SB Nation - Walter Hodge

Gators Take Step One; Auburn Next

mlmintampa — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:03:17 -0000

The Gators' 73-58 win over Arkansas Thursday in the SEC Tournament First Round was expected. It should not be looked at as anything more than that. Florida (23-9) has to do a lot more than defeat a SEC weak sister and they can do that Friday night against Auburn (21-10).

Against the Tigers, Walt Hodge will have to keep going to the basket and drawing fouls. Hodge was a man possessed against Arkansas. He led all scorers with 16 points and added 3 assists and 3 steals. Hodge was also willing to bang down low with Arkansas' Michael Washington, who had 15 points and 18 rebounds.

Florida will have to do much better inside against the Tigers, the SEC's best defensive squad. The Gators are still too willing to take deep shots early in the possession, rather than be patient and look to moved the ball around. When Florida opened it up against the Razorbacks, it was when plays developed and guys moved without the ball. Nick Calathes is still struggling a bit (11 points on 5-10 shooting, 5 turnovers) but finding ways to get stuff done (7 assists, 6 rebounds). Calathes needs to get over the slump because Auburn does not have the offense to match their defense. Not only will Auburn control Florida's best player, they will drag the Gator offense down to their level. Florida cannot win 58-55 games.

This might be a win-and-in game for both Florida and Auburn. It will be interesting to see how each team responds with their backs to the wall.

Kentucky 53, Florida 60: Postmortem

Truzenzuzex — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:39:29 -0000

I regret not being able to write this last night, but I had other matters to attend to. I want to thank everyone for doing such a good job of keeping the discussion civil in this difficult time.

First of all, a big, somewhat belated congratulations to the Florida Gators. Florida did not play a great game, but they played well enough to win. When you are at home facing a with a lot (at least, ostensibly) of motivation to win the game, it's easy to try too hard, and sometimes the Gators did. But they forced Kentucky into many turnovers and managed to exploit enough of them to get the W. Well done, Florida. Noble victory.

It doesn't take Yoda to intuit the fact that I am very fatigued, both mentally and emotionally, with writing losing postmortems. All sports bloggers have to do this, of course, but it gets much tougher when your team is far worse than expected in a season. But with that said, let's move along to the Wildcats.

First of all, I must say that the 'Cats played very hard. They played very poorly in the process, but I don't fault anyone's effort today, and if you are like me and try to search for positives in a dismal showing, that's something. Unfortunately, this team's effort today was largely directed, as it has been so often, in making plays that simply were not there to be made, with the predictable result of ridiculously difficult shots missing the mark and turnovers made all over the place.

The biggest problem with Kentucky today is that they had no 3-point shooting against the zone defense. One of the weaknesses of a zone is that it allows open 3-point shots with good ball movement. Kentucky's ball movement wasn't just poor, it was incomprehensible. Throwing the ball around the perimeter of the zone is exactly what the zone defense wants the offense to do. What you should do is get the ball into the high post, forcing the zone to react. It's as though that was against the rules today, because the 'Cats almost never tried to do that.

In addition, Meeks was again unable to get clean looks, and when he did, he missed the shot. A lot of that credit goes to Florida, particularly Walter Hodge and Nick Calathes, who split time guarding Jodie Meeks. Ray Shipman also did good work there.

Patrick Patterson shot 7-17, an incredibly inefficient outing that has lately become his trademark all too often. Patterson missed point-blank shot after point-blank shot, and even though he was under some pressure, it was nothing like what he faced last month in Columbia. I am at a loss to explain what looks like a sudden lack of confidence in his game.

Kevin Galloway, the hero of the last encounter with the Gators, had a very bad showing. He kept trying to make impossibly difficult passes, even when a simple pass was available. Four turnovers, three assists.

Michael Porter was his typical ineffective self, although he wasn't the turnover machine we have seen so often from him this year. That honor went to Darius Miller, who's stat line of 1 assist, 6 turnovers and one rebound in 15 minutes is surely represents the nadir of the young man's Wildcat career so far (and hopefully, forever). Porter did, however manage to allow Walter Hodge to torch him for 18 points on 7-12 shooting.

The only player to really play well was Ramon Harris, the much-maligned small forward who defended Calathes like a maniac, holding him to only 5 points. Harris scored 14 points on 6-8 shooting and had only two turnovers and five rebounds, four of them offensive. Jodie Meeks managed 15 points on 6-18 shooting, with three rebounds as well as turnovers. As far as Perry Stevenson is concerned, I see by the box score that he did play 26 minutes, although I can scarcely remember anything he actually did.

So much for the recap.

So where does this latest debacle leave us? Well, I think it is safe to say that absent an SEC tournament championship, Kentucky has no chance whatever to get an at large bid in the NCAA tournament. That hope technically died earlier this week when Georgia handled us in Rupp Arena, but the reality is that the season was murdered in Columbia, South Carolina back on February 25th. The Gamecocks, in my estimation, crushed the fragile psyche of of this team to fine powder, rolled it up and smoked it.

I know many people will want to take Gillispie before the firing squad, but the truth of the matter is that he is no longer in control of the fortunes of this team. As anyone who has ever led a group of men or women will tell you, once their confidence in the direction of the team fails, it is usually (although not always) unrecoverable in the near term. What it often takes is a quiet period for people to evaluate themselves and their priorities, digest and assimilate what happened that contributed to the disaster and come back with a plan to succeed after the pain and recriminations of the failures have subsided. Only in cases of extreme maturity and determination, as we saw last year from Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley, can the rescue of a team be effected in-season once it's confidence has failed. Unfortunately, this team has no such maturity or determination.

What this means is that the post season for this group, absent something rather extraordinary, is going to be much like the last few weeks. I can never say never, but I don't expect Kentucky to do well in the SEC tournament and I do expect them to play in the NIT. They may win a game or two in that tournament, but ultimately, the weight of this season will doom them much as it has seven of the last ten games. A slow start is all it takes to bury this team, and every start these days is a slow start. These young men have neither the maturity nor the mental toughness to bail out all the water the USS Wildcats is taking on this year.

Coach Gillispie will suffer most of the recriminations, and that is right because that's what he is paid to do. My opinion is that Gillispie's "stay tough" style simply didn't work with this particular group of kids. I expect he also tried a kinder, gentler approach at times in the season hoping to get a response, but really, he was operating from a position of weakness. Gillispie is Gillispie, and this team needed a different type of approach which is apparently beyond his ken. We have seen this happen before with coaches at Kentucky and elsewhere.

Gillispie could not get this team to execute or understand his offensive schemes. Defensively, the Wildcats were fairly consistent and generally pretty good this year, but it was the inability to value the basketball or execute precision offense when it was needed that cost us most games. Yesterday, it was a return of the unwillingness (I can't really call it anything else, the proper method to attack zone defenses are well-known by anyone who closely follows college basketball) of the team to properly attack the zone and move the ball. It was as though flashing to the free throw line was so risky that nobody would attempt it, so Kentucky simply threw the ball around the perimeter fecklessly in hopes of getting it to Patterson.

