Prairie View A&M (19-17) won its ninth straight game Wednesday night, taking down Lehigh (18-17), 67-55, in a matchup of 16 th -seeded teams in the NCAA’s First Four in Dayton. The reward for the Panthers, eighth during the regular season in the Southwestern Athletic Conference but winners of the league tournament is a Friday night date with the Florida Gators, reigning NCAA champions and the No. 1 seed for the South Regional.   The Panthers earned their win with a scrambling defense that completely stifled Nasir Whitlock, who came into the game averaging 20.5 per game and with eight games of 30 or more points under his belt. Against the quick Prairie View defense, Whitlock scored only five points, going 1-8 on 2-point shots and 1-7 on threes. Without Whitlock’s scoring to inject energy into the offense, Lehigh struggled to get into any kind of rhythm.   Down at the other end of the court, Lehigh had no answers for Georgia Southern transfer Dontae Horne, who lit up the Mountain Hawks for 25 points and was equally effective defensively with four steals and a blocked shot. Despite being undersized and the tallest player on the floor for the Panthers at 6-7, Corey Wells dominated on the inside with 19 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.   The Gators (26-7) have been established as 35.5-point favorites as they begin their quest for a second consecutive NCAA championship at Tampa’s Benchmark Arena (9:25, TNT).   From a purely analytical standpoint, Florida is fourth in both the kenpom.com and barttorvik.com analytics. At kenpom.com , the Gators are the No. 9 offensive team and No. 6 defensive team in the nation. The barttorvik.com analytics rank the Gators 11 th offensively and fourth defensively.   Prairie View is No. 280 at kenpom.com and No. 281 at barttorvik.   The winner of the Friday night encounter between the Gators and Prairie View advances to a second round game Sunday against the winner of No. 8 Clemson and No. 9 Iowa.   TOMMY HAUGH NAMED TO TWO MORE ALL-AMERICA TEAMS Tommy Haugh added to more awards to his growing list of accomplishments Wednesday when he was named second team All-America by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and third team United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Previously, Haugh was named second team All-America by The Sporting News and third team by the Associated Press.   NABC All-America teams First team: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas; Cameron Boozer, Duke; AJ Dybantsa, BYU; Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan; Braden Smith, Purdue   Second team: Tommy Haugh, Florida; Kingston Flemings, Houston; Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State; JT Toppin Texas Tech; Keaton Wagler, Illinois   Third team: Jaden Bradley, Arizona; Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State; Graham Ike, Gonzaga; Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama; Caleb Wilson, North Carolina   USBWA All-America teams First team: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas; Cameron Boozer, Duke; AJ Dybantsa, BYU; Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan; Baden Smith, Purdue   Second team: Kingston Flemings, Houston; Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State; JT Toppin, Texas Tech; Keaton Wagler, Illinois; Caleb Wilson, North Carolina   Third team: Tommy Haugh, Florida; Christian Anderson, Texas Tech; Jaden Bradley, Arizona; Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State; Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama   THURSDAY’S NCAA TOURNAMENT GAMES (SEC teams bold face)   East/Greenville, SC (CBS) 12:15: 9 TCU (22-11) vs. 8 Ohio State (21-12) 2:50: 16 Siena (23-11) vs. 1 Duke (32-2)   East/Buffalo (TNT) 1:30: 11 South Florida (25-8) vs. 6 Louisville (23-10) 4:05: 14 North Dakota State (27-7) vs. 3 Michigan State (25-7)   South/Oklahoma City (truTV) 12:40: 13 Troy (22-11) vs. 4 Nebraska (26-6) 3:15: 12 McNeese (28-5) vs. 5 Vanderbilt (26-8) 7:35: 10 Texas A&M (21-11) vs. 7 Saint Mary’s (27-5) 10:10: Idaho (21-14) vs. 2 Houston (28-6)   South/Greenville, SC (TNT) 6:50: 11 VCU (27-7) vs. 6 North Carolina (24-8) 9:25: 14 Pennsylvania (18-11) vs. 3 Illinois (24-8)   West/Portland (TBS) 1:50: 12 High Point (30-4) vs. 5 Wisconsin (24-10) 4:25: 13 Hawaii (24-8) vs. 4 Arkansas (26-8) 7:25: 11 Texas (19-14) vs. 6 BYU (23-11) 10:00: 14 Kennesaw State (21-13) vs. 3 Gonzaga (30-3)   Midwest/Buffalo (CBS) 7:10: 16 Howard (24-10) vs. 1 Michigan (31-3) 9:45: 9 Saint Louis (28-5) vs. 8 Georgia (22-10)   FRIDAY’S NCAA TOURNAMENT GAMES   South/Tampa (TNT) 6:50: 9 Iowa (21-12) vs. 8 Clemson (24-10) 9:25: 16 Prairie View A&M (19-17) vs. 1 FLORIDA (26-7)   Midwest/Saint Louis (CBS) 12:15: 10 Santa Clara (26-8) vs. 7 Kentucky (21-13) 2:50: 15 Tennessee State (23-9) vs. 2 Iowa State (27-7)   Midwest/Tampa (truTV) 12:40: 12 Akron (29-5) vs. 5 Texas Tech (22-10) 3:15: 13 Hofstra (24-10) vs. 4 Alabama (23-9)   Midwest/Philadelphia (TBS) 1:50: 14 Wright State (23-11) vs. 3 Virginia (29-5) 4:25: 11 Miami OH (32-1) vs. 6 Tennessee (22-11)   West/San Diego (TNT) 1:35: 16 Long Island University (24-10) vs. 1 Arizona (32-2) 4:10: 9 Utah State (28-6) vs. 8 Villanova (24-8)   West/Saint Louis (truTV) 7:35: 15 Queens (21-13) vs. 2 Purdue (27-8) 10:10: 10 Missouri (20-12) vs. 7 Miami (25-8)   East/San Diego (CBS) 7:10: 12 Northern Iowa (23-12) vs. 5 St. John’s (28-6) 9:45: 13 California Baptist (25-8) vs. 4 Kansas (23-10)   East/Philadelphia (TBS) 7:25 10 UCF (21-11) vs. 7 UCLA (23-11) 10:00: 15 Furman (22-12) vs. 2 UConn (29-5)   REGION BY REGION ANALYSIS South (1. Florida; 2. Houston; 3. Illinois; 4. Nebraska)   Florida, Houston and Illinois will score easy first round game wins. Nebraska might struggle a little bit early with Troy’s style, but should pull away in the second half. Potential first round upsets include No. 11 VCU over No. 6 North Carolina and No. 10 Texas A&M over No. 7 Saint Mary’s.   Second round predictions: 1 FLORIDA vs. 9 Iowa; 2 Houston vs. 7 Texas A&M; 3 Illinois vs. 6 VCU; 4 Nebraska vs. 5 Vanderbilt   East (1. Duke; 2. UConn; 3. Michigan State; 4. Kansas)   Duke, UConn, Michigan State and Kansas will have no trouble advancing past the first round. Two potential upsets are No. 11 South Florida over No. 6 Louisville and No. 10 UCF over No. 7 UCLA.   Second round predictions: 1 Duke vs. 9 TCU; 2 UConn vs. 10 UCF; 3 Michigan State vs. 11 South Florida; 4 Kansas vs. 5 St. John’s.   Midwest (1. Michigan; 2. Iowa State; 3. Viginia; 4. Alabama)   Michigan, Iowa State and Virginia will win big. Alabama should win but may have focus issues after the arrest of second leading scorer Aden Holloway on drug charges back on Monday. Minus JT Toppin, No. 5 Texas Tech is vulnerable against No. 12 Akron. It is a bad matchup for No. 7 Kentucky and No. 10 Santa Clara. Put the Mildcats on upset alert. Georgia-Saint Louis will be a track meet but depth favors Georgia. The crowd in Philadelphia will be very Pro-Miami (OH), but Tennessee should end the storybook season for the Red Hawks.   Second round predictions: 1 Michigan vs. 8 Georgia; 2 Iowa State vs. 10 Santa Clara; 3 Virginia vs. 6 Tennessee; 4 Alabama vs. 5 Texas Tech   West (1. Arizona; 2. Purdue; 3. Gonzaga; 4. Arkansas)   Arizona, Purdue, Gonzaga and Arkansas score easy first round wins. Texas won’t be able to handle No. 6 BYU and AJ Dybantsa. No. 9 Utah State will win the matchup with No. 8 Villanova. No. 10 Missouri’s size will overwhelm No. 7 Miami.   Second round predictions: 1 Arizona vs. 9 Utah State; 2 Purdue vs. 10 Missouri; 3 Gonzaga vs. 6 BYU; 4 Arkansas vs. 5 Wisconsin

