the final two innings, giving up one hit and one walk with two strikeouts. The Gators managed only eight hits with Cheyenne Lindsey going 2-3 with a run-scoring triple. Freshman leadoff hitter Kendra Falby was only 1-3 but she was on base three times, scored three runs and stole her sixth and seventh bases of the season. Skylar Wallace had a two-run double and a sacrifice fly. Freshman Reagan Walsh hit a double and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Next up for the Gators, who have outscored their six opponents 47-2, is Duke in the first round of the T-Mobile Tournament that starts Friday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. SEC SWIM CHAMPIONSHIPS: GATOR MEN FIRST, WOMEN FIFTH Led by the 200 meter freestyle relay team of Adam Chaney, Eric Freise, Kieran Smith and Macguire McDuff, the Florida men recorded the fastest time in the nation this season while setting an SEC meet record of 1:15.18. That vaulted the nationally 5th-ranked Gators into a commanding lead over second place Texas A&M at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in Knoxville. Adding to Florida’s dominance on Wednesday were Smith with a silver medal performance in the 500 freestyle and Chaney with a bronze in the 50 freestyle. The Gators are seeking their 10th consecutive SEC championship at the meet that runs through Saturday. The Florida women moved up two spots to fifth place. Day 2 men’s standings: 1. FLORIDA 497; 2. Texas A&M 360; 3. Alabama 358; 4. Tennessee 338.5; 5. Georgia 308; 6. Auburn 307; 7. (tie) Kentucky 277 and LSU 277; 9. Missouri 269; 10. South Carolina 202.5 Day 2 women’s standings: 1. Tennessee 467.5; 2. Georgia 373; 3. Alabama 367; 4. Kentucky; 5. FLORIDA 287; 6. Texas A&M 236; 7. Auburn 208; 8. Missouri 206.5; 9. LSU 202; 10. South Carolina 188; 11. Arkansas 163; 12. Vanderbilt 90 SEC FOOTBALL Alabama: St. Nick’s Rehab Center for Wayward Coaches will be the new home of former Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley, who joins the Bama staff as a senior offensive analyst. Dooley, who spent five years working for Nick Saban at LSU, spent the last two years working on the New York Giants offensive staff. Arkansas: Athletic director Sam Yurachek received a contract extension that will pay him $1.25 million per year. Georgia: Offensive coordinator Todd Monken has gotten a raise to $1.25 million per year and defensive line coach Tray Scott has gotten a raise to $700,000 per year. Missouri: Troy cornerbacks coach Al Pogue is expected to join the Mizzou staff as the cornerbacks coach. Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin is hiring Western Kentucky defensive coordinator Maurice Crum as his co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Tennessee: NIL collective Spyre is planning to make UT quarterback Hendon Hooker a millionaire. Vanderbilt: Hybrid LB/S DeRickey Wright has placed his name in the transfer portal. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: We are two months away from the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin but if you are prone to wager money on something other than the outcome of ball games, then here are three things you should make some money on – (1) The moment Texas and Oklahoma join the league the SEC will go to a nine-game schedule; (2) once it’s 16 teams a pod system where each team plays three permanent rivals and then plays every other team in the league on a home and home basis every four years; and (3) the SEC will eliminate divisions and instead the best two teams will play in the SEC Championship Game. I feel very strongly that the league will adapt items one and two this spring because it will get rid of this silly scheduling problem we have now where you can go years between home and home games. This will ensure better games for television and better television games mean more money for every team in the SEC. As for item three, I think that’s what Greg Sankey would prefer although he may have to wait a year to get it approved. He would much rather see the two teams with the best records play for the title than perhaps an unbeaten team from one division playing an 8-4 team from the other division. The College Football Playoff is going to expand and Greg Sankey wants to stay ahead of the curve. By making changes sooner and not later, he will force the other leagues to take similar actions. Sankey has insight. The other conference commissioners wear bifocals.

