I can honestly say that the farthest I have ever picked Florida in an NCAA pool was in 2000 when I had UF in the Final Four in my office pool. Consequently....I won that one as I had MSU winning it all like most Michiganders I work with. Last year UF slipped by me and I could have used the Gator help but I was not a believer. This year....I believe and have picked UF as champ in all pools. Most scribes and video heads feel the same way...about 3 out of 5 I would say from what I have seen. I think the Gators are ready and focused from what I saw last weekend: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/bill_trocchi/03/11/sec.final/index.html
Gators are certainly the safe pick for the Final 4. They blew away the SEC field in the Conf Tourney this past weekend, and of course they have all that experience and that does count for a lot. Texas probably has greater talent on our team than the Gators, you guys haven't anybody close to Kevin Durant, but our talent is freshman with no tourney experience. I'd say we make it to the Sweet 16, but no further. Terry
If I recall correctly (which is rare), Florida last year faltered toward the end of the regular season after a blazing start, and they seemed to have run out of gas. They got red hot again in the tournament, and as they say, the rest is history. I'm sure I'll be the first one eliminated from the Skybox contest with my picks. I won't bore you guys with them but suffice to say that they don't follow the popular thinking.
MCG, Florida is the champ until someone dethrones them! However, trying to repeat is going to be a real challenge. I wish you well. Don
I am picking a repeat Final game as we had in Glendale: OSU vs. Fla Of course I hope like an ESPN analyst said last night in giving his own picks...."just like football". I think OSU and Fla are the two best teams and will get there. UF has that fire back and when these guys are fired up they can't be denied. Texas has Durant sure....but UF has Brewer, Horford, Noah, Green and Humphrey. Can Texas go toe to toe with all that?
Texas can score with anyone. If you haven't seen their other super frosh Augustin, you don't want to now. Their problem is defense. They are improving, but had a long way to go. I will be stunned if they don't make it to a date with UNC. After that, who knows. I can assure anyone in their bracket, it will NOT be a pleasant task to take them down...
I'm probably wwwaaaaaayyyyyy off but I'm going with a UF repeat. Why not? UF over JSU AZ MD ND UCLA G-Town F4 = UF, G-Town, UCLA, OSU
Not surprised at the odds on Fla but very surprised Tex A&M is so high up there: Odds by Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which advises Nevada sports books on betting lines: 7-2: Florida 5-1: North Carolina 7-1: UCLA 8-1: Ohio State, Kansas, Georgetown 10-1: Texas A&M 12-1: Wisconsin, Memphis 15-1: Texas 20-1: Oregon 25-1: Pittsburgh, Louisville, Maryland 30-1: Washington State 40-1: Notre Dame, Tennessee, Duke 60-1: Southern Illinois, Southern California, Virginia Tech 75-1: Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Kentucky 100-1: Michigan State, Virginia, Arizona, Villanova 125-1: Indiana, UNLV, Xavier 150-1: Arkansas, Nevada 200-1: Creighton, Marquette, Brigham Young 250-1: Boston College, Stanford 300-1: Gonzaga, Butler, Purdue 400-1: Texas Tech, Illinois, Old Dominion 500-1: George Washington, Virginia Commonwealth 600-1: Winthrop, Long Beach State 700-1: New Mexico State, Davidson 800-1: Holy Cross 1,000-1: Penn, Miami (Ohio), Wright State 1,500-1: Albany, Oral Roberts 2,000-1: North Texas, Weber State 3,000-1: Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Belmont, Niagara 5,000-1: Eastern Kentucky, Jackson State, Central Connecticut State, Florida A&M I may have to revisit my pool picks and elevate A&M.
Look at all the love for Texas A&M...Wow! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/basketball/ncaa/specials/ncaa_tourney/2007/writer.brackets/index.html
MCG, If you compare the talent and ablity Texas has as a team of freshmen to when those Gators were freshman, I doubt if you had any players that would have started on this years Texas team.
Florida had 4 sophs and a junior last year and buzz-sawed thru the NCAA tourney. I would expect no less next year from Texas then.
If Kevin Durant were to stay then I'd say we'd be the odds on favorite to win the Nat'l Championship. Although neither Noah or Horford are as good as Durant, do you think you'd have won the Nat'l title last year with out one of them?
My point Terry is that UF has 5 players back this year that are all important cogs in the wheel and were last year too. It may be awhile or never that you see 5 guys that together win the title one year and every single one return to do it again the following year. I feel that could be one of many reasons Fla is overall #1 seed.
We agree, that with your key players all returning from last year and given the way you finished the season you are the logical #1. My ponit is that back the truck up and compare those guys as freshman to the current Texas freshmen and Texas is better. Now the key is of course to keep those outstanding Texas freshmen together so they can win an Nat'l Title.
There is another key...Texas has to get their Freshmen to play as a team as well as the Florida freshmen have. Edited by TOK: You guys need to layoff the built in quote function it doesn't work do it manually or if you do use it edit out the =Name" so that all you have at the begining is
MCG, do you watch much basketball beyond who the Gators are playing? If you did, you might know why the Aggies are getting "so much love"... :roll: Great guard play, excellent defense, and a nice inside-out offense give us a chance against just about anybody. We might not make it all the way, but I know there isn't a team in the bracket that wants to see the Aggies coming down their path...
I hear that Scott....I'd especially not look forward to seeing them come down the path in San Anton but it looks like I may not have much of a choice. Good luck to your Ags...early! :wink: