Gators @ USCjr. on Wednesday. Who you got?

MdWIldcat55

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After taking a sixth OOC loss today, and heading into conference play with a horrible RPI, this game becomes almost an early January must-win for the Gators.

The Gamecocks are playing very tough right now, upending a ranked Iowa State team tonight. Florida has two straight home losses in games they should have won.

Can UF finally get organized with all that supposed talent and stop the bleeding? Based on momentum, home-court, guard play so far this year, it looks like an easy call in favor of South Carolina.

This becomes the first important SEC game of the year. I just have a strange feeling Florida gets it together in time.
 

bucsrule8872

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Going with the home team. They are playing better and the Gators always seem to struggle against them in Columbia, even when USC is terrible.
 

docholiday51

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The easy answer is USC wins,but in the SEC after laying an egg at home the Gators go on the road and steal one putting USC in a hole to get to the NCAAT.

UF isn't very good,they have no business winning this one,hell Martin should be able to scare them out of 6 to 8 points.
 

Crawfords Corner

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Depends on which Kasey Hill shows up. This guy has been wildly inconsistent. Until he gets his act together this Florida team is going to struggle.Chris Walker, at this point, looks like he's going to be a bust. Outside of elite athleticism he brings very little to the table. He's not all that great defensively and is a lot more behind offensively than WCS was as a freshmen. He's not very skilled at all. Neither one of those guys has come along as well as Florida expected.
 

UKWildcats#8

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All signs point to a SC win, but I'd say a few things to pause on that.

1. Let down game after upsetting a top 10 team.
2. FL has the better coach.
3. FL has the better players (This is not debatable...they just have not played up to their potential at all).
4. FL is in a must win, desperation mode, almost in a playoff mode already due to their horrendous OOC play.

All of that said, I have to go with SC in a close one due to being AT HOME. Home court advantage means so much in college basketball, and certainly always does in SEC play. I have ZERO confidence in any SEC team not named UK's ability to win on the road consistently in SEC play. That is why I think you see a lot of 11-7, 10-8, 12-6, 9-9 type records by years end.

That said, if you avoid playing UK at home...and can go 8-1 or 9-0 at home, you are in pretty good shape if you can somehow win 4-5 road games, which is doable, but going to be tough on most of this bunch.

To piggyback off the OP's thread, some other BIG games the first week in SEC play.

1. Arkansas @ UGA? Can UGA pick up a huge win at home or can ARK show they are road warriors now? I lean towards UGA.
2. TXA&M @ Bama. I have to go with the home team here.
3. Auburn @ Vandy. Vandy.
4. UT @ MSU. MUST WIN road win for UT. I do not think either of these teams is very good, but MSU is terrible.
5. LSU @ Missouri. This is another must win road win IMO. You have to beat the bad SEC teams you play on the road.

I am not even listing our game...but I do think the above schedule shows how interesting this league, outside of the obvious of UK chasing history, will be this year. There will be good battles twice a week for most of these teams fighting for a tournament spot.
 

revcort

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Based on what I've seen from both and the way they're both playing right now, I'd have to give the edge to South Carolina at home. I wouldn't be surprised to see a blowout win by SC in fact.

I think everyone keeps waiting for Florida to begin to play to their potential but I'm starting to think they just don't have it this season. Meanwhile SC is playing as well as anyone not named UK.

Florida may yet play better but this game is too soon to expect that.
 

Bert Higginbotha

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Originally posted by Couch2UK:
Florida NEEDS this win. I really hope they lose.
Me too.

The Florida fans have made me an anti-Gator guy.

 

ORCAT_rivals103867

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USC has been looking pretty good while the Gators seem to just be getting worse. Have to go with South Carolina and especially at their place. Wouldn't be surprised if they give us a tough time when we play they, to be honest.
 

RR30

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South Carolina by 5. Florida is a mess this year. They have the talent to turn it around, but I don't see it happening.
 

bradscats

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USC looks to be another team to help carry some of the load for the SEC and should be ranked this week so I will say they will probably lose and all the good they have done in the past few weeks will be forgotten. Florida is already at a point where they need to win about 15 SEC games to have a chance at the tournament.
 

slick rick.ksr

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Gators remind me of UK in 12/13. Some highly regarded pieces but not all on the same page after losing key contributors the previos year
 

UKWildcats#8

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Originally posted by ORCAT:
USC has been looking pretty good while the Gators seem to just be getting worse. Have to go with South Carolina and especially at their place. Wouldn't be surprised if they give us a tough time when we play they, to be honest.
I have to chuckle at these types of posts. ISU sucked yesterday, they hit 1/18 from 3, sucked shooting FTs, etc. They had a mini-UK vs. WVU 2010 day in fact shooting. SC has nothing down low, our bigs will get a ton of easy buckets and dominate the boards against them. Let's not make the mistake of insulting our team by comparing them to how inferior teams do against teams like SC. ISU is overrated, FL sucks right now. UK is the best team in the nation by far. A bit of a difference.
 

Huma1894

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USC and it won't be close unless USC is too caught up in the hype of their win over a top-10 team.

This post was edited on 1/4 4:06 PM by Huma1894
 

Stenchymouse

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I expect Florida to start playing better in conference.

South Carolina won't win because they're "suppose" to win.

I'm picking Florida.
 

docholiday51

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This game will probably be close because both teams are pretty average.Everyone keeps saying UF will be good when this or that happens,they are what they are.They are not the Fla of the past few years and aren't going to be any time soon.

USC has had some good wins at 9-3 and are better than they were last year but aren't world beaters.They lost to a 6-7 Charlotte and Akron.They have a good home court advantage and will probably win this one.
This post was edited on 1/5 10:47 AM by docholiday51
 

FiveStarCat

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Just submitted my picks to a conference survivor pool and I picked Florida in the SEC this week. It's the first week so I probably should have just picked UK since they are still available but I decided to play the long game and hope Florida pulls off the upset (crazy to think that a Florida team beating USC would now be an upset).
 

KMKAT

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Probably a very close game, and I go with the home team in any of these type games.
 

UKWildcats#8

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Originally posted by KMKAT:
Probably a very close game, and I go with the home team in any of these type games.
Yeah, and that worries me about all these SEC teams not named UK...as far as them doing well and making the tourney. Who has the stones to win on the road if not FL? They obviously do not have them at this time, so we shall see the overall conference records beside UK.
 
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Florida is a train wreck. Anything short of going 14-4 in the SEC and they are not going to make the Big Dance.

The arena will be about 30% full, but USCjr will still feed off the home crowd and win this one.
 

UKWildcats#8

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Originally posted by ukfan79:

Florida is a train wreck. Anything short of going 14-4 in the SEC and they are not going to make the Big Dance.

The arena will be about 30% full, but USCjr will still feed off the home crowd and win this one.
The FAN will rush the court if they win.