Once Ricardo Ratliffe steps on the court, all eyes are watching the power forward for his next move as he is the top JUCO (Junior College) player in the nation, as reported by numerous scouting websites. Ratliffe is attending the Central Florida Community College as he is the major focus of the college basketball recruiting news.

The 6’9 240 pound power forward out of Kecoughtan High School in Virginia has narrowed his long list of choices for the upcoming 2010-2011 season as March Madness rolls around. He has narrowed his college choices down to Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Clemson, South Carolina, LSU and Missouri. The Gators have just recently showed a large interest to the top JUCO player, who just 40 miles down the road from the House of Horror in Gainesville.

Richard Burton of Gatorsports.com reports Ratliffe saying, “When I first got (to CFCC), (Florida) was recruiting me, but then they kind of backed off for awhile because they thought they had what they needed inside.They thought they had the toughness and overall good play inside, but as the season went on, they realized they needed tougher players and players who would go after rebounds.” This means that the Gators are not stopping the pursuit for Ratliffe until he has faxed in his Letter of Intent. The Gators are trying to make up loss time, reported by Ratliffe, as they are trying to reel him in for the upcoming season before any other school has the opportunity to.

Ratliffe is showing a huge liking to Florida as he was seen at the Florida versus Kentucky game and also the LSU game recently. Ratliffe also attended the Gators’ open gym this past summer. Ratliffe seems as if he could possibly be looking forward the short journey to Gainesville to continue his success as an elite basketball player. Although, coming to Florida will not be an easy job, as he will have to fight and work hard for a starting spot playing for the Gators.

Other coaches who were previously affiliated with the Gators are now in the hunt for Ratliffe as well. Anthony Grant, the former Gator assistant coach and the current Crimson Tide head coach, was in the hunt for Ratliffe in his sophomore of high school season while he was in Virginia. Arkansas coach and previous assistant coach at Florida, John Pelphrey, is also in persuit of the JUCO standout. Ratliffe is unable to sign with a university until April 14th. Until then, it will be up to the top recruiters in the nation to try to sway Ratliffe their way.

I got a chance to witness Ratliffe play this season in Ocala, and what a player he is. I remember the gym was always packed from people waiting to see him play. Also when I entered the gym one night there were several college coaches there scouting Ratliffe. Two of the coaches that I saw and had a chance to talk to were Mike Anderson from Missouri and head coach John Pelphrey over at Arkansas.

Below is a short video interview of Ratliffe that was taken inside of a room in the gymnasium at CFCC.

The Gators will be taking a break from conference play today as they host the Xavier Musketeers (16-7, 8-2) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center at 6:00 pm.

Florida (17-7, 6-4) is looking to bounce back from the tough road loss against South Carolina last Wednesday and is also trying to keep their Big Dance hopes alive. During the South Carolina game, Florida led throughout the game but failed to take care of the ball, turning the ball over 20 times which was the most all season. Free throwing shooting was a huge factor as well. I honestly have never seen such poorly free throw shooting before, it just wasn’t their night. So if the Gators want to come out on a win, they need to eliminate their turnovers and shoot well from the line.

Xavier has been off since February 6th when they suffered a 90-65 loss against Dayton, and today will also be their third straight road game.

Antonya English/Times Staff Writer reported the following quote from head coach Billy Donovan.

“I think in most situations you’d like to be in a situation where you’re playing all your nonconference games during the nonconference schedule,” he said. “I’m excited because it’s a good team, it’s just like a league game basically. And instead of us having an off week, I almost sometimes prefer to have a game because sometimes the off week can take you out of the rhythm and flow of games coming. So to me, sometimes playing a game like this instead of having an off week is a good thing.”

Here are some things to watch out for in today’s game, with help by Adam Silverstein, OGGOA:

• The Gators are led by their backcourt, freshman guard Kenny Boynton who is averaging 14 points and sophomore guard Erving Walker is averaging just above 13 points and 5 assists per contest.
• In SEC play, both Boynton and Walker have made 51 of their last 64 three pointers. Walker who has also had five out of 10 SEC games with 20+ games.
• Junior forward Alex Tyus has continued to dominate under the basket and has been able to get short jumper to fall. Tyus comes in the game today averaging just below 13 points per game and 7 boards.
• Junior Chandler Parsons has back-to-back double-double and also four on the year. Parsons who averages 11 points and 7 rebounds per game, has found success dishing the ball off the past two games.
• For Xavier, they will be led by sophomore guard Jordan Crawford who is averaging right below 20 points, 5 rebounds, and three assists per contest.
• Xavier is also looking to bring their high-powered offense in, along with their deadly three point shooting. The top three out of four in the Atlantic-10 in three point shooting all belong to the Musketeers.

