The Tournament Bubble. A place the Gators would love to avoid. The bubble has not been kind to Billy Donovan’s Boys the last couple of years. It’s a place they would love to steer clear of.

It looked like they would do this when they raced off to an 8-0 start. Wins over FSU, Michigan State and Rutgers made for an impressive early season resume. A loss to highly regarded Syracuse was no reason to panic either. The Gators hung tough in that game. But then after a week off to take final exams and some of the guys battling injuries, a serious tumble happened over the weekend. The Gators lost. To Richmond. OUCH!

Not only did they lose, they looked awful doing it. It took them all bight just to get to 50 points. They shot poorly. They stood around and watched guys dribble. They did not guard the three point line at all. It was a pitiful performance.

There was one good stretch when UF took a 32-19 lead last in the half. But then it seemed as if they expected Richmond to roll over at that point. The Spiders scored the last five points of the half to cut the lead to 8. Then the Spiders ran off the first 9 points of the second half to take the lead. By the time it was over, Richmond built a 9 point lead midway through the second half. Florida was then it a battle. The Gators came back to tie the game 49-49. With 1:30 left, Richmond struck again from deep. They hit a deep three to take a 52-49 lead. Erving Walker tried to answer from 35 feet with too much time still on the shot clock. The shot clanked off the rim and was rebounded by Richmond. Game over.

Now Florida must regroup. Suddenly beating NC State on the road looks a bit tougher. So does a double digit win total in the SEC. The Gators need to accomplish those to get back off the bubble. And as we all know from the last two years. That’s a pace we need to get away from.

By: James Folsom

Most would see Richmond on their schedule and say, “Oh, well we can chalk this up as a win.” But sometimes, thinking ahead of the game can come back and “bite” you. That’s exactly what happened to the Gators when the Richmond Spiders appeared on their schedule. Luckily, this loss came before conference play, so the Gators still have time to work out all their kinks and get set for their long, strenuous conference schedule.

It seemed like everything was going smooth from the beginning until the last minute winded down in the first half after the Gators took a 32-19 lead. Richmond scored 5 easy points just before the half ended and you could tell right then that they were starting to go downhill.

Florida (8-2) lost to No. 5 Syracuse last week and now against Richmond makes it two in a row.

Kevin Anderson made four free throws with about 5 seconds remaining for the Spiders (8-3) who have now defeated two SEC teams this year. Richmond beat Mississippi State on November 27.

The Gators show 7 for 27 in the second half (26 percent) including 1 for 9 from beyond the three point line. Florida did come back at one point to take the lead 49-48 but it didn’t last long. Richmond guard David Gonzalvez shot 50 percent from the floor and 4 for 9 from beyond the arc and totaled for 16 points all together on the night.

Junior forward Alex Tyus led the Gators with 15 points on 7 for 10 shooting from the field. Redshirt junior Macklin led the team in rebounds with 11. Both Kenny Boynton and Ray Shipman were pretty much shut down, Boynton finished with six and Shipman with zero. Werner, Parsons, and Walker all scored nine a piece. It just wasn’t the night for the Gators.

The Gators are back in action on Tuesday in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center as they host the South Alabama Jaguars (8-4) at 7 p.m.

No it’s not too early to start thinking about March Madness. It’ll be here before you know it. One huge component of building a resume is the non conference schedule. Florida is nearing the finish line on that part.

The Gators travel to Miami for their annual trip to the Orange Bowl Classic this Saturday. With only one loss in non conference play, the Gators look to be in good shape to make the NCAA Tournament this year. This would be the Gators first trip since winning their second straight National Title in 2007. At that time UF has been 10 straight years.

With only NC State and Xavier left along with a few small time programs on the non conference schedule, and wins over Florida State and Michigan State , a 9-7 SEC record would be good enough to get the Gators in this year. Last year, it wasn’t. The Gators lost to FSU last year and had only close wins against NC State and Washington in non conference play. Both years the Gators lost to Syracuse .

If UF can beat the four cupcakes they have coming up, they will go into SEC play with no more than 2 losses. A win over NC State again this year and they will be 13-1. That should be enough should the Gators win 9 conference games this year. Last year’s resume lacked the signature win. This year’s already has Michigan State while ranked #2. Also FSU looks to be a contender in the ACC. UF has 6 non conference games left. Win 5 of those and 9 SEC games, that gives them a record of 22-9 going into the SEC Tournament. A 10 win SEC season and the Gators are a mortal lock.

There are also some opportunities within the SEC to pick up big wins that were not there last year. A win over Kentucky this year looks huge. Last year it was no big deal. Tennessee is another one. Win one or two of those games and 8-8 would get UF in.

By: James Folsom

The No. 11 Florida Gators take on the No. 6 ranked Syracuse Orange in the SEC/Big East tournament in St. Pete. Gator Sports Nation will keep you updated with live coverage on the game.