I do not believe those who say Gillispie is over his head, at least when it comes to actual coaching. In the sense that he has done a very poor job with media and fan relations this year, yes, I think he is in over his head -- he has taken a huge reservoir of goodwill and drained it completely dry with almost nothing to show for it. He now finds himself actually embattled at Kentucky after only two years, a feat that I thought impossible without an actual losing season. Yet Gillispie has managed this with two potential NBA draft picks and several other top 50 players coming out of high school on the team.

I personally believed that Gillispie should get four years at the head job almost as a default. However, after this season he will be under tremendous pressure to perform next year, and that concerns me -- coaches under that much pressure can become unpredictable and can be a threat to the program's integrity. I trust that Barnhart and the compliance staff will work very closely with him under these circumstances. I think Coach Gillispie is a man of integrity who would never do anything wrong, but there is no way he has ever been under this much pressure in his life. Pressure this intense can break the will of even the best human being, and while it may seem unfair, it is simply a fact at Kentucky that must be dealt with. That unfortunate fact may (and probably is) a big part of the reason why Kentucky has had so much difficulty with coaching searches.

Unfortunately for those who want to see Gillispie fired immediately, doing so would magnify the pressure of this job to the point that I can't imagine any right-minded human being who would want it. I'm sure somebody would be willing to try, but if you think we could euthanize the Gillispie era today and hire the next Rick Pitino tomorrow, you are simply nuts. The psychology of the situation would be unprecedented in all of college basketball history, and we would most likely have to settle for a coach with Kentucky ties. I would point out that the only coaches with Kentucky ties of the stature that most fans want are Rick Pitino, Billy Donovan and Tubby Smith.

Of course, it is always possible we could go to the NBA and get lucky like we did with Pitino. NBA coaches are familiar with pressure that is at least somewhat similar to what a coach faces at Kentucky, and that is certainly a good thing. Most of them are fairly adept at handling the media, so that would also be a plus. But could we find any that would be a good fit and have the necessary experience to take over this program? I don't know.

In the final analysis, firing a coach who had committed no NCAA violations or other issues of moral turpitude after two winning seasons would be unprecedented, for a program of Kentucky's stature to take such an action would put our program at risk for years to come. But does that mean that we should just take this season in stride and look forward to next year, throw up our hands and say, "Oh, well, better luck next year?" Not in my book.

There are several actions that the Athletics Department should take after this season is finally dead and buried, something I expect to happen sooner rather than later. They are:

Inform Gillispie that he has one month after the NCAA championship game to finalize and sign a contract with UK. Failure to do so will result in dismissal, and litigation over the MOU. Enough is enough.
Require Gillsipie to provide a detailed explanation to the Athletics Director, either verbally or in writing, about what went right and what went wrong with this season. This analysis should include a detailed explanation of the failures that caused this season to go south, along with a detailed plan for corrective action addressing each of the failures. Once the coach and AD agree on all the points at issue and their corrective action, Gillispie and the AD should agree on what an acceptable outcome to next season will be complete with objectives and performance criteria.

As much as the fans would want to be part of this, it is unreasonable that they should be privy to or have a say in this agreement. We hired Barnhart to handle this. Let him do his job.
The agreement should be specific as to what success and failure next season look like. For example, success could be defined as a winning percentage of 70% +0-5%, an SEC championship or co-championship, and an NCAA tournament bid of 8 or better. I really don't care what the agreement is, it could require an NCAA sweet 16 or better, whatever.

What would the consequences of failure to meet objectives be? A presumption of dismissal, I would expect, absent extraordinary mitigating circumstances. Coach Gillispie was hired to coach Kentucky into Kentucky-like performances, not performances that would satisfy Georgia or Ole Miss. He has now had two full years to deal with the issues that the program had before he came, and three of his recruiting classes will be in place by next fall. We should begin to see progress from the 2006-07 years, not a continuation or regression from them.

I have advocated four years for Gillispie, and I still feel that way if he can show substantial progress next year. If not, I'm not sure that Barnhart will be able to protect him for another year. Many people have compared the situation to Coach Brooks, but we all know that basketball and football are worlds apart in the minds of Kentucky fans. Barnhart could afford to go to bat for Brooks, but Gillispie has burned up a ton of goodwill that Brooks did not by still having an unsigned contract and various media faux pas along with an intractable attitude toward the game that has not yielded good results. Intractable, eccentric behavior are fine when you win, but poison when you don't. In the final analysis, I don't think Gillispie can survive another year with more than ten losses unless he has a deep run in the NCAA's. I'm not sure he could survive another first-round loss in the NCAA's, or another VMI or Gardener-Webb type loss.

In summary of this lenghty commentary, Kentucky's season is effectively over. Although an SEC Tournament championship or even an NIT championship might somewhat change the dynamic of this season, it wouldn't be by much. Opinion has largely calcified that this year was a failure, and primarily a failure of coaching. Not only that, but the Kentucky coach has managed to create an unfortunate impression of his time at Kentucky by some very questionable decisions in the media. The result of this is that after only 22 months on the job, Gillispie has completely exhausted the reservoir of good will that the Big Blue Nation had for him when he was hired. He is now viewed almost as negatively (and perhaps just as negatively) by the fan base as Tubby Smith was two years ago, and that is very bad news. Gillispie, in my judgment, cannot survive another year like this, no matter what chance I personally think he should have.

Gators Finally Show Up

mlmintampa — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:46:49 -0000

The Gators did something they have not done all season; in a game where Nick Calathes struggled (2-9 shooting, 5 pts), people stepped up. Today it was Walt Hodge (18 pts), Alex Tyus (11 pts) and Erving Walker (10 pts) pushing the Gators to a 60-53 win over Kentucky. Florida (22-9, 9-7) keeps alive hope for a NCAA bid, while Kentucky (19-12, 9-7) is in a pile of poop as big as Secretariat. (You know, because UK wears jerseys like Secretariat's silks? Nevermind.)

Despite shooting 39%, Florida won because they played good enough defense (UK shot 43% from the field, 18% from three), forcing 23 turnovers. Patrick Patterson was great (16 pts, 13 rebounds) but with the exception of Jodie Meeks and Ramon Harris, Kentucky could not find a contributor. For the Gators, at least Dan Werner had 8 points, but had to take 9 shots to get there.

Florida is now locked in to play Arkansas Thursday night, the best possible matchup because Arkansas is the worst team in the SEC West (2-13) and it is the 9:45pm game. Every Gator fan in Tampa will have plenty of time to leave their job at the bank or law firm and get to the game.

Kentucky Wildcats @ Florida: Gameday Breakdown

Ken Howlett — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:24:02 -0000

A regular season once filled with promise and optimism comes to a close today as the 'Cats take on their bitter rivals, the Florida Gators. The 2:00 EST (CBS) contest will determine the 3rd and 4th place finishers in the SEC East. If UK pulls out the road victory, by virtue of their 3rd place finish, they would meet up with the Arkansas Razorbacks on Thursday in the SEC Tournament. If Kentucky loses today, they most likely would then play Alabama in an opening round SEC Tourney tilt.

My, how the recently and once-mighty, have fallen. UK, losers of three games in a row (and seven of their last 10), and Florida, also losers of three in a row (and six of nine), will not be playing for banners, but rather their NCAA Tournament lives. Both teams, clinging to the slightest of hope ... hope that they won't be slighted on Selection Sunday.

