Here is a video of junior forward Alex Tyus talking about the first round loss against BYU yesterday, gathered by Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel.

Tyus discussed with Fowler on how hungry they will be for next season because they are returning every single player besides Dan Werner. It’s already looking positive when you know that your whole team is returning for another season but hopefully it will turn out a little better than this past year. And I don’t think anybody should be worried about any of the players transferring or leaving early for the draft. Florida center Vernon Macklin even told Fowler that he doesn’t believe any of his teammates will leave for the draft.

“We’re going to be a great team next year,” Macklin said.

Here is the video of the interview with Jeremy Fowler and Alex Tyus.

Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators earned the No.10 spot in the NCAA Tournament, making it the first in the past three seasons after playing in the N.I.T two consecutive seasons in a row.

The Gators will face No. 7 BYU (29-5) in the first round on Thursday in Oklahoma City. It was pretty scary during the announcing of the seeding today because Florida wasn’t a for sure lock, especially after the loss against Mississippi State the other day. Florida has lost four of their last five games played. They are also the fourth SEC team to make the big dance. The other three SEC teams are No. 1 seed Kentucky, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt.

Who ever wins between Florida and the Cougars will face the winner of second seed Kansas St. and No. 15 North Texas.

Florida had a few big wins that helped them get in. At the beginning when they had the upset against Michigan State, A big win over Tennessee and Florida State. They finished with the No. 33 strength of schedule and had eight losses to teams that were in the RPI top 25.

Just a few minutes after Florida was announced as the No. 10 seed, Erving Walker updated his status on his facebook.

“in ncaa tourney…… thank god”

But this is the most exciting time of the year. It’s sort of like Christmas when your at home watching T.V and waiting on to see what the seedings are and who all made the big dance. And there is nothing better then watching the one shining moment video of the highlights throughout the year.

GSN will keep you updated with more tournament information over the next few days.

With all the bubble talk leading up to tonight’s selection process for March Madness, Florida was one of those teams who was on the edge of being in the tournament. But the committee saw something in Florida, and despite a lot of the experts opinions, Florida has been placed into the field of 65. But where were they placed, and what rank were they given?

The Gators have been selected as a 10 seed in March Madness, which seems a bit high for a team that was “questionable” to make it. But clearly the experts were, even Joe Lunardi. The 10 seed means that Florida was “expected” to make the field by the committee, since most of the bubble teams received 11 and 12 seeds.

Now that Florida has that pressure off their back, they can now get focused on their first round matchup this Thursday. The Gators, coming out of the SEC conference which sent a total of four teams to the tournament, will face the seven seed, BYU Cougars.

The matchup is quite even, with both teams having solid offenses, and when each team is hot, they are one of the toughest teams to go up against. BYU, 29-5 on the season, is led by Jimmy Fredette, who is averaging over 20 points per game.

If Florida can win, they will most likely the #2 seed, Kansas State, unless the Wildcats are upset in their first round matchup.

GSN congratulates the Gators on their selection into the tournament, and we all wish them the best of luck, GO GATORS!

The Florida Gators men basketball team has gotten one step closer to sealing the deal on a NCAA Tournament bid with a strong win Thursday night. Now there is one to go. With many teams falling apart like South Florida and Memphis in their conference tournaments, it looks like a win tonight by the Gators over Mississippi State equals a stamped ticket to the big dance.

The Gators come off a good performance Thursday by beating the Auburn Tigers 78-69. Tonight they meet the Bulldogs who they beat back in February 69 –62. So what seems to be an easy walk to the dance could come with a few cautions.

Mississippi State lives and dies by the three. They shoot a lot from downtown and fortunately against the Gators in February did not convert on a lot of those shot. The Gators zone defense is vulnerable to the three point shot because a lot of times they do not get all the way out to cover their opponent, choosing instead to seal off the inside and force their opponent into the less dependable shot from the perimeter. Remember back to that Feb. 6th game when the Bulldogs closed within 5 in the final minutes largely due to two big three point shots by Georgia’s Ravern Johnson and Barry Stewart.

