Blog # 8

My beloved 17 Bloggees  

 

I was in Orlando coincidentally this week from Wednesday morning until Thursday afternoon for a short family get-together. The Gators were playing UCF that night in town. Unless I wanted to jeopardize inheritance, there was no way I could go to the game. You talk about things working out. We had a great meal at an amazing restaurant, Seasons 52, and I did not have to witness our disappointing loss except for the last 5 minutes on TV.

 

The season is early and with our talent, I am hoping that Billy and the guys will get it together. Remember we lost to a poor South Alabama team last year and still made it to the Dance. That UCF team was much better than South Alabama was, so no need to jump out of buildings, yet.

 

 

In the meantime, I had to do a double take when I looked at my fantasy NBA team (consisting of all Gators) Wednesday night and saw that Joakim Noah played 22 minutes and had 16 points.....and ZERO REBOUNDS. Are you kidding me? He is second in the league in rebounding, and could not get a single ricochet? http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=301201004  I thought that maybe on this weird basketball night, Steve Nash might not have gotten an assist, but the Suns did not play.

 

 

We might want to try to lobby for a change in the SEC hoops schedule this winter and let the SEC East teams play the SEC West teams twice.  Mississippi State lost at home to one of our earlier victims, Florida Atlantic, this week 61 - 59. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201011300366   Also, Ole Miss outscored the U in the second half by 17 and still lost 86 - 73 to the Hurricanes!  Yes, if you do the math (FSU alumni blogees get a pass), you can tell Ole Miss was down by 30 after 20 minutes! We are already know about Alabama, Auburn and LSU's woes from previous blogs....all that is left is Arkansas who lost at home to a perennially ok UAB team.  Bring on the West.

 

 

Just in Jaise you were wondering...Jai Lucas is still laying eggs in Texas. In his last game against Lamar, he played 26 minutes, went 2 for 8 from the field, including 0 for 4 from downtown, 2 for 4 from the free throw line and 5 turnovers. Maybe Dan Werner was contagious. (Just kidding, Dan, but I do see there is something about you regarding your Italian team, however, I don't speak the language. Can someone translate the reference to Dan in this site http://www.corrieredellosport.it/legadue/2010/11/25-141174/Scafati,+via+Fattori: andrà+a+Pistoia? ?)

 

 

Go Gators and beat American on Sunday,

 

 

 

Barry

 

Blog # 7

My beloved 14 Bloggees:

A hoops win over the Seminoles in Tallahassee sure takes a lot of the sting out of the football loss. It also certainly helps our "body of work" when it comes to the NCAA Selection Committee. I will be curious to see how the Seminoles do against Ohio State tonight.

Florida's next opponent is undefeated UCF in the Magic's new arena this Wednesday. In their last win against Alabama State, 84 - 48,  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201011270103 Marcus "Son Of Michael" Jordan scored 18 points in 19 minutes including 4 for 6 from "way downtown".  Don't forget that UCF is led by former UF and Donovan assistant Donnie Jones.  That should be an interesting evening. By the way, UCF's AD is former Gator tight end, Keith Tribble.

On Sunday, the Gator hoopsters go to DC to play American University who lost their first game on Sunday at home to Ivy League's Columbia 64 - 62. Our only common opponent has been Florida Atlantic who we beat at home by 13, while American beat them in Boca Raton, by 10. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/aan/schedule  American has a three-point shooter, Troy Brewer, who is a transfer from University of Georgia. I don't remember him, but that makes sense as he only averaged 2 points a game over two years in Athens. He is not related to Corey.

Jacksonville University showed what they are made of again, beating Auburn on the road  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201011270028   69 - 55 .  Just like when I witnessed them on Wednesday beating Samford, they forced over 20 turnovers with their tenacious defense. I like this team a lot and am especially worried  about how the turnover-prone backcourt of the Gators will handle their pressure on December 20th.

On Page 68 of the Nov. 29th Issue of ESPN THE Magazine it lists the highest-scoring NBA player born in each state. For example, for Georgia, it lists Dale Ellis, the ex-Vols star who had 19,004 points in his NBA career.  Two Gators are listed, can you name them and the two states? I will put the answers at the end of this email. Hint, they are both still active in the NBA. By the way, it lists only players born in 49 states...evidently the Green Mountain State of Vermont has not produced any NBA players...how strange is that? 

Remember when Alabama lost 50 - 49 to St. Peter's last week in the consolation round of a holiday tournament. I didn't realize how poor St. Peter's had been playing. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/sby/schedule  They were previously smothered by Robert Morris 55 -30. And last night they lost by 20 to Seton Hall 69 - 49. This doesn't say a whole lot about Anthony Grant's Bama squad. The SEC West in hoops is going to resemble the SEC East in football.

Enjoy and let's beat the improved Knights tomorrow night in my hometown, the City Beautiful, the home to 70's local sports broadcasting legends, Frank Vaught, Don Jonas and Tracy Dent,


Barry
(scroll down for quiz answers)








Mike Miller -  South Dakota
Matt Bonner - New Hampshire