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: SNATCHING DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY Forget the stupid foul on the 3-point shooter with 19.5 seconds left. Forget also how the Gators squandered away the final 19.5 seconds and settled for a poor shot when they only needed two to win and Colin Castleton didn’t even sniff the basketball. Yes, those are factors in Florida’s 56-55 loss at the hands of Texas A&M (16-10, 5-8 SEC) in College Station, but when it comes right down to it, this game was lost in a first half that saw the Gators score only six points in the game’s first 6:03 and then go scoreless until Colin Castleton was freed up for a dunk with 6:35 to go. Prior to Castleton’s dunk, the Gators were 3-19 from the field. In the final 6:53, they were 4-13 including a pair of 3-pointers. Florida was 7-32 overall from the field and 2-15 from the 3-point line in the first half. Complicating matters were 10 Florida turnovers in the first half that the Aggies converted into 17 points as they took a 27-20 lead at the intermission. There is the game, right there. The foul by Fleming and his missed shot didn’t lose the game although they did contribute. “We didn’t lose the game because of one of those couple plays,” Florida coach Mike White said. “There were 50 things we could have done better.” And most of what could have been done better was on the offensive end of the floor. Defensively, the Gators were exceptional. They held the Aggies to 33.9 percent shooting overall and just 2-18 (11.1 percent) from the 3-point line. When you hold a team to 56 points and that kind of miserable shooting night, you should win the game if you get anything at all on the offensive end. Offensively, the Gators broke out of their funk down the stretch when they rallied from a 12-point deficit (43-31) in the game’s final 10:45, sparked by, of all people, Niels Lane, who scored all six of his points in the second half and contributed three very timely assists including two that led to dunks by Castleton and the third that got Tyree Appleby his only 3-pointer of the game that gave UF a 52-51 lead with 2:31 to go. Fleming hit a 3-ball with 1:44 left that gave UF a 55-51 lead but UF wouldn’t score again as the Aggies scored the final five points to pick up the win. This is a game Florida had no business losing. A lot of folks will point fingers at White but he wasn’t the one who turning the ball over or missing first half layups and he’s not the one who, on so many trips down the floor, failed to get the ball into Castleton, who had a warrior’s game – 15 points, 15 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. In the first half, whenever the Gators got the ball to Castleton he was swarmed by two and three Aggies every touch. He was banged around plenty although he only got to the foul line five times (made all five). When he got the ball out to the perimeter to open shooters, they couldn’t deliver. In the second half, the ball worked its way into Castleton more often, but in the final 19.5 seconds, he didn’t get a touch. The way the Aggies were trying to stop him, there is a chance he could have found someone a far better shot than Fleming took if an entry pass had been made. The loss puts the Gators in a most precarious position. They’ve got No. 1 Auburn coming to Gainesville Saturday and a third straight loss might put UF in position to at least make the SEC Tournament semifinals to get into the NCAA. SEC Basketball Tuesday’s scores: Texas A&M (16-10, 5-8 SEC) 56, FLORIDA (16-10, 6-7 SEC) 56; South Carolina (15-10, 6-7 SEC) 77, Ole Miss (12-14, 3-10 SEC) 74, OT; No. 23 Arkansas (20-6, 9-4 SEC) 76, Missouri (10-15, 4-8 SEC) 57; No. 16 Tennessee (19-6, 10-3 SEC) , No. 4 Kentucky (21-5, 10-3 SEC) Wednesday’s games: Georgia (6-19, 1-11 SEC) at LSU (18-7, 6-6 SEC); Mississippi State (14-10, 5-6 SEC) at Alabama (16-9, 6-6 SEC); Vanderbilt (13-11, 5-7 SEC) at No. 1 Auburn (23-2, 11-1 SEC) PRE-SPRING POSITION REVIEW: RUNNING BACKS In 2021, with a quarterback-centric running game, the Florida Gators rushed for 2,713 yards and 26 touchdowns in 13 games, averaging 5.48 per carry. Emory Jones carried the ball 43 times more than Dameon Pierce, who averaged 5.74 yards per carry on 100 carries for 13 touchdowns. Over in Lafayette, Billy Napier’s Louisiana Rajin Cajuns ran for 2716 yards in 14 games, averaging 4.81 per carry. The Cajuns were a running back-centric rushing game as three backs all had more carries and more yards than Pierce. You can be sure that Billy Napier is committed to running the football and that he likes fresh legs in the game. What you won’t see will be a back of Pierce’s caliber standing on the sideline several series every single game. Pierce only had two games – the win over Florida State and the loss to UCF in the bowl game – when he had at least 10 carries. Pierce only had nine games in which he had 10 or more carries his entire Florida career. Napier inherits three very talented running backs plus he brought Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year Montrell Johnson with him from Louisiana. If Nay’Quan Wright is sufficiently