There are losses and then there are bad losses. The bad losses – there have been two of them in the past two seasons – tend to bring out the best in Todd Golden and his Florida coaching staff.   There were two bad losses a season ago – 64-44 at Tennessee and 88-83 at Georgia –  that became springboards for success. In the six games after the loss to the Vols in Knoxville, the Gators learned to compensate for injuries, which paid off during the Gators’ championship run as Tommy Haugh and Denzel Aberdeen blossomed into confident, dependable guys off the bench. After Alex Condon suffered a high ankle sprain in the opening minutes of a win at Mississippi State, Micah Handlogten burned his redshirt.   On paper, a 5-point loss to Georgia on the road doesn’t seem all that bad, but there was a point in the first half when the Gators trailed by 25. They rallied, took the lead late, and then missed a chance to score what would have been one of the more remarkable comebacks in Southeastern Conference history. Following that loss, the Gators went on a 12-game tear that took them to the national championship.   Rather than go into a funk over those two losses, the Gators self-corrected, re-focused and played with a heightened sense of urgency, particularly in the six NCAA Tournament games after the Georgia loss.   The Gators have lost seven games this season, five that were within their grasp to win and two that can only be categorized as bad losses. The bad losses – a 76-67 home court defeat at the hands of Auburn; a 91-74 loss to Vanderbilt in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament last Saturday.   The response to the Auburn loss was a 12-game winning streak in which nine of the wins were by at least 13 points and the other three were over Kentucky, one at home, one at Rupp and one at the SEC Tournament. The Vanderbilt loss was just the second in the last two seasons in which the Gators have gone down in flames by at least 10 points.   What will be the Gators’ response to the Vandy loss Friday night (9:25 p.m., TNT) when they face the winner of the play-in game between Prairie View A&M and Lehigh in their first round NCAA Tournament game in Tampa? Any way you dissect it, that should be a win by at least 20-25 points. There is no such thing as a moral lock in NCAA play. Just ask Virginia whose 2018 loss to UMBC in the first round is the only time in the history of the NCAA Tournament that the No. 1 seed lost to a No. 16.   The better question might be how will the Gators respond Sunday when they face the winner of No. 8 Clemson and No. 9 Iowa in the second round? Whereas Prairie View and Lehigh are like layups, Clemson and Iowa are very capable of beating good teams if they get on a roll.   “I think both those teams provide different challenges,” Golden said. “Iowa's really good offensively. They have a great point guard (Bennett Stirtz), really, really good coach (Ben McCollum) that runs good stuff. And Clemson, I would say, is one of the tougher programs in America. Coach (Brad) Brownwell has done a remarkable job there.”   Against outstanding competition and with the pressure of the NCAA Tournament where a loss ends the season, can Golden get the Gators back into the groove they were in prior to the SEC Tournament in Nashville? Prior to Nashville, the Gators were playing scorched earth basketball, laying waste to whoever got in their way. In Nashville, the Gators were out of sorts offensively in a 71-63 win over Kentucky and then came the 91-74 loss to Vanderbilt.   Golden thinks yes, the Gators can regain their momentum.     “I think we want to be consistent,” Golden said Monday. “I think we're probably a little better as a staff at holding teams accountable. We've been pretty good after wins too, so it's not that … we're just like, oh, we need a loss to get back to what we're capable of. But I do think it allows you to kind of re-center, focus on the areas that we haven't been good enough, even when we've been winning, because there are certain things even though we have been winning the games, where we haven't been as sharp as we need to be.   “And so that's kind of what might be masked a little bit during the winning streak that we can adjust and approach right now.”   Against Kentucky, the Gators played exceptional defense in holding the Wildcats 19 points below their norm. The Vanderbilt loss had everything to do with a lack of ball security. That was a carryover from the Kentucky game, but the turnovers against Kentucky weren’t nearly as devastating.   Against Vanderbilt, the Gators turned the ball over nine times in the first half which the Commodores converted into 20 points. Eliminate the turnovers and even with a poor shooting night, the Gators could have won the game. There were opportunities to score because the Gators outrebounded Vandy by 15. The day before against Kentucky, it was a 50-29 rebounding margin.   Despite all the rebounds, however, the offense couldn’t get untracked, something that will have to improve this weekend.   “We need our offense to be better,” Golden said. “We can't turn the ball over 20 percent of the time against really good teams and expect to win.”   HAUGH MAKES THIRD TEAM ASSOCIATED PRESS ALL-AMERICA   Tommy Haugh got another All-America honor when he was named to the Associated Press third team. A week ago, Haugh was selected second team All-America by The Sporting News.   A first team All-Southeastern Conference selection by both the coaches and the Associated press, Haugh had a true breakout season, his first as a full-time starter at UF. Moved from the post to the wing by Golden prior to the beginning of the season, the junior from Pennsylvania is averaging 17.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.   AP All-America First team: Cameron Boozer, Duke; Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas; AJ Dybanta, BYU; Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan; JT Toppin, Texas Tech   Second team: Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State; Braden Smith, Purdue; Jeremy Fears, Michigan State; Keaton Wagler, Illinois; Caleb Wilson, North Carolina   Third team: Tommy Haugh, Florida; Kingston Flemings, Houston; Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama; Christian Anderson, Texas Tech; Graham Ike, Gonzaga

Townsen Thomas (44) Named Freshman Of The Week (UAA Photo) Gators host the #1 ranked Lady Vols in a three-game series.   Every weekend in SEC softball is important, but this is a big weekend for Gator softball. Coming off a sweep of Kentucky on the road, the Gators will host the #1 ranked Lady Vols in a three-game series starting on Friday night.  It’s not a win-or-the-season-is-lost series, but if Florida can win the series it sets them up to be in the front row position to win the conference championship.  The Gators not only swept the Cats in Lexington but did so in run-rule fashion in every game. Jocelyn Erickson led the way on offense hitting a home run in each game to extend her team leading HR total to 16, which is also a new single season record for her.  Freshman Townsen Thomas may have had the best weekend going 6-9 over the series and picking up Freshmen of the Week honors for the effort.  In the circle, Keagan Rothrock picked up wins in games one and three to move to 16-1 for the season. Sophomore Katelynn Oxley had a stellar performance in game two to pick up the win. She threw a complete game shutout to move to 2-0. She struck out 7 and only allowed two hits. Florida will need her along with the rest of the staff to contribute in the Saturday games until the normal Saturday starter, Ava Brown, can return from being injured. Tennessee is coming off a tough weekend in Starkville against a surprising Bulldog team that handed them their first loss of the season on Saturday.  The Vols were pushed to extra innings on Friday night before winning the game 3-1 in 9 innings. They won the series on Sunday with a 4-1 victory. The usually potent offensive lineup was handled pretty well in the series. The Vols pitching continues to be outstanding. Ella Dodge and Makenzie Butt are tied for the lead in HRs with 7 each for the Lady Vols. Sophia Knight leads the team with a .467 batting average followed by Dodge at .366 with a team leading 57 RBI. Gabby Leach and Butt are also hitting above .300. As a team they hit .319 and have 36 Home Runs in their 28 games.  Karlyn Pickens leads them in the circle. She has a 7-0 record with a .65 era and 1 save.  The Vol staff is pretty balancedthough. Sage Mardjetko is 6-0 in 8 starts with a .83 era. The pitcher most often used appears to be Erin Nuwer. She has appeared in 15 games with 8 starts and 3 saves to go along with an 11-1 record. Nuwer has also started 8 games. All three of them are averaging over 1 strikeout an inning.  The Gators will have their hands full this weekend. They will need to continue doing what they have so far.  Taylor Shumaker will need to keep setting the pace from the lead-off position. Erickson and Kenleigh Cahalan will need to keep driving in runs. Thomas and Gabbi Comia will need to keep getting on base. The rest of the lineup will need to contribute timely hits to drive in runs as well. Rothrock will need to be strong in the circle in games 1 and 3. Oxley, Leah Stevens, and Olivia Miller will need to provide some quality innings in game 2 and if needed in relief of Rothrock. The crowd needs to be extra rowdy this weekend. They may just be the difference between winning and losing the series.  A packed and loud Katie Seashole Pressley stadium is an intimidating place to play softball. Time will tell if it’s enough to help the Gators upset the #1 team in the land this weekend.

