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Post by ATrain on Dec 26, 2005 14:41:24 GMT -5
Ok...the tourney at Florida, with host Florida (9-1) of the SEC on 12-29 and against Rhode Island (3-5) of the A-10 on 12-30. I see both of these games as tough but winnable. Rhode Island has lost big to programs like Harvard, Marquette and Villanova, and just barely beat Holy Cross and Brown. If we bring our A-game, this game should be a W.
Florida did upset #16 Temple earlier, but for the most part have had not had the most difficult of schedules. Their only loss is to FSU, and some games against mid-majors like UT-Arlington haven't exactly been extreme blowouts either, though they did handle Stetson quite well. It should be close and interesting, but I have faith that our Lady Flames can get it done and win the tourney.
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Post by Sly Fox on Dec 26, 2005 15:09:28 GMT -5
A victory Thursday could go a LONG way in helping us with NCAA Tourney seeding. Last year's Sweet 16 run opened some eyes. But we need quality victories on our resume this season in order to gain proper respect considering our heavy turnover from last year's roster.
I agree wholeheartedly that Rhode Island should be a 'W'. But you can never count on anything during these holiday road trips.
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Post by ATrain on Dec 26, 2005 19:38:00 GMT -5
I'd consider SMU to be sort of a quality win...I mean, granted, they're not top-25 but they're no C-USA cupcake either like Southern Miss. Oh yeah...VT is now ranked #25 in the latest polls.
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Post by givemethemic on Dec 26, 2005 20:10:36 GMT -5
Should be a pretty good tourney, a chance to pick up two wins. We will be heading down on Wednesday, if we can win these two games, we could honestly run the table for the rest of the schedule. I will try to keep you guys updated down in Gainesville as to how things are going.
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Post by Stevev on Dec 26, 2005 21:06:41 GMT -5
The Florida game is our last opportunity to knock off a potentially nationally ranked opponent that would give us a higher seed in the tournament. Similiar to the Kansas State game last year. In other words it is a great opportunity to advance the program. Rhode Island should be a W but is no guarantee. The rest of the games should be W's barring an upset or 2.
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Post by givemethemic on Dec 28, 2005 21:50:37 GMT -5
Greetings from Gainesville, just got back from the O'Connell Center, really nice area. After watching Florida beat URI 76-62, I really think that if we play like we can that we should be able to win both games. Brittney Davis and Megan Frazee should really be a good matchup tomorrow night. We should be on the air around 6:40.
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Post by thesportscritic on Dec 28, 2005 21:53:09 GMT -5
Florida in the past few years has been immuned to scrub teams in their non conference schedule. URI was down by 21at halftime (49-28) and never gave up but I believe we can beat them. Hopefully we will fry some gators on the grill tomorrow night. Thanks for the update givemethemic.
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Post by givemethemic on Dec 28, 2005 21:55:29 GMT -5
URI had it to 52-43 with about 13 to go and they had a 3 not count because of a offensive and which would have cut it to 6, but like I told Jamie that was the straw that broke the camels back and they could never get it any closer.
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Post by givemethemic on Dec 29, 2005 16:39:17 GMT -5
For those of you who want to watch the game, you can watch it online at www.gatorzone.com then click on gatorvison and pay 9.95 for it. Just a thought for those of you who maybe want to watch the game, this game is not on TV niether. My advice is to listen to me and FSN32. |
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Post by givemethemic on Dec 29, 2005 19:10:15 GMT -5
LU 9- Florida 2 15:51 1st half
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fsn32
Full Member
www.FlamesSports.com
Posts: 122
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Post by fsn32 on Dec 29, 2005 19:48:31 GMT -5
30-26 Liberty at the half.
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Post by givemethemic on Dec 29, 2005 20:20:13 GMT -5
Florida 42-40 11:56 left to go.......
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Post by Stevev on Dec 29, 2005 20:23:11 GMT -5
The Frazee's are kind of quite tonight. Only 8 points combined. Time for them to step it up.
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Post by Stevev on Dec 29, 2005 20:28:51 GMT -5
With 9 minutes to go down by 8. Starting to get away from them.
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Post by jcmanson on Dec 29, 2005 20:51:28 GMT -5
Listening to the game, and the Gator announcers are really praising our coaching. They said once our freshmen and sophomores grow up a little bit we will be very good.
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Post by thesportscritic on Dec 29, 2005 21:08:27 GMT -5
73-50 UF wins. URRR!!!! I am being nice because of their youth. We should have won this game no excuses in my opinion. Hopefully we will grow up tomorrow. This team has got to suck it up mentally in adverse situations.
