It's Great to be a Florida Gator

Wow. I think I said that at least 20 times tonight. Florida had been the most impressive team in the tournament coming into tonight, but I didn't think they could raise their game to another level. But they did and then some, they were magnificent. They shared the ball well (19 assists on 26 field goals), they were strong inside (this really surprised me), they played tough inside and whenever UCLA even made a shot, they came right back and answered. You can't help off of anybody because they're all so good. If you double down low, Green, Brewer, and Humphrey have open looks; if you double out high, Noah and Horford have dunks. Add on top of that Noah and Horford being able to handle the ball and create on the perimeter (2 6-10 guys remember doing this) and the Gator bench came up big tonight after being quiet on Saturday, and there was no way UCLA could've beaten them. This game was over halfway through the 1st half. The Gators were getting any shot they wanted while UCLA was having to work for everything. And the Gators have been great frontrunners in March, when they've gotten an early lead, they do a great job of building on it and staying aggressive, a lesson a lot of teams can learn from.

And kudos to Billy Donovan for the job he did. He did this with a young, inexperienced team. He lost more than half of his offensive production last year, Joakim Noah basically didn't play last year, can you believe that? But the guys who left, some were more primadonnas than ballplayers. Anthony Roberson shooting the ball every time he got the chance, and Matt Walsh who was more concerned about his social life it seemed. I looked at Florida the last couple of years as a program that didn't play hard and didn't have good team chemistry. Well that has certainly changed haha. Donovan did a great job of mixing up defenses tonight, keeping UCLA off balance. UCLA could only win this game if it was a half court game and Donovan & the Gators didn't let that happen.

That's all I have tonight because it's late. The Madness is over (tear). But the blog will keep trekking on as usual, have no fear!