Butler wants to see 8 SEC teams make women's tourney as Gators hit home stretch
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 | Women's Basketball, Men's Tennis, Scott Carter
College basketball coaches are constantly selling. They have to sell their programs to recruits, their teams to fans and their results to the bosses.
This is the time of year when coaches start selling their seasons to the NCAA Selection Committee. It happens every year in both the men's and women's games.
One glance at the SEC women's standings will tell you that there is going to be a whole lot of selling between now and Selection Sunday.
Kentucky remains atop the SEC at 21-4, 10-2. However, the Wildcats were drilled 91-54 on Monday by a Tennessee team with seven losses. The Lady Vols (18-7, 9-3) are in second place.
This is where it gets a little crowded with Georgia, Arkansas and South Carolina all tied for third with 8-4 conference records. Vanderbilt and LSU are tied for sixth at 7-5 in league play, and at No. 8 is Florida.
The Gators (16-9, 6-6) could have made it a four-way tie at 7-5 in league play if they had won at South Carolina on Sunday. Instead, the Gamecocks snapped Florida's three-game win streak and dropped the Gators back to .500 in conference play with four regular-season games left.
The Gators travel to Vanderbilt (19-6, 7-5) on Thursday night for a game that is pivotal to keep alive their chances of a top-four finish in the league and a first-round bye at next month's SEC Tournament.
“We've got to show up to play,'' Florida coach Amanda Butler said Tuesday. “We've got to do a great job with the detail work. Detail work is making the right pass at the right time to the right person, setting the screen … the little plays that end up being big plays.”
The Gators have been so close so many times this season that a play here or there could have them a lot closer to the top than they are. Eight of Florida's nine losses have been by six points or less.
To climb the ladder toward the program's first NCAA berth in three years, they can't afford simply to finish close. They need wins. A good place to start would be at Vanderbilt, where the Gators won one of their biggest games a season ago.
If so, the logjam in the middle of the conference race gets messier.
A win over the Commodores won't come easy, however, not with the SEC's leading scorer to defend. Sophomore guard Christina Foggie is averaging 18.1 points a game and shooting 44.4 percent (72 of 162) from 3-point range. Foggie's 72 3-pointers made are 16 more than SEC runner-up Khaalidah Miller of Georgia.
While containing Foggie will be a top defensive concern – likely a challenge for Gators guards Deanna Allen or Lanita Bartley – a strong shooting game from senior guard Jordan Jones would help. Jones has struggled of late, including a 1-for-7 performance in Sunday's loss.
Jones remains the team's second-leading scorer at 11.5 points per game and Florida's most dangerous threat outside.
“You don't come out of a slump by not taking shots,'' Butler said. “Her coaches and teammates still expect her to pull the trigger every time she's open. That's what we'll encourage her to do. That's the way we want Jordan to think.”
What will it take for the Gators to get back to the NCAA Tournament? If they win their final four games, that should do it. If they win three of four, that could be enough. Anything less than that could be trouble.
Butler is doing her part, mixing in some selling with her usual coaching.
“I think that we're in a good position to determine our own fate,'' she said. “I'm hopeful for them that we'll continue to do the things that we're supposed to do because I think this group deserves to be on a national stage. [The standings are] a great demonstration of how strong our league is.
“We are a league that absolutely should have eight teams in the tournament. It's that good this year.”
If the Gators can put together a couple of wins, someone else will be that eighth team trying to make a sell.
