Florida Puts up 84 pts in Final

[Guest]

Congratulations to Florida Gators and Billy Donovan, staff and team. That's what I'm talking about. That's basketball. One of the better finals I think in some time. I love the way the Gators play the game. They did what they could against Odon. The bottom line was that Florida had too many good players....And a way better bench. Gonzaga, I believe is moving in this same direction. Florida had too many offensive weapons. And they play beautiful, unselfish basketball. Did you see all those 3's by Florida? We've talked a lot about Defense lately, and it's great, and important, but I want to see Gonzaga keep playing the way we've always played...trying to score 80 points. Bottom line...we got away from THAT THIS YEAR...

Too many times we walked the ball up court. That is NOT GU ball. I sure hope Few does not go to any slow down game. We do need low post players. Florida did have them...3-4, and 3 very good ones. Learn from that. Beatutiful, beautiful basketball tonight.

[Bocco]

RBZ - with the players we have next year we could treat it like a hockey game just keep throwing new lines on the the court and run the other team into submission.

[Northspokane]

his name is Greg ODEN

[Northspokane]

Reborn, yeah all we need are lottery picks... Why didnt we do that early? Wow we are so stupid.....

[Ziggy]

Ala Div III Grinnell (Iowa), three strings rotated every two to three minutes. They wore the other teams out and averaged 60 3pt. shots attempted per game and made 40%. Hmmm....

[dawgman1999]

Congratulations to Florida Gators and Billy Donovan, staff and team. That's what I'm talking about. That's basketball. One of the better finals I think in some time. I love the way the Gators play the game. They did what they could against Odon. The bottom line was that Florida had too many good players....And a way better bench. Gonzaga, I believe is moving in this same direction. Florida had too many offensive weapons. And they play beautiful, unselfish basketball. Did you see all those 3's by Florida? We've talked a lot about Defense lately, and it's great, and important, but I want to see Gonzaga keep playing the way we've always played...trying to score 80 points. Bottom line...we got away from THAT THIS YEAR...

Too many times we walked the ball up court. That is NOT GU ball. I sure hope Few does not go to any slow down game. We do need low post players. Florida did have them...3-4, and 3 very good ones. Learn from that. Beatutiful, beautiful basketball tonight.

Reborn: players make coaches genius. But Billy D got them to play so unselfishly. UF has everything: Horford's rebounding, Noah's interior defense, Brewer's all around game on both end of the floor, Humphrey's deadly shooting from the 3, Green's somewhat shaky, but passable guard play + a super 6th man in Chris Richards. That's not even including a wealth of experience they gained last year. They have no weakness.

You said Gonzaga is moving toward that direction. Maybe the general style of play, but not the personel. All these UF guys were not highly recruited out of HS. Yet this year's team will turn up 3 lottery picks: Noah, Brewer and Horford. I think that's coaching. I don't see that level of talent in the Zags roster... yet.

How Daye, Sacre, Davis and Brown will turn out. How will Bouldin and Pargo handle the point. Will Pendo provide the leadership, and how will Heytvelt and Downs face adversity? The talents are there, but it's going to take time to put everything together. As beautiful as UF played in this final four, it didn't come together until their sophmore year. In the past 15 years, they are the only team that repeat as NC. MANY, MANY teams have great rosters, but they never repeat. Gonzaga needs to get to a FF first before you can compare your team to this year's Florida team.

[CDC84]

re:

Gonzaga has got a gazillion miles to go before they can even be mentioned in the same league as Florida, but I think Reborn does make some valid points that I have been making all along....that the Gators are the model that Gonzaga needs to follow. The two programs share so much in common in terms of their overall team philosophy (especially offensively) and how they want to beat opponents.

Florida is the example of how such a philosophy can work at the highest level if the players play unselfishly with confidence and skill. They are kind of proof that Gonzaga is on the right track.....although the Zags have so much work to do before they can even get close to the Gators.

[RebornZag]

Florida puts up 84

CDC: and we are linked to the Gators forever. We can never forget our victory over them in '99. I am totally amazed at how many disbelievers there are in the Zag camps....unfrickingbelievable. But fortunately there are many, many, many who believe. And unfortunately, they do not post here too often, and most not at all. ZagNation is alive and well.....I will never pay to much attention to the doubters........their role in life is to inspire us to greater heights.......if for no other purpose than to prove them wrong.

You would be so totally surprised at how CLOSE we are to being in the same realm (another name for League) as the Gators. We're a lot closer then CDC believes. In my opinion. Or maybe I'm just not understanding what he means when he says, "Gonzaga has a gazillion miles to go before they can even be mentioned in the same league as Florida." Maybe a gazillion miles is less than a mile. But it sounds like a long, long, long ways. Why are people so timid and afraid to admit that Gonzaga has a very good chance of being a heck of a team next year. Are you afraid of being called a Pollyanna? God forbid!!!

[sonuvazag]

Why are people so timid and afraid to admit that Gonzaga has a very good chance of being a heck of a team next year. Are you afraid of being called a Pollyanna? God forbid!!!

"You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do." --Henry Ford.

[RanchZagFan]

RBZ, you show admirable persistence in your optimistic outlook for next year's squad. I think you're a bit blinded by your love of the Zags, but so what? Call your shot then. Make whatever assumptions you want regarding NBA departures for other teams, lack of injuries, best case production from Zag players, etc. What will be the Zags' preseason ranking and how far will they go in the tournament? For the record (and making certain assumptions), I think the following are the teams with the best chance to cut the nets next year:

KU
UCLA
UNC
Memphis
OSU
Louisville

[Bocco]

"You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do." --Henry Ford.

True you build a reputation on what you have done, and Gonzaga's reputation has been built on what it has done, but with that also comes expectation both by the players who have committed to Gonzaga and by the fans. Right now some very good players have committed to Gonzaga, and so the expectation are high.

In the next couple of years we will find out if these expectation come true.

[lothar98zag]

(back to the initial thread topic)


Congrats to the Gators.

I was not looking fwd to this game, but I found myself rooting for Florida not too long into the game after not cheering them once the whole season - (not that I hate them or anything, I was mostly impartial to them)

Congrats on 2 in a row.

[sonuvazag]

Henry Ford was an optimist.

[dawgman1999]

Reborn: what is your definition of close? If the 2 teams play today, it's not even a game. They beat OSU and UCLA by about 10 points each, and the games weren't really that close. If they play the Zags, it's at least a 20 pt beating. They have 3 inside guys that are WAY better than Kuso. Brewer can shut down Downs at any time. And if the Zags can't guard the 3's all year, or for the last several years, how can they have a prayer to stop Humphrey, Hodge, Brewer and Green from outside. A superior starting 5, a superior inside game, a superior defensive team, a superior coach, a superior bench and a superior back court, more importantly, an unselfish bunch of guys with only 1 goal. How is that being close?

[Northspokane]

GUs has done great things for what we have BUT dreaming about a final four when you have never been to one. Or an elite eight when you never been to one under the Mark Few head coaching era. It would be best for people to be postive and realisitic and perhaps get suprized rather talk about the highly improbable like it is outrageous if it doesnt happen.