I wrote in my Georgia pre-game that if the 'Cats lost to the Dawgs their NCAA hopes went with the wind, but Bracketology guru Joe Lunardi disagrees, so I won't give up until I fail to hear UK's name called out by Jim Nantz ... but, hey, that's just me.

So, it's on to the Gators.

Florida Personnel

Nick Calathes: 6'6" 194 lb sophomore guard -- On the season Calathes is averaging 18.2 points (6th in the SEC), 6.4 assists (1st in the SEC), 5.3 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game (2nd in the SEC). He's shooting 49.6% from the field (8th in the SEC), 41.3% from beyond the arc (64-155), and 71.0% from the free throw line.

In SEC play he's averaging 19.3 points, 6.1 assist, 6.1 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. He's shooting 47.7% from the floor, 43.2% from the three-point line (38-88), and 71.3% from the free throw line -- Over his last four games Calathes is averaging 14.3 points per game (versus Miss. St. last game, he scored only 11 points). In that span he's shooting only 40.4% from the field. Over the last eight games he's shooting only 35.7% from the three-point line. Since recording 14 steals in a four game stretch, in his last two games Calathes has zero steals. Calathes is the only player in the country who is averaging at least 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game. He also leads the SEC is A/TO ratio at 2.04. Last time out versus UK Calathes scored a season high 33 points on 10-20 shooting (2-7 threes), grabbed seven rebounds, dished out three assists, had two steals and two turnovers. The 20 shots he took represents a season high.

Alex Tyus: 6'8" 220 lb sophomore forward -- On the year Tyus is averaging 12.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game (2.0 off. reb). He's shooting 59.5% from the field (2nd in the SEC), and 65.0% from the free throw line.

In league play he's averaging 11.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game (1.9 off. reb). He's shooting 54.3% from the floor, and 63.4% from the charity stripe -- Tyus has scored in double-digits in eight of his last 10 games. He's made only four of is last 10 free throw attempts. His last double-digit rebound game was January 14 versus Auburn, when he had 14. Tyus has committed zero turnovers his last two games. Against UK on February 10, he scored 14 points on 7-11 shooting, grabbed only two rebounds, but recorded three blocks (season high), two steals and one assist. The two rebounds he nabbed were the fewest he's had in a game this year (along with the Longwood, and Toledo games).

Chandler Parsons: 6'9" 213 lb sophomore forward -- Parsons is averaging 9.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.2 steals per game, on the year. He shoots 47.1% from the floor, 30.3% from the thee-point line (33-109), and 55.7% from the free throw line.

In conference play he's averaging 11.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. He shooting an even 50.0% from the field, 32.1% from behind the arc (18-56), and 47.1% from the free throw line -- Since making 7-8 threes versus Vandy on January 25, Parsons has made only 7-30 (23.3%) in his last 10 games. He's taken only one free throw in his last three games. Since recording three blocks versus South Carolina on February 3, in the seven games since, he's blocked only one shot. In Florida's last game, versus Mississippi State, Parsons played only 17 minutes. Earlier versus UK, Parsons played 24 minutes, scored two points on 0-4 shooting (0-1 threes), grabbed six rebounds, and dished out one assist.

Erving Walker: 5'8" 161 lb freshman guard -- For the year, Walker is averaging 9.8 points, 2.4 assists and 1.6 rebounds per game. He's making 43.4% of his shots, 41.4% of his three-point attempts (55-133), and 83.1% of his free throws.

In SEC play he's averaging 10.9 points, 2.4 assists and 1.6 rebounds per game. He's shooting 43.2% from the field, 43.2% from beyond the arc (32-74), and 82.9% from the free throw line -- Wednesday versus Mississippi State Walker made only 1-6 threes. In the Brooklyn natives four previous games he made 13-27 trey attempts (48.1). He's recorded only one steal in his last five games. Since committing five turnovers versus South Carolina on January 21, he's averaged only 1.0 turnovers in his last 11 games. He made 4-8 three-point attempts last Saturday against Tennessee. Versus UK last time out Walker played 27 minutes, scored seven points on 2-6 shooting (1-2 threes), two rebounds, one assist one steal and two turnovers.

Dan Werner: 6'8" 230 lb junior forward -- Werner is averaging 8.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. He's shooting 43.9% from the floor, 36.0% from the three-point line (40-111), and 76.3% from the free throw line.

In league play he's averaging 7.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. Werner is shooting 36.9% from the floor, 37.5% from behind the arc, and 86.7% from the free throw line -- Werner hasn't taken a free throw in seven games. He's made 10 of his last 21 three-point attempts. He's recorded zero steals in his last three games. He's averaging 6.7 rebounds over his last three games. In the earlier game versus UK, he scored four points, and had three rebounds, steals and turnovers.

Walter Hodge: 6'0" 170 lb senior guard -- Hodge is averaging 8.7 points, 2.3 assists, and 1.5 rebounds per game. He's shooting 45.3% from the floor, 39.2% from the three-point line (51-130), and 80.6% from the charity stripe.

In SEC play he's averaging 9.8 points, 2.3 assists, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game. He's shooting 45.2% from the field, 36.6% from the three-point line (26-71), and 81.0% from the free throw line -- Since making only one of nine threes versus Alabama on February 18, Hodge has made 10-24 in his last four games (41.7%). He is averaging 13.8 points per game over his last six. In that span he's made 31-60 field goal attempts (51.7%). The diminutive guard has grabbed nine offensive rebounds in his last six games (the previous eight games he had zero). After recording only one steal in his previous five games, versus Mississippi State on Wednesday he had three steals. He committed four turnovers versus Vandy, in the three games since he has zero miscues. Earlier versus UK, Hodge played 20 minutes, scored two points on 1-5 shooting (0-1 threes), he also had three assists, two steals and two turnovers.

Kenny Kadji: 6'10" 245 lb freshman F/C -- Kadji is averaging 4.7 points, and 2.8 rebounds per game. He's shooting 48.7% from the field, and 51.2% from the free throw line (22-43).

In conference play he's averaging 4.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and .9 blocks per game. He's making 48.2% of his shots, and 59.1% of his free throws. Kadji had eight rebounds in only 14 minutes versus Alabama on February 18. He recorded four blocks versus Vanderbilt on February 21. He hasn't scored in double-figures since netting 10 points versus Arkansas back in January (which was also the most minutes he's played all year, 23). He's made only 1-5 shots in his last three games, after making 9-18 in the three previous contests. Versus UK last time out he played 12 minutes and scored one point, grabbed three rebounds, and had one block and one turnover.

Ray Shipman: 6'5" 212 lb freshman G/F -- Shipman is averaging 3.8 points, and 2.2 rebounds per game. He's shooting 50.0% from the floor, 18.8% from beyond the arc (3-16), and 67.6% from the charity stripe.

In league play he averages 2.9 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. He's making 57.1% of his shots, 40.0% of his threes (2-5), and 71.4% of his free throws -- Versus Mississippi State Wednesday night, he played a season high 24 minutes. He hasn't recorded an offensive rebound since January 31 (an eight game span). He's made 7-11 field goal attempts over his last four games. Versus UK last time out he played 16 minutes, scored two points (1-1 FG's) and grabbed two rebounds.

