Well Billy can't, shoot, defend, out pass for them. I'm looking to see the focus of Florida more than anything, of they "think"that they are better rather than showing it, it will be exploited. Donavan will really need to dot his I's and cross his T's, against a team with nothing to lose.
Um....is it apparent they are not a 15 seed? With nothing to gage from the near past how could the selection commitee have seen this coming.
That Barkley comment....i win by default because he would be in jail, but I get quest you are saying.......FGC has a snowballs chance in florida eh?
Coming out with a sense of entitlement and not respecting their opponent would have been a concern for the Florida team of three or four seasons ago. It shouldn't be a problem for the current squad - if anything, they're more the type of squad that if they are clearly better than the opposition, they try to put them away. They've had lapses in focus but those have been more situational, mostly against teams that could press them and occasionally once they get cold or fumbly they can stay that way for a while and that's what happened against Ole Miss and Arizona in particular, and somewhat the last two times they played Alabama, excepting that they got hot again vs. the Tide and not against the Rebels or Arizona.
In one sense they're not a 15 seed, since they are in the sweet 16 and rightfully so if you've seen their games. On the other hand, Georgetown is a "Get out of this round free" card to a double digit seed and they beat a #7. Essentially, if they had been a 10 seed and played the games in a different order (and Georgetown somehow beat whoever got that 15) it would have been no less impressive. But the reason they're a 15 is that they weren't even the regular season champs for the Atlantic Sun (and since two of those teams are from right here in Jacksonville, I am more familiar with that league than pretty much any other given my general apathy toward hoops until March). They lost twice to Lipscomb, and that's a team that finished under .500 in a league that is about three good teams away from almost being a mid-major.
I'm not saying at all that it's a snowball's chance game. What I am saying is that ascribing any significant change to a team's chance of winning because of motivation is irrelevant (at least when both teams are well-coached). If FGCU's press is on fire (they're top 20 in the nation in steals) and they do a much better job of protecting the ball (274th in the nation in turnovers) and their defense is actually working in the halfcourt (179th in scoring defense) then of course they'll have a good shot. If they don't, they could see Florida put the game out of reach. It'll be a fun game to watch, and I wish FGCU was playing anyone else because I don't want either team to lose, but I figure pretty much only Florida fans won't be all in on the FGCU bandwagon.
(Hey, I didn't ever tell you this, but I have three of the final four teams as being from the Big Ten in my BB bracket. I picked Florida to win it all but not because I thought they would, though I thought they could, but just because when they're close to good enough to do it I can't really pick against them.)