healed from the broken leg he suffered against FSU, then Napier will have all four available in the spring when he installs an offense that forces opponents to load up the box to stop the run. Lorenzo Lingard (6-0, 205, RJR): He had an extraordinary spring in 2021 but couldn’t sniff the field for some reason in the fall. He was a 5-star recruit who signed with Miami but had to battle through injuries. At Florida he’s gotten only 16 carries for 75 yards. He likely would not have remained with the program unless he had some assurances that he’ll get a fair shot this year. Nay’Quan Wright (5-9, 201, RSO): He broke his leg against Florida State in the final regular season game of 2021 and his status for the spring is unknown at this point. If you saw how he lifted the Gators in the second quarter when they came back against Alabama, then you know he’s a hard runner with make-you-miss qualities and a dynamic receiver out of the backfield. So why didn’t he get more than 76 carries (326 yards) and 14 receptions in 2021? Will he be the feature back? Will he stick around? Some think he’s going to be leaving in May. Demarkcus Bowman (5-10, 183, SO): A former 5-star who signed with Clemson out of high school, Bowman has go the distance speed any time he touches the ball. He had limited carries at UF last fall, picking up 81 yards on 14 carries. He is the type of runner who, if he gets the ball in space can change a game. Montrell Johnson (5-11, 210, SO): He was the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year after running for 838 yards and 12 touchdowns for Billy Napier and the Rajin Cajuns in 2021. He had a 99-yard run against Arkansas State and had a four TD game against Ohio U. He’s a between the tackles runner, who has speed to bounce it outside. Assessment: Bowman and Lingard are former 5-star recruits who should have very fresh legs in that they have barely touched the football for the last two years. Both have sprinter’s speed and they should excel in this offense. Wright is an X-factor due to health and the hints on Twitter that he might not be happy. If he’s healthy and committed to the Gators, he’s shown enough with the ball in his hands that he can be very effective both in the running and passing game. Johnson knows the offense and if he’s healthy, he’s going to get the football in his hands. I think Napier would be very happy to have three backs he can rotate in the game. I’m also convinced that his rotation will make a whole lot more sense than what we saw out of running backs coach Greg Knox three of the previous four years. SOFTBALL: UF 39, EVERYBODY ELSE 2 Tim Walton did a bit of juggling with his lineup Tuesday night, inserting freshman Kendra Falby in the leadoff spot and moving everybody one spot down. The result was a 13-hit effort that produced a 13-1 run-rule road win over Jacksonville as the 3rd-ranked Gators moved to 5-0 on the season. Falby, who went 6-11 at the plate with four stolen bases in Florida’s first four games, went 2-3 as the leadoff hitter, scoring three runs and adding her fifth stolen base of the season. Charla Echols, 1-16 down in Tampa over the weekend while hitting in the three spot, moved to cleanup and delivered three hits and three RBI. Freshman Reagan Walsh dropped to fifth in the order and came through with a monster game – three hits including a 2-run single and a grand slam. Sophomore Avery Goelz moved down to ninth in the order and came through with two hits including a 2-run homer. Natalie Lugo got the win for the Gators, giving up three hits while striking out four in four shutout innings. The Gators, who have outscored their five opponents 39-2, will face JU at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium at 6 p.m. tonight (SEC Network+). SWIMMING AND OTHER SPORTS The 5th-ranked Florida men find themselves in sixth place one day into the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in Knoxville while the 17th-ranked Florida women are in seventh. The UF men got winning relay performances in the 200 medley and 800 freestyle. Day 1 men’s standings: 1. Texas A&M 156; 2. Tennessee 139; 3. Kentucky 153; 4. LSU 139; 5. Alabama 137; 6. FLORIDA 133; 7. Missouri 122; 8. Georgia 114; 9. South Carolina 105; 10. Auburn 90. Day 1 women’s standings: 1. Texas A&M 155; 2. LSU 150; 3. Kentucky 148; 4. Tennessee 145; 5. (tie) South Carolina and Georgia 139; 7. FLORIDA 130; 8. Alabama 114; 9. Auburn 107; 10. Missouri 97; 11. Arkansas 78; 12. Vanderbilt 60 Florida’s 7th-ranked lacrosse team won an exhibition match with the Scotland national team, 32-10. Leanne Wong was named SEC Gymnast of the Week after capturing the all-around title with a 39.65 in 2nd-ranked Florida’s 198.150-197.825 win over 5th-ranked LSU. For her perfect 10 on floor, Nya Reed was named SEC Specialist of the Week. