Here’s what was on my mind right as Florida ended Missouri’s trip through the SEC Tournament with a 95-81 win.
I don’t usually do single thoughts about opposing players, but my goodness did Walter Clayton play incredibly, mostly in the first half.
He ended with 18 points, six assists, even a few rebounds and a couple of steals on top of it.
The Tigers just had no answer for the guard who is somehow only expected to go in the second round of the next NBA draft.
It’s no surprise that some of the Tigers’ best minutes where while Clayton was out with a cramps early in the second half.
OK, first thing, I don’t think losing tonight did anything to affect the Tigers’ stock for the NCAA Tournament. So there, that’s the thought here.
Now, let’s get to my real thought regarding that conclusion.
Why are we doing this if that’s the case? I hate that conference tournaments have been devalued. Obviously they are still of supreme importance for the mid-majors, but why does the SEC even still have one?
Does it matter at all if Florida/Auburn/Alabama win it? I guess it would have if South Carolina had won it, but otherwise, meh.
It does still provide us with storylines like NC State last year, I guess, but it feels like we’ve gotten to the point where they are much more likely to create a bad outcome for a good team (like Cooper Flagg getting hurt for Duke) than a good outcome for a bad team, again in the power conferences.
I don’t know if this is a coherent thought, it was built off of thinking over and over again about how this game really didn’t mean much for Mizzou’s chances either way. They had to win last night to not drop to an 8 seed next week and maybe, maybe a win tonight would have gotten them up to a 5 if it was a big-enough victory.
I might feel differently in the next couple of days, but right now, I kind of hate that we’ve hit a point where a game like this just didn’t mean anything for either team playing.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the environment and the quality of basketball being played, I just feel like it should all be valued more highly (which is why I’m against NCAA Tournament expansion, but I’ll get into that at another time).
My goodness the Gators couldn’t miss.
They had some open shots, but not enough to account for a 60 percent day from the field and a 40 percent day from 3.
Florida was hitting tough shots, contested shots, just everything. We can take the final minutes after Josh Gray fouled out, out of the conversation because then the looks got a lot easier, but before then, they were hitting everything no matter how much space they had.
Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do against a team that good that’s shooting the lights out.
Honestly I think there’s a lot of good to take away from how Mizzou played today.
Without one of the best two (three?) players (and arguably the best) on the team, they were right in it with one of the best teams in the country that never dipped below 60 percent shooting from the field.
Florida, an almost undisputed No. 1 seed, couldn’t miss, the Tigers were without Mark Mitchell, Caleb Grill played overall pretty poorly, and the Tigers were still right in it for most of the game right up until they went to the small lineup after Gray fouled out.
I’m fairly confident after that game that getting away from SEC teams will be a huge weight off the Tigers’ shoulders next week.
The 3-point shooting wasn’t there, but Ant Robinson, Tamar Bates and Tony Perkins are all attacking the basket and drawing contact again, which will be a major factor in the big dance.
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