Florida Team Stats -- Overall (SEC rank in parenthesis)

Florida Opponents

Points Per Game -- 78.8 (2) 68.7 (5)

Field Goal% -- 48.4 (t1) 44.8 (12)

Free Throw% -- 68.5 (7) 62.4 (1)

3-Point% -- 37.3 (2) 36.5 (11)

Rebound Margin -- +.4 (9)

Off. Rebounds Per Game -- 11.1 (9) 11.0 (2)

Off. Rebound% -- 32.6 (10) 32.0 (7)

Def. Rebound% -- 68.0 (7) 67.4 (10)

Assists Per Game -- 17.0 (1) 13.3 (8)

Steals Per Game -- 8.2 (3) 6.2 (4)

Turnovers Per Game -- 12.0 (1) 15.2 (8)

Blocks Per Game -- 2.8 (12) 3.4 (5)

Florida Team Stats -- Conference Games Only (SEC rank in parenthesis)

Florida Opponents

Points Per Game -- 77.9 (1) 73.6 (7)

Field Goal% -- 46.8 (1) 47.0 (11)

Free Throw% -- 69.4 (5) 59.8 (1)

3-Point% -- 38.9 (1) 37.7 (11)

Rebound Margin -- - 2.3

Off. Reb. Per Game -- 9.6 (12) 10.6 (2)

Off. Reb.% -- 27.6 (12) 30.8 (3)

Def. Reb.% -- 69.2 (3) 72.4 (12)

Assists Per Game -- 15.8 (1) 13.3 (6)

Steals Per Game -- 6.9 (7) 6.5 (3)

Turnovers Per Game -- 11.3 (12) 13.5 (5)

Blocks Per Game -- 2.6 (11) 3.8 (5)

UK 68, UF 65

In the February 10 contest, Jodie Meeks was the big 'Cat of the day. With only five seconds remaining the Kentucky junior drilled a three-pointer putting UK up by two. Nick Calathes was then fouled by Kevin Galloway on his three-point try, with less than a second remaining. Calathes missed his first two free throws, and intentionally missed his third, but to no avail.

Meeks led the way for UK with 23 points, Perry Stevenson scored 10. They were the only two Wildcats in double figures. Patrick Patterson, who played 30 minutes, but had to sit the last nine minutes of the game because of a severely sprained ankle, scored only 7. Michael Porter pitched in by making 3-4 trey attempts. As a team UK made seven of 17 three-pointers (41.2%), but only 9-16 free throws (56.3%). Kentucky also committed 19 turnovers; Stevenson led the way with six.

Nick Calathes led Florida with a season high 33 points, and Alex Tyus scored 14. Calathes was 10-20 from the floor, while the rest of the Gators could only muster 12-34 shooting (35.3%). Florida only corralled six offensive boards, for an 18.8% conversion rate. As a team the Gators made only 4-14 three-point tries (28.6%).

Florida guard Walter Hodge missed the final 16 minutes of the game, due to a dead-ball flagrant foul call against him.

For a complete boxscore go here.

Gator Tails

In Florida's three game losing streak they are giving up 80.0 points per game ... Over the last three games Florida is giving up 50.9% field goal shooting ... Over the last three games the Gators are giving up 48.3% three-point shooting ... Florida lost to Georgia, in Athens, 88-86 ... Florida has given up 18 offensive rebounds to Mississippi, 17 to South Carolina, and 15 to Alabama ... The Gators have made over 40.0% of their three-point attempts in 12 games this year ... Gator opponents have shot over 40.0% from beyond the arc a total of 10 times ... Six Gator opponents have made over 50.0% of their three attempts ... Florida has made over 50.0% of their field goal attempts 12 times this season ... In their last three games (all losses) the Gators have made an average of only seven free throws per game, while shooting 55.3% from the line ... Eight of Florida's last nine opponents have shot at least 47.3% from the field ... At home, Florida averages 82.6 points per game in the SEC ... In their last three games the Gators have forced only 25 turnovers (8.3 per game) ... Florida made 13-28 (46.2%) trey attempts versus Tennessee last Saturday, but still lost the game, 79-75 ... They made 15-25 threes (60.0%) versus Vandy on February 17.

CliffsNotes Analysis

Florida and UK are similar in at least one area -- They are both struggling defensively. Both teams give up too many points, and both teams are allergic to guarding the perimeter. The team that amps up their defensive effort will probably win this game.

UK's best chance at that is to bottle-up Calathes, because if he's let loose as he was in Lexington, UK will be staring at a season-ending four game losing streak. I expect to see a rotation of Galloway, Porter, DeAndre Liggins (if he plays), Meeks and maybe a little Ramon Harris attempting to put the kibosh on the Gator's great guard.

But this game boils down to which team perimeter-pass denies the best, mans-up on the shooter, and makes the most three-pointers. UK has lost every game this year in which they are out-scored from the three-point line. I expect that trend to continue.

How much do the 'Cats want it? They've been blasted and questioned, berated and belittled over the last few weeks ... it's time they got mad, and played like a team that wants to win.

There is still pride waiting to be salvaged.

Happy Birthday

I want to wish my sister-in-law, and U of L grad, a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Thanks for reading, and Go 'Cats!

Ashes, Ashes, The Gators Fall Down

mlmintampa — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:10:45 -0000

For much of Tuesday's game, Florida stuck with LSU. But, like every game this season against a legitimate opponent, the Gators could not maintain their pace and lost in Baton Rouge 81-75. Florida (21-7, 8-5) is now 2-5 in conference road games and has not defeated a ranked team on the road since Kentucky in 2007.

LSU (24-4, 12-1) clearly was the better team going in, but Florida's inability to slow Marcus Thornton (32 pts, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) and the rest of LSU's offense was inexcusable. I say the rest of LSU's offense, but it was really just three guys. Thornton, Tasmin Mitchell (12 pts) and Garrett Temple (21 pts) accounted for all but 16 of the Tigers' output. If Florida cannot stop three guys with five defenders, what hope is there for the remaining three games?

The Gators had balance with Walt Hodge (16 pts), Alex Tyus (15 pts), Chandler Parsons (12 pts) and Nick Calathes (12 pts) all in double figures. Calathes, who was 4-11 shooting, had 7 boards and 6 assists on what was considered an off night for him.

UF is now looking down the barrel of an NIT bid. A team only gets so many chances and now the Gators are in serious jeopardy of missing a bye in the SEC Tournament. The Gators have an oppertunity to play the SEC Tournament essentially at a home court, as the tournament is in Tampa. But it seems as if the Gators do not or cannot understand the sense of urgency needed right now.

Florida 65 @ Kentucky 68: Postmortem

Truzenzuzex — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:04:10 -0000

Like most of you, the adrenaline is still surging like mad through my body. Typing is a barely-controlled attempt to press the keys through the keyboard and into the pressboard of my computer desk.

Congratulations to Florida on a great game, particularly Nick Calathes. He was Meeks-esque in a dominant performance. Other than the very strange ejection of Walter Hodge for stepping on Perry Stevenson, the game was pretty cleanly played. To be fair to the officials and the Gators, I just can't tell if there was any intent to make the contact there. But they officials carefully reviewed the tape and were right on top of it, so it is what it is. The Gators played well in a tough environment against a desperate team. Great effort by Florida in an uneven but highly competitive effort by both teams.