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco wrote an open letter to college football Monday. Without actually saying so in the letter, Aresco called Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Jim Phillips a know-nothing bozo. Am I being a little harsh? Okay, he knows something, but Phillips is still a bozo. Would you like to know why? Phillips is the commissioner of a league that has a rotten media contract with ESPN that (a) isn’t set to expire until 2036 and (b) ESPN isn’t in any mood to renegotiate. Most of his top tier schools have to recruit head-to-head with the SEC, which landed 13 (only 14 schools in the SEC) of the top 30 recruiting classes for 2022. The ACC had four, highest ranked Clemson at No. 10. Better players mean better ball games, which is why ESPN is willing to bet the farm on its SEC package and won’t renegotiate with the ACC. The SEC just distributed $56.4 million. The ACC is going to come in at less than $34 million and this is BEFORE the new ESPN contract kicks in and BEFORE Texas and Oklahoma join the league. Phillips, especially, is standing in the way of the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams under the terms of the proposal put forth by Greg Sankey, Bob Bowlsby, Craig Thompson and Jack Swarbrick last summer. Phillips thinks expansion should wait until 2026 and he’s proposing an 8-team playoff. Aresco wants the original proposal to kick in by 2023 if possible, 2024 at the latest.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: PRE-SPRING POSITION REVIEW: THE QUARTERBACKS Typically, the unknown factor at the quarterback position in college football is that kid who emerges as the No. 1 in the spring but has never taken a snap in a real game. In the case of the Florida Gators and new HBC Billy Napier, the unknown factor is last year’s starter, Emory Jones. Back in December before Florida’s Gasparilla Bowl game with UCF, Jones said he was going to transfer. Well, the bowl game has come and gone and Jones not only didn’t transfer out, but he's enrolled in school and participating in spring practice. That raises the question what happens to the quarterback room if Jones has a lights out spring and decides Billy Napier can teach him how to step into a throw instead of heaving it off his back foot? Would Napier gamble that EJ is his guy and take a chance that Anthony Richardson would leave for a place where he can start? What about Ohio State transfer Jack Miller III? He didn’t exactly leave Columbus for someplace where he might have to beat out last year’s starter and Richardson, too? And how about Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Jalen Kitna. They didn’t sniff the field last year. Will one or both decide to do the big adios after the spring? Here are the five QBs on the UF roster heading into the spring: Emory Jones (6-2, 201, RJR): Expectations are that he’ll go through spring, graduate in May and then transfer out. But what if he doesn’t? And if he stays, will it be at QB or will he learn to catch the ball and play in the slot? Anthony Richardson (6-4, 237, RSO): From a pure talent standpoint there are few quarterbacks in the country equal to Richardson. He has never stayed healthy and he has yet to show he can play under control, but healthy and under control? Oh my. Jack Miller III (6-3, 215, RFR): He transferred in from Ohio State where there was an incumbent Heisman finalist and a loaded QB room. He has the big arm and serious accuracy. He didn’t transfer to Florida to sit. He’s very motivated. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson (6-2, 228, RFR): He took a redshirt in 2021 so we have yet to see him under fire but people who saw him at practice say he’s got a live arm, great wheels and a knack for making big plays. Jalen Kitna (6-4, 205, RFR): He’s very, very young and still growing into his body. He came to UF as a skinny 180-pounder but he’s added 25 pounds of muscle. He has the arm and the pedigree as dad Jon was a 16-year NFL QB. Assessing the situation: I am of the opinion that Jones will ride off into the sunset, college degree in hand, looking for a fresh start and a chance to be somebody’s winning QB. I think Richardson and Miller are going to go toe-to-toe for the No. 1 job. I’m of the opinion that either Del Rio-Wilson or Kitna will be in the portal in late April. GATORS MOVE UP TO NO. 17; KNOCK OFF AUBURN, 83-77 Kelly Rae Finley still has a hungry team on her hands. On the day the Gators (19-6, 9-3 SEC) moved up to 17th in the latest Associated Press women’s top 25 poll, UF scored its sixth SEC road win of the season, knocking off Auburn, 83-77, to remain tied for third place with No. 11 LSU in the SEC standings. The Gators held a 71-57 lead with 5:57 to go in the game when Auburn on