Gators Can Take Two Game Lead With Win
The third ranked Florida Gators can take a two game lead in the SEC with a win tonight at the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The SEC was all but given to the Kentucky Wildcats when they hauled in six McDonald’s All Americans but they are off to a 5-2 start in the SEC while the Gators are 6-0. Florida got even more good news today when it was announced they will get another Mickey D’s All American on Tuesday. 7′ shot blocker Chris Walker, a top ten recruit from the class that Kentucky pulled in their guys from, has been finally cleared to play by the NCAA on Tuesday.
Tuesday is a good time for reinforcements if you’re Florida, because they take on the Missouri Tigers that night. Then they face the Alabama Crimson Tide the following Saturday. After that they have four of the next five games on the road. Those are against the Tennessee Volunteers, Kentucky, the Ole Miss Rebels and the Vanderbilt Commodores. Those have always been some tough road venues for the Gators. If Walker can give them a boost and they get past that part of the schedule still with a two game lead, they will be tough to beat for the regular season championship.
Even without Walker, they have been smothering on defense in their 11 game win streak. The Volunteers saw that first hand on Saturday when they didn’t break 40 until Florida had emptied the bench in the final seconds. The Kansas Jayhawks super freshman Joel Embiid would also agree. He is projected to be the first pick in the upcoming NBA Draft but was held to six points in 30 minutes against the Gators.
TopBet has odds on tonight’s NCAA basketball games:
Florida at Mississippi State– Florida is -13 -110 and MSU is +13 -110 ATS. Moneyline is Florida -1200 and the Bulldogs +800. Over/Under is 131.5 with over and under -110. Billy Donovan has a maddening habit of having the spread covered until about 2:00 to go and then giving it back by emptying his bench. It happened against the Fresno State Bulldogs when a buzzer beating three point bank shot by the Bulldogs turned that game into a push. It happened again against the South Carolina Gamecocks when a rare four point play in the final seconds gave the win to the people who bet on the Gamecocks by a half point. Their game against the Crimson Tide was also withing a half point only this time it was the Gators who covered.
Our feeling is even if the Gators have the spread beat with 2:00 to go, they will empty the bench and give it back. So we will take Mississippi State +13 -110 and the over -110.