And now, to Kentucky.

First off, I am very glad to win this game, make no mistake. But if Patrick Patterson is out for any significant length of time, it was not at all worth the price. He looks to be OK, just a sprain, but I always fear the deadly "high ankle" sprain on steps like that, and if he has one of those, UK is in a bad place.

Right now, however, we need to celebrate a lot and pray Patterson's injury is minor. This was not the execution I had hoped for from Kentucky after a week of remediation, but with the exception of a couple of stretches of brain-dead low-effort play, it was a gritty performance that never could have ended the way it did without some incredible effort on the part of some very unlikely players.

Here are my observations:

Who would have thought we could win against Florida on a night in which both Patterson and Meeks were as cold as Kentucky was last week. Meeks heated up at the end, but was 3-10 from three. Patterson wasn't himself the whole game, going 3-9 and a lot of his shots were U-G-L-Y. But he was respectable on the boards with eight rebounds.
Kevin Galloway was absolutely terrific. He fulfilled much of the promise that he showed at the College of Southern Idaho, and his athletic dunk on a fast break in the second half nearly brought the house down. The only blemish was that inexplicably foolish foul at the end of the game that could have allowed Calathes to put it into overtime. Alas for Florida, Calathes took that moment to miss his first free throw of the night.
Michael Porter made a lot of mistakes, but he also made some huge shots. Overall, the good far outweighed the bad.
DeAndre Liggins got curiously few minutes, but played pretty well when he was in there, particularly defensively.
Great game by Josh Harrellson. He gave us all kinds of help, both offensively and defensively, until Florida caught on to our switches and began taking advantage of them.
Speaking of switching, what the hell was that all about? We haven't switched on screens all year long. I can only figure it was to better play the pick and roll, or perhaps it was just something to throw a monkey-wrench into the Gators' game plan. Sometimes it worked, but a lot of time it didn't, particularly when we wound up with Harrellson guarding Calathes.
Perry Stevenson came up huge in the first half, then kind of vanished in the second. Ten points, eight boards and six turnovers. He was working on a triple-double, albeit a really weird one.
Free throw shooting nearly cost us the game. I have not had to say that all year. Remarkable.
Once again, turnovers were a huge problem. If we could have taken better care of the ball, this game would have been a blowout.
Ramon Harris is just having a really rough stretch right now. He only had two turnovers, but he was indirectly responsible for at least 3 others and just got schooled by Calathes.
Kudos to the 'Cats for much improved defensive rotation inside. Never once did we get caught flat-footed because Stevenson and Patterson went for the block. As a result, we outrebounded the Gators by 13, which made up for many of our turnovers.
Jodie Meeks really turned it on when he had to. He played all forty minutes of this game. But he sure shot the ball poorly from the perimeter.
Defensively, we held Florida to 4-14 from three, and without a 3 point field goal in the entire second half.
It's amazing to look at the box score and see three Kentucky players in double-digits with a fourth one point away, and none of them are Patterson.
19 turnovers is better than 20, I guess. One above our average.
Meeks was obviously fouled on his game-winning three. No call.
We FINALLY won a close one!

I'm still in a state of shock. When Florida went up six with about three minutes to go, I was already thinking about what I was going to have to write, and seriously thinking about abdicating that responsibility. But it is with great pleasure and not a little pride that I get to finally, after what seems an interminable interregnum, write about a victory.

Wildcats! Huzzah!!

Florida @ Kentucky: Pre Game

Truzenzuzex — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:31:09 -0000

Comes now an opportunity for Kentucky. Having wasted so many this year, they need to treat this one like the precious jewel it is.

Florida comes into Kentucky with a one-game lead in the East, just one game ahead of Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky. A victory by the 'Cats would leave a four-way tie for first in the East, but there are a lot of games yet to be played. Even a loss tonight would not doom UK's chances to win the East, but it would deal them a major setback and would substantially increase the success they would need in the rest of the season to make the NCAA tournament at all.

A victory would turn the Wildcats' fortunes back around for the time being, and place them back in good standing, but still with some work remaining between now and the SEC tournament in Atlanta.

Player Stats: Florida

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Nick Calathes	23	32.5	6.0	11.6	51.5	2.2	5.1	42.7	4.0	5.7	71.0	0.8	4.5	5.3	6.4	3.3	1.9	0.2	1.9	18.1
Alex Tyus	23	25.3	5.3	8.7	61.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.8	2.6	68.3	2.0	4.3	6.3	0.7	1.3	0.5	0.7	1.7	12.4
Chandler Parsons	23	26.9	4.0	8.3	48.2	1.2	4.0	30.8	1.2	2.0	57.4	2.2	3.7	5.9	1.9	1.5	1.2	0.4	2.4	10.4
Erving Walker	23	23.2	3.0	6.8	43.9	1.7	4.2	41.2	1.6	2.0	82.2	0.1	1.2	1.3	2.6	1.6	1.0	0.0	1.6	9.3
Dan Werner	23	26.6	3.4	7.4	45.6	1.2	3.5	33.8	1.2	1.6	77.8	1.2	3.3	4.4	2.3	1.6	1.0	0.4	2.7	9.2
Walter Hodge	23	27.6	2.6	5.9	43.4	1.5	3.8	38.6	1.1	1.4	78.1	0.4	1.1	1.6	2.4	1.1	1.3	0.1	2.1	7.7
Kenny Kadji	22	13.1	2.1	4.2	50.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	1.5	47.1	1.0	1.6	2.6	0.2	0.9	0.2	0.7	1.4	5.0
Ray Shipman	23	13.4	1.5	3.2	47.9	0.1	0.6	15.4	0.9	1.3	69.0	1.0	1.3	2.3	0.7	0.5	0.9	0.1	1.2	4.0
Allan Chaney	22	10.1	1.3	2.8	45.9	0.0	0.2	20.0	0.5	0.9	63.2	1.1	1.1	2.2	0.5	0.8	0.5	0.1	1.5	3.1
Eloy Vargas	6	3.5	0.0	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.8	1.3	62.5	0.3	0.5	0.8	0.0	0.3	0.2	0.3	1.0	0.8
Kyle McClanahan	10	3.1	0.2	0.5	40.0	0.1	0.3	33.3	0.1	0.2	50.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.6
Hudson Fricke	1	1.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	23	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.5	1.6	3.1	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Player Stats: Kentucky

