Questions With The Enemy: Florida Gators Vs. Kentucky Wildcats – Feb. 7, 2012
The No. 7/8 Florida Gators travel to Lexington on Tuesday night to take on the No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats in a battle between SEC rivals and top-10 teams. Ahead of the game, Tyler Cox of Wildcat Blue Nation – FanSided’s Kentucky site – was kind enough to sit down with us and answer a few questions. To read my answers to their questions, visit WBN. With that I present the return of Questions with the Enemy.
Hail Florida Hail: Elite Eight in year one. Final Four in year two. The next step in the progression would be a national championship game appearance. Is this the year John Calipari leads Kentucky to the big game? Or even wins it all?
Wildcat Blue Nation: I do believe this is the year that UK gets to the Championship game, and wins it. The last 2 years I had a feeling that something would go wrong, a gut feeling if you will. I just had that instinct that the team wouldn’t be able to go all the way, because those teams really never put teams away, and you could see it in their game play. This years team, however, is putting teams away and absolutely dominating on defense, thanks mostly to Anthony Davis. This team is so balanced it’s hard to stop them honestly.
HFH: Speaking of a national title, what stands in the Wildcats’ way between now and then?
WBN: There are 4 things that could get in Kentucky’s way of a championship, and 3 of them are teams. The teams I think that pose a BIG challenge to the Cats are Syracuse, Ohio State and North Carolina. I think of what those teams have in common are prime-time low post presence, and they are accompanied by good guard play. I think anyone of those teams can win the battle down low if Jones plays scared and Davis gets out muscled, which could very well happen. The other thing that could stand in Kentucky’s way is injuries. Now if only one guy gets injured then I think that UK could manage, but if 2 or more get injured then I think it starts to get hairy.
HFH: On paper, Kentucky appears to be as good as any team in the country. What do the Wildcats have to do on the court the rest of the way to prove it?
WBN: Win. Winning solves everything. And the things that they can improve on to win is free-throw shooting. With the way Kentucky plays, attack attack attack, they are going to get fouled. Free-throws more times than not is the determining factor in who wins the game. And free-throws at the begging of the game are just as important as the end.
HFH: Florida is one of the nation’s hottest teams from three-point land, how do the Wildcats stop the Gators from getting open looks from downtown?
WBN: With the shot blocking from Anthony Davis and Terrence Jones, the guards need to play up on the Florida players and get in their face. If the player drives by the UK defender then so be it, Anthony Davis and Jones are there to erase his teammates mistake.
HFH: Gator fans still (and always will) consider Florida a football school, but since Billy Donovan came to Gainesville we’ve thought of Kentucky as our biggest basketball rival. What is the feeling from Wildcat fans?
WBN: I think ever since Billy took over the Gators they became an instant rival. As far as biggest I would have to say either Louisville or UNC. If you are talking in terms of SEC rivals then I would have to say that Florida is probably our biggest rival. Even though it was easy making fun of Bruce Pearl, I still think most UK fans would say Florida is probably our biggest SEC rival.
Thanks to Tyler and Wildcat Blue Nation for participating in the return of Questions with the Enemy.
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