a 17-7 run to narrow the game to four (78-74) with 18 seconds remaining. The Tigers tried to extend the game by fouling but the Gators hit 5-6 free throws the rest of the way, sealing the win when Zippy Broughton hit both her shots with five seconds to go. The game was won at the foul line where the Gators converted 23-28 shots including 14-18 in the second half. Broughton led the way for the Gators with 18 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Kristina Moore came off the bench to score 15 while Jordyn Merritt had 13, Kiki Smith 12 and Nina Rickards 10. SEC Basketball Monday’s game: NO. 17 FLORIDA (19-6, 9-3 SEC) 83, Auburn (9-14, 1-11 SEC) 77 Thursday’s games: Arkansas (16-8, 6-5 SEC) at FLORIDA (19-6, 9-3 SEC); Auburn (9-14, 1-11 SEC) at No. 1 South Carolina (23-1, 11-1 SEC); No. 11 LSU (21-4, 9-3 SEC) at Mississippi State (15-8, 6-5 SEC); No. 12 Tennessee (21-4, 10-2 SEC) at Alabama (12-11, 3-9 SEC); Missouri (16-9, 5-7 SEC) at No. 21 Georgia (17-7, 6-6 SEC); Vanderbilt (12-14, 3-9 SEC) at Kentucky (10-11, 3-8 SEC); Texas A&M (14-10, 4-8 SEC) at Ole Miss (18-6, 6-5 SEC) The Associated Press Top 25: 1. South Carolina 23-1; 2. Stanford 21-3; 3. Louisville 22-2; 4. North Carolina State 23-3; 5. Indiana 18-3; 6. Iowa State 21-3; 7. Baylor 19-5; 8. Arizona 18-4; 9. Michigan 20-4; 10. UConn 17-5; 11. LSU 21-4; 12. Tennessee 21-4; 13. Maryland 18-6; 14. Texas 17-6; 15. Oklahoma 20-4; 16. Georgia Tech 19-6; 17. FLORIDA 18-6; 18. Ohio State 18-4; 19. Notre Dame 19-6; 20. BYU 21-2; 21. Georgia 17-7; 22. Iowa 16-6; 23. Virginia Tech 19-6; 24. North Carolina 19-5; 25. Florida Gulf Coast 22-2 MUST WIN SITUATION FOR UF AT TEXAS A&M There is no margin for error for Mike White and the Gators, who face Texas A&M in College Station tonight (7 p.m., SEC Network). Winning won’t cement the Gators’ chances to make the NCAA Tournament, but a loss could all but doom them. Florida comes into the game with the No. 49 in the NCAA Net Rankings, just inside Quad 1, while the Aggies are No. 73. Winning won’t boost the Gators in the Net Rankings, but losing would be a Quad 2 loss, and with just six games left on the schedule and only a 1-6 record in Quad 1 games, that could be a torpedo to Florida’s chances to avoid the Nobody’s Interested Tournament. SEC Basketball Tuesday’s games: FLORIDA (16-9, 6-6 SEC) at Texas A&M (15-10, 4-8 SEC); South Carolina (14-10, 5-7 SEC) at Ole Miss (12-13, 3-9 SEC); No. 5 Kentucky (21-4, 10-2 SEC) at No. 19 Tennessee (18-6, 9-3 SEC); Arkansas (19-6, 8-4 SEC) at Missouri (10-14, 4-7 SEC) Wednesday’s games: Georgia (6-19, 1-11 SEC) at LSU (18-7, 6-6 SEC); Mississippi State (14-10, 5-6 SEC) at Alabama (16-9, 6-6 SEC); Vanderbilt (13-11, 5-7 SEC) at No. 1 Auburn (23-2, 11-1 SEC) The Associated Press Top 25: 1. Gonzaga 21-2; 2. Auburn 23-2; 3. Arizona 22-2; 4. Kentucky 21-4; 5. Purdue 22-4; 6. Kansas 20-4; 7. Baylor 21-4; 8. Providence 21-2; 9. Duke 21-4; 10. Villanova 19-6; 11. Texas Tech 19-6; 12. Illinois 18-6; 13. UCLA 17-5; 14. Houston 20-4; 15. Wisconsin 19-5; 16. Tennessee 18-6; 17. Southern Cal 21-4; 18. Ohio State 15-6; 19. Michigan State 18-6; 20. Texas 18-7; 21. Murray State 24-2; 22. Wyoming 21-3; 23. Arkansas 19-6; 24. UConn 17-7; 25. Alabama 16-9 The Coaches Top 25: 1. Gonzaga 21-2; 2. Auburn 23-2; 3. Kentucky 21-4; 4. Arizona 22-2; 5. Duke 21-4; 6. Kansas 20-4; 7. Purdue 22-4; 8. Baylor 21-4; 9. Providence 21-2; 10. Villanova 19-6; 11. Texas Tech 19-6; 12. Illinois 18-6; 13. Tennessee 18-6; 14. UCLA 17-5; 15. Houston 20-4; 16. Wisconsin 19-5; 17. Southern Cal 21-4; 18. Ohio State 15-6; 19. Michigan State 18-6; 20. Texas 18-7; 21. Murray State 24-2; 22. Wyoming 21-3; 24. (Tie) UConn 17-7 and Arkansas 19-6 GATOR GYMNASTS CLIMB TO NO. 2 Florida’s 198.150-197.825 win over LSU moved the Gators up two spots to No. 2 in the weekly Collegiate Gymnastics Rankings. Collegiate Gymnastics Association Top 25 (by average score): 1. Michigan 197.963; 2. FLORIDA 197.638; 3. Oklahoma 197.604; 4. Utah 197.496; 5. LSU 197.400; 6. Minnesota 197.313; 7. Auburn 197.250; 8. Alabama 197.154; 9. California 196.960; 10. Kentucky 196.880; 11. Missouri 196.850; 12. Denver 196.800; 13. Oregon State 196.755; 14. Michigan State 196.611; 15. UCLA 196.410; 16. Arkansas 196.370; 17. Iowa 196.268; 18. Stanford 196.230; 19. BYU 196.221; 20. Arizona State 196.160; 21. Utah State 196.142; 23. Southern Utah 195.871; 24. Boise State 195.783; 25. Western Michigan 195.720 UF SOFTBALL UP TO NO. 3 IN D1SOFTBALL.COM POLL Lexie Delbrey, who came within a seventh-inning single of pitching a no game in her collegiate debut against 16th-ranked Michigan, was named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week. Delbrey struck out five and walked two as the Gators knocked off Michigan 4-0 as part of a perfect 4-0 weekend in the