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Jodie Meeks	23	34.1	7.6	16.0	47.3	3.7	8.3	44.0	6.3	7.0	90.6	0.7	2.8	3.5	1.7	3.0	1.3	0.1	2.0	25.1
Patrick Patterson	23	33.0	7.2	11.0	65.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.9	4.8	80.9	2.4	6.8	9.2	2.0	2.1	0.7	2.0	2.6	18.3
Perry Stevenson	23	27.7	2.9	5.1	57.3	0.1	0.4	33.3	2.0	2.6	75.0	2.0	4.7	6.7	1.7	1.9	0.7	2.2	2.7	7.9
DeAndre Liggins	22	20.0	2.0	5.2	38.6	0.5	2.0	22.7	1.6	2.3	70.0	0.2	2.6	2.9	3.3	2.9	1.0	0.5	2.0	6.0
Ramon Harris	18	20.9	1.9	3.5	55.6	0.2	0.9	17.6	1.2	2.2	56.4	0.6	2.4	3.0	1.3	2.2	0.7	0.3	1.5	5.3
Josh Harrellson	22	11.0	1.7	3.7	46.9	0.2	0.5	36.4	1.1	1.5	72.7	1.2	2.0	3.2	0.4	0.9	0.3	0.6	1.1	4.7
Darius Miller	23	20.1	1.4	4.0	35.5	0.3	1.5	20.6	1.0	1.3	76.7	0.9	2.5	3.4	1.9	1.8	0.7	0.7	2.3	4.2
Michael Porter	23	21.8	1.1	3.4	31.6	0.6	2.1	27.1	0.7	0.8	89.5	0.3	1.7	2.0	2.9	2.2	0.8	0.0	1.7	3.5
Landon Slone	10	8.8	0.6	2.0	30.0	0.4	1.4	28.6	0.6	0.6	100.0	0.5	0.9	1.4	0.9	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.6	2.2
A.J. Stewart	20	6.1	0.7	1.6	41.9	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.5	0.5	90.0	0.5	0.7	1.1	0.3	0.7	0.3	0.6	1.3	1.8
Kevin Galloway	18	6.7	0.4	1.1	42.1	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.3	0.7	46.2	0.3	0.9	1.2	1.2	0.8	0.3	0.2	0.4	1.2
Jared Carter	7	3.7	0.1	0.7	20.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.9	66.7	0.3	0.6	0.9	0.4	0.4	0.1	0.6	0.6	0.9
Mark Halsell	6	1.7	0.2	0.2	100.0	0.2	0.2	100.0	0.2	0.3	50.0	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7
Dwight Perry	6	1.8	0.2	0.3	50.0	0.2	0.3	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.7	0.5
Mark Krebs	8	2.6	0.1	0.5	25.0	0.1	0.5	25.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.4
	23	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.6	1.4	3.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0

Team Stats Comparison (Courtesy of Kenpom.com)

	Kentucky		Florida
Category	Offense	Defense	Offense	Defense	D-I Avg
Adj. Efficiency:	107.1 [86]	88.4 [14]	114.8 [20]	95.6 [72]	100.7
Adj. Tempo:	69.7 [58]		67.5 [141]		66.9
Four Factors
Effective FG%:	54.2 [16]	43.1 [9]	55.8 [7]	49.3 [179]	48.9
Turnover %:	24.5 [326]	20.2 [196]	18.3 [44]	22.7 [71]	20.8
Off. Reb. %:	34.9 [115]	30.2 [67]	33.6 [159]	31.9 [125]	33.1
FTA/FGA:	43.0 [38]	31.7 [76]	32.5 [263]	30.9 [60]	36.4
Miscellaneous Components
3P%:	34.6 [143]	34.4 [188]	36.8 [69]	34.2 [175]	34.1
2P%:	55.3 [10]	38.8 [1]	56.2 [4]	48.2 [183]	47.8
FT%:	79.2 [4]	67.6 [114]	68.8 [161]	61.1 [3]	68.6
Block%:	8.1 [130]	17.9 [3]	8.2 [134]	7.6 [218]	8.9
Steal%:	10.9 [259]	9.0 [234]	9.2 [111]	12.2 [36]	10
Style Components
3PA/FGA:	30.3 [236]	33.4 [202]	36.5 [78]	34.5 [234]	33
A/FGM:	62.3 [24]	43.3 [8]	61.0 [41]	52.4 [130]	54.1
Point Distribution (% of total points)
3-Pointers:	22.0 [292]	32.0 [43]	30.1 [96]	30.1 [82]	27.5
2-Pointers:	54.1 [121]	48.1 [289]	53.2 [147]	53.8 [116]	52.1
Free Throws:	23.9 [32]	19.9 [194]	16.7 [318]	16.1 [322]	20.3
Strength of Schedule
Components:	102.4 [100]	100.8 [173]	100.4 [198]	100.8 [170]	100.7
Overall:	0.5446 [127]		0.4886 [188]		0.5
Non-conference:	0.4297 [240]		0.3372 [303]		0.5
Personnel
Bench Minutes:	29.2% [216]		29.8% [203]		31.10%
Experience:	1.34 yrs [270]		1.12 yrs [314]		1.66
Effective Height:	+1.6 [74]		+2.2 [46]		0
Average Height:	78.7" [3]		77.2" [66]		76.5"

Analysis

Personnel

Florida is a talented team with plenty of size, but very little overall strength and experience.

Florida's back court is among the most solid in the SEC, starting with sophomore point guard Nick Calathes. Calathes is a tall "lead" guard who initiates most of the offense. He can dribble, drive and shoot the three. He is not great at getting his own shot but is so clever with the ball he can get one if he needs it. His backcourt mate, Walter Hodge, is a senior and a solid player in his own right, able to make shots and get to the rim. Florida's back court is among the deadliest from three point range in the conference.

The front court will likely consist of sophomore power forward Alex Tyus, sophomore forward Chandler Parsons and junior forward Dan Werner. Werner and Parsons are both capable of scoring inside and out, and Tyus is mostly an inside player. Neither Parsons nor Werner are overly athletic, but Tyus is, and although he doesn't have the strength, skill or bulk of Patrick Patterson, he is a very capable and improving player. Of the other two forwards, Chandler Parsons is by far the most dynamic and dangerous offensively.

Kenny Kadji is a freshman big man who gives Florida a good big option inside. He is as big and even a little taller than Patterson, but slower and less athletic. But he is a space eater who can get the job done inside. Erving Walker is a tiny (5'8") spark plug of a guard off the bench who has amazing quickness and speed, and is a dangerous matchup problem for Kentucky. Think a stronger and more explosive Devan Downey with a bit less overall skill. Ray Shipman helps out on the wing and is more of a slasher. Allan Chaney, another big forward, is injured and likely out for tonight.

Teams

Florida's main strengths are three point shooting, offensive efficiency and forcing turnovers. They take good care of the basketball, but do not rebound particularly well either offensively or defensively. Kentucky is a vastly superior defensive team, particularly against the two point shot, but Florida shoots a high percentage of their shots from three, and we all know that UK has been burned a lot from three point range this year.

Four factors analysis:

eFG%: Advantage Florida on offense and Kentucky on defense.
Turnover%: Advantage Florida on both offense and defense
Offensive Rebound %: Advantage Kentucky on offense and defense.
FT Attempts/FG Attempt: Kentucky on offense, Florida on defense.

Overall

This is a matchup between two very even teams that basically have different strengths -- Kentucky's strengths are defensive and Florida's strengths are offensive. Kentucky appears to have a slightly larger edge, but paper edges mean nothing, as they also had edges over the last three teams they played, and we saw how that went.

Kentucky will face a variety of defenses tonight, but probably more zone than man to man, although you can never say for sure with Donovan, because like his mentor, Rick Pitino, Billy D. likes to mix it up on defense. UK will see some match-up zone and quite possibly some junk like a box and one.

