SEC Basketball Tournament Thread.

[MJWilliamson]

Hill has had some great, great games this year. But he is just as likely to have terrible ones. This article talks about that and given where he is in his career, I am not sure why that will change going forward. However, from here on out, when he has a bad game, we are going to lose and go home

***********************



Florida senior point guard Kasey Hill has received a challenge from his head coach this week.

Each time Hill turns the ball over in practice, the 6-foot-1 former McDonald’s All-American point guard is going to be forced to run.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Hill said. “I’m going to have to stop turning the ball over in order for this team to go far. We need to value the ball more.”

Point guard play is a point of contention for the Gators heading into this week’s SEC Tournament. It’s hard to suggest benching Hill, who on Tuesday was named an All-SEC defender and on the All-SEC second team. But with junior point guard Chris Chiozza more of a perimeter threat and leading the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5-1), an argument can be made that Chiozza deserves a larger share of the minutes running the team.

Florida coach Mike White had both Chiozza and Hill on the floor down the stretch in UF’s 73-71 loss at Vanderbilt on Saturday. But it was Hill who brought the ball up with a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds. Hill missed a driving layup with 6.7 seconds left.

Hill is averaging 3.9 turnovers over his last seven games with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 25 to 27. He had five turnovers in the Vanderbilt loss, including three within the first five minutes of the game.

 

[MJWilliamson]

Renowned ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Florida a four seed, playing in Orlando.

But Lunardi said the Gators could slip to a five seed if they lose their opening SEC Tournament game Friday against the winner of Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.

“They could also stay the same,” Lunardi said. “No result happens in a vacuum. What are all the other 4s and 5s doing. I’ve had years where in doing an update on a Monday, all four number one seeds lost in a given weekend, so nothing changed.”

If Florida slides to a five seed, it won’t be guaranteed opening NCAA Tournament play in its home state. Lunardi said he has the Gators as a No. 4 seed based on their current roster composition, taking into account starting center John Egbunu is out for the year with a torn ACL. The Gators are 3-2 since Egbunu went down Feb. 14, with losses to Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

“Most seem to have them kind of split between 3 and 4, so I might be in a small minority that has them as a 4,” Lunardi said. “And I guess in part because I’m trying to factor in the current roster, which is shorthanded, and to me that’s worth half a seed line to a seed line … if they get to the final against Kentucky, they will be no worse than a four. If they lose to someone else I suppose they could slide to a 5, but overall their numbers and profile are still pretty strong.”

— Robbie Andreu

 

[LizardGrad89]

Renowned ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Florida a four seed, playing in Orlando.

But Lunardi said the Gators could slip to a five seed if they lose their opening SEC Tournament game Friday against the winner of Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.

“They could also stay the same,” Lunardi said. “No result happens in a vacuum. What are all the other 4s and 5s doing. I’ve had years where in doing an update on a Monday, all four number one seeds lost in a given weekend, so nothing changed.”

If Florida slides to a five seed, it won’t be guaranteed opening NCAA Tournament play in its home state. Lunardi said he has the Gators as a No. 4 seed based on their current roster composition, taking into account starting center John Egbunu is out for the year with a torn ACL. The Gators are 3-2 since Egbunu went down Feb. 14, with losses to Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

“Most seem to have them kind of split between 3 and 4, so I might be in a small minority that has them as a 4,” Lunardi said. “And I guess in part because I’m trying to factor in the current roster, which is shorthanded, and to me that’s worth half a seed line to a seed line … if they get to the final against Kentucky, they will be no worse than a four. If they lose to someone else I suppose they could slide to a 5, but overall their numbers and profile are still pretty strong.”

— Robbie Andreu

Bah.

Orlando is not exactly a college basketball mecca, the NCAA will want an anchor team in there that's going to sell tickets. There is no way UF slides to a 5 and doesn't host Orlando. Yes, FSU could host Orlando, but they barely half-fill their own arena, you can't count on them to drive ticket sales in a city 5 hours away.

 

[GordonGecko]

I am actually sitting here watching Missouri and Ole Miss.

37-28 Ole Miss

What the hell am I doing?