1st Half:

Florida started off with an Erving Walker three pointer and their defense came to life, forcing an early turnover by the Orange. Florida gave up the ball the very next possession and Andy Rautins knocks down a three to tie the game. But Florida guard Erving Walker stays hot as he knocks down his second three the very next trip down the court. Syracuse started to make a little run after forcing a couple Florida turnovers. Vernon Macklin makes a great three point play to cut the lead down to two and Ray Shipman breaks loose from a steal but misses a layup and resulted in a Syracuse layup. Chandler Parsons answers back with a three but Florida fails to get back in transition which gave up a free layup, but Parsons comes back down the floor and knocks down a two pointer that knocked the score down 22-20. The Gators show great ball movement and penetration but they couldn’t knock down a shot. Syracuse makes another little run and stretches the lead to ten, Florida seems like they can’t run with them, not getting back on defense. Florida is getting several good looks but can’t knock down anything. Right after a media timeout, Werner knocks down a two from the free throw line and followed by that was a nice hustle play from Erving Walker that led to a steal and a Gator layup. Another second chance opportunity for the Orange turns into a Florida foul and sends them to the line. Next trip down, Alex Tyus throws down a dunk and closes the gap, 35-28. A third chance for the Orange underneath the bucket, sends them to the freethrow line. The Gators have several chances but turned the ball over every time. With under 20 seconds remaining in the half, Tyus makes a hook shot but Syracuse comes down the floor and throws an alley with no time left.

Florida needs to work on:
- Stopping the Syracuse fast break. Their defense could not get back in time to stop Syracuse from scoring on an easy layup.
- Florida needs to stop the second chance opportunities underneath the basket.
- Eliminate R. Jackson from getting to the hole. (Jackson has 16 points in the first half.)
- Stop turning the ball over.
- Knock down the wide open shots

2nd Half:

Florida received the ball at the start of the second half and opened up the first 20 seconds with a nice flush to Alex Tyus that knocked the lead down to 4. Florida started hitting the little 10 foot jump shots and finally started to attack the wings, but defensive wise they are having a tough time defending Jackson. Florida just ran out of gas.. Florida defeated by Syracuse by 12 points, 85-73.

Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators started off the season unranked but turned some heads after a 20 day stretch of 8-0, and also moving them up to the No. 10 spot in the AP poll on Monday.

Florida will play No. 7 Syracuse (7-0) this Thursday in the SEC-Big East Invitational at the St. Pete Times Forum. The Gators lost to Syracuse last year but not by much, and this year I think they should be able to give up a better fight even without Guard Ray Shipman (mid foot sprain) and center Kenny Kadji (lower back) who are both still questionable for this Thursday.

This is just the second week that they have been ranked since last January, and coach Donovan doesn’t know how his team might react by all of the good things that are being seen so far this year. Hopefully they don’t get all big headed going into this invitation just because they are undefeated and ranked 10, they got a heck of a ball game coming up Thursday.

“All this is very, very fragile,” Donovan said. “Winning is very fragile, success is very fragile. And I think if you embrace it, or think you have it figured out, or think it’s easy, that’s when you really put yourself in a position of being extremely vulnerable.”

The game will tip-off at 9:00 pm and will be televised on ESPN.

(Quote gathered by Antonya English from Gator report.)

The Gators remain perfect following their victory over Florida A&M. The Gators turned things around in the second half, once again continuing their dominant second half play. The Gators led by only four at the half, but outscored the Rattlers 43-26 in the second half to pull away. But what was the most impressive stat from this victory? Four of five Florida starters reached double figures as the Gators improved to 7-0 for the first time since the 2005-06 season.

Dan Werner led the Gators in points wiht 16, while Kenny Boynton led the team with 9 assists. The Gators also received a huge defensive game from Ray Shipman, who stole the ball 4 times tonight. Every Gator played great tonight, and all of them performed well in their first game as a ranked team.

Florida now stands at 7-0, while the Florida A&M Rattlers are now 0-8 after going 10-21 last season, and are now 0-28 against ranked teams since 1996-97.  The Gators will look to continue their fantastic play against Jackonville on Friday.

After their huge victory over then #2 Michigan State, Florida continued on in the tournament, defeating Rutgers in the Legends Classic finale. With both of those wins, Florida expected to be ranked somewhere in the AP Poll, but no one knew where they would fall. Well now we know, and I can only say that this is a great jump for Florida. They were previously unranked before the new poll was unveiled, but despite that, the Gators debuted at #13 in the newest college basketball rankings.

Florida has officialy jumped into one of the top teams in college basketball, and into a legit contender for the SEC title. With the loss, Michigan State fell from #2 to #9. Other notable rankings are Michigan dropping out after being #15 following their two losses to unranked opponents in the Old Spice Classic.  The Kansas Jayhawks remain #1, and narrowly missed being a unanimous selection by just two votes.

The Gators now have to continue their dominant play, and hopefully continue to move up in the next rankings. The young team, consisting of just one senior (Dan Werner), must focus on each and every game, and not look forward to future games. It will be interesting to see how things unfold this season, and GSN will continue covering them throughout the season.