Gators Tumbling in the Rankings Due to Injuries and Suspensions
The Florida Gators looked to be a Final Four contender this season, and still might be. They are coming off three Elite Eight appearances in a row and this year’s squad looks to be loaded with the additions of Dorian Finney-Smith, Demontre Harris, Kasey Hill, and Eli Carter added to the return of Scottie Wilbekin, Patric Young, Casey Prather, Will Yeguette and Michael Frazier. But so far, they have yet to get all of these guys on to the court at the same time. Wilbekin, Harris and Finney-Smith begin the year on suspension for violation of team rules. Only Finney-Smith has returned but not before a road trip to play the Wisconsin Badgers resulted in a loss.
On top of this, Carter, who was the leading scorer last season for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, has been hobbled by a broken leg that has not quite healed yet, Hill left the previous game against the Southern Jaguars with what looks to be a left ankle sprain, Frazier has been battling mono and shooting guard Dillon Graham has yet to suit up due to injury. So thin is Florida that walk on Jacob Kurtz has been seeing significant playing time in every game. His Florida career began as a team manager.
The Gators have had three shaky wins so far. They beat the North Florida Ospreys 77-69, the Arkansas Little Rock Trojans 86-56 (in a game that was 27-27 at the half) and Southern 67-53. they have a game tomorrow night against a tough Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders team that could give them some problems with a short-handed lineup. Florida had better get back to full strength soon because after Thanksgiving, the schedule gets tough. Their first four games after the Holiday are against Florida State Seminoles, UConn Huskies, Kansas Jayhawks and Memphis Tigers. From there they will have only the Fresno State Bulldogs, Savannah State Tigers and the always tough Richmond Spiders before the grueling SEC grind begins.
With Wilbekin still in the doghouse and Hill likely out for a month, UF is now left without a healthy point guard with Carter hobbling. This led to a very disjointed effort in the second half when they were outscored by the Jaguars.
Luckily for the Gators, this is not football. A team can get off to a rocky start and recover in time for the post season and still make a nice NCAA Tournament run. If the gators can get all of their players on the court together, they should resemble the team most thought they would be when they were ranked in the preseason Top Ten.
