Florida basketball: The SEC Tournament and the Gators

The time has come, one that even the casual Florida basketball fan gets excited for, tournament time! is there anything in sports that can compare to college basketball tournaments?

I say no, and millions of people, and Florida basketball fans, agree every year.

On March 11 the SEC will put on a show for the Nation as the SEC basketball tournament will begin. Florida basketball will need to have a great performance to land a great spot in the big dance.

The brackets have all been set, not in stone, for the SECMBB tournament. As of now, with two games left, the Gators are sitting as a five seed and would take on the winner of Ole Miss and Georgia on March 12.

I don’t know if there is a team they would prefer but the Gators split the series with Ol. Miss and won the first game against Georgia.

The Gators and the Bulldogs will face off on the court again tomorrow night at 7:00 pm in Georgia. Let’s take a look at the possible bracket as of now and how they match -up.

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A Split with Ole Miss

The season has seen the Gators and the Rebels split their two games with both teams winning on their home floor.

The last game came on February eighth with the Rebels taking it 68-51. The Gators were just not on this night as they shot 18-54 for 33%.

Not a stellar night not at all, but then Ole Miss shot 26-55 for 47%. The same amount of shots but a much different outcome.

Now their first match-up was just the opposite as Florida basketball went for 54% shooting and the Rebels went for 40%, the same percentage difference in both games.

So do they match-up well and do they want to go through that in their first tourney game?

It would for sure be a tough game but if you want to win a tournament, you must win tough games.

A Gator and a Bulldog

The first match-up between the two went the way of the Gators. The Gators won the game 81-75 in Gainsville Fl, on a night when they shot 47% from the field.

They were led by guard  Andrew Nembhard on the night with 25 points, four boards, and three assists. Johnson and Blackshear each had 15 and 12 respectively.  For the Georgia Bulldogs, Anthony Edwards led them with 32 points and six boards.

It was a great battle all night and Gators were able to overcome that big effort by Edwards. They will need to do a much better job of containing him.

The bigs for the Gators need to have a big game. The Bulldogs will come out ready for their home crowd and Florida basketball will need to stay with that energy at the start. They should be able to do just that and get that road win they will need.

It would seem that it would benefit the Gators then to play the Bulldogs once again in the tournament. They match-up better. But that is up to Georgia, they must first win that first-round game again Ol MIss to get to the Gators.

Third round action

Once the Gators take out the Bulldogs or the Rebels they have a potential match-up with Mississippi State in the third round on Friday the 13th.

In their only meeting this year the Bulldogs of Mississippi State won 78-71. Reggie Perry had 27 points and eight boards to lead Mississippi State. Blackshear and Johnson were held to 13 and 10 points and the team only shot 8-21 from three.

All that being said there was enough there that the Gators can win this game as well. They will need help off that bench.

It is this time of year where many believed Blackshear would be the most valuable to the team as he had the experience coming from Kansas.  If he can come alive they have a good chance to run this thing.

Prequel to the dance

This SEC tourney will be a great warm-up to the NCAAMBB championship tournament. It is a good conference with some of the best teams, so when you make it out of this one tourney you are set up well for the big one.

It will help the Gators to do well in this tourney but in the end, I feel they will receive a bid either way. Now, what region and what seed will be dependant on how they do.

With games against Kentucky and Georgia still left in the year, there is a lot of important balls to be played.

So sit back and pull up a chair, it is almost SEC Tournament time and the Gators are ready to play.