Florida Times-Union sports columnnist Gene Frenette offers a weekly perspective on various topics for jacksonville.com This is his entry for Thursday March 13.
Going into tonight's opening-round game in the Southeastern Conference tournament against Alabama, the bubble-residing Florida Gators received some assistance today when other teams living on that NCAA tournament edge fell off and out of Big Dance consideration.
Florida (21-10, 8-8 in the SEC) caught a huge break in the Big East tournament when Villanova, after knocking Syracuse into the NIT, followed up with a 19-point loss to Georgetown, which likely means that two Big East teams needing a little bit of a tournament run are out of NCAA consideration.
There were approximately 20-25 teams like the Gators who are walking that NCAA high-wire, so the more that fall off, the better UF's chances will be to make a 10th consecutive Big Dance appearance if it can reach the SEC semifinals or finals.
It would appear the Gators need a minimum of two wins at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to get into the NCAAs because they could use the leverage of a quality win over Mississippi State, UF's second-round opponent if it knocks off Alabama. Even with two wins, there's no guarantee of reaching the NCAAs because it depends on how many other bubble teams fare in their tournaments.
Two fellow SEC members -- Arkansas and Mississippi -- must avoid a one-and-done scenario in the SEC tournament, and the Rebels probably need two or three wins to help offsets their 7-9 conference record. Kentucky looks fairly safe, but the Wildcats wouldn't want to tempt fate by losing to the Georgia-Ole Miss winner on Friday.
Beyond the SEC, tournament losses early on Thursday by UAB (to Tulsa in Conference USA), Dayton (to Xavier in the Atlantic 10), Arizona State (to Southern Cal in the Pac-10) and Baylor (to Colorado in the Big 12) will greatly benefit Florida if it takes advantage by winning a couple games in Atlanta.
On the down side for the Gators, West Virginia got off its tenuous position by upsetting Connecticut, so the Mountaineers look to be comfortably in the NCAA field. St. Joseph's, whose star player is Pat Calathes, older brother of UF freshman, Nick Calathes, kept its NCAA hopes alive by advancing over Richmond in the A-10 tournament.
Here are some other bubble teams whose tournament results will impact Florida's chances of getting into the NCAAs -- Kansas State, Texas A&M, Arizona, Ohio State, Oregon, New Mexico, UNLV, Virginia Tech and Maryland.
In addition, it would help the Gators if top seeds Memphis and BYU win their respective tournaments. All this scoreboard watching, of course, is a moot point if Florida doesn't take care of business Thursday night against Alabama. And follows up with a win against Mississippi State on Friday.
Without at least two wins at the Georgia Dome -- the same venue where UF cut down the national championship nets last year -- Florida will be dancing at the NIT. The Gators' resume simply doesn't have enough juice to squeeze into the NCAA field.
Check out Friday's Times-Union for my column from the SEC tournament and complete game coverage by Mike DiRocco.
Unless John Daly gets some help for his obvious off-the-course demons, it's becoming more apparent that his golf career is dangerously close to being over. Daly's partying lifestyle and lack of desire to work at his game, which coach Butch Harmon cited this week as the reason why he's no longer working with him, is something he can no longer overcome with natural talent.
Harmon's public criticism of Daly's work ethic, coupled with him being disqualified from the Arnold Palmer Invitational for missing his pro-am tee time, is a double whammy for a man who achieved incredible popularity despite his abusive history and consistent marital problems.
The goodwill that Daly built up for winning the PGA Championship and a British Open well over a decade ago has pretty much evaporated as his professional and personal difficulties keep rising. He obviously needs someone to intervene on his behalf.
If John Daly doesn't turn things around pretty soon, it will be last call.
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