Offensively, Kentucky must get the ball to Patterson, and force the defense to collapse. That will happen, and Patterson will hit open shooters. The question is, will any of them shoot, and if they do, will they make them? Jodie Meeks will likely be taken away as much as possible, and Florida has the size and quickness to do it. If Kentucky continues to do what they have been doing the last three games, the odds of them winning this one are long, indeed.

Defensively, Kentucky must guard the three much better than they have in the last three games. If they fail to do this, it will take a superhuman effort by both Meeks and Patterson to overcome the scoring Florida can do. Florida will run, and they will shoot in transition and make shots. Kentucky will need to play Suffocats-style defense to stop the Gators, and the 'Cats have not done that against a talented team all year.

Although I like the matchups better in this game than in the last three, Florida is a vastly superior offensive team if they are able to hamper Meeks and Patterson as the last three teams have done. If they can't, this could be a convincing victory for Kentucky, because nobody on Florida's team can handle those two guys one-on-one. But Billy D. knows this, and he knows that UK is vulnerable to denying Meeks the ball and collapsing on Patterson. He believes, and so do I, that UK's other players cannot beat him.

Bottom line -- UK is on a precipice. If all Gillispie did was try to convince them to play harder, our chances of victory are less than 50%. If the 'Cats have some new wrinkles to free up our scorers and play solid 3-point defense, our chances go way up. You can never tell about Gillispie, so I have no prediction. Just nerves.

UK vs. Florida: A team in need and stats galore

Ken Howlett — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:28:35 -0000

A Team in Need

Since Kentucky's painful loss to Mississippi State last Tuesday in Rupp Arena, the the pulp and pixels around the Commonwealth have been exercised to such an extent that Richard Simmons would be beaming with perspiring pride. Theories, admonitions, and allegedly helpful tips have been bandied about by everyone with a computer, a plum sports-writing gig, or folks who simply have the time to ponder what it is that is wrong with the 'Cats.

We've read Mark Story tell us not to yell "shoot" every time Michael Porter gets the ball in his hands; we've read Jerry Tipton ask if the 'Cats can create; we've read John Clay write that the 'Cats must play smarter if they expect to win; we've read our own Truzenzuzex question Billy Gillispie's imagination; and some of you have read my own words of angst regarding the player's defensive effort, the coach's strategy, and why it's important to play for 40 minutes.

We've heard talk radio proffer a wide range of theories as to why the 'Cats have lost three straight games: In a nutshell; Gillispie needs to go back to Texas, Gillispie sucks, the players aren't any good, and Kentucky needs a third scorer (the talk radio folks aren't shy or timid in voicing their opinions, and they are many times straight to the point).

Now, I'm all for a give-and-take concerning the 'Cats, but the simple fact of the matter is that this team must beat Florida (19-4, 6-2) tonight in Rupp. Time for talk is over. Time for winning is upon us.

For all the belly-aching I've done over the last week, I really think the 'Cats are going to put on a good performance tonight. The players have had a week to evaluate their collective effort (and watch old Texas A&M game tapes), and the coaching staff has had a week to critique their own performance, or lack thereof. And with a roar of discontent as background noise to all of the reflecting that's taking place, surely the player's egos and pride have been challenged, probably like no other time in their competitive history. And surely Gillispie knows that what he's been doing, hasn't been working.

Patrick Patterson, who was voicing optimism about how his teammates will respond Tuesday night against the Gators, was asked if he would guarantee a Wildcat victory. Patterson begged off having a 'Joe Namath/Dicky Lyons' moment, but the big fella did have this to say:

"I can guarantee us playing hard, putting all our passion and heart out there."

With that, and a win, I would be satisfied.

Now, on to the show ...

Florida Gator Personnel (stats are SEC play ONLY)

Nick Calathes: 6'6", 194 lb sophomore swing -- Calathes is averaging 20.3 points per game, to go along with seven boards, and six assists. He's shooting an excellent 50.9% from the field, and 48.0% (24-50) from beyond the arc. He's playing a lot of minutes also, 34.1 per game. He's a solid free throw shooter at 71.4%.

Calathes is the catalyst and glue of this Florida team. He's a legitimate SEC Player of the Year candidate. Last year versus UK he scored 24 and 16 points.

He needs to be pressured, by either Liggins or Meeks, and then hope he doesn't get hot, dropping 3's in from 25 feet away. Calathes also sees the floor very well, evidenced by his school record 221 assists last year.

Chandler Parsons: 6'9, 213 lb sophomore forward -- Parsons is the second leading scorer for Billy Donovan, at 13.5 points per game. He also averages 6.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He makes 54.4% of his shots, and 34.2% (13-38) of his three-point attempts. He is not a good free throw shooter, though. He's made only 45.0%.

Parsons has come on strong after playing behind Marreese Speights last year as a freshman. He scored six and three points in the two games versus UK last year.

Alex Tyus: 6'8", 220 lb sophomore forward -- Tyus averages 11.4 points per game, to go along with 6.1 rebounds. He also makes shots; he's shooting 53.5% from the field and a solid 71.4% from the charity stripe.

He scored a total of two points versus UK last year.

Erving Walker: 5'8", 161 lb freshman guard -- Walker is averaging 10.5 points per game. He shoots the ball very well; he makes 44.7% (17-38) of his 3-point attempts, 44.6% from field overall, and 81.0% of his free throws. He also averages 2.8 assists per game. All in only 23.3 minutes per game.

Walker is why Jai Lucas isn't at Florida anymore. For the 19th rated point guard prospect (Rivals), he sure has had a solid season thus far.

Walter Hodge: 6'0", 170 lb senior guard -- Hodge is averaging 7.8 points per game. He shoots 40.0% from the field, 31.0% (9-29) from the 3-point line, and 76.5% from the free throw line. He also averages 2.6 assists per game. He's second in the team in minutes played at 30.6 per game.

Hodge is basically the same player he's been for four years; he runs hot and cold, for no apparent reason. Although in SEC play he isn't shooting the ball well, I've seen him put up some great numbers in the past. He can't be left alone to roam the perimeter. Last year versus Kentucky, Hodge had 10 and five points in the two games.

Dan Werner: 6'8", 230 lb junior forward -- Werner is averaging 7.3 points per game, to go along with 3.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. In SEC play he's shooting only 35.8% from the field, and 32.0% (8-25) from behind the arc. He's making 92.3% of his free throws.

Werner will play inside and outside (I think he prefers playing outside of the lane). I think he's a little soft, so getting physical with him may take him out of his rhythm. Last year he scored nine and nine points versus the 'Cats.

Kenny Kadji: 6'10", 240 lb freshman F/C -- Kadji is averaging 5.1 points, and 2.8 rebounds per game, in 12.9 minutes. He's made 53.1% of his shots, and 53.8% of his free throws.

Kadji was the #5 rated center prospect (Rivals) coming out of high school. Like many young big men, Kadji has had fits and starts; at times he's played well, at times he's struggled. My suggestion to UK, make hay in the paint when he's in the game.

Ray Shipman: 6'5", 212 lb freshman G/F -- Shipman plays in 10.9 minutes per game, averaging 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds. He shoots 53.3% from the field, and has made one of his two 3-point attempts. He's an 83.3% free throw shooter.

