[gatorheelsParticipant]

9:00 PM ET  ESPN   Kentucky @ Florida

 

KENTUCKY                                                     FLORIDA

PG- John Wall 6-4 PG- Erving Walker 5-8

SG- Eric Bledsoe 6-1 SG- Kenny Boynton 6-2

SF- Darius Miller 6-7 SF- Dan Werner 6-8

PF- Patrick Patterson 6-9 PF- Alex Tyus 6-8

C- DeMarcus Cousins 6-11 C- Vernon Macklin 6-10

 

Kentucky Bench- Liggins 6-6, Orton 6-10, Stevenson 6-9, Harris 6-7, Dodson 6-7

Florida Bench- Murphy 6-10, Shipman 6-4, Parsons 6-9 

 

My overview:

How Florida could get in trouble:   FOUL TROUBLE. Florida doesn’t have good depth at the moment.  They normally only play an 8 man rotation.  The two small guards (Walker & Boynton) are the strength of this team.  If even one of those 2 guards gets in foul trouble the Gators will struggle. Florida has trouble running the offense without them & an even bigger problem scoring. They have their hands full guarding Wall & Bledsoe.  Playing smart tough defense without fouling is key.  Also Macklin is the only post player that can guard Cousins down low.  If he gets in foul trouble look for Cousins to have his way in the paint grabbing a ton of rebounds & hitting his soft hook shot.  

How Kentucky could get in trouble:  TURNOVERS.  This is only the 2nd true road game Kentucky has played all season. This is the 1st true road test against a quality opponent.  John Wall & Eric Bledsoe have to play under control.  They cannot let the hostile crowd shake them.  Both Wall & Bledsoe are averaging 4 Turnovers each per game.  Florida is an impressive passing team that will quickly turn those careless turnovers by Kentucky into Points.

How Florida wins:  1. They must slow the game down.  Force Kentucky too play half-court offense.  Florida shouldn’t play man to man this game or they will get abused & likely get into foul trouble.  Some sort of zone would be beneficial. 2. Somebody not named Walker & Boynton has to step up and have a huge scoring night.  IF Florida can have a wing or post player score 20+ that will take pressure off the guards.  3. Parsons & Werner have to shoot 3’s but they must be making them.  Florida should play both of these guys at the same time quite a bit which will spread the floor.  This will cause Patterson to drift out to defend the 3 point line.  This should open up the middle.  If either one of these guys get hot from deep range it would be a Huge lift for the Gators.

How Kentucky wins:  1. The Wildcats have a pretty big advantage in the frontcourt.  Last game Andrew Ogilvy (Vanderbilt) abused the Gators down low by scoring 24 points while shooting a high FG%.  Kentucky must give the ball to Patterson & Cousins early & often.  2. Give Liggins more playing time.  A 6-6 guard who can handle the ball, is a fancy passer, & a terrific defender who racks up steals.  He is really overlooked & underrated right now.  Look for him to make a positive impact if given the opportunity. 3. Defend the middle against Florida.  The Gators like to dump the ball down to Tyus where he shoots open jumpers inside the foul line with great success. Parsons, Werner, & Macklin will also drift just inside the foul line at times looking for open jumpers.  If they take away the middle Florida will totally rely on Walker & Boynton shooting 3’s & penetrating which would be a good thing for the Wildcats.

Prediction:

Kentucky 72  Florida 70 

 

written by: gatorheels 

[quincey hodges]

im interested in gthis game. i havent really gotten a chance to sit and watch florida but i hear great things about the boynton kid and i remember macklin from his g’town days

i think florida is deep enough just like tenn. many on here didnt think they were deep enough either to beat kansas. you become alot deeper sometimes when you are playing a top team. sometimes players play alot better then they have ever played in games like this

[quincey hodges]

this should be a good game. hell the gme before it should be good as well. im sure you will be watching the kstate game though

[JNixonParticipant]

I think the score will be 79-67 Kentucky. I think John Wall will play very well as usual, and I think he should be able to get shots and passes off on Walker or Boynton (I think Boynton will guard Wall most of the time). I think that Blesdoe will outplay Walker too, and should defend him very well. Kentucky is better at everything, minus shooting. And I think think even with that, Kentucky will force them into bad shots and make them shoot a poor percentage..

