Florida Gators

[SM#24]

With their 75-36 over SCarolina last night, the Gators are now 7-0 in SEC play. But it's the margin of victory that has me astounded. I realize the SEC is "only" the 7th highest rated conference according to Sagarin, but Fla's avg. margin of victory in SEC play is 28. They've won games by 33, 22, 21, 31, 17, 35 and 39, with an avg. score of 74-46.

[MADXSTER]

Damn!

[paulxu]

We're not quite sure what a roundball is here in SC. Martin may be wondering what he got himself into with the classic "rebuilding" project that is Gamecock BB.

[XUFan09]

I'm pretty sure even non-subscribers can see the main page of Kenpom (http://kenpom.com/). Florida is currently No. 1 overall (They have the #2 offense and the #1 defense), but that doesn't even begin to describe how good they are. Just look at the difference in Pythagorean winning percentage between any two consecutive teams in the rankings:

1 Florida .9889
2 Indiana .9727
3 Michigan .9679
4 Louisville .9623
5 Duke .9571
6 Pittsburgh .9564
7 Kansas .9530
8 Syracue .9525
9 Minnesota .9455
10 Ohio State .9452

These are the top teams in the nation statistically. If you look at #2 through #10, no two consecutive teams have a difference in Pythagorean winning percentage of more than .0070 and some have a difference measured in the ten-thousandths. Then there's Florida, whose percentage is .0162 ahead of #2 Indiana. That's just an insane difference. Also, in the ten years that Ken Pomery has done these rankings, no team has finished the season with a better percentage than Florida's current mark, with 2008 Kansas being the only other team to finish above .9800 (They had .9859 en route to beating Memphis in OT for the national championship).

Look, statistics aren't everything, and Florida will still have to prove themselves come tournament time (unlike 2011 OSU, 2007 UNC, 2004 Duke, and 2003 Kansas). But the statistical difference is staggering. Then, if you consider that even including closer years, 6 out of Kenpom's 10 #1s won it all, Florida looks to be a good team to bet on if they keep this up.

[X-band '01]

We're not quite sure what a roundball is here in SC. Martin may be wondering what he got himself into with the classic "rebuilding" project that is Gamecock BB.

Martin didn't exactly make an immediate splash at K-State, either. Remember how horrible they were the year after Chuggy Bear took the West Virginia job?

[bobbiemcgee]

Miami and Shane Larkin seems to be kicking some butt lately in conf also.

[XUglow]

I have seen UF play. They are a very good team. They don't look real intimidating, but they go bucket, steal, bucket, stop, bucket, steal, bucket, and they have a 10-0 run in about a minute.

[X-band '01]

The best thing to happen to Florida was Billy Donovan saying no to the Orlando Magic even after initially accepting the job. He just may become a lifer down there.

They would have had another Final 4 bid if not for Butler's deal with the devil.

[xudash]

Exactly.

He has everyone down here temporarily distracted from Muschump's football program at present.

[GoMuskies]

They had no business losing to Louisville in last year's Elite Eight, too.

[smileyy]

Miami and Shane Larkin seems to be kicking some butt lately in conf also.

They are -- I'm happy for Shane. He should get more pub here, as part of the extended Xavier family.