The Gators have the advantage in overall team quality with especially great play off of the bench. But be warned , if they leave the Bulldogs to roam free outside all night it could be another trip to the NIT. The Gators need to tighten up inside and be aggressive and go out and disrupt these outside shooters. If you watch the game tonight rest assured this will be the game changer and the difference on where we are playing next week.

By: Kelly Meggs

Last week, the Gators upset No. 17 ranked Vols by a score of 75-62. You could say that victory got the Gators’ foot in the door as selections for the NCAA tournament roll around in the next couple of weeks. Now, Chandler Parsons’ Gators are looking to defeat rival Georgia for the second straight victory versus the Dawgs this season.

With only three games this season until the SEC tournament, this win is crucial for the Gators to get into the Tournament as they were rejected the past two seasons. Well folks, that wont happen this year. The Gators are on a hot streak and nothing is stopping them.

If the Gators pull out of Athens tonight with a ‘W’, it will be the Gators’ first 10-win season in the SEC since 2007. A victory toady would also mark six SEC wins in true road games in one season since the 2005-06 season.

As Florida makes the long, six hour trip to Athens, Georgia has knocked off Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Illinois along with other schools. Georgia looks to possibly spoil a NCAA tourney opportunity for the Gators. Reported by Floridatoday.com, “They’ve had some phenomenal wins and have been an extremely good home team,” Donovan said. “They’re good and I think they’re a confident team at home.”

Georgia is an impressive 10-3 overall at home and have had a few close losses to some big teams this season. That could be a worry for the Gators. Five of Georgia’s nine SEC losses have been by four points or less. The Dawgs’ Thompkins leads his team in scoring with 17.8 PPG and in rebounds with 8.1 rebounds PG.

This win could lead to the break of a two-year slump as the Gators have not made the Tourney since their back-to-back NCAA tournament championships. You can listen the Gators face the Bulldawgs in Athens on Yahoo.com along with some local TV stations at 4pm today. Impact players for the game are going to be Chandler Parsons and Erving Walker. Both of the star players have had outstanding 2009-2010 seasons. This game will not be the one to miss. So, cancel your trip to the mall or to the grocery store because this game could be interesting as this game will have Tourney implications.

(Information collected from Gatorzone.com and Floridatoday.com)
By: Justin Rectenwald

With March Madness looming on the horizon, and the Gators coming off a huge win over Tennessee, their stake in March Madness may have been cememented with their recent win. For the sixth straight season, the Gators have captured 20+ wins, the longest streak in the SEC. But there is still no guarantees that Florida will be dancing in March.

The latest Bracketology prediction, according to expert analysis Joe Lunardi of ESPN, has the Gators have entering the mix. As of February 26, the Gators are a projected 10 seed in the East bracket. The current matchup for Florida (if the tournament started today) would be against Wake Forest of the ACC. The other teams in the East bracket are Kentucky, Villanova, and Pittsburgh most notably.

Of course, there’s still remaining games in the regular season, and conference touraments left, but its nice to see that Florida may have landed a spot in March Madness.

For the complete Bracketology field, click here.

The University of Florida men’s basketball team has a lot of us guessing. Are we in the tourney or not? Here is the breakdown as far as I can see it.

We have lost 8 games this year to teams with a combined total win loss record of 163-55. All but 3 losses were to top 25 teams. The only game that didn’t make any sense at all was the loss to South Alabama even though it occurred during the winter break when most students were at or heading home. This team has beaten the Michigan State which was number 2 in the country at the time and is coming off a win over number 17 Tennessee.

The selection committee has to take notice of this Gators team. They will automatically appoint the 30 conference tourney winners into the dance and then the reaming 33-34 teams will be based on national rank and record against ranked teams. The only problem I see from here is that the Southeastern conference, known for it’s football strength, often gets looked at as a week basketball conference. This year is different with 3-4 teams in the top 25 from the SEC all year long. We deserve to be in the NCAA Tourney regardless of what happens but we are probable going to need a big win against Kentucky or Vanderbilt. If that doesn’t happen nothing short of a conference championship appearance would send us to the dance.

By: Kelly Meggs