Shipman was Florida's Mr. Basketball, as well as the Gatorade Florida Player of the Year.

Gator Bites

The Gators have two SEC losses, to Tennessee and South Carolina ... In the UT loss, the Vols shot 49% from the field ... Tennessee also made 12 of 28 3-point attempts ... Scotty Hopson was 4-6 from beyond the arc, and led UT with 20 points ... In Florida's 79-63 loss to UT, the Gators committed seven more turnovers than the Vols ... Florida beat South Carolina last week, 97-93 ... In that game the Gamecocks shot 49.3% from the field ... And they made an even 50.0% of their 3-point attempts ... The Gators couldn't guard USC guard Devan Downey either ... Downey went for 33 points ... He made seven of his nine 3-point tries ... But, South Carolina lost because they MISSED 12 of 22 free throws ... And they committed seven more turnovers than Florida ... Since SEC play began, Florida is only grabbing 28.7% of their own missed shots ... Last year versus UK, Florida's Marreese Speights combined for 40 points in two games ... Alex Tyus has 35 dunks this year ... 78.8% of the Gators scoring comes from the freshman and sophomore classes ... Nick Calathes has scored in double-figures in 20 of 23 games this year ... Calathes and Tyus have both played in 59 consecutive games without fouling out ... In SEC play, Florida has beaten Ole Miss (78-68), Auburn (68-65), Arkansas (80-65), Vanderbilt (94-69), Georgia (83-57), and South Carolina (97-93).

UK/UFA SEC Games-Only Stat Comparison

Florida Opponents

Points 79.0 70.8

FG% 47.7 44.9

3-Point% 39.1 32.4

Rebounds -1.1

Assists 17.0 11.9

Turnovers 13.0 14.9

Steals 6.5 7.4

Blocks 2.5 3.4

Kentucky Opponents

Points 72.0 65.1

Field Goal% 45.1 37.5

3-point% 36.0 34.9

Rebounds +5.3

Assists 13.5 9.4

Turnovers 17.0 13.4

Steals 5.6 7.4

Blocks 6.6 3.9

CliffsNotes Analysis

I expect to see Tyus, Parsons, and Werner being near, or hovering around Patrick Patterson whenever UK is in a half-court set (why any coach wouldn't at least attempt that approach is a mystery). On the perimeter, Jodie Meeks will probably find himself the victum of a chaser. To offset that strategy, UK needs to do two things: 1. Play defense like they did for the first 20 games of the season - That should allow UK to get out in transition and have the opportunity to make easy baskets, or have open 3-point attempts. 2. Run some screens for Meeks - Jodie Meeks is a workhorse; he doesn't mind being made to run every inch of the floor in an effort to get an open look. Heck, set some double-screens ... just get him some open looks.

The 'Cats are a team desperate for a win. That's right ... desperate, and in this case desperation better be the mother of invention.

Thanks for reading, and 'Go Cats!

South Carolina at Florida: A Quick Recap

Gamecock Man — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:19:35 -0000

Well, we can't win 'em all on last second shots, even though I thought we just might for a moment. The Gators survived a late barrage of Devan Downey threes to beat us 97-93 in Gainesville. Hats off to the Gators for gutting out the win; Gators fans should thank their lucky stars that Walter Hodge managed to hit his FTs down the stretch. Downey ended with 33, tying his season high against Clemson. Nick Calathes led the Gators with 22; all Gators starters ended in double digits.

So, how did we lose this game, despite the fact that we played a pretty solid offensive game tonight, shooting for a high percentage and getting a lot of offensive boards? First of all, our turnover margin was pretty bad. We gave up 17 and took away 10, a far cry from the kind of margin we've gotten in the past few games. Many of these led to easy Gators baskets. The Gators get credit for forcing a few of them, but at times we played sloppily as we moved the ball up court against the Gators press. I'm sure Coach Horn will work with the team on this.

Second of all, we finally did what we all knew we would do eventually: we lost a game due to horrendous free throw shooting. We've gotten away with our poor percentages a few times this year, but you had to know it would come back to bite us eventually. We were 10-22 tonight, with many losses coming on 1-1s down the stretch. We knew coming into this season that players like Mike Holmes and Dominique Archie would be liabilities at the line, but things have gotten even worse than anyone could have possibly expected. Even players like Devan and Zam Fredrick are now missing lots of their shots at the stripe. You have to think it's in the team's head at this point.

Some people have criticized Coach Horn for not focusing enough on FTs. While I agree that it's more of an issue than Coach is letting on, we have to keep in mind that there's not a whole lot he can do to change things. Practicing free throws essentially involves just taking some time each day and shooting a bunch of them, and I gaurantee you that we're doing that. There's not much else we can do because most of our practice time has to be spent prepping for our next opponent. Players can work on their FTs during the offseason, and I hope our returning players do just that. It won't help us now, though. Let's just hope that we get over whatever is messing with our heads and go from being one of the worst FT shooting teams in the country back to being only a mediocre shooting team. If we don't, expect a few more losses like this down the stretch.

On a last note, while I would've loved to win this game, if won't kill us to have lost it. It's tough to beat the Gators in their house, and we've got many more winnable games to play down the stretch. Hopefully this loss will keep this team motivated and they'll start another winning streak this weekend against the Dawgs.

After Florida's loss; What now?

mlmintampa — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:19:11 -0000

A reenactment of every Gator fan and the Gators basketball team prior to any big game;

Fans: Come on, guys. Big game here. Play smart!

Team: [after third consecutive turnover] What? Are you talking to us?

Fans: FUKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

Seriously, it took about five beers (drank responsibly, of course) to wash the taste out after that display. I couldn't even get excited when the Gators shrunk the gap to 10 with 4:45 left because I already knew how it would end because it looked like every awful game last season. And at Tennessee? Watching Bruce Pearl makes me sick and not even knowing that the Vols will lose to a mid-major during the first weekend of the NCAAs can stop that.

At one point in the second half, I started to think Calathes and Parsons were the only guys who cared about winning. That's how terrible the team was playing. The officiating was terrible too, but not enough to make a difference in a 79-63 final. (There was one play when Hodge was going for a breakaway layup and a Tennessee player had his forearm on Hodge's shoulder from the free throw line to when Hodge put up the shot. It was like there was one set of rules when Florida went to the goal and Tennessee had another.)

Speaking of Hodge, 4 points, 4 turnovers, 1 rebound and 1 assist in 29 minutes is inexcusable. There are guys right now at Southwest Rec who could get that line. This is supposed to be a team leader? I know Hodge is not the caliber of some of the other guys he played with, but why give 29 minutes to him if that is his output? For the season, he is averaging 7.5 ppg and shooting 44%. That's probably where he should be. But Erving Walker is knocking on that door. The kid is a chucker and undersized, but Florida plays at a different level with him. I'm starting to think that a lineup of Tyus, Werner, Parsons, Calathes and Walker is the best bet because Walker can swing it around to Parsons and Calathes. Calathes is the best scorer and if he is out there without someone who can dish it to him, he struggles. (His turnovers come when he tries to do too much.)

As for the question that led us off; Florida has to ignore this outcome and know it only takes a few games to fall out of the postseason picture. The number of losses do not matter for Florida. It is how they lose. And last night they looked like crap.