The Back Alley Archives

Can I be honest with you for a second?

I'm not a big fan of basketball - even Gator basketball. Yeah, I can watch and enjoy a game but the reality is I just don't care. I don't find it interesting, and I don't really understand the game more than "put the ball in the hoop."

Sure, I want the Gators to win, and so I root for them - but I honestly don't care enough to study the game. My primitive intellect can't comprehend Billy Donovan's strategy. Shit, I don't even know the names of the players.

But it's been a while since I posted a front-page article, so here goes:

Tip-off is at 7 p.m., at the O'Connell Center.

The Gators (19-3/9-1 SEC) will be defending their 11-0 home win streak against Kentucky (17-6/8-2 SEC).

Although the Gators are favored, the Wildcats have won the last 5 meetings between the two. In fact, Kentucky has dominated Florida for decades. In the Billy Donovan era, Kentucky leads the series 22-13. Kentucky leads the all-time series 93-33. Plus, UK has the hot hand - they are on a five-game winning streak and their record puts them in a comfortable second place in the SEC standings.

Fuckbeans. That doesn't sound too good. Here's some stats:

[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]Florida[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Category[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Kentucky[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]74.2[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Points Per Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]76.0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]52.7[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Opp. Points Per Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]62.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"].493[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Field Goal Percentage[/TD]
[TD="align: center"].488[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"].370[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Opp. Field Goal Percentage[/TD]
[TD="align: center"].378[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"].388[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3-Pt. Percentage[/TD]
[TD="align: center"].362[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"].313[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Opp. 3-Pt. Percentage[/TD]
[TD="align: center"].305[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]8.8[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3-Pts. Per Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5.9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]5.1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Opp. 3-Pts. Per Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5.0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"].697[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]FT Percentage[/TD]
[TD="align: center"].648[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]+7.9[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Rebound Margin[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]+5.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]15.9[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Assists Per Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]14.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]11.6[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Turnovers Per Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]13.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]14.7[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Turnovers Forced Per Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]12.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]7.7[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Steals Per Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]3.4[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Blocks Per Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]7.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Eh, it looks like Kentucky is slightly worse that Florida in most categories. Maybe we'll be all right.

As long as we don't throw any interceptions.

Christ, is it football season yet? When is the Orange & Blue game?

An article by people who might know what they're talking about:

http://florida.247sports.com/Article/Th ... cky-116151

I think it'll be an interesting game. Haven't seen UK play recently, but I saw one of their early games and they looked like what they are: bunch of young, talented guys who had no idea how to play as a team. They seem like they've improved since then.

We need Prather and Frazier to play well and we need to play good defense and limit turnovers.

Whipped dat ass.

A pleasing victory.

Only two things:

1) Hope Noel's injury isn't career ending...

2) Wish we had beat them by 20...but I'll take a good 17 point ass whipping.

Spread was 11, so we're good.

This team... is really good - but has the potential to choke it all away in big games. I see us winning the SEC tourney. If we're lucky we'll make the Final Four.

Yeah, hope for the best with Noel. Kid can ball. It didn't look that bad when he went down, but then Patrick Young went over to check on him and it didn't look good. Billy and Cal both seemed a little disturbed by the injury after the game.

We got two of SportsCenter's top plays out of the game, though.