 

[ocalaman]

My wife & I have been watching the old TV series Firefly instead of opening rounds of these conference tournaments. 15 episodes, only 12 aired before it got cancelled. Then they made a movie called Serenity. We have been surprised how much we liked the TV series. I bought the 4 disc collection for $8 because it was rated high on IMDB.

 

[LizardGrad89]

My wife & I have been watching the old TV series Firefly instead of opening rounds of these conference tournaments. 15 episodes, only 12 aired before it got cancelled. Then they made a movie called Serenity. We have been surprised how much we liked the TV series. I bought the 4 disc collection for $8 because it was rated high on IMDB.

It's all about Joss. He has a knack.

 

[GordonGecko]

My wife & I have been watching the old TV series Firefly instead of opening rounds of these conference tournaments. 15 episodes, only 12 aired before it got cancelled. Then they made a movie called Serenity. We have been surprised how much we liked the TV series. I bought the 4 disc collection for $8 because it was rated high on IMDB.

I might catch up on The Man in the High Tower.

I highly recommend The Santa Clarita Diet on Netflix. Don't research it, just watch it. Good Stuff.

 

[46885]

Still no line on the board for the game tomorrow night, we are the only game i see right now not on the board, I'd guess it will be around 4... and we will cover no matter what it is

 

[GordonGecko]

We had better beat the piss out of Vandy. This is a statement game. Truly, we should know a lot about how far we can go in the big dance based on how we play tomorrow night.

 

[IrishPokerDog]

My wife & I have been watching the old TV series Firefly instead of opening rounds of these conference tournaments. 15 episodes, only 12 aired before it got cancelled. Then they made a movie called Serenity. We have been surprised how much we liked the TV series. I bought the 4 disc collection for $8 because it was rated high on IMDB.

I found when a I started watching the series agaIn after the 1st time through, I thought Jayne could've had more play.... too funny

 

[46885]

We had better beat the piss out of Vandy. This is a statement game. Truly, we should know a lot about how far we can go in the big dance based on how we play tomorrow night.

oh, we will... which is why it's funny so many peope put stock into that horseshit never had a chance bubble game Saturday, we were never gonna have a chance to win the game and I knew it for a week in advance and wrote it off as a loss even at half time and up by 12 and the under 12...


When we play an acutal real basketball game again unlike the last two Saturdays in never never ref land we will beat these teams because... we are better than them, by a lot. Sad and users being concerned by that game baffles me lol...

Kenpom has us as winning tomorrow night by 8.5 on average and like an 86% chance of victory, we are gonna kill them now that real basketball is being played without conference agendas to save a ho.

 

[GordonGecko]

oh, we will... which is why it's funny so many peope put stock into that horseshit never had a chance bubble game Saturday, we were never gonna have a chance to win the game and I knew it for a week in advance and wrote it off as a loss even at half time and up by 12 and the under 12...


When we play an acutal real basketball game again unlike the last two Saturdays in never never ref land we will beat these teams because... we are better than them, by a lot. Sad and users being concerned by that game baffles me lol...

Kenpom has us as winning tomorrow night by 8.5 on average and like an 86% chance of victory, we are gonna kill them now that real basketball is being played without conference agendas to save a ho.

I love the spirit, but I don't get the Gator on Gator crime. We should argue with Rivals, not fellow Gators.

Except for that a$$hole Danny. Fvck him.

 

[46885]

im not arguing with any Gators, im just saying people shouldn't be worried on account of fake ass games with pre determined wwe baby face strong comebacks at the end of home games to ensure they slot another SEC team in the tournament at our expense with 15 f'in losses after tomorrow...

 

[Gator Fever]

Holy crap how did Vandy hold them to 41 points.

 

[sadgator]

It certainly seems like all of the pressure is on Florida tonight. It'll be interesting to see how they respond.

 

[Gator Fever]

It certainly seems like all of the pressure is on Florida tonight. It'll be interesting to see how they respond.

I just don't like this game being practically a home game for them. I hope we figured them out some with those off days.

 

[GordonGecko]

We have to have good perimeter defense.

 

[SwampMaster]

Still no line on the board for the game tomorrow night, we are the only game i see right now not on the board, I'd guess it will be around 4... and we will cover no matter what it is

Looks like Florida -6-...Good size line considering they've beat our ass twice. Should be a good indicator that we are going to beat the breaks off the Dores. Im looking forward to Camera shots of the 7'2 guys mom. Milf and cookies please.