Boogie Fland drives on Auburn (Photo by Chris Spears) Was Nashville just a speed bump for 4 th -ranked Florida or a signal that perhaps the Gators have run out of gas? Those two games at the SEC Tournament – an 8-point win over Kentucky; a 17-point loss to Vanderbilt – bore faint resemblance to the Gators who, from January 7 until the end of the Southeastern Conference regular season, were playing as well or better than any team in the country.   Getting the Gators back into their winning groove is the focus this week as they prepare for their first round NCAA matchup with the winner of Wednesday’s play-in game in Dayton between Lehigh (18-16) and Prairie View A&M (18-17) Friday night in Tampa (9:25 p.m., TNT). Game one should be nothing more than a glorified scrimmage for the Gators, who will face the winner of the 8-9 game between Clemson (24-10) and Iowa (21-12) Sunday in the second round.   “Obviously we play either Prairie View or Lehigh on Friday,” Todd Golden said Monday. “We're going to be heavy favorites in that game. There's no way around it. I think they're 284 and 288 on kenpom or something like that. That's a game that we expect to win, regardless of who we play.”   The better test for the Gators will be the Clemson-Iowa winner. The Gators like to play the game at breakneck speed but that’s not the pace that either Clemson or Iowa prefer. They milk the shot clock, shoot the three reasonably well and prefer playing games in the 70s. Florida, on the other hand, has scored 90 or more points 10 times since the Gators got their first SEC win over Georgia.   Two things have to happen for the Gators to dictate a faster pace: (1) Significant reduction in turnovers; and (2) take the physical battle to whoever they play.   In Nashville, the Gators turned the ball over 18 times in their 71-63 win over Kentucky. Against Vanderbilt, nine first half Florida turnovers were converted into 20 points, which had everything to do with a 47-32 halftime deficit.   “There's not a worse recipe for success against Vanderbilt than doing that,” Golden said. “We'll address it, and I feel confident that we'll get it right for this week.”   Both Kentucky and Vanderbilt employed a no body bag, no foul approach in Nashville. Any time the ball went inside, they surrounded whoever had the ball for the Gators and did what amounts to a mugging. Sometimes fouls were called. Too often they were not.   Now, in both games, the Gators were the dominant rebounding team but because of the physicality in the paint, point production was off.   “We got back 46 percent of our misses against Kentucky and then 57 percent of our misses against Vanderbilt,” Golden pointed out, later admitting, “I think teams did a good job being physical with us … we want to bring the fight to everybody physically. We do that more often than not. We talk a lot to our team about being the mentally and physically tougher team. We might have been that on Friday, but we weren't that on Saturday.”   Resolve those issues in practice this week and perhaps the Gators will get back to where they were when the good times were rolling in January and February.   “We had been playing like the number two team in America since January 7 th ,” Golden said. “So we know what we're capable of. We know what that looks like. We just got to go back out and do it.”   Associated Press top 25: 1. Duke 32-2; 2. Arizona 32-2; 3. Michigan 31-3; 4. FLORIDA 26-7; 5. Houston 28-6; 6. Iowa State 27-7; 7. UConn 29-5; 8. Purdue 27-8; 9. Virginia 29-5; 10. St. John’s 28-6; 11. Michigan State 25-7; 12. Gonzaga 30-3; 13. Illinois 24-8; 14. Arkansas 26-8; 15. Nebraska 26-6; 16. Vanderbilt 26-8; 17. Kansas 23-10; 18. Alabama 23-9; 19. Wisconsin 24-10; 20. Texas Tech 22-10; 21. North Carolina 24-8; 22. Saint Mary’s 27-5; 23. (Tie) Tennessee 22-11; Louisville 23-10; 25. Miami 25-7   Coaches top 25: 1. Duke 32-2; 2. Arizona 32-2; 3. Michigan 31-3; 4. FLORIDA 26-7; 5. Houston 28-6; 6. Iowa State 27-7; 7. UConn 29-5; 8. Virginia 29-5; 9. St. John’s 28-6; 10. Gonzaga 30-3; 11. Michigan State 25-7; 12. Illinois 24-8; 13. Purdue 27-8; 14. Nebraska 26-6; 15. Arkansas 26-8; 16. Vanderbilt 26-8; 17. Kansas 23-10; 18. Alabama 23-9; 19. Texas Tech 22-10; 20 Wisconsin 24-10; 21. North Carolina 24-8; 22. Saint Mary’s 27-5; 23. Miami 25-8; 24. Louisville 23-10; 25. Tennessee 22-11   SEC FIRST WEEKEND   FLORIDA (1 South/4 Overall No. 1 seed) First round: vs. 16 Prairie View/Lehigh Second round: vs. 8 Clemson vs. 9 Iowa winner   Florida (26-7) will probably win the first round game by at least 30-35 points. This will be carnage. Second round, Clemson (24-10) suffered a huge loss when second leading scorer Carter Welling (10.2 points, 5.4 rebounds) suffered a torn ACL. Iowa (21-12) has two outstanding shooting guards in Bennett Stirtz (20 points, 37.5 percent on threes) and Tavion Banks (10.5 points, 47.2 percent on threes). Iowa is a 2.5-point favorite in a low possession, low scoring matchup.   Prediction: After the first game tuneup, there will be a significant step up in competition. Clemson and Iowa are good teams but neither one has the size or inside power of the Gators. As long as the Gators defend the perimeter, they advance to the Sweet 16.   ALABAMA (4 Midwest) First round: vs. 13 Hofstra Second round: vs. 5 Texas Tech-12 Akron winner   When Alabama (23-9) goes into a shooter’s coma, the Crimson Tide can cover up its deficiencies in the paint and on defense. The question as of Monday is how will Nate Oats compensate for the loss of second leading scorer Aden Holloway (16.8 points, 43.8 percent 3-pointers)? Even without Holloway Bama should outrun Hofstra with its 4-guard offense, but the second round game against the Texas Tech (22-10)-Akron (29-5) winner could be problematic. Both those teams shoot and rebound well.   Prediction: Even if Alabama gets to the Sweet 16, Michigan (31-3) will be waiting.   ARKANSAS (4 West) First round: vs. 13 Hawaii Second round: vs. 5 Wisconsin-12 High Point winner   Arkansas (26-8) went 3-0 in Nashville to claim the SEC Tournament. So much attention is given to freshman Darius Acuff Jr. (22.9 points, 6.5 assists) but the guy who makes the Razorbacks go is Billy Richmond III, their version of the Swiss Army Knife. When Arkansas is making threes it’s capable of beating anyone. Injuries have forced John Calipari to get by with a 7-man rotation. That won’t be a problem in the first round with Hawaii (24-8). The Razorbacks have the firepower to overwhelm Wisconsin (24-10)-High Point (30-4) winning in the second round.   Prediction: On to the Sweet 16 where the likely opponent will be Arizona (32-2).   VANDERBILT (5 South) First round: vs. 12 McNeese State Second round: vs. 4 Nebraska-12 Troy winner   Now that Duke Miles is back and healthy, Vanderbilt (26-8) is playing at a very high level. First round opponent McNeese State (28-5) can make the Commodores work for a win, but if Nebraska (26-6) is the second round opponent, Vandy will have to have a night when all its shooters show up and go into one of those can’t miss comas when everything goes bottom of the net.   Prediction: Two-and-through. As much as Vandy wants a Sweet 16 matchup with Florida, Nebraska will be too much of an inside presence, plus the Cornhuskers don’t turn the ball over.   TENNESSEE (6 Midwest) First round: vs. 11 Miami (OH)/SMU winner Second round: vs. 3 Virginia-14 Wright State winner   The Vols (22-11) should get a first round win over the winner of Miami (31-1) or SMU (20-13). If Rick Barnes can convince his troops to play the kind of defense that is his trademark, the Vols are certainly capable of knocking off Virginia (29-5) to set up a Sweet 16 with Iowa State (27-7). The Vols will go as far as freshman Nate Ament (18 points, 6.6 rebounds) will carry them.   Prediction: Sweet 16 with a chance to make the Elite Eight if Felix Okpara plays lights out in the middle.   KENTUCKY (7 Midwest) First round: vs. 10 Santa Clara Second round: vs. 2 Iowa State-15 Tennessee State winner   Kentucky (21-13) got a potentially troublesome first round matchup with Santa Clara (26-8) of the West Coast Conference. The Broncos can match Kentucky’s size and in Christian Hammond, they have one of the better 3-point shooters in the tournament. If the Wildcats get past Santa Clara, Iowa State and matchup nightmare Milan Momcilovic (17.1 points, 49.6 percent on threes) await. Kentucky is capable of winning both these games, but it’s been a roller coaster of a season and you don’t know which Kentucky team will show up.   Prediction: Two-and-through. The Wildcats will eke by Santa Clara and will be sent packing by Iowa State.   