Elite Eight Bound! The Recapping of BYU

What an amazing (or frustrating, or exhilarating, or unbelievable, or whatever other adjective/adverb you wish to use) 83-74 victory over the Cougars of BYU comes the enjoyment of the 4th Elite Eight appearance of the Billy Donovan era. 

Oh my where to start? I don't think Mick Hubert could find the right words to say.

Was it the 34 three point shots the Gators launched? Making 11 of them, for what its worth.

Was it the fact that a supposed strength (rebounding) was not a strength against a team without their starting center? 42-39 rebounding edge against the Cougars and the Gators recorded 8 offensive rebounds to the Cougars' 11.

Was it the fact that the Gators shot 45% from the free throw line or had 15 turnovers (an average of 14 a game coming in)? Who knows, but what I do know is that the Gators had more points at the end and that, as it always is, is the only stat that ever matters.

I'm not sure if the 34 three point attempts where part of the plan or not but it sure didn't seem like it. It sure didn't seem like it bothered Billy Donovan all that much during the post-game interview but who really knows if he told the team anything different.

All I know is that there was no way that Alex Tyus was going to let that game be his last in a Gator uniform. Tyus responded with 19 points, 17 rebounds (a career high), 2 assists and 1 block. I don't care if the experts voted any different, he was the player of the game in my opinion.

I also don't know about you, but I along with skigator93 (mostly him) was going to have a stroke if the Gators launched another three. You can read all the comments in the BYU game thread.

Jimmer Fredette can play. Strained calf and all, the man can seriously shoot the basketball. He might struggle in the future but that isn't up to me. The man can play in college and should win the Naismith Player of the Year Award. Jimmer Fredette's supporting cast is a lot better than I thought they were, which is evident here and here.

Yeah, it isn't the first time that I've been wrong this season (shocking I know), but hey, at least the Gators won. From Erving Walker shooting lights out at the beginning, to Boynton's fantastic defense all night on Jimmer Fredette and even Alex Tyus playing the player we all thought he should, could and would be four years ago.

An interesting tidbit is that this game set the NCAA Tournament record for most combined three point attempts. Nothing like yet another NCAA record that the University of Florida can claim ownership of, even though this is shared and is somewhat dubious in my opinion.

Chandler Parsons played one the most confusing games he has had this season. Some of the time he looked like the SEC Player of the Year player that he is, and other times he looked like Dan Werner. One wouldn't have thought it, but Parsons was pretty close to getting a triple-double. He ended up 1 rebound and 3 assists short of obtaining that triple-double.

Complete Florida player box score courtesy of sports.yahoo.com:

Anyway, welcome to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Butler or Wisconsin is up next. Beat whichever one of them it is, and it is on to the Final Four!