Gator Basketball vs. BYU, NCAA Championship First Round

by mlmintampa on Mar 18, 2010 9:18 AM EDT in Florida Basketball

Florida Gators at BYU Cougars, Mar 18, 2010 12:20 PM EDT

For the first time since 2007, they are playing that song for us as the Florida Gators face the BYU Cougars in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That the Gators are here was in doubt only a few days ago, but now is not the time to worry about seedings or who has experience (UF's only players who have seen the Tournament are Vernon Macklin and Dan Werner) and who hasn't won lately (BYU has not won an NCAA game in 17 years).

The team that wins this game will do so by limiting their opponents strength. Florida has to get in the chest of BYU's guards and prevent them from nailing 3-pointers. BYU has to keep the Gators out of the paint.

BYU's Jimmer Fredette is the type of guy every mid-major has; a cold blooded jump shooter. The instant connection for Gator fans would be Devan Downey of South Carolina. As the Gators have done against the Gamecocks, Florida may have to let Fredette get his points, but on the outside. If Kenny Boynton can guard him enough to prevent Fredette from driving to the bucket and make him shoot jumpers, Florida can win. Everyone on BYU can shoot, so if Fredette is limited, guards Jackson Emery and Tyler Haws can score in double figures and shoot close to 50%. Forward Jonathan Tavernari is the guy who New Mexico coach Steve Alford called an, "asshole," so he could be a thorn in the Gators' side too.

The Gators need to pound the inside to win today. Not only on offense with Macklin, Chandler Parsons and Alex Tyus, but defensive rebounding. With BYU's ability to score, the Gators have to limit their second chance points. UF tends to win when they out-rebound their opponent, but they are 9-1 when Macklin gets 14 points or more. If the Gators use their length to their advantage, they can win.

In case you are wondering, yes, this is a Championship Mode game.

By the way, you can watch the Florida-BYU game and all of the NCAA Championship games online for free with NCAA March Madness on Demand. Linked below is a video player that is set to send you to the games. You can also access March Madness on Demand by clicking on the widget below the Fanshots column.

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Comments

passing problems

lots ot turnovers from gators big men. another area for improvement is passing espeically out of the double team down low.

by gatorchuck on Mar 18, 2010 2:01 PM EDT reply actions

they fought hard...

again good effort on defense keeps them in the game and surpising outside shooting.
but looked to me there were too many bad passes. and BYU defended down low better than i expected. seems like the low post offense has problems when there is help defense and double teams. there were too many bad passes and situations where a player got into a position that forced a bad pass.

still gators showed they belonged in the tourney. they had the ball twice with a chance to
end the game. so close. defense keeps you in games. but they need a little more on offense.