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Post by krh44 on Dec 29, 2005 21:12:42 GMT -5
I hate that we were up by 8 in the 2nd half and still lose by 23
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Post by Stevev on Dec 29, 2005 21:18:39 GMT -5
Hard to believe how fast it got away from us since we lead at the half. Hopefully can put this one behind them since the rest of the games this year are definately winnable beginning with Rhode Island. Maybe the poor performance was due to a combination of our youth or long Christmas break ( maybe a little rusty), I don't know. I am a little dissapointed as a result of this missed opportunity but it is time to move on.
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Post by ATrain on Dec 29, 2005 21:22:36 GMT -5
Thats what happens with young teams...play like there's nothing to lose in the first half against a big-name opponent, get a good lead, and then come second half are either too comfortable or too anxious. This problem will go away...hopefully these big game jitters will be gone by conference tourney time.
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Post by thesportscritic on Dec 29, 2005 21:25:11 GMT -5
The rest of these games are winnable. I am not worried about the Big South by any means because they can not play with some these teams we have been able to play with, but we just don't have the killer instincts against good teams (NCST, UF, and even VT) yet. Once we get those killer instincts then we will be an even better team. We will not see anymore good teams in my opinion until the NCAA's as long as we handle our business in the Big South. Hopefully we will not play down to the level of the Big South this season.
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Post by givemethemic on Dec 29, 2005 22:20:47 GMT -5
This is Florida's story our's should be up shortly... But a very tough lose, Megan fouling out with 5 to go and Moriah having 4 for the last 12 or so mins didn't help neither as well as Jamie getting hurt after a collison with Roli in the beginning of the 2nd half.
Gainesville, FL
Freshman Sha Brooks scored a career-high 22 points and pulled down a career-best eight rebounds in leading Florida to its ninth straight win and its 13th State Farm Classic title in the 15-year history of the event as the Gators defeated Liberty 73-50 Thursday evening at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Florida (11-1) matched three other teams in school history for the program’s best start after 12 games by using a critical 14-0 run midway through the second half in turning the tables on Liberty (5-4), which had never previously trailed in the contest. The Gators out-scored the Flames 47-20 in the second half as UF connected on 14-of-28 shots, while hitting a season-best 26-of-30 free throws in the game (86.7 percent).
“We made some adjustments at halftime and our team really picked up the intensity in the second half,” Florida coach Carolyn Peck said. “Sha Brooks and Sarah Lowe did a good job of breaking the press and picking things apart. Sha is a competitor and coming from behind really fired her up.”
The Gators became just the third team to out-rebound Liberty this season as UF finished with 44 to 29 for the Flames. In winning its ninth consecutive game, Florida matched the second-longest winning streak in school history – just three shy of the school record of 12 set during the 1993-94 season. The Gators hadn’t won nine in a row since 2000-01.
Dalila Eshe added 13 points, including a 9-of-10 effort from the free throw line, and eight rebounds for the Gators, while Brittany Davis chipped in with 10 points and seven boards. Davis crossed the 600-point career mark in the game after finishing in double figures for the 11th straight contest. Brooks, who also collected a game-high six steals, led UF's march at the free throw line hitting 11-of-12, with the Gators canning 26-of-30 during the contest.
Karolina Piotrkiewicz and Roli-Ann Nikagbatse paced Liberty with eight points each, while the Gators held the Flames’ leading scorer, Megan Frazee (20.6 ppg), to just seven points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Florida improved to 6-1 on the season against teams that made the postseason in 2004-05, while also extending its winning streak to nine games – the longest stretch in Peck’s tenure
With the Flames holding a six-point lead at 40-34 with 14:36 left in the game, the Gators mounted a 14-0 run in a span of 4:21 in forging ahead 48-34 with 9:47 remaining. Five different players scored for UF in the stretch, led by Davis, who got things going with a basket at the 14:08 mark. Davis had five points in the run, while Brooks added four and provided a pair of free throws with 12:05 left as the Gators took their first lead of the game at 42-40 and never looked back.
Florida held Liberty scoreless for a 6:12 stretch as the Flames failed to record points on 11 consecutive possessions and went 0-for-10 from the floor in the stretch. Liberty came as close as five after a trey from Nikagbatse with 8:24 left, but the Gators poured on the offense the rest of the way in scoring on six of its next possession to seal the game.
The Gators scored a season-low 26 points in the first half and found themselves trailing Liberty 30-26 after making just 8-of-26 shots (30.8 percent) after 20 minutes of action. The Flames opened the contest by scoring nine of the first 11 points in bolting to a 9-2 lead with 15:58 left.
