College hoops experts trying to figure out Gators too
Friday, January 20, 2012 | Soccer, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- More than halfway through the 2011-12 basketball season, Florida Billy Donovan still talks about key players trying to figure out their roles and the Gators, as a whole, trying to find their identity.
The same can be said about national basketball writers trying to figure out where this UF team stands in the national picture.
OK, so “Selection Sunday” is 50 days away and no one has a clue what Florida's postseason fate might be. But it is interesting to see how the experts are all over the map relative to where the Gators (14-4 and 2-1 in Southeastern Conference play) stand alongside the rest of the nation's top-flight teams.
Associated Press voters have Florida ranked 17th, which is two spots better than last week after a couple conference wins, including a victory at South Carolina that marked the first road triumph of the season. The ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll has Florida 14th, up from 19th. Sounds about right.
On the power rankings front, though, there's a huge discrepancy.
ESPN.com puts the Gators at No. 11. “Once-streaky Florida guard Kenny Boynton's sudden long-range consistency has been a major boost to this team's offense, which is the best in the country on a per-possession basis to date,” writes Eamonn Brennan. “Florida forward Patric Young is a fantastic centerpiece in the middle of a relentless perimeter attack.”
I'd give you the CBSSportsline assessment of the Gators, except the duo of Jeff Goodman and Gary Parish evidently see nothing powerful about the Gators. UF is absent from their popular Top 25 (and one) rankings. Kentucky, of course, is in there, checking in at No. 2. So is Mississippi State (17) and Alabama (25).
As for the always popular “Bracketology” projections, we've got more wide chasms.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi slots UF as a No. 4 seed in the South Region, facing 13th-seeded Davidson in Nashville, Tenn. Apparently there's something anti-Gator in the water at CBSSportsline, as Jerry Palm gives Florida even less respect than the Goodman/Parish duo. Palm has the Gators seeded 10th in the West Region, with a date against No. 7 Virginia at Columbus, Ohio.
What does it all mean? Nothing.
But it's fun. And “Harry Fodder” will check in with these guys periodically.