USF-Rawlings Invitational in Tampa. The Gators, now ranked third in the D1Softball.com poll, will face Jacksonville on the road tonight before returning to Gainesville for their home opener against JU Wednesday evening. D1Softball.com Top 25: 1. Oklahoma 5-0; 2. Alabama 4-0; 3. FLORIDA 4-0; 4. UCLA 4-1; 5. Florida State 4-0; 6. Washington 5-0; 7. Oklahoma State 4-1; 8. Virginia Tech 5-0; 9. Arkansas 3-2; 10. Texas 4-1; 11. Oregon 0-0; 12. Duke 4-1; 13. Clemson 3-1; 14. Missouri 3-2; 15. Tennessee 4-0; 16. Arizona 3-1; 17. Michigan 3-2; 18. Kentucky 4-1; 19. Georgia 5-1; 20. Louisiana 5-0; 21. Northwestern 4-1; 22. Arizona State 3-2; 23. LSU 4-2; 24. UCF 3-1; 25. Illinois 4-1 OTHER UF SPORTS … Freshman Emma LoPinto, who scored six goals in her collegiate debut in Florida’s 22-7 win over Kennesaw State, was named American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week. The Gators (1-0), meanwhile, remained No. 7 nationally in the Inside Lacrosse poll. Inside Lacrosse Top 25: 1. Boston College 1-0; 2. North Carolina 1-0; 3. Syracuse 2-0; 4. Stony Brook 0-0; 5. Northwestern 0-1; 6. Duke 2-0; 7. FLORIDA 1-0; 8. Maryland 1-0; 9. Loyola 0-0; 10. Virginia 2-0; 11. Michigan 2-0; 12. Notre Dame 1-1; 13. James Madison 0-1; 14. Stanford 1-1; 15. Denver 1-0; 16. Princeton 0-0; 17. Rutgers 1-0; 18. Jacksonville 1-0; 19. Drexel 1-0; 20. Pennsylvania 0-0; 21. Johns Hopkins 1-0; 22. Temple 1-0; 23. UConn 0-0; 24. UMass 1-0; 25. Penn State 0-0 The Florida women are No. 2 nationally in the latest US Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association poll while the UF men are ranked No. 9. USTFCCCA Women’s Top 25: 1. Texas; 2. FLORIDA; 3. Arkansas; 4. LSU; 5. Kentucky; 6. Texas Tech; 7. BYU; 8. Texas A&M; 9. Ole Miss; 10. Virginia Tech; 11. North Carolina State; 12. Oregon; 13. Washington; 14. Ohio State; 15. Tennessee; 16. Notre Dame; 17. Oklahoma State; 18. Nebraska; 19. South Carolina; 20. Colorado; 21. Penn State; 22. Binghamton; 23. Alabama; 24. Florida State; 25. Colorado State USTFCCA Men’s Top 25: 1. North Carolina A&T; 2. Georgia; 3. Texas; 4. Texas Tech; 5. Arkansas; 6. Iowa; 7. Oregon; 8. Kentucky; 9. FLORIDA; 10. Tennessee; 11. Northern Arizona; 12. Florida State; 13. Alabama; 14. Notre Dame; 15. Nebraska; 16. Ole Miss; 17. Princeton; 18. Michigan State; 19. Stanford; 20. LSU; 21. Clemson; 22. Grand Canyon; 23. Washington; 24. Indiana; 25. Arizona State ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Writing in Saturday Down South, Matt Hayes points out the hypocrisy of Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher and his feigned outrage that the Aggies might have used NIL money to lure the top recruiting class in the country to College Station, hardly the garden spot of the earth. Hayes says that instead of acting angry, Fisher should have said, “Yes, the idea of our student-athletes being able to earn off their NIL through our vast alumni helped us – and it’s only going to get better.” In the Lone Star state there is a saying that only God and the Longhorns have more money than the Aggies. Because of NIL, what the Aggies used to do that got them on probation so many times in the past is now legal. Jimbo should – and probably does behind closed doors – tell kids this is where the money is, so come join us. We may not like it, but that is where college sports are today.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: TUESDAY MAY DETERMINE UF’S FATE IN THE POSTSEASON We may only be halfway through February, but we’re already in the must-win section of Florida’s basketball schedule. The Gators (16-9, 6-6 SEC) got hosed at Rupp Arena Saturday by a Kentucky (21-4, 10-2 SEC) team that has a Final Four look about it. That was pretty much expected since the Wildcats are talented and deep and the Gators have had to wade through another season of injuries. It’s not so much the Gators were exposed by Kentucky since we already know UF has serious limitations, but it was painfully clear just how fragile the Gators are. They can play for stretches with just about anyone in the country, but it takes stars and planets aligning for the Gators to beat a ranked team. Tuesday night in College Station, the Gators will be facing a team that in many respects bears a strong resemblance. Like the Gators, there are nights when Texas A&M (15-10, 4-8 SEC) can play with anyone but the Aggies do have limitations. They don’t shoot the ball very well, they turn the ball over a lot and they have problems rebounding since they typically play a 4-guard lineup. They’ve lost eight straight and have gone from a team that was on every bracket a month ago to one that needs to right itself to even make the NIT. The Gators still can make the NCAA Tournament, but they can’t afford a slip-up on road trips to A&M, Vanderbilt and