Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: Florida Men’s Basketball Finds A Way

The Back Nine comes at you after seeing both Gator basketball teams stay alive. Baseball, we’re not so sure those Gators are still with us.

10. So, I have this ritual for Gator basketball games. I put on my lucky shirt from Alumni Hall (still undefeated) and go sit in my office with multiple games going and the sound off on the Florida game. It’s weird. I know. But on Sunday, we had my wife’s sister and husband over and I sat quietly on the couch agonizing over the game against UConn. And, of course, my wife is in the bedroom, because she can’t watch. And my daughter is at The Swamp restaurant losing her mind. We are a diverse family of strange beings. But it all worked out.

11. You knew the two-time defending champs were not going to go down without a fight. We have the game on DVR, but there’s no way I want to go through that again. And UConn coach Dan Hurley looked like he wanted to fight somebody after the game, yelling at the Baylor players that he hoped they “don’t get #$@&%* the way we got #$@&%*. You thinkIneed therapy. Chill out dude. You won 13 games in a row in the Big Dance. You have to play around bad calls. They happen all the time. Just ask Colorado State.

12. Because Derik Queen traveled on his game-winner to set off a Twitter (X) battle that had three sides. For those of you who were not watching or haven’t seen the highlights, the big freshman took three steps before launching the first buzzer-beater of the tournament. So, you were on the side that said he was gathering the ball on his first step, which is allowed in the NBA, but not in college, or the side that said he did walk but a ref is never going to call it in that moment, or the side that said deal with it. All I know is that guy is going to be a load for UF to handle in the Sweet 16 game Thursday night.

13. What more can be said about Walter Clayton Jr.? Mr. Clutch comes to mind. All-American. One of the best ever at Florida. And Tommy Haugh with those clutch free throws. Whenever this season ends, it’s going to be difficult to process it all. It has been such a special team with a record to prove it (32-4). Even when they were turning it over in the first half or allowing too many offensive rebounds, you just knew they would find a way.

14. Florida is favored by 6.5 against Maryland, Arkansas is a 5.5-point underdog against Texas Tech and Kentucky is a 4.5-point underdog against Tennessee. If I were betting, I’d put some serious money on the Wildcats, because I think they are playing at a high level.

15. The haters got to me. All of those people, some of them respected sports wags, who were making fun of the SEC when the league split its first eight games got me a little riled up. They actually made me … root … for … John Calipari. I know, it was painful. But the league came through in the end and put a record seven teams into the Sweet 16. Now back off.

16. What do we do with a problem like Gator baseball? Kevin O’Sullivan sounded really discouraged. “We’ll have to figure out the pitching,” he said after the Gators gave up 40 runs in three losses to Georgia. “Obviously, what we’re doing right now is not working, so we’ll make some changes.” I’ll say two things here. First, if you’re closer didn’t give up a two-run bomb in the ninth you could have won the first game. Second, Georgia obviously used the portal well and its players looked like pros against a college team.

17. Congrats to Luke Poulter for winning his first college golf tournament and to the women’s basketball team for winning its second-round game at UNLV on a buzzer-beater by Kenza Salgues. The Gators now host Texas Tech on Thursday night. Of course, it is at the same time as the men’s game.

18. After a full weekend of watching the toonimint on four channels, I had a lot of mediocre songs running through my head, because it was the same six commercials on all the games. So, I cleaned myself with this playlist:

• “Dakota” by the Stereophonics.
• “We Will Become Silhouettes” by The Postal Service.
•  And for an old one, “Dedicated to the One I Love” by The Mamas & The Papas.

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.