Florida fought back and remained close throughout the first frame as the Gators never trailed by more than eight. With the score 24-16 following a Liberty bucket at the 5:23 mark, UF answered with an 8-0 run in just 1:42 to tie the game for the first time. Four players scored points in the stretch with Sarah Lowe picking up the basket that led to a tie with 3:18 left. Liberty responded with six consecutive points before Danielle Santos canned a jumper with 34 seconds left to bring the scoring in the half to a close.
Florida returns to action on Monday, Jan. 2 when the Gators face Florida State at 6:30 p.m. at the O’Connell Center in a Sun Sports/FSN Florida televised game. The State Farm Classic concludes Friday when Liberty and Rhode Island square off at 4:30 p.m.
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fsn32
Full Member
www.FlamesSports.com
Posts: 122
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Post by fsn32 on Dec 30, 2005 23:44:18 GMT -5
Ten point win over Rhode Island. Not pretty, but a win is a win. You could tell that the team was still holding on to the Florida loss a bit... just not enough time to flush it out of the system with the quick turnaround.
Megan and Moriah had great games (double doubles) and KP played well.
We will definitely be favored from here out. If we could figure out a way to run the table (which would actually surprise me if we don't stumble at least once) but if we do, then our only losses would be to 4 teams that currently only have 4 losses between them. Our projected RPI (which factors two road losses from here out) would be a little lower than the last few years but not at a point that would give us a 16 seed. 14 would be optimistic, 15 more realistic... but we have a lot of work before that is even a topic.
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Post by thesportscritic on Dec 31, 2005 9:44:23 GMT -5
fsn32, I wouldn't start worrying about the Big South competition. If we don't play down to their level then I think we will be fine. We do have a lot of work to do before NCAA time. This team showed that we can play with anyone but we must finish off good teams as well. If we learn those lessons then I believe it would pay off down the road.
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Post by Stevev on Dec 31, 2005 10:44:10 GMT -5
The next 5 games are at home which should help us considerably as far as confidence is concerned. The competition is very suspect and with the teams overall youth things look very good indeed for the rest of this year and the future. Even with not being able to knock off a top 20 team from the ACC and the SEC we should get at least a 14 seed in the NCAA's but it maybe too early to even bring that up right now. I think that the team has recovered from the embarrassing loss to UNC earlier this year and has shown that they can play with teams in major conferences that are top 20 calibre but like some of you have already stated we have got to maintain a certain level of intensity to finish off some of these teams. I am really impressed with the 2 Frazee's (Megan and Moriah). They have exceeded my expectations in every way and we could expect even better things in the future.
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Post by SCAR on Dec 31, 2005 12:02:56 GMT -5
We are getting spoiled with the past success of this team especially last year's run. I am really glad we are playing well though with the young talent. I do know there is no guarantees in college basketball and we shouldn't expect this team to win all the games from now on. fsn32 was dead on that we could stumble a couple of times and no it would not be a choke or playing down to competition. It would be college players player well on the other teams. That said though I really hope we win them all in conference. Take em one at a time as I know coach Green is approaching it that way. As far as seedings, it is way too early to even speculate accurately. Too many variables although it is nice to think we would get a 14 or better this year given our last year's run. Here is another thought along these lines. Do you think we would get in with an at Large bid if someone happens to upset us in the tourney?
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Post by Stevev on Dec 31, 2005 12:14:06 GMT -5
I don't think that there is a chance for an at-large berth right now. The BSC is still too weak and we did not win against ranked competition. If we would have beaten Florida, NC State, or Virginia Tech then it would have been a possibility but considering how weak the Big South is probably not.
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Post by Sly Fox on Dec 31, 2005 13:24:21 GMT -5
If we roll through conference play either undefeated or just a loss, I think we could probably squeak in as an at large. But Steve uis correct that we don't have the big non-conference wins this season that we've had in the past that would give us the luxury of coasting.
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Post by thesportscritic on Dec 31, 2005 14:05:22 GMT -5
So far we have beaten teams we are suppose to beat. The opponents we have beaten are ranked 100 or below in the RPI. The rest of our opponents this year with the exception of Coastal Carolina are below 100. We have lost to good teams and not scrub teams. I think if we lose to some teams we are suppose to beat then we would have played down to their level. So SCAR and fsn32 I will believe you both when I see us lose to scrub teams that we are suppose to beat. If we lose, it would be a combination of us not showing up and the other team did show up. Remember the only losses we have is to teams who's RPI is 34 or better. The only reason we lost to High Point is because the team didn't show up to play. So I stand on my point. I am not worried about the Big South conference. Plus the majority of the Big South has not played the schedule that we have played in their non conference play to prepare themselves for conference play.
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Post by PAmedic on Dec 31, 2005 16:02:24 GMT -5
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Post by PAmedic on Dec 31, 2005 16:08:09 GMT -5
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