 

[bradleygator]

Hill has had some great, great games this year. But he is just as likely to have terrible ones. This article talks about that and given where he is in his career, I am not sure why that will change going forward. However, from here on out, when he has a bad game, we are going to lose and go home

***********************



Florida senior point guard Kasey Hill has received a challenge from his head coach this week.

Each time Hill turns the ball over in practice, the 6-foot-1 former McDonald’s All-American point guard is going to be forced to run.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Hill said. “I’m going to have to stop turning the ball over in order for this team to go far. We need to value the ball more.”

Point guard play is a point of contention for the Gators heading into this week’s SEC Tournament. It’s hard to suggest benching Hill, who on Tuesday was named an All-SEC defender and on the All-SEC second team. But with junior point guard Chris Chiozza more of a perimeter threat and leading the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5-1), an argument can be made that Chiozza deserves a larger share of the minutes running the team.

Florida coach Mike White had both Chiozza and Hill on the floor down the stretch in UF’s 73-71 loss at Vanderbilt on Saturday. But it was Hill who brought the ball up with a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds. Hill missed a driving layup with 6.7 seconds left.

Hill is averaging 3.9 turnovers over his last seven games with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 25 to 27. He had five turnovers in the Vanderbilt loss, including three within the first five minutes of the game.

Chiozza has been better than Hill late in the season. And Hill needs to get back to how he was playing in the middle of the season. But criticizing Hill for missing, or taking, that layup is an example of bias confirmation and analysis-by-results all wrapped together. From the time the Gators went up 12 in the second half, exactly three Gators scored field goals: Hill was 2/3, Barry was 2/3 and Chiozza was 1/1. D-Rob, Stone and Allen were 0/5. It was not a bad decision for Hill to go to the basket there. I'd rather have Barry, Chiozza or Allen putting the ball up, but there's 12 seconds left with the ball coming out of bounds.

Interesting reasoning in that article. He backs up his point that "point guard play is a point of contention for the Gators" by pointing out that Hill was all-SEC defense and all-SEC second team and that Chiozza leads the SEC in assist-to-turnover.

None of that is to say that Hill doesn't have to play better than he has the last few games. But our point guards have been a big reason why we finished as the No. 2 seed in the SEC and are returning to the tournament.

Bottom line on Hill:

"We had the conversation yesterday: He’s better than that. He’s got to stop pressing offensively. He’s got to just settle in a little bit,” Gators coach Mike White said this week. “He’s very competitive. He wants to win as much as anyone. Sometimes I think with Kasey he’s trying to hit the grand slam instead of just hitting some singles. Just take what they give us. He’s really competing and defending and rebounding at a high level. In fact, he’s shooting the ball better than he ever has in his career. He’s got to get back to the decision-making he was making a month ago.”

 

[SwampMaster]

I think the grand slam analogy was spot on. Hill tries to make the tough pass for the easy score a little too often.

Personally, I liked the layup attempt at the end of the last game. He was relatively open and if we would have had a big in the game to trail, it could have been a follow up dunk.

 

[bradleygator]

I think the grand slam analogy was spot on. Hill tries to make the tough pass for the easy score a little too often.

Personally, I liked the layup attempt at the end of the last game. He was relatively open and if we would have had a big in the game to trail, it could have been a follow up dunk.

Yeah, White doesn't sugar coat it with Hill. He coaches him hard too. He sits him when he gets out of control. When Hill is playing bad, it looks to me like he makes his mind up what he's going to do when he crosses half court. You can see the pull up jumper or contested layup coming. When he's playing good, he makes simple drop offs to the bigs or simple kick outs to open shooters. One thing I'll say for Hill is that he gets no calls going to the basket. He gets hit three or four times a game on layups that don't get called. One play in the Vandy second half, he got bodied pretty good and missed the layup, then at the other end they got a real soft and-1.

 

[sadgator]

Personally, I liked the layup attempt at the end of the last game.

. It was a terrible shot. It was totally rushed and out of control, and there were 7 seconds left on the clock. Even if you hit it, they would have had time on the other end.