GEORGIA (8 Midwest) First round: vs. 9 St. Louis Second round: vs. 1 Michigan-16 UMBC/Howard  winner   If you’re looking for a first round track meet, then this is your game. Georgia (22-10) is fifth nationally in scoring (89.8 per game) and Saint Louis (28-5) is tenth (87.2). The Billikens can score and they’re one of the best passing teams in the country. Georgia’s key to success will be keeping center Somto Cyril out of foul trouble. If he blocks shots and rebounds, Georgia can win. Second round? Georgia and Michigan share a common opponent – Auburn. Georgia beat Auburn by four in overtime. Michigan beat Auburn by 40.   Prediction: Two-and-through. Georgia wins one, then gets its doors blown off by Michigan.   TEXAS A&M (10 South) First round: vs. 7 Saint Mary’s Second round: vs. 2 Iowa State-15 Tennessee State winner   The Aggies (21-11) play what head coach Bucky McMillan calls mother-in-law defense, which is to say they full court press and try to be annoying. The only problem is if they can’t turn opponents over and have to play in the half court they’re vulnerable. First round opponent Saint Mary’s (27-5) rarely turns it over, shoots the 3-pointer well, and has a huge front line that rebounds and controls the paint. Should the Aggies get by Saint Mary’s and its stud power forward Paulius Marauskas (18.8 points, 7.7) rebounds, Iowa State (27-7) lurks. Bad draw for Bucky Ball.   Prediction: One-and-done.   MISSOURI (10 West) First round: vs. 7 Miami Second round: vs. 2 Purdue-15 Queens winner   Missouri (20-12) got blown out by Kansas, Illinois and Alabama. The Tigers’ win over Florida is more about what Florida didn’t do than what Mizzou did to win the game. The first round matchup with Miami (25-7) because Miami struggles against teams with size and that’s what Missouri has in abundance. But whether or not it’s a good first round, Big Ten champ Purdue (27-8) awaits.   Prediction: One-and-done likely but two-and-through just in case the Tigers score a first round surprise.   TEXAS (11 West) Tuesday play-in: vs. North Carolina State First round: (If Texas wins) vs. 6 BYU Second round: vs. 3 Gonzaga-14 Kennesaw State winner   Texas (18-14) barely got in the field and suffers the indignity of a first round game with North Carolina State (20-13). Fortunately for the Longhorns, who have lost three straight, North Carolina State was worse down the stretch losing six of its last eight. Get by the Wolfpack and BYU (23-11) and its stud freshman AJ Dybantsa stands in the way. The Longhorns won’t make it to Saturday and Gonzaga (30-3).   Prediction: A play-in win and a rapid exit.

Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Tommy Haugh are key reasons why Florida could repeat as champs (Photo by Chris Spears) A year ago there was that embarrassing loss to Georgia in Athens when the Gators fell behind by as many as 25 points in the first half before roaring back to take the lead with 1:08 remaining in the game. Florida ran out of gas in the final minute and dropped an 88-83 decision to a team they had beaten by 30 points exactly one month earlier.   Back home in Gainesville, the Gators regrouped, re-focused and played with an agenda in winning their final three regular season games and all three games at the Southeastern Conference Tournament to earn the No. 4 overall seed for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The Gators went 6-0 with four come-from-behind wins to capture the national championship.   So here we are a year later. The Gators are back home in Gainesville getting regrouped and re-focused after an embarrassing loss in the SEC Tournament, this one 91-74 at the hands of a Vanderbilt team they beat a few weeks ago in Memorial Gymnasium. The Vandy win preceded another embarrassing loss, this one to Auburn at the O-Dome back on January 24.   As they get their minds and bodies right for a potential 3-weekend, 6-game NCAA Tournament gauntlet, the Gators find themselves once again the overall No. 4 seed. A year ago, the three teams ahead of the Gators were 1. Auburn; 2. Duke; and 3. Houston. This year it’s 1. Duke; 2. Arizona; and 3. Michigan.   The Gators will begin their quest for a repeat national championship Friday night at Tampa’s Benchmark International Arena (9:25 p.m., TNT) as the top seed in the South Region. The No. 2 in the South is Houston, whom the Gators beat in last year’s NCAA championship game. The No. 5 seed in the South is Vanderbilt, which beat the Gators Saturday afternoon in the SEC Tournament semifinals.   There is a lot of familiarity here. If Yogi Berra were still alive he might take a look and say, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”   What could make this “déjà vu all over again” would be for the Gators to rebound from the Vanderbilt loss the same way they did last year when they went on a 12-game winning streak after losing to Georgia. After the loss to Georgia last year the winning streak included avenging wins over Missouri and Tennessee in the SEC Tournament, both of whom had beaten the Gators during the regular season.   When the Gators lost to Auburn back on January 24, it was a scorched earth run through the SEC regular season with a 12 th straight win in the SEC Tournament quarter-finals over Kentucky. The streak ended with the Vanderbilt loss. It is quite possible the Commodores will be standing in the way of Forida’s national championship ambitions if the two teams make it to the Sweet 16 game in Houston.  Another payback opportunity for Todd Golden. He's really been good whenever he's had a chance to avenge a loss.   The talking heads at the networks would love a Florida-Houston rematch in the Elite Eight. Imagine also the hype if the Gators reach the Final Four where those same talking heads are predicting Duke and Arizona will be waiting.   It sets up for a revenge tour for the Gators and don’t put it past Todd Golden to use the losses to those teams as motivation to become the only team other than UCLA to have a multi-championship repeat. UCLA went back-to-back in 1964 and 1965, then won seven straight from 1967-73. While the Gators are one of seven teams to win back-to-back titles (2006-07), only UCLA has multiple titles twice.   If it were to happen this year, it would take the Gators going on another scorched earth tear. They’ve done it before. Do they have it in them to go 6-0 over the next three weeks?   THE FOUR NCAA REGIONS AND THE SEC EAST 1. Duke (32-2); 2. UConn (29-5); 3. Michigan State (25-7); 4. Kansas (23-10) No SEC teams in the East SOUTH 1. FLORIDA (26-7); 2. Houston (28-6); 3. Illinois (24-8); 4. Nebraska (26-6) 5. Vanderbilt (26-8) 10. Texas A&M (21-11)   First round matchups Tampa: 1. Florida vs. 16. Prairie View (18-17)/Lehigh (18-16) winner (Friday) Oklahoma City: 5. Vanderbilt vs. 12. McNeese State (28-5) (Thursday); 7. Saint Mary’s (27-5) vs. 10. Texas A&M (Thursday)   WEST 1. Arizona (32-2); 2. Purdue (27-8); 3. Gonzaga (30-3); 4. Arkansas (26-8) 10. Missouri (20-12) 11. Texas (18-14)   Play-in matchup Dayton: 11. Texas vs. 11. North Carolina State (20-13)   First round matchups Portland: 4. Arkansas vs. 13. Hawaii (24-8) (Thursday); 6. BYU (23-11) vs. 11. Texas- 11. North Carolina State play-in winner (Thursday) St. Louis: 7. Miami FL (25-8) vs. 10. Missouri (Friday)   MIDWEST 1. Michigan (31-3); 2. Iowa State (27-7); 3. Virginia (29-5); 4. Alabama (23-9) 6. Tennessee (22-11) 7. Kentucky (21-13) 8. Georgia (22-10)   First round matchups Tampa: 4. Alabama vs. 13 Hofstra (24-10) (Friday) Philadelphia: 6. Tennessee vs. 11. Miami OH (31-1)/11. SMU (20-13) winner (Friday) St. Louis: 7. Kentucky vs. 10 Santa Clara (26-8) (Friday) Buffalo: 8. Georgia vs. 9. Saint Louis (28-5) (Friday)

Is another NCAA title run in the works for the Gators? (Photo by Chris Spears) NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Road tripping to the Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament. Half the fun is getting here.   It was about 7:45 when I left the continental United States. The once-thriving outlet mall at Lake Park, Georgia is 95 percent empty. I know it’s empty because there used to be a Polo store there and my car didn’t automatically take a right turn to get off I-75. South Georgia still has numerous Stuckey’s. Back in the day before there was an interstate highway and the way north was on sometimes 4-lane highways that often went through small towns with speed limits of 17 or 22 miles per hour, we used to beg our parents to stop at Stuckey’s. If we still had Christmas or birthday cash from grandparents, we treated ourselves to their famous pecan logs. I wonder if Stuckey’s still has pecan logs or if it’s simply Stuckey’s in name only?   Heavy storms between Hahira and Warner Robins. Got a weather warning in my car and on my phone. Passing through Fort Valley, I’m reminded of one of my favorite Gators ever – Jaquez Green – and Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame O-lineman Rayfield Wright. I’m also reminded of the infamous basketball game between Fort Valley State and Savannah State in the spring of 1973. Six or seven Fort Valley players fouled out, leaving just five to finish the game. When another one fouled out, SSU coach Mike Backus pulled a player to make it a 4-on-4 game. When the game ended mercifully, it was 3-on-3. Could have been 2-on-2, but the zebras let a couple of Fort Valley muggings go.   