Georgia, three teams that the NCAA Net Rankings say UF should beat. Florida’s No. 49 NCAA Net Ranking puts the Gators squarely on the NCAA bubble and since neither Texas A&M (73), Vanderbilt (76) or Georgia (205) is a Quad 1 opponent, a loss would be devastating to UF’s chances. Lose one of those three and it might take a small miracle for UF to avoid playing in the Nobody’s Interested Tournament. Win those three and then score a win in one of the three remaining home games – No. 1 Auburn, Arkansas and No. 5 Kentucky – and the Gators should make the NCAA Tournament with room to spare. SEC Basketball Tuesday’s games: FLORIDA (16-9, 6-6 SEC) at Texas A&M (15-10, 4-8 SEC); South Carolina (14-10, 5-7 SEC) at Ole Miss (12-13, 3-9 SEC); No. 5 Kentucky (21-4, 10-2 SEC) at No. 19 Tennessee (18-6, 9-3 SEC); Arkansas (19-6, 8-4 SEC) at Missouri (10-14, 4-7 SEC) Wednesday’s games: Georgia (6-19, 1-11 SEC) at LSU (18-7, 6-6 SEC); Mississippi State (14-10, 5-6 SEC) at Alabama (16-9, 6-6 SEC); Vanderbilt (13-11, 5-7 SEC) at No. 1 Auburn (23-2, 11-1 SEC) A WIN TONIGHT MOVES WOMEN’S BB ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE DOUBLE BYE The 19th-ranked Gators (18-6, 8-3 SEC) have to be wary tonight when they face Auburn (9-13, 1-10) on the road. Although Auburn sits dead last in the SEC, their only win in league play was over Tennessee, which was ranked 4th nationally at the time. Since that win Auburn is 0-3 but the Tigers had lost seven straight when they beat Tennessee. It’s coming down to crunch time for the Gators, who need to win three of their last five games to ensure they’ll have the double-bye at the SEC Tournament. So, a win tonight gets them one step closer, and to a place Florida women’s basketball hasn’t been in years. The last time a Florida women’s team had 10 SEC wins was 2016. Kelly Rae Finley also has the Gators within striking distance of the school record for wins in a season (24), achieved by Amanda Butler and twice by Carol Ross, and most SEC wins in a season (11 by Ross in 2001). SEC Women’s Basketball Sunday’s scores: No. 13 Tennessee (21-4) 66, Vanderbilt (12-14, 3-9 SEC) 52; No. 1 South Carolina (23-1, 11-1 SEC) 72, No. 17 Georgia (17-7, 6-6 SEC) 54; Kentucky (10-11, 3-8 SEC) 67, Alabama (12-11, 3-9 SEC) 63; No. 14 LSU (21-4, 9-3 SEC) 74, Texas A&M (14-10, 4-8 SEC) 58; Arkansas (16-8, 6-5 SEC) 88; Missouri (16-9, 5-7 SEC) 71; Mississippi State (15-8, 6-5 SEC) 70, Ole Miss (18-6, 6-5 SEC) 59 Monday’s game: NO. 19 FLORIDA (18-6, 8-3 SEC) at Auburn (9-13, 1-10 SEC) UF SOFTBALL: GATORS 24, EVERYBODY ELSE 1 To be sure, Tim Walton already has a list that he’s checked more than twice, dissecting every single thing that could have been or should have been in Tampa this weekend. That’s what great coaches do, but you can also know that he’s not the least bit disappointed with the results at the Rawlings USF Tournament – a 4-0 record by the 5th-ranked Gators that includes a win over 16th-ranked Michigan, three shutouts, a near no-hitter by freshman Lexie Delbrey, a clutch game-winning grand slam by Cheyenne Lindsay, home runs by freshmen Kendra Dalby and Samantha Roe, and four errorless games. Because it’s the first weekend of the season, Walton isn’t going to read too much into the outcome, but instead he’ll think of it as a really good start. In going 4-0, the Gators shut out Illinois State 3-0, knocked off Kansas City 7-1, took a 4-0 win over Michigan when Delbrey pitched her gem and Lindsey the grand slam, and then Sunday, got a third shutout and 12 hits when they blew the doors off host South Florida. Here are a few highlights: Falby, hitting in the 9-slot, went 6-11 with a double, a home run, four RBI and 4-4 on stolen bases. Hannah Adams went 6-12 with a triple and two RBI. Alabama transfer Skylar Wallace went 5-14 with an RBI and 3-3 on stolen bases. Roe went 2-6 including a home run, two RBI and two sacrifices. Delbrey gave up one hit, two walks and struck out five in her first career start against Michigan. Elizabeth Hightower got three wins in 12-1/3 innings, giving up six hits, four walks and striking out 12. Natalie Lugo pitched 3-1/3 innings, gave up three hits, two walks and struck out three. Next up for the Gators is a road trip to Jacksonville Tuesday night followed by the Wednesday home opener against the same JU Dolphins on Wednesday. UF GYMNASTICS: THIS COULD BE A VERY SPECIAL SEASON Jenny Rowland has assembled a powerful Florida team and barring injuries, could be one that hoists a national championship trophy when the season ends. Florida’s heart-stopping win over 5th-ranked LSU on Friday showed the kind of talent Rowland has. The Gators overcame a bad day at the office by Sloane Blakely and a 9.7 on the balance beam that she absolutely owns by Trinity Thomas to go into the final rotation tied