Sport: College HoopsPick Selection: Florida Gators -3.5 -110
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Florida Gators 7:30 PM ET
Florida Gators -3.5 -110
***SEC Tournament Game of the Year*** I like this situation with the Gators for a number of reasons. Top to bottom, Florida is a better team and that alone gets merit Florida is coming off a loss, three losses actually, while the Crimson Tide enter this game off a win. That win if fraudulent however as it came over Vanderbilt who was coming off a huge win over Mississippi St. just two days prior. The Gators losses came against three teams that are all heading to the Big Dance so even though they were losses, they were of quality.
Florida is hanging on the bubble and it needs to make a run in this tournament to avoid going from NCAA Champion to NIT participant. It has been a tough year for the Gators as youth and inexperience have been the biggest factors in their somewhat average season. A home loss to LSU was inexcusable but every other SEC defeat came in either a tough environment or against a tough team. Playing on a neutral floor will help a lot as Florida was not a good road team but did go 2-0 on a neutral court.
Alabama won only five conference games this season and that was with playing in the SEC West, a much easier division than the East, where the Gators reside. The Tide went a dismal 0-8 on the road in the SEC and while a majority of the games were close, the majority also came against teams not even coming close to making a postseason tournament, six in fact. The lone road win this season came at Mercer while neutral court wins against Iowa St. and Missouri St. are nothing to brag about.
Florida has edges in key areas such as shooting, rebounding, free throw shooting and assist/turnover ratio. The latter two are the biggest advantages and while non-conference strength of schedule can be argued to have played a part, the SEC part of the slate makes up for that. The Gators beat Alabama in the conference opener, winning 90-83 at Tuscaloosa. The offense can thrive again as in their last five games, the Gators have had three efforts of 52 percent or better
I don?t care who the players are now as Florida is a talented team with athletes and a coach who know how to win and get the best out of those players. Florida is 20-3 ATS in all tournament games over the last 3 seasons and while those were with completely different players, it matters none as mentioned. Also, Florida is 15-5 ATS in road games off a road loss since 1997. Alabama is 2-15 ATS in road games revenging a loss where opponent scored 75 or more points since 1997. Play Florida Gators 5 Units
|
Handicappers