[JNixonParticipant]

Yea I will be, but that game starts at 7, so I should be able to see the vast majority of this game

[quincey hodges]

i mean over the ohio st purdue game

[MagikKnickParticipant]

I persoanlly like Boynton as a prospect, it’ll be interesting to see how he deals with the top prospects

But just with every other opponent, I think Kentucky’s length will give Florida some struggles, and force them into bad shots, so 73 – 65 Kentucky wins

[quincey hodges]

up and down game

[quincey hodges]

seems that true big men that are athletic and have weight gives cousins problems. he doesnt seem to take his time with those type. i like his game more in a half court game

[quincey hodges]

bledsoe will be a all sec guard next year

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

In such a poor draft for point guards, it wouldn’t surprise me if Bledsoe leaves assuming they go deep in the tournament and everyone else goes.

[quincey hodges]

orton is looking like mutombo. that would be a big mistake for him to leave . even though the pg is weak alot of teams dont need pg and i can think of 5 i would pick over him in this draft

[JNixonParticipant]

Bledsoe is not quite as fast as Wall, but he’s pretty damn close. He’s a tighter ball handler than Wall is too. I like him as a lotto pick in 2011.

Wall is still that exciting player, and he’s been super close to getting some steals (they keep slipping out of his hands), but he needs to slow down and operate better in half-court sets. Sounds familiar huh?

Cousins has missed a bunch of open shots at the rim. So has Orton, who’s extremely poor offensively from what I’ve seen this year. Orton reminds me of Kendrick Perkins, with less meanness…

Patterson is super solid as usual. Finishes well at the rim, about as well as any big man in college basketball.

I like the energy that Tyus and Werner play with. They’re both bouncy and athletic. Werner hasn’t shot it well though.

I’d like for Boynton to step up. He’s not playing all that good…Same for Erving Walker, who’s usually super good for them. Walker takes some poor shots at times..

[quincey hodges]

lol..yeah orton reminds me of a higher jumping kendrick. he should be a first round pick in 2 years. whats up with ale hair line????…with dreads of all hair styles. alot of walker and kenny not playing well has to do with kentucky’s defense

[JNixonParticipant]

Yea my and my brother was just laughing at that lol….We think it’s about time he just tries a bald head. His dreads are going to start at his neck by next year…

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

First, New Orleans didn’t need a point, but they took one. Utah and Atlanta, same thing. Minnesota took multiple points. I think Miami could use a point. Memphis can’t be sold on Conley. Houston could use a bigger point option than Brooks. New York desperately needs a point, and has the cash to buy a late 1st. Orlando will eventually want better, younger options than Jason Williams and Anthony Johnson. I think there will be a market for points if the starting quality point guards were out there. Sherron Collins will probably get labeled too small to be a starter for a guy who isn’t a Flynn/Beaubois/Jennings type burner. I don’t think Kemba Walker operates well enough in the half court to leave early. Lucas isn’t that highly regarded. If Kentucky goes to the Final Four, I think it will raise everyone’s stock, and it could easily get him a first round guarantee.

[gatorheelsParticipant]

Honestly looking at the latest mock draft on this website there is only 1 PG I would take in front of Bledsoe & that is John Wall. I think Bledsoe will stay another year but like bothteamsplayedhard is saying..if UK makes a deep tourney run than Bledsoe could make the early jump to the pros & will be a 1st round pick. 

[JNixonParticipant]

You know. I can agree with that. But the thing is, we don ‘t really know of Bledsoe can run a half-court offense because he plays off the ball and he’s not as good in the half court sets as he is in open court, similar to Wall in that regard. I’m pretty sure Walker is better in half-court running offense than Bledsoe, who’s never had much of a chance to run the Kentucky offense with Wall there…

[Michael.S.Participant]

I agree with Iggy9, Bledsoe could take a hot at the draft, but he should wait till Wall leaves to prove he can play point and run an offense.

[quincey hodges]

i would take scottie reynolds and sarron collins over him. and i dont go by mock drafts since all that is other peoples opinions just liek people on here who put up mock drafts. some picks are pretty obvious but once it gets past lotto and depper it becomes opinions. on side note coach cal said bledsoe is actually faster then john wall

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