Buccee’s in Warner Robins. Brisket and a side order of the best beef jerky on the planet for breakfast but first time to recycle a 32-ounce travel cup’s worth of coffee. Just doing my part for the environment. Washing my hands, the attendant I notice is taking pride in his work. I thank him for his hard work and say “God bless.” He smiles, thanks me for the nice words and then we talk for three or four minutes. “Some people may laugh that I am a bathroom attendant, but I get paid twice what I made at Walmart and I get some overtime. Couldn’t get a job at the Air Force base because I didn’t have the connections. This place is a lifesaver. I can support my family with my paycheck and this place stays so busy that I know I’ll have a good paycheck.” I compliment him on the joy he takes in a job that a lot of folks consider beneath them. “Any job that you can work hard, give the folks an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, is a good job. I don’t care what no one else says.” I leave Buccee’s with a tank full of gas, a brisket sandwich, Korean barbecue flavored beef jerky, a sugar free Dr. Pepper and a smile because the guy cleaning the bathroom took joy in his work.   Atlanta. Always tons of fun getting through particularly when the Emory Health ambulance bobs and weaves its way through traffic like it’s a Formula 1 race. He’s followed by a couple of police cars sirens blaring. These guys are real pros. No accidents. No fender benders. No slammed on brakes. Just a 25-minute excursion through the heart of Atlanta. I miss the days when the SEC Tournament and the NCAA (2007) were held at the Georgia Dome. In 2007 Joakim Noah nearly caused Verne Lundquist to have a major coronary with his dance moves after the Gators beat Arkansas to win the SEC. Three weeks later, it was all business as the Gators bushwhacked UCLA and then Ohio State for the title. I remember the Oh-Fours sitting on the podium as “One Shining Moment” played. Corey Brewer mouthed the words and teared up. A year later, the Oh-Fours and Lee Hump gone, the Gators were playing Alabama on Thursday night when a tornado ripped through Atlanta and ripped holes in the fiberglass dome. The bolt missed my head by inches. When Tim Casey and I departed an hour later we were astonished at the damage that had been done outside the stadium. Georgia beat Kentucky on Friday over at Georgia Tech, then the Poodles vanquished Mississippi State and Arkansas, both games played on Saturday. It was Dennis Felton’s finest hour, a good coach who made the mistake of coaching at Georgia which really had no commitment to good basketball.   Next stop Buccee’s in Dalton where the gas is 40 cents a gallon cheaper. It’s noon-time and buses full of high school and college kids heading to Florida for spring break unload. An already croweded Buccee's is standing room only . There must be 500 people inside getting food and shopping, another 200 waiting in line to get into the bathrooms and all 150 gas pumps have lines. This is WaWa on steroids.   Chattanooga. This is where the adventure begins. I get off I-75 for I-24 and that’s when Waze tells me there have been two accidents ahead. I’m re-routed. I see parts of Chattanooga I’ve never seen before and then with one right turn, I pass the entrance to Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain. Haven’t been to those places since 1963. An hour since the detour I hit railroad tracks. The gate goes down and the lights blink. Everybody stops. Then the lights stop blinking and the gate goes up. Two cars make it across, then the lights and gate go to work again. I’m seventh in line. One car at a time from each direction . This reminds me of “The Karate Kid.” Wax on. Wax off. When it’s my turn finally I dash across. Prayerfully. The way Chattanooga is going, I think the train is finally going to come roaring through. Lucky for me, another false alarm. The road across the tracks may be the one they use to test the effect of potholes on cars. Then comes the line … at least 200 ahead of me before I take a right turn onto another 2-lane road that is 10 miles from I-24 … where they are cleaning up from another wreck. Ya-hoo.   The drive to Nashville. I catch the end of the Missouri-Kentucky game on Sirius XM. I’m actually happy that it’s going to be Kentucky. The thought of beating the Mildcats three times in one year goes beyond my fondest dreams. Auburn takes off like a Roman candle against Tennessee, but like a Roman candle it burns out. The Vols win. They were going to get into the NCAA anyway so I wanted Auburn to win so the SEC would get another school in the Big Dance.   Nashville. I get boxed in by a couple of semis and go a full exit beyond where I’m supposed to get off. Once I get off and try to turn around, I get cut off at the light by this guy in a huge pickup. He sticks his head out the window, gives me the finger. To paraphrase the immortal words of Dandy Don Meredith, “I’m still No. 1!” Somehow I don’t think he meant it quite that way. I’m just glad he didn’t hit my car.   Checking in. Twelve Germans are ahead of me. They try to convince the desk manager to break up the payment to three rooms so that each one pays 1/4 th of the room. He is from Bombay. He is not happy. He is less happy when they start talking to each other in German. “I speak German,” he says. “Your rooms are already guaranteed. One card for each room or else I just charge the card that guaranteed three reservations.” The fat German guy isn’t happy. The tall, skinny one, who apparently put his card up to guarantee starts cursing in German. I know this because the desk manager threatens to call the police on them. They pay but say they will never stay at this place again. The manager looks at me apologetically. “One room, one card,” I tell him. He gives me a discount. We talk about Bombay. I was there in 1986. A gazillion people give or take a billion or so. At least that’s what it seemed to me. He loves Nashville, says he has even taken a liking to country music. Good thing he does. I ask if he likes basketball. “Not as exciting as cricket,” he answers. “A smashing game of cricket?” I ask him. “You know it! Yes! Yes! So exciting.” I don’t argue.   Nashville Gator Club. I’m here to do a book signing at something called the Fogg Street Lawn Club. It is on Fogg Street but there is no lawn in sight. This is THE place for Euro soccer fans, or as my old business partner from Southampton used to call it, “Proper football.” Whatever. Nice place though with great people and huge TV screens showing the SEC Tournament, but one channel is devoted to Florida State and the Dookies. Marcelo, who is the prez of the Gator Club, was born in Cuba, raised in Miami, went to UF and now is a spy for the Gators behind enemy lines. Kendrick the lawyer is sitting with me talking basketball. Sumeet graduated from UF in finance in 2006. He’s from Sanford originally, lives among the heathens in Atlanta but remains in full grasp of his mental faculties. Also with us is Emily Pope, who’s getting her master’s at UF. Family in the ag business from Pahokee. She and her family are great friends of the Wedgworths, and she has great memories of my dear friend, the late, great Doug Wedgworth. Here’s what I’ll never forget about Dougie. If you needed anything all you had to do was ask and if he could he helped. What I also remember is that no one I know can ever recall a time when he asked something in return. Friends like that are hard to come by.   Dook trailed by eight, then led by eight and finally beat the Seminoles 80-79. Now as impressive as it might seem that Dook won without Caleb Holt and Patrick Ngongba, they’re going to have issues without the two of them. A really good team would have stuck it to the Dookies. No Holt means no effective point guard. No Ngongba and not enough size.  Georgia was down 20 and almost came back to beat Ole Miss. Too many missed free throws did the Poodles in. Meanwhile Ole Miss is playing like the Ole Miss everyone thought we’d see before the Rebels lost their will and their way during the season.   One game to go but I’m not sure I’ll last that long. Been awake too long, drove all the way from Florida through storms and accidents on the interstate. I’m fading fast. Gotta rest up. SEC semifinals tomorrow starting with the Gators and the Mildcats.   As I reminded this Kentucky fan as he was leaving, there are two kinds of college sports fans in the world – Gators and everyone else who wishes they could be one.

