SEC Basketball

1. Michigan beat Florida 79-59 on Sunday. Florida G Kenny Boynton: “They were the better team.”

2. Boynton and seniors Eric Murphy and Mike Rosario had an emotional ending to their careers.

3. It was apparent early that Florida had no answers for Michigan, which jumped out to a 13-0 lead.

4. One scholarship has opened up in Lexington: point guard Ryan Harrow is transferring from Kentucky.

5. Meanwhile, Wildcats forward Kyle Wiltjer tweeted Sunday to say he is staying in Lexington.

SEC Football

6. From Sunday: Arkansas coach Bret Bielema bragged on his Big Ten record compared to Nick Saban’s record.

7. Alabama is back from spring break and preparing for 11 practices in the next 20 days.

8. Auburn’s coaching staff is working on rebuilding the mental strength of its quarterbacks.

9. Ole Miss will return to the practice field tonight. The return of linebacker D.T. Shackelford is a big storyline.

10. Here’s an updated (and projected) depth chart for Georgia’s defense.

11. New Tennessee coach Butch Jones is “making the right moves,” writes David Climer.

12. Tennessee’s offense is adjusting to a quicker pace as spring practice resumes this week.

Extras

13. A love story you will want to read involving Mal Moore, who passed away on Saturday. By Don Kausler Jr.

14. It’s been one year to the day since Bobby Petrino had his motorcycle accident.

15. Louisville guard Kevin Ware had successful surgery Sunday night to repair the open fracture of his right tibia.

16. What’s the first thing Ware told his mother after the injury? “Calm down, mom. I’m OK.”

17. Here’s an early preview of the upcoming Final Four in Atlanta.

18. Texas is working this offseason to return to competing with the nation’s elite programs.

Florida 62 – Florida Gulf Coast 50

1. Gators win despite shooting just 38.6% from the floor.  Florida defense forces 20 turnovers.  Senior guard Kenny Boynton: “To be in the final eight says a lot, but we don’t want to settle here.”

2. Game-high 15 points from Mike Rosario.  Coach Billy Donovan:  “I’m happy for Mike Rosario, (Kenny) Boynton and Erik Murphy. But I’m proud of what they’ve been able to do up to this point in time and they’ve gotten better.”

3. “This Gators squad isn’t as talented as the back-to-back national champs Billy Donovan coached in 2006 and 2007… but it can beat any of the remaining teams in this tournament.”

4. Quick turnaround for Florida from late Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Will play Michigan for the right to go to the Final Four.

Andrew Steele and Trevor Releford will “most likely” return from a one-game suspension tonight when Alabama hosts Florida.  But Tony Mitchell — who’s missed two games on suspension — and JaMychal Green — who’s been suspended for one already — will not be on the court for the Tide.  And that will leave Bama thin on its frontline.

“When you look at Andrew Steele – he’s been probably the finest student-athlete that I’ve coached – he made a mistake,” Grant said yesterday. “His body of work speaks for itself in terms of who he is as a person and what he’s been all about. I was a former student-athlete. You are faced with a lot of different things and you have to make decisions. Sometimes you make the wrong one. I don’t think that’s any indication of who he is as a person. Same thing with Trevor Releford. He’s a young man that’s in his sophomore year in college and made a bad choice. I think his teammates understand that. Certainly as a coach, I don’t condone it, but I’m not going to condemn him as a human being for making a bad decision. We will move on and get ready to play.”

Yesterday, we praised Grant for taking a difficult stand, one that might not be supported wholeheartedly by Tide fans eager to reach the NCAA Tournament.  Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News shares our take.  Today he writes that this move “may have been Grant’s finest hour.”

Florida coach Billy Donovan — Grant’s old boss — also supported his former aide’s decision to suspend four important members of his team mid-tourney push: “I really believe that in order to win big, you’ve got to be prepared to lose big.  I think Anthony’s attitude is, he’s not going to be the kind of guy that’s just going to plug holes in a leaking ship … because eventually that stuff at some point is going to rear its head and it’s going to bite you at some point.”

The Gators won’t be at full strength at Coleman Coliseum tonight, either.  They will be without key bench players Will Yeguette (concussion) and Mike Rosario (hip pointer).

Florida frontcourter Patric Young has some positive things to say about the depth and talent that Billy Donovan has built up in the Gators’ backcourt:


“We have so many guards with this team, it’s possible that we could have one of the best backcourts in the (SEC) or maybe in the country possibly.  We have fast guys.

We’re going to be a really good pressing team possibly.  We’re going to run the floor a lot more, maybe go four fuards, one big man for something like that.  But it’s up to Coach Donovan, whatever he sees works best for this team.  It’s going to be completely different from the team last year, I’ll tell you that.  Maybe a lot more threes, a lot more shooting.”


The Gators’ backcourt will feature Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton (last year’s starters), Scottie Wilbekin, Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario and true freshman Brad Beal, who was the Gatorade national player of the year in high school this past season.

Other teams will have a hard time matching UF’s guards in terms of talent and depth.  And that should bode well for next March.