Saturday, December 23, 2006

Florida-Ohio State Hoops:
Holy Shit, What an Ass-Kicking

Wow, that was the best game I've ever seen this Florida team play -- and that includes last season's six-game NCAA Tournament run. They took on a terrific (if young) Ohio State team that was in everyone's Top 3 and simply obliterated them.

That's why I think Florida has just proven that, despite the two losses this season, they are the No. 1 team in the country right now.

Let's see: No. 1 UCLA? We already know how this Florida team matches up with that UCLA team. (See last year's title-game ass-kicking.)

How about No. 2 UNC? Interesting, but let's look at the only available and reasonable comp: Common opponent.

Both UNC and Florida played Ohio State at home. UNC escaped by single-digits and OSU was playing WITHOUT Greg Oden. Florida beat OSU, this time with Oden, by 26. And they held the Buckeyes to a season-low in points, by nearly a dozen.

Based on this performance today, if you had to put your bet right now on one team to win the national title, Florida has to be at the top of the list.

I can only hope that this is an omen for the college football national title game, rather than -- mixing my metaphysical metaphors -- using up all the good Florida-Ohio State karma.

ORIGINAL POST: Anyone else watching the Florida-Ohio State hoops game? I have been very impressed by OSU throughout the non-conference season (particularly in that loss at UNC). Oden is having trouble with the Gators post troika of Horford, Noah and Richard (but Oden won't see frontcourt depth/talent like that against any other team in the country).

Interestingly, it's Florida's guards (Green, Humphrey and Werner -- a 6-7 freshman who plays smaller than his size) who were the difference in the first half. I had figured that OSU's smaller players would handle them. (I really like that Daequan Cook, btw. By April, I think he'll be enough of an NBA first-round lock to be as outta there as Oden.)

Wow, watching this game, I am so ready for the CFB national title game...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Dan, nice to hear your a judge for the YFSF Matsuzaka/Igawa haiku contest.

Please vote for mine. lol

Anonymous said...

Hey Dan, I'm a new blogger, always have enjoyed your work here and on ESPN.com.

It's amazing what a different team OSU is without Oden on the floor. When he sat down early in the 2nd half, the Buckeyes just collapsed. If that doesn't clearly show that he is by far the best player in America, I dont know what does.

Either way, Florida is so explosive. I cant believe how quickly they put themselves 15 in front of OSU.

pv845 said...

OSU needs to get a little control over their shot selection and try to defend the post. I mean any team in the country could dunk with the weak post D they have without Oden in there. I loved the block by Oden on Noah. Noah is so overrated and needs someone to break him in half. Good game though.
BTW: Does CBS have any announcers that don't act like the ahve been lobotomized? Rafferty for the KU game kept screaming and grunting and Packer as usual sounds like he is retarded, drunk or both.

Perks said...

This is turning into a non-contest now.

btw, Happy Festivus to everyone today!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, this game was nothing like I expected. Florida is just blowing them out of the water. OSU looks like the team that they are: young and inexperienced. And Florida is making them look foolish on top of that. This just makes me want Jan. 8 to come sooner and I would love for OSU to match up again with UNC and/or UF in March to see how much a year of conference play makes for this young team.

I'm sure on Jan. 8 they're going to be looping highlights from this game and the Florida fans will be eating it up...

Anonymous said...

Oden needs to hit the treadmill and work off that gut.

Florida has too many weapons. You know what you're going to get from the big men, but when Green and Humphrey step up, the Gators are unstoppable.

Repeat, baby.

TJ said...

Jesus Christ that was awesome.

I don't know, Dan. For me, that looked just like last March. Just awesome, carefree, slightly sloppy basketball. I was so scared after the Kansas and FSU games that they'd forgotten how to play like that. But it seems like they've remembered... just in time for conference play. Dammit I love this team.

Anonymous said...

Florida proved they are a really good team, and probably deserve to be in the top three for the rest of the year, but did you see that performance by UCLA? They simply dominated, in every possible way, a competent Michigan team. Turnovers, three pointers, everything. UCLA did nothing to tarnish their #1-ness.

BobbyStompy said...

So, let's say college basketball has a hypothetical BCS title game. You're seriously saying Florida should be the #1 ranked team? They have two losses!

UCLA is undefeated and deserving of the #1 ranking. The title game argument is weak because teams can make huge improvements in one-year spans. Especially on the collegiate level. Today, the Bruins destroyed a one-loss Michigan team, who easily could have been ranked in the high 20s.

Where's the love?

Perks said...

Bobbystompy makes a GREAT claim. But, I have to argue for FLA to be #2 in that BCS game for college hoops. I agree with UCLA-- but I wonder what it would look like after conf. play. Does the ACC get some big credit? Does the Big Ten?

Kurt said...

^ Amen, Dan and Florida can eat shit.