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

While Billy Donovan has already pulled in one great big man prospect for the 2010 recruiting class he may not be finished. Rumors are the staff have been going after 6’8 JUCO center Ricardo Ratliffe very hard in the last few weeks. Ratliffe is considered by most the #1 junior college player in the country and it is very apparent why. The 6-8 226 pound power forward averages 27 points and 11 rebounds per game along with his freakish athletic ability.

Florida was not even considered a major player up until a few weeks ago, but his close friendship with Vernon Macklin and the Gators depth issues make him a solid candidate for immediate help. Another positive working the the Gators favor is that Ratliffe plays just right down the road in Ocala, which has made it easy for him to attend several games at the O’dome this year.

To this point Ratliffe has been a very tough one to figure out. One reason is because he is being recruited by a long list of schools. He has currently narrowed his list to seven schools, but the leaders appear to be Florida, Arkansas, and Missouri. Some sources say that if Florida had been recruiting him harder he probably would already be committed, but they have gotten into the game late. The feeling is if Florida continues to go hard though, they have a great chance at landing Ratliffe and giving themselves plenty of big men next year.

By: Calvin McDermid

The Gators came in Tuesday night in a major slump from beyond the arc, having just made 7-of-39 from three point land and the first half which didn’t get any better for Florida, who shot 1-of-9 from three.

Florida (20-8, 9-4) sunk four straight 3s and several buckets down in the paint which was part of the 27-6 run in the 75-62 victory over No. 17 Tennessee (20-7, 8-5). With this win, the Gators snapped the Vols six game winning streak in the series between each other. Coach Billy Donovan grabbed just his second win in the last 10 meetings with Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl.

Junior forward Chandler Parsons and sophomore guard Erving Walker both finished with 19 points a piece and also helped the Gators take third place possession in the SEC East and also earning their 12th straight 20-win season which is the longest in the SEC. Tonight made it the sixth straight game in double-figures for Parsons. I think it’s all because of his new look.

Walker finally found a way to get out of the shooting slump. The last three games Walker shot 5-for-26 on the floor, 1-for-11 was from the three. Tonight he shot 50 percent and sunk three 3-pointers under two minutes. I loved how he had so much confidence in his shot. The Gators would be on a fastbreak and instead of driving to the basket, Walker would be left alone outside and would take the quick jumper and you could tell it was going in as soon as it left his hands.

You know who else has really been contributing? Vernon Macklin. This kid is going to be something special next year to. Macklin finished up with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 boards. Freshman guard Kenny Boynton added 12.

Reading on ESPN, the Gators might of found a spot in the NCAA tournament after tonight. Erving Walker had a little something to say:

“Definitely a big resume win,” Walker said. “They were a ranked team, good RPI, a good team, big conference win, take sole possession of third. We can’t ask for a bigger win right now than this one.”

Tennessee was hit with some foul trouble which didn’t help them out at all. Leading scorer Wayne Chism picked up two easy fouls in the first four minutes of the first half. While Chism rode the bench, that’s when Florida started to pick it up. Tennessee led by just a point with just around 15 minutes left to play, but Macklin and Tyus answered right back with two easy buckets.

Florida then went on a 9-0 run that was led by a Parsons steal and a easy dish to Macklin that put the Gators up by eight. Towards the end, even with Chism fouled out the Vols made a little 13-2 run and cut the lead down to eight with just 5 minutes remaining. But the Gators were just too much for the Vols to handle at the end.

Coach Pearl also had something to say;

“Florida dominated us in the second half, and they really deserved the victory,” Pearl said.

The Gators are back in action this Saturday as they travel to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs at 4:00 pm.

(ESPN associated press contributed to this article)

The Florida Gators will play their most meaningful game of the season tomorrow night against the 20-6 Tennessee Volunteers. This meeting will be a make or break type of game for this surging Florida team who needs wins against the RPI top 50. With a win against the Vols the Gators will have all but played their way into the tournament for the first time since their 2007 NCAA championship. A loss does not necessarily take them out of the race but will mean Florida will have to hold strong down the stretch, and with games
against the highly talented Vanderbilt Commodores and Kentucky Wildcats the Gators maybe looking at another trip to the NIT tournament.

Florida has already shown this year that they can play with the 18 ranked Volunteers. Florida had a chance in Knoxville this year, but a game winning last second shot from Alex Tyus went too hard off the glass. That game could serve as a learning lesson for this Gator team that saw Wayne Chism post a double double with 16 points in the last meeting. Vernon Macklin and Alex Tyus are going to be forced to play tough defense against the Tennessee big man if Florida want to pick up a win.

The Gators will be looking to the surging play from Chandler Parsons who has become the visible leader on the court. Donavon has looked to Parsons to be the court manager and assume some point guard responsibilities in clutch moments. If this game is anything like that lastmeeting be on the lookout for Parsons to have the ball in his hands with the
game on the line.