at 148.350. So all the Gators did was dial up a 49.800 finish with two 9.9s (Alyssa Baumann and Megan Skaggs), a 9.950 (Blakely), a pair of 9.975s (Leanne Wong and Thomas) and a 10 (Nya Reed) to score the win. What’s amazing about what the Gators have done so far is that (a) Rowland still hasn’t settled in on the rotation that’s going to take her to nationals and (b) Wong, the 2021 World Championships silver medalist, is just now getting into a groove. By the time the Gators face Oklahoma (February 25, O-Dome) and Auburn (March 4 on the road), Rowland should have the Gators starting to laser in on the run to a championship. OTHER UF SPORTS: With Fred Biondi tying the tournament record at 14-under par, the 29th-ranked Gators scored a 12-stroke victory over 4th-ranked Oklahoma State in the VyStar Invitational. It was Florida’s third straight win in the VyStar … With their win in the FAU Paradise Invitational last week, the Florida women’s golf team is now ranked 6th by GolfWeek ... Florida’s 7th-ranked lacrosse team opened its season with a 22-7 win over Kennesaw State behind six goals by Emma LoPinto ... The 13th-ranked Florida women’s tennis team (7-2) salvaged the weekend at the ITA Women’s Indoor Championships with a 4-0 win over 16th-ranked Washington. The Gators lost to 7th-ranked Virginia, 4-2, and 11th-ranked Ohio State, 4-3, in their matches Friday and Saturday … The 5th-ranked Florida men’s tennis team begins competition in the ITA Men’s Indoor Championships today ... The Florida men’s and women’s swimming teams will be competing at the SEC Championships starting Tuesday in Knoxville. The Florida men are ranked 5th nationally while the Florida women are ranked 17th … At the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Florida’s 4X400 men’s relay team ran a 3:02.09 to win with the best time in the NCAA and the world this year. Talitha Diggs ran a 22.75 200 meters, best time in the NCAA and fourth fastest in the world this year. The Florida women are ranked No. 1 in the country while the Florida men are ranked 9th. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Writing for Saturday Down South, Dave Hooker compared the hire and subsequent soap opera that involves Auburn’s Bryan Harsin with Mike Price, the former Alabama coach who never actually coached a game after an infamous outing at a Pensacola strip joint where he partied with a debutante named Destiny. Writes Hooker, who was assigned to write about the 10 worst coaching hires in SEC history, “Price is simply the GOAT of bad hires and it’s not even close.” Harsin might be a truly bad fit for Auburn, but you can blame Auburn for that. After spending $21.7 million to make Gus Malzahn go away, most of the good coaches wouldn’t give Auburn a sniff. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Harsin, who actually can coach football, was willing to say yes when Auburn threw a bunch of money at him. But, that doesn’t make him the worst hire ever or even one of the top 10 worst in SEC history. Hooker gave a few bad hire examples, but didn’t elaborate on a top 10 worst, so I’ll offer my list of the 10 worst: 1. Mike Price, Alabama: Hooker is right. Second place isn’t even close. 2. Ears Whitworth, Alabama: He went 4-24-2 and that was WITH Bart Starr as his QB. He was so bad they had to go hire Bear Bryant. 3. Robbie Caldwell, Vanderbilt: He went 2-10 in 2010. He was really bad. 4. Curley Hallman, LSU: Couldn’t coach, couldn’t recruit in a talent-rich state where kids essentially recruit themselves to the school. 5. Derek Dooley, Tennessee: Prior to Tennessee, where he had three straight losers, Dooley had two losing seasons out of three at Louisiana Tech. They must have thought that because his last name is Dooley he could actually coach. 6. Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss: Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, football! He had never been a head coach or a coordinator and it showed. 7. Jack Crowe, Arkansas: He got fired one game into his third season for losing to The Citadel. 8. John L. Smith, Arkansas: He took over plenty of talent left behind after Bobby Petrino’s infamous motorcycle encounter of the closest kind and ran the program in the ground. That was 2012 and Arkansas hasn’t recovered yet. 9. Will Muschamp, Florida: Great guy. Knows his defense, but should have spent three or four years beating the bushes and learning how to be a head coach. That he was a bad hire at Florida is as much or more on the administration as it is on Will. Florida is not a place for on the job training. 10. Ray Goff, Georgia: He had two decent seasons in seven years after taking over for Vince Dooley. Georgia fans will always remember him for going 0-7 against the Gators and giving up 52 points to UF between the hedges in 1995.