The Wildcats are 19-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference after losing the series at Auburn last weekend.   Gators Softball Celebrates! Photo credit UAA The Wildcats won game one 8-3 on The Plains. Then they lost game two 6-2 and game three 6-5 in 13 innings. They have been balanced in the circle with Hailey Nutter starting 8 games and McKenzie Oslanzi and Sara Haendiges starting 7 each. Nutter has a 7-1 record and 4 shut outs in 12 appearances with a 1.88 era. Haendiges is 7-2 in 11 appearances with two  shut outs and a 2.18 era. Oslanzi only has a 3-2 record but has appeared in 12 games for the Wildcats with a 1.63 era to lead the staff.   Expect to see all three get a start this weekend and probably see them all in relief if necessary. Karissa Hamilton leads the team in hitting at .432. Carly Sleeman is next at .410. Allie Blum and Peyton Plotts are the only other Cats hitting above .300. However, every player in the lineup is hitting above .200. Plotts leads the Wildcats in HRs with 9. Madison Anson is next with 6 followed by Hamilton and Blum with 5 each.   They have hit 33 as a team or a little over 1 per game. The top four hitters all have over 20 RBI. Their offense has scored 159 runs or over 6 runs per game.   The Gators swept the feisty Missouri team in Gainesville to start their SEC schedule. Taylor Shumaker took over the lead for the Gators in batting average now sitting at an even .500. Jocely Erickson is right behind her at 4.88 followed by Gabi Comia at .476 and Kenleigh Cahalan at .442. Madison Walker, coming off a good weekend against her former teammates, has climbed over the .400 mark as well.   The “weakest” hitter in the starting lineup for the Gators is Cassidy McLellan hitting a “lowly” (sarcasm here folks) .311. Erickson paces the Gators with 13 home runs. Shumaker now has 11 and Cahalan has 10.   As a team the Gators now sit at 60 long balls.   Keagan Rothrock picked up all three wins, one in relief, against the Tigers, improving her record to 14-1. Leah Stevens got the other start for the Gators but was roughed up early and replaced by Olivia Miller who pitched 7 plus innings of shut out relief in an 11-inning game two.   With Saturday starter, Ava Brown, still unavailable due to a leg injury, pitching continues to be a cause for concern for this team. Rothrock appears ready to shoulder the load like she did as a freshman, but the Gators will need to continue to have one of the other pitchers pick up some innings during these tough SEC weekend series.   Every weekend is tough in the SEC. This weekend in Kentucky will likely see warm and cold weather. Or at least it is expected to be colder than it has been in Gainesville. How this team responds to their second trip out of the state and the first road SEC series will tell us all just how good this team can truly be.

Alex Condon flushes one during Florida's 71-63 quarterfinal victory over Kentucky. Photo by Chris Spears. By Carlton Reese GatorBaitMedia.com   NASHVILLE—What are we to make of Friday’s quarterfinal 71-63 Gator victory over the Kentucky Wildcats? What was likely Florida’s poorest all-around performance in over six weeks is, at the same time, both disconcerting and encouraging. Any time a team shoots 38 percent from the field and just 3-for-20 from 3-point range while committing 18 turnovers and still beats a team like Kentucky in the never-a-doubt fashion is perplexing, but a signal to the world of just how good Florida is. Let’s be honest, the last month and a half Florida has been flawless to the point of spoiling fans and media alike. The Gators look like a team that can do no wrong and the domination spells another waltz to a title. But in Nashville, we all witnessed some chinks in the armor thought ironed out long ago. To be concerned by what we saw is completely rational, especially when we’re talking about the chances of a team to win it all. Disconcerting was the poor performance, showing how mortal the Gators are. The win over Kentucky required a bit of luck in that the Wildcats shot poorly themselves. Florida defended well to help make most every shot difficult, but Kentucky’s sharpshooters couldn’t hit even when they were left wide open. On an average night, Kentucky shoots much better and Florida is in trouble. Counting on the opponent to have an off-night shooting will not work in the coming weeks, especially amid sloppy passing and ball handling. Whatever was ailing Florida Friday had better be cleared up, else Vabnderbilt sends the Gators home from Nashville Saturday. Not every game is sheer domination – off-nights are bound to happen, but they need to take place in February and not March. Encouraging is the victory despite the ugliness. Like last year in the NCAA Tournament run where Florida overcame some sleepwalking moments to win anyway, this year’s team seems to have a knack for pushing through its own lackluster job and find a way to win. That is the beauty of being a juggernaut in rebounding and defensive intensity while having weapons at every position capable of taking over a game when deficiencies pop up elsewhere. How many times does a team play so far below its potential and still beat Kentucky handily? Florida’s done it three times this season, having built big leads every time only to see a late Wildcats push make a final score that belied the ease of the victory. Keep in mind the Gators went wire-to-wire with the lead in every game against Kentucky – that’s not something that happens by fluke. “I would have preferred to win this game by 20, but we’ll take this 8-point win,” Todd Golden remarked, echoing what every Gator fan was thinking. That’s where Golden has the program: Wondering why an 8-point win over the Kentucky Wildcats wasn’t a 20-point thrashing, as though Merrimack was the opponent. It’s not ego or bravado – it’s high expectations which are a hallmark of any championship team. No doubt Golden warned his players in the locker room following Friday’s game that if they don’t tighten a few screws, this thing could fall apart well ahead of schedule. He may have even used some harsh language in the process. History tells us the message was heard loud and clear by these players who have complete trust in the methods that earned a national title last year and a run of 17 wins in 18 games. Florida’s front court advantage was too much for Kentucky as it has been for everyone else. A 50-29 rebounding advantage tends to make up for poor shooting and turnovers, but Kentucky is not built to match up in this way. Teams down the road will present much stronger front court challenges to Florida and the Gators won’t have the leeway of 15 percent shooting and 18 turnovers. Disconcerting or encouraging? Two different things can be true at the same time, and Florida’s win over Kentucky is proof. Simultaneously, the Gators showed they can be very pedestrian and ripe for defeat while also scaring the living hell out of everyone who just saw them easily beat Kentucky when they played one of their worst games of the season. If Florida loses, the pundits will point back to the Kentucky game as a cautionary tale left unheeded, which would be a bit unfair. Florida is great, but not perfect – even Tiger Woods missed a four-foot putt on occasion – and all expectations should be grounded in that knowledge. Because Florida has so many ways to beat its opponents into submission, one never sees the Gators panic when adversity strikes, which keeps them at a minimum. When Kentucky crawled back to within six points with 1:29 remaining, there was Thomas Haugh draining a tough turnaround jumper to squelch momentum. Then there was Xaivian Lee with 50 seconds left and Kentucky within five, stepping back and sinking a 3-pointer at the end of a tough possession. That shot ended all Kentucky’s hopes and reminded everyone of all those big moments in last year’s championship run where whenever something good absolutely had to happen for Florida, it did… every time. Haugh admitted afterward he had a bad game, but that did not faze him from taking the tough shot that had to go down late in the game. No memory. Lee was in danger of missing a tough shot that Kentucky could have capitalized on to make it a one-score game, but he was not fazed, either. These Gators know that when someone needs to rise to the occasion with the pressure at its hottest, any one of eight players can be called upon to be a hero. Last year it was Walter Clayton burying off-balance shots with defenders draped on him when it mattered most, or Alijah Martin making a steal and dunk to suck the life out of the other team. This year, we’re seeing it again: a hero can come from anywhere at any time even on a bad night. It’s a nice luxury to have and an ingredient that wins championships.

