Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: Gators Need To Win A Lot of Basketball Games

The Back Nine comes at you after an incredible couple of weeks off and the wonderful feeling of living into the year 2024.

10. We will start with the basketball game and Florida was so close to pulling this one off. Just a few more made free throws or just one made 3 from Will Richard would have given the mighty Gators a much-needed win for the resume. But Kentucky has some really skilled offensive players and that 3 that 7-footer Aaron Bradshaw hit late was a stunner. “If a game comes down to a 7-foot guy with three attempts this season hitting the dagger, we will take that as an option,” UF coach Todd Golden said. I don’t disagree.

11. The bottom line for this team is that almost every game is going to come down to the last four minutes. Florida is too good on offense (went 1-for-11 on 3s in the second half and still scored 40 points) to get blown out and too bad on defense (Kentucky scored 50 in the second half) to blow good teams out. It is entertaining to watch, but Florida is 48^thin the NET with no Quad 1 wins right now, because the Power 5s it scheduled are all going belly-up. They need to win a bunch of games.

12. But we are going to get back into basketball and baseball is around the corner. So even with all the vitriol about the football team, we’ll be OK here in Gainesville. Had a conversation with Sully on Sunday and I was fired up.

13. I keep asking for good news about the football program and it comes out in small pieces. But something needs to happen between now and August that makes Gator fans want to get up and go. Right now, I’d probably put Florida 10^thor 11^thin the SEC and it will take some getting used to when we are making these picks to account for 16 teams in every sport. Getting rid of divisions was a bad idea.

14. In fact, I am against it in all sports. The SEC should get the jump on everyone else and go to four four-team divisions. It seems to work for the NFL. Eliminate the SEC Championship Game and have two playoff games leading into the CFB Playoffs. I just want to make it interesting for everyone during the season.

15. Now that we know who is playing and who is not playing in the NFL playoffs (I’m looking at you Jacksonville), let’s make The Picks. Dr. Football really knows the NFL (not):

• I’ll take the Packers over the Cowboys because I am getting 7.5 points.
• Still not sure how the Rams got in, but I think the Lions will cover the three points.
• The floundering Eagles have to go on the road as 2.5-point favorites over the Bucs. There will be a lot of Eagles fans in the house, so I am going with Fly, Eagles, Fly.
• The Bills are 9.5-point faves over the Steelers and that just seems like too many points in a playoff game so I will take the Curtain.
• The Chiefs are favored by 2.5 over Miami in a game between two teams I don’t want to bet on. But I will take the Chefs.
• Browns-Texans. That’s not getting my juices going. Good stories though. I’ll take the Texans and the 2.5 points.

16. Oh, and I guess I had better make my pick for the national championship game because it is tonight even though it has faded on the national landscape, because it’s not Alabama or Georgia and the NFL playoffs are all anyone wants to talk about. So, I will take all of the fake money I won during this season and go double or nothing on Michigan giving 4.5 points. Too physical and the Wolverines will wear Washington down and win by 10.

17. Is it me or is there little buzz about this national title game? I think part of it was we think we got our two great games in the semis and part of it is that it’s Washington (no offense) and part of it was the way the NFL overwhelmed us over the weekend. No matter what, I have to keep being reminded there is a national championship game on. Also, a very special Below Deck: Mediterranean.

18. You might think that having two weeks away from the Back Nine would have given me more time to come up with a great playlist. And you would be right:

• “The Place That Makes Me Happy” by The Moss.
• “Maps” by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
• For a kind of an old one (it is almost 40 years old) “Voices Carry” by ‘Til Tuesday.