 

[sadgator]

Im looking forward to Camera shots of the 7'2 guys mom. Milf and cookies please.

.

Lol. She's definitely a babe. It softened the hurt of the loss a bit last week. Can't wait for round 2 with her tonight, if you know what sadgator means....wink wink...

 

[SwampMaster]

. It was a terrible shot. It was totally rushed and out of control, and there were 7 seconds left on the clock. Even if you hit it, they would have had time on the other end.

Meh different strokes I guess. We have had difficulties getting good looks in the half set all year. I liked it better than a 30 ft 3 as time expires and that seems like the shot we usually get historically.

 

[bradleygator]

. It was a terrible shot. It was totally rushed and out of control, and there were 7 seconds left on the clock. Even if you hit it, they would have had time on the other end.

Actually, I think it was exactly what White wanted (2:00 into the video). They inbounded to Hill and spread the other 4 guys. Hill went straight to the basket with Allen and Barry spread on the wings and D-rob crashing the boards behind Hill. Neither Allen or Barry's guy came off them, so Hill went to the basket. Actually, if Allen hadn't knocked the rebound away, D-rob would have flushed it. It was a designed play, not Hill going crazy.

As far as shooting too soon, you want a quick shot there, because you're behind. You want a chance at the offensive rebound, and you want to be able to foul if you miss to extend the game. If you're tied, you want to make sure it's the last shot, but not in that spot.

 

[GordonGecko]

If BETH MOWINS calls our game, I am going to find the Mick feed, and I don't GAF if it's a 30 second delay...I'll just adjust the DVR.

 

[oozie7]

Can we save our Gator hate for those that actually deserve it? Like Driskel, Insta, and Trask?

 

[bradleygator]

Not to depart from the Gator loving sentiment expressed by Ooz, but I was so distracted by the lazy banalities presented as analysis by the article cited in the OP, that I completely missed that MJ opened a thread, ostensibly focused on the SEC tournament, with a post, preemptively blaming Hill for a presumed disappointing finish to the season. Hill certainly has had some bad games, as has everyone else on the roster, but to say that he is responsible for past (and future) losses seems dim witted in the extreme.

Hill played badly at MSU and aTm (as MJ was quick to remind everyone after his best game of the season at Auburn), but we won those games, so the team is perfectly capable of overcoming subpar games from Hill, or Barry, or D-Rob, or Allen, or Chiozza, or anyone else. And while it certainly would have been nice if Hill had made that layup against Vandy or not turned the ball over 5 times, I would note that we were ahead 12 despite 4 of those turnovers and also that our best player didn't score a point in the second half where we collapsed. I also firmly hope that the Scourge of Humanity jams it right up all the haters' backsides starting tonight.

 

[46885]

uh oh, white said "a little bit" like mac....

 

[bradleygator]

uh oh, white said "a little bit" like mac....

Just so long as he doesn't trail off mid-interview and stare off, glassy eyed, into the distance while the interviewer stands there in awkward silence.

 

[MJWilliamson]

So bradley is back in his curmudgeon role, with some raspberry hints of whiny-ness. That detente did not last long.

In any case; Florida is 41-45 all-time in the SEC Tournament and 1-1 in the tournament under coach Mike White. … The Gators won SEC Tournament titles in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2014. …

 

[46885]

Can't have anymore scourges with a side of pestilence or we will be history in the tournament...

 

[MJWilliamson]

Matt Bonner on the Pawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwl Finebaum show. He is still on my my favorite players

 

[46885]

he's got a job already after that

 

[Gator Fever]

Refs home cooking for Vandy

 

[TheRealJoePistone29]

Refs home cooking for Vandy

El oh el.

 

[46885]

If allen keeps throwing up bricks we could lose to anyone

 

[Gator Fever]

BS no call there

 

[ocalaman]

I don't see home cooking tonight. What I see is our team getting their ASS whipped. Outhustled, outplayed. Allen forcing shots and can't hit, Robinson doing nothing, Barry doing nothing, Hayes doing nothing, Chiozza doing very little. We're still in it at half, but Vandy is in our heads and they have all the confidence that we can't beat them. And they may be right!

 

[MJWilliamson]

Unless these guys get their heads out of their asses, five seed here we come.