Don’t look now, however with Choice Sunday simply 4 weekends away, the Florida Gators appear to be they intend to win one other nationwide championship.
Due to Wednesday’s 20-point win at Georgia…which adopted a 19-point win at Texas A&M…which adopted a 23-point house thrashing of Alabama…which adopted a 47-point win at South Carolina, the Gators (18-6, 9-2 SEC) have constructed a one-game Southeastern Convention lead heading into Saturday’s first-place showdown with Kentucky in Gainesville, Fla.
They’re a top-ten ranked workforce within the NET rankings as of Friday morning however fifth in KenPom, which is precisely the place they had been one 12 months in the past at this time. That’s simply one in every of many good indicators for the Gators.
Due to the nation’s best frontcourt — key returnees Thomas Haugh (17.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg), Alex Condon (13.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and Rueben Chinyelu (11.8 ppg, 11.8 rpg) — Florida leads the nation in rebounding margin at plus-15.3 per sport.
Per KenPom.com, the Gators boast the nation’s fifth-best protection as they permit simply 91.1 factors per 100 possessions. That’s a tad higher than final 12 months’s protection (91.8) that was ok to win the NCAA title.
The sharps consider within the Gators, too. While you take a spin across the nation’s high on-line sportsbooks, Florida typically holds the fifth-best odds to take all of it on April 6 in Indianapolis — trailing solely Arizona, Michigan, Duke and Houston.
Lengthy story brief, the Gators are the very best workforce in what continues to be school basketball’s greatest league. So after all they’re within the hunt for the nationwide title.
So why doesn’t Florida have a authentic shot to go back-to-back? As a result of they don’t have sufficient authentic shooters.
Right here’s what we imply: Whereas the Gators loved their greatest 3-point taking pictures night time in months on Wednesday night time at Georgia — going 10 of 26 (38.5%) from lengthy vary – they’re nonetheless beneath 30% for the 12 months. Particularly, they’re at 29.2%, which ranks final amongst all power-conference groups and 353rd out of Division I’s 365 squads.
There’s nothing in fashionable school hoops historical past that means that is ok to turn out to be the nationwide champion.
Because the NCAA moved the 3-point line again to the worldwide distance (22-foot-1¾) previous to the 2019-20 season, right here’s how every NCAA champ has shot.
2025: Florida 35.6% 82nd in nation
2024: UConn 35.8% 72nd
2023: UConn 36.3% 62nd
2022: Kansas 36.1% 51st
2021: Baylor 41.3% 1st
2020: No event, however Kansas was the clear No. 1 per KenPom when the season was cancelled because of COVID — and the Jayhawks ranked 132nd nationally at 34.1%
If you happen to have a look at final 12 months’s Candy Sixteen, solely Michigan State (31.1%) was inside a couple of share factors of Florida’s present fee. It’s simply an excessive amount of to count on a foul 3-point taking pictures workforce to reel off six straight wins — particularly when so lots of the nation’s different high groups have embraced offenses with 4 or 5 shooters on the ground.
The Gators have simply three guys who’re hitting not less than one 3-pointer per sport: sixth man City Klavzar (49 of 127; 38.6%), Haugh (45 of 130; 34.6%) and taking pictures guard Xaivian Lee (37 of 145; 25.5%). As a workforce, Florida makes simply 7.4 3-pointers per sport.
Now have a look at the NET’s high 10 by means of Wednesday’s video games. Right here’s how they shoot from 3-point vary, the place that ranks nationally and what number of guys common not less than one 3-pointer per sport:
Michigan: 35.4% 102 Six
Arizona: 35.7% 81 Three
Duke: 34.1% 175 4
Houston: 34.1% 176 4
Illinois: 36.1% 65 Seven
Gonzaga: 34.9% 133 Three
Florida: 29.2% 353 Three
UConn: 37.0% 39 4
Iowa State: 40.0% 5 4
Purdue: 37.7% 28 5
Certainly one of this stuff is just not just like the others. That’s why the Gators received’t have the ability to separate themselves from the remainder for one more “One Shining Second.”