Here is the broadcasting information:

TV: ESPN, and may also be seen online at ESPN360.

Gator Sports Nation will be providing live updates and will also be followed by a post-game story with full statistics.

Sloppy play kills Florida as they dropped a key SEC game to South Carolina (14-9, 5-4 SEC) 77-71. Poor free throw shooting and turnovers hurt the Gators late as they squandered a 9 point lead in the second half.

Erving Walker led Florida in scoring with 20 points. Kenny Boyton chipped in with, and Chandler Parsons added 13. Devan Downey lead all scorer’s with 24 for South Carolina.

Florida (17-7, 6-4 SEC) took control of the game early in the first half and led 35-31 at half time as the Gators shot 68% in the first half.

The second half was a different story though as Florida only 48% from the field. But the main story was turnovers and missed free throws. Florida had 20 turnovers in the game and was only 10-23 from the line. The gators came in to the game as the third best free throw shooting team in the SEC.

Florida kept South Carolina’s star Devan Downey in check for most of the game as 11 of his 24 was from the free throw line. As the gators were focused on Downey guard Raley-Ross capitalized on that as he went for 20 and had 4 big three pointers in the second half.

One Positive for the gators was rebounding as Florida out rebounded South Carolina 39- 27 as forward Alex Tyus had a career high 15 boards

The Gators are back in action in Gainesville this Saturday as they host Xavier at 6:00 pm on ESPN.

Florida Basketball coach Billy Donovan announced via his twitter page that sophomore center Kenny Kadji will undergo surgery to repair a bulging disc in his back. The surgery is more than expected to to keep Kadji out for the season. As a freshman Kadji averaged 4.4 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. This season he has only played in 8 games averaging 1.0 points and 0.4 rebounds per game. Kadji has not played in a game since December 19th. GSN wishes him a successful surgery along with a healthy, speedy recovery.

By: Kurt Posner

GSN- Bringing you the best in free recruiting and team info.

In the O’Dome on Saturday, Parsons and Macklin both scored 20 points to move the Gator’s record up to 17-6. This victory snapped a 2-game losing streak versus the Bulldogs with the last Gator victory falling on January 24th, 2007.

As the Gators looked to close out the game with a 12-point lead with 2:38 left on the clock, the Bulldogs looked to close the window. Ravern Johnson scored 20 points and Jarvis Varnado also put up 16 before the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 scoring drive. Johnson and Barry both hit three pointers to cut the lead down even more to 66-62 with less than 25 seconds left. The Gators’ Parsons and Walker came out strong to knock down three free throws to top the Mississippi State Bulldogs 69-62.

(Information collected by ESPN.com and the LATimes.com)
By: Justin Rectenwald

Erving Walker’s jump shot with just 11 seconds left in regulation, gave Florida a 66-65 win over the Crimson Tide on Thursday night.

The Gators led 64-60 with just two minutes remaining, Walker had the ball stolen by Alabama’s Anthony Brock which he turned into a three-point play. Just shortly after, Mikhail Torrance hit a jump shot that gave Alabama a one point lead with 42 ticks left.

Walker failed to hit a short jumper but luckily teammate Kenny Boynton was in the right spot to snag the offensive rebound. After a short timeout, Walker was successful with his next shot that put the Gators up 66-65 and also ended his night with 16 points. Alabama’s Mikhail Torrance took control right after and missed a layup but the ball was rebounded by the Crimson Tide and a timeout was called. Then this is when senior Dan Werner stepped up and slapped the inbound pass down the court as time expired.

Alex Tyus shot 8-10 from the field and ended the game with 19 points. Freshman guard Kenny Boynton also contributed with 15 points.

Torrance had a 22 point night along with five assists.

The Gators are back in action this Saturday when they host Mississippi State at 1:30 pm.