Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: Gators Have Incredible Basketball IQ

The Back Nine comes at you after an incredible weekend, especially anyone who made it to Nashville like my daughter did. By the way, Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

10. It’s difficult to put into words how impressive the last month-and-a-half of this basketball season has been. So, I’ll let my wife female-splain it to you. After Florida broke the Tennessee press for the 10^th time (give or take a few), she blurted out, “It looks like they practice all the time!” Exactly. This team now has 30 wins and SEC Tournament confetti in their hair because they play like a team that pays attention to the scouting reports and has an incredible basketball IQ. And I hope all of you in your life can find the joy that Thomas Haugh does playing basketball for the University of Florida.

https://twitter.com/SEC/status/1901466219665854589

11. Florida averaged 95.2 points per game in the SEC Tournament. It brought back memories of the 2007 run to the title, except this Florida team actually trailed a few times. But not many. The Gators won their three games by a total of 45 points in Nashville (2007 won by 59 in Atlanta) and left the tournament with everybody reaching for their computers to cyber-pencil the Gators in as the favorite. I will tell you what I said on The Tailgate last week – spend a couple of days enjoying this before you start worrying about the Big Dance. This team deserves to be appreciated in a very special way, because while we adore the teams that reached the Final Four and the two who won it all, I don’t know if I have enjoyed a season more after 34 games. Just amazing.

12. It was difficult explaining to my daughter, Kelsey, how Florida could have won all of those games in a row and still ended up the fourth best No. 1 seed. I did my best. But in the end, you have to win six games against somebody. If you went 14-3 against teams that MADE the tournament and dominated the best conference in the history of college basketball in the tournament, well, maybe you are better than the other three top seeds. But it is what it is and a chance to go to Raleigh is as close as Gator fans could get.

13. I spent way too much time analyzing the NET and KenPom and it turned out it was all about the WAB – Wins Above the Bubble. That said, I still don’t get how Texas and North Carolina got in, but that is the beauty of the tournament. Starting Tuesday, people stop complaining and start rooting for their brackets. Or against them in some cases. That said, I am deleting the NET Rankings from my bookmarks.

14. One more thing – I may be the only one who notices things like this, but I know I am not the only one who cares. Ohio State did not make the field for the tournament, which was hardly a surprise. That means Florida will still be the only school to win a football and basketball title in the same year in the history of college athletics. And that makes me happy.

15. It’s a good thing that Florida beat Tennessee in basketball, because it didn’t go as well for baseball. Hey, the year they won it all, the Gators were swept in their first SEC series. It’s a long season, but I wonder if the soft non-conference schedule gave this team some false hope. Or maybe the defending national champs, still undefeated, are just that good.

16. As is the Texas softball team. Big game for the ladies tonight to avoid the sweep after allowing 20 runs in two games against the mighty Longhorns. Boy, they miss Keagan Rothrock, who is out with compartment syndrome. She’s been rehabbing and hopefully will be back soon.

17. What a way for the gymnasts to close their season Friday night. While a lot of us were watching the mighty Gators play basketball, the gymnasts were putting on a show with the highest score of the season and three 10s at the O’Connell Center. Especially great to see Leanne Wong finish up with a 10 on her last event on Senior Night.

18. Still wearing a boot and missing out on the prime golf season in Gainesville. Poor me. I had to watch 10 hours of basketball and golf per day this weekend. I also came up with this playlist:

• “Where the Road Goes” by the Old 97’s.
• “Silver Spoons” by Willow Avalon.
• And for an old one, “Junior’s Farm” by Paul McCartney and Wings. Great guitar work from Jimmy McCulloch. You can find the isolated guitar work on YouTube.

WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.