Todd Golden goes at it with KB Burnett and Pat Adams (Photo by Chris Spears) “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” – Murphy’s Law   NASHVILLE, Tennessee – It is entirely possible that Murphy was an optimist or at least that’s what it seemed after the first half of the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinal with Vanderbilt at Bridgestone Arena.   Down 47-32, the Gators still had an entire half to get back into the same groove that carried them into this game with the momentum of a 12-game winning streak. But, when AK Okereke casually nailed a 3-pointer on Vanderbilt’s first possession of the second half it had the effect of a rather large rock sinking to the pit of the stomach.   For 4 th -ranked Florida (26-7), as bad as it was in the first half, the second half was worse. Call it a bad day at the office for the Gators who will have to sweat out the reveal of the NCAA Selection Committee’s seeding decision Sunday night. The Gators are going to be in Tampa regardless of their decision, but the question is will it be a No. 1 or a No. 2? If it’s a No. 1 it will be because the committee respected Florida’s 12 Quad 1 wins and overall body of work. If it’s a No. 2, then all fingers will point to what happened Saturday when Vanderbilt became the first team all season to score a blowout win over the Florida Gators.   Final score: Vanderbilt 91, Florida 74. And really, it didn’t seem nearly that close.   The Commodores (26-7) played probably their best game of the season and in doing so may have elbowed their way to the No. 4 line when the NCAA selects. How they did it was a let’s get physical defensive effort and their three big guys – Okereke, Devin McGlockton and Jalen Washington – going 7-10 from the 3-point line.   The physicality caused the Gators to miss way too many shots in the paint. Florida corralled 20 offensive rebounds, which the Gators normally convert into 20 or more points just on stickbacks. The only problem was this wasn’t anything close to a normal day. The Gators managed only 14 second chance points, in large part because Vandy muscled up every time the Gators snagged another offensive rebound. Surrounded in the paint after hauling in a missed UF shot, the Gator big guys either missed bunnies or were forced to pass the ball out to the perimeter. “They did a good job being physical, for sure,” Todd Golden said. “I think they knocked us off our spots. When we get 20 offensive rebounds, in theory we should be scoring 25 or even a bucket more on that. We only had 14 second-chance points. “We fought hard on the glass. We got back over 55 percent, almost 60 percent of our misses, which is insane. We did a very poor job of taking advantage of that and getting second chances, finishing our second chances I should say.”   The 3-point shooting by the Vandy bigs came down to a game plan decision. Florida was determined to run Vandy’s typical long range bombers off the 3-point line, a plan that worked out quite well since Tyler Tanner (1-1), Duke Miles (1-3) and Tyler Nickel (1-6) were a combined 3-10, far below their norm.   Far above the norm was the way Okereke (3-5), McGlockton (3-4) and Washington (1-1) made their threes. Okereke is a decent shooter but compared to Tanner, Miles and Nickel, someone you are willing to take a chance with. McGlockton and Washington are sub-30 percent 3-point shooters, so it’s not a bad decision to give them space. The Gators did it, but on this day the strategy backfired.     “You have to decide against a team like that, that's definitely much better on the offensive end than defensive end in terms of what you want to live with,” Golden explained. “We wanted to live with their front court shooting threes. They took advantage of it. They knocked it down. When we tried to switch defenses, they had answers. ”   Compounding matters, particularly in the first half, was ball security. Florida’s nine first half turnovers were converted into 20 of Vanderbilt’s 47 points. The Gators turned it over five more times in the second half, but Vandy only scored four more points off the miscues.   When the Gators arrived in Nashville, they were on their best shooting streak of the season – 43-99 from 3-point range in the previous five games. Saturday, they were 5-17 so a combined 8-37 from the 3-point line over the two days. That’s 21.6 percent, far worse than what the Gators were shooting even during the bad days prior to the start of the SEC regular season.   In the first half, the Gators were 11-30 from the field overall and 2-8 from three. In the second half, the Gators were an improved 15-27 but only 3-9 from three. They needed to make threes to fire up a comeback attempt, but Vandy did a good job of limiting three attempts while contesting those the Gators did squeeze off.   Two days in Nashville, 145 combined points. You have to go back to the losses to Duke (66 points) and UConn (73) for consecutive games in which the Gators had such difficulty putting points on the scoreboard.   The point production has a direct correlation to the ball security issues. The Gators turned it over 18 times in the win over Kentucky on Friday, turning a potential 30-point blowout into a game that was much too close for comfort. Saturday, the combination of turnovers and the inability to stick the ball back in the basket after offensive rebounds had a rather haunting effect. Points the Gators typically count on were rare.   The turnovers were the great concern for Golden. Earlier in the year when the Gators were 5-4 after the back-to-back losses to Duke and UConn, and even after the first SEC game of the year, a 2-point road loss at Missouri, turnovers were an issue. In recent weeks, Florida’s ball security improved which led to the Gators typically scoring in the 90s and winning games by 13 or more points.   “ My biggest disappointment of the last two days was our ball security,” Golden said. “That's an area that we have been making shots. We've been pretty good offensively, top 10 offense all year. We can't be a team that just gives up offensive possessions. “Again, in the first half I think we had nine or something. It led to 20 points for Vanderbilt. I mean, you're not giving yourself a chance to win with that ball security issue that's getting them 20 points in transition, free looks. They're too good of a team and they're going to take advantage of that every time.” The Gators outrebounded Kentucky 50-29 and won that game by eight points. They outrebounded Vanderbilt 38-23. When you pound a team that way – and pounding is indeed the only way to describe it – you shouldn’t have one game in which you feel fortunate to win and a second game in which you get blown out. So, it is time to get back home, get back to the practice gym and re-focus on what’s important. The Gators may have lost the SEC Tournament, which certainly was a disappointment, but the goal of a repeat national championship is still possible. When focused and playing at the same level that got them the SEC regular season championship by three full games in the standings, the Gators are as good or better than every other team in the country. When they’re turning the ball over, letting other teams frustrate them with physical play that causes the 3-man zebra crew to be a bit selective in how they toot their whistles, the Gators can be had. Golden sees what’s ahead and knows what has to happen prior to the first NCAA game. “Again, we get back tonight, we'll take tomorrow (Sunday) off, probably watch the Selection Show together, get back to practice on Monday,” Golden said. “Again, we try to be very consistent with our program. We're not going to be reactive in regards to when we're winning that we don't practice hard, and we kind of go with the flow, we're okay, as soon as we lose we're going to change everything, be really aggressive in practice. “Part of what makes our program what it is is our consistency. We are not going to change a lot. We are going to get back to defending, rebounding, taking care of the ball.” Alex Condon, who had 13 points, seven rebounds and two assists, admitted frustration with the way some of the physical nature of the game played out, but he put what happened against Vandy and what’s ahead in perspective.   “I think they made an effort to be really physical from the jump,” Condon said. “I know in some of our elbow-catching plays, I was getting elbowed in the back. A lot of rebounding. They made a big emphasis to try and out-physical us. That's our identity, defense and bringing physicality.   “Credit to them, they did a good job, but it's fueling the fire for us. I think it's not the worst thing in the world to have a little wake-up call this time of year. I know everyone's going to be super motivated this week in practice, not let this affect our March performance.”   Definitely, the fire needs to be re-fueled this week. What we saw Saturday bore little resemblance to the team that did a scorched earth run through the SEC. What the Gators are capable of doing will be determined by their ability to get their mojo back ahead of the first NCAA weekend. GAME NOTES: Tommy Haugh led the Gators with 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists, one steal and one blocked shot … Boogie Fland scored 15, Condon 13 and Chinyelu 12 … Florida had 13 assists and 14 turnovers. Vanderbilt, on the other hand, had 21 assists on 30 made shots and turned the ball over just eight times … Tanner led the scoring for Vandy with 20 points, while Washington had 17 and Miles 13.

Even the SEC Defender of The Year couldn't stop hot-shooting Vandy (Chris Spears Photo)

Tommy Haugh drives through contact against Vanderbilt (Photo by Chris Spears) That same UConn team, the one who back in December eked out a 77-73 win over the Gators in what amounted to a Madison Square Garden home game, gave Florida what amounted to a mulligan Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Big East Tournament. A No. 1 seed was there for the taking. All UConn had to do was knock off St. John’s to win the tournament, but just as the Gators did in their SEC Tournament semifinal with Vanderbilt, the Huskies laid an ostrich-sized egg.   Had UConn taken out St. John’s, which won the Big East regular season championship, the Gators probably would have been bumped down to the No. 2 line thanks to that 91-74 beatdown suffered at the hands of Vandy. Two weeks ago UConn hosed St. John’s by 32. Saturday, St. John’s retaliated with a 72-52 win over UConn that looks far better on paper than it did live. On paper, it seemed that UConn just had a bad day at the office. Live it looked like St. John's was on a burning down the house mission that left UConn in smoldering ruins.   A UConn win would have been the Huskies’ 30 th of the season and would have gone a long way toward bridging the Quad 1 gap with the Gators, who are 12-6 after the Vandy loss. UConn is now 7-4.   Following the Vanderbilt loss, Todd Golden felt the Gators were deserving of a No. 1 based on strength of schedule along with the 12 Quad 1 wins.   “ Looking at Quad 1 wins, I think we're in a good spot that way,” Golden said. “Analytically, the predictive metrics, whether it's KenPom, Torvik, we're top four in all those by a wide margin. It's really not close. “We had our early-season tough start where we played really good, competitive opponents, and road or semi-away venues where we fell a little bit short. We haven't lost in 54 days or something leading up to this game, playing some of the best basketball in America. I do believe we've done enough to be the fourth one seed, but we’ll find out tomorrow night.” Golden made those comments prior to UConn’s disastrous performance against St. John’s and also prior to Houston losing to Arizona in the Big 12 Tournament championship game. Houston does have 10 Quad 1 wins, but the Cougars have the same number of Quad 1 losses (6) as the Gators. Houston finished second in the Big 12 regular season, and has a 28-6 record. Florida won the SEC by three games with a 16-2 record in league play and has a 26-7 record. The advantage should be to Florida, but the Gators will have to play wait and see until the NCAA announces its brackets this evening. Right now, it’s likely that the Gators will be the South Region No. 1 with Houston the No. 2. The Gators will open play in Tampa and if they get past the first weekend, proceed to Houston for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds. Rice is the host institution for the Houston Regional so the NCAA rule that a regional host can’t play in its own region is waived. That means the Houston Cougars could essentially get home games for the second weekend. Per Joe Lunardi, the Gators will open with the winner of the play-in game between Kennesaw State and Prairie View A&M, both No. 16 seeds. In Lunardi’s second round, the Gators would face the winner of No. 8 Clemson (ACC) and No. 9 Villanova (Big East).   In the CBS brackets, the Gators would open with the winner of the No. 16 play-in game between Howard and Long Island, with a second round game against the winner of No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 North Carolina State.   AS OF SUNDAY MORNING SEC in ESPN (Joe Lunardi) brackets East: 1. Duke; 2. Iowa State; 3. Illinois; 4. Vanderbilt (SEC: 7. Kentucky; 11. Missouri)   South: 1. FLORIDA; 2. Houston; 3. Purdue; 4. Gonzaga (SEC: 6. Tennessee; 10. Texas A&M)   Midwest: 1. Michigan; 2. UConn; 3. Nebraska; 4. Kansas (SEC: 5. Arkansas; 8. Georgia)   West: 1. Arizona; 2. Michigan State; 3. Virginia; 4. Alabama (SEC: 11. Texas)    Bids by Conference SEC 10; Big Ten 9; ACC 8; Big XII 8; Big East 3; West Coast 3; MAC 2; A10 2   SEC in CBS brackets East: 1. Duke; 2. UConn; 3. Michigan State; 4. Kansas (SEC: 6. Tennessee; 8 Georgia)   South: 1. FLORIDA; 2. Houston; 3. Illinois; 4. Gonzaga (SEC: 10. Texas A&M)   Midwest: 1. Michigan; 2. Vanderbilt; 3. Iowa State; 4. Nebraska (SEC: 5. Arkansas; 10. Texas; 11. Missouri)   West: 1. Arizona; 2. Purdue; 3. Virginia; 4. Alabama (SEC: 7. Kentucky)   Bids by Conference SEC 10; Big Ten 9; Big XII 8; ACC 8; Big East 3; West Coast 3; A10 2; MAC 2

Florida's Xaivian Lee is draped by Vanderbilt's Chandler Bing during Saturday's 91-74 loss in Nashville. (Photo by Chris Spears) What did not work for Kentucky, worked beautifully for Vanderbilt in a 91-74 thrashing. By Carlton Reese GatorBaitMedia.com NASHVILLE — The Vanderbilt Commodores showed up at Bridgestone Arena Saturday for a fight while the Florida Gators had come prepared for a scrimmage. The Vanderbilt game plan was nothing new – the Kentucky Wildcats tried it on Florida the day before: hammer, mug, flop, anything to bait the Gators into abandoning their discipline amid the supreme hope the men in stripes kept the whistles to a minimum. What did not work for Kentucky, worked beautifully for Vanderbilt in a 91-74 thrashing. Where the Wildcats failed to make any shots and capitalize on UF’s shoddy performance, Vanderbilt made everything, and most often without a contest. Simply put, the Gators were bulldozed on Saturday and their defense was about as strong as one might expect against an actual bulldozer. Florida is a big, strong, physical team that one would expect to deliver blows of its own, but not on this day. For whatever reason, Vandy threw its weight around and into Florida at will, while the Gators’ reaction was more frat boy pledge than Big Boss Man – “Thank you, sir; may I have another?” “The physicality they played with bothered us, and that’s usually what we do,” coach Todd Golden said. At no point in Saturday’s game did the Gators look like they had the will to slog through another heavyweight bout, absorbing blows then have to come back the next day and do it all over again. The fight was in Vandy, not Florida. “They made an effort to be really physical from the jump,” Gator center Alex Condon said. “I know on some of those elbow catching plays, I was getting elbowed in the back. They tried to out-physical us – credit to them, they did a good job. But, it’s fuel to the fire for us. It’s not the worst thing in the world to have a little wakeup call this time of year.” “They had a great game plan to be a little pest on us, and it worked,” Thomas Haugh said. “Teams are going to look at that come tournament time and we have to not let it happen and not get flustered.” It’s not that Florida played poorly like it did the day before against Kentucky; it’s that Florida had no big boy response to the blows inflicted Saturday by the Commodores. Florida’s game plan may have had a little to do with that, especially defensively where the Gators’ sole goal was to keep the Vandy sharpshooters from getting clean looks on the perimeter. To that end, Florida succeeded: Tyler Tanner managed to take just one 3-point attempt while Duke Miles and Tyler Nickel were just 2-for-9 combined from long range. The problem was in consciously allowing the Vanderbilt big men to take those shots. On that end, coach Todd Golden’s game plan blew up in his face: AK Okereke made three of five 3-pointers, Devin McGlockton went 3-for-4, and Jalen Washington made his only attempt, all with defenders nowhere in sight. It’s hard to answer physicality with physicality when you simply allow the big guys to drift out to the perimeter and take uncontested shots you believed they wouldn’t make. “We wanted to live with their frontcourt shooting 3s and see if we could survive that way, and they took advantage of it,” Golden said. If Friday’s win over Kentucky was a cautionary tale for the Gators, Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt was a bullhorn directly into the ears of Florida’s players: Take the fight to the opponent, and for goodness’ sake protect the basketball. The Gators turned it over 14 times to Vanderbilt which converted those into 24 points against just 14 points off turnovers by the Gators. It’s an act Todd Golden must clean up before the NCAA Tournament starts next week. “My biggest disappointment of the past two days was just our ball security,” Golden said. “We can’t be a team that just gives up offensive possessions. You’re not giving yourself a chance to win with those ball security issues. That’s giving them 20 points in transition free looks. They’re too good of a team and they’re going to take advantage of that every time.” When Urban Klavzar sank a short jumper in the lane to put Florida up 14-12 at the 13:06 mark, the Gators offered little resistance from that point. The Commodores tore off an 11-0 run via two offensive rebound that led to two points, four Florida offensive rebounds that led to no points, and two UF turnovers that led to five Vandy points. Down 23-14, at the 8:29 mark, Florida would never get closer than five points of Vandy and trailed by double digits almost the entire way. The only question at halftime with Florida trailing 47-34 was what adjustments Golden would make to turn this thing around. That is one of his finer qualities: making the astute adjustments when they’re needed most. But Vandy let it be known right away it wasn’t going to allow Florida back in it – just 22 seconds in, Okereke drilled a 24-footer on the opening possession to stretch the lead to 16. There was no fight in Florida. The next 58 seconds brought fouls on Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Xaivian Lee, setting the tone that meant any Florida physicality would be met by the strong arm of the law. And now we close the book on the 2026 SEC Tournament for Florida that saw two bad performances from a team that looked unbeatable heading to Nashville. Now, the Gators look a bit softer and less sure of themselves than they did a week ago. And perhaps the loss to Vanderbilt served up the proverbial “wake-up call” that coaches like to claim after a bad loss. In last season’s title run, the SEC Tournament is where Florida flexed its mighty muscle to show the world it was the favorite to win it all. This year, the SEC Tournament is where Florida showed its vulnerability, its mortality in the face of a team that shows up with billy clubs and ninja stars. The game plan to beat Florida is out there for all to see. Golden sees it as well, and that’s where he shines brightest – reverse engineering from the opponent’s perspective to fine tune his own machine. The track record is there. “We get back tonight, take tomorrow off and probably watch the selection show together,” Golden said. “We’re not going to be reactive in regards to when we’re winning that we don’t practice hard and just go with the flow, and as soon as we lose we’re going to change everything. Part of what makes our program what it is, is our consistency, so we’re not going to change a lot. We’ve got to to get back to defending and taking care of the ball.”