Kentucky at Florida Headlines Great Final Weekend
Casey Prather
On campus college basketball ends this weekend. What a weekend it will be with the Kentucky Wildcats at the #1 Florida Gators at 12:00 EST and the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Duke Blue Devils at 8:00 with a whole bunch of great rivalry games in between. How big is the UK-Florida game? In the SEC Tournament seedings, it means nothing. The Gators are in at #1 and the Kats at #2. For the two teams psyche going into post-season, it couldn’t be much bigger.
Think about what happens if the home standing Gators come out on Senior Day in front of a raucous crowd and blow UK out from the get go. What kind of damage would it do to the already young and fragile egos of the Wildcats? They could be looking at an early exit from both the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. But what if they come into Gainesville ad ruin the Gators chance to become the first team in SEC history to go 18-0 in the regular season? That could be huge for the very talented Wildcats. Remember that the Wildcats were the #1 team at the beginning of the season. A win over the Gators might make them actually believe they are as good as the hype. That would make them a dangerous team the rest of the way.
The Gators will say farewell to the greatest senior class in school history before the game. Scottie Wilbekin, Patric Young, Wil Yeguette and Casey Prather are without a doubt the best class ever to go out as seniors. Wait a minute. What about the famed “04’s” of Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green? Those guys were perhaps the greatest class in Gator history, but they went out after their junior years.
While this class cannot equal that one with three SEC Tournament Championships and two NCAA Tournament championships, we would argue that this season’s team is even better than those two championship teams were. The 2006 national championship team went 10-6 in the SEC regular season and the 2007 team was 12-4. At worst, this team will finish 17-1 in the SEC including 9-0 on the road and a school record 22 game win streak. If they beat UK tomorrow, they will have a shot at finishing on a 32 game win streak with three SEC regular season titles, an SEC Tournament title and four trips to the Elite Eight and a national championship. Some may argue if they win 10 more games this year, that this group will have topped the 04’s.
It is a bit ironic that they will play their final home game tomorrow, but what they do after this game will be what ultimately defines them. But that is college basketball. It is all about what a team does in the post season.
Duke and North Carolina is always a huge game. This will be no different. NCAA seedings will be on the line in this one. UNC could climb up to a possible 2 or 3 with a win. That seemed impossible six weeks ago. Duke needs a win coming off an upset to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons this week. They looked to be headed for a possible #1 but now if they get swept be the Heels in the regular season, they will slide back with the Syracuse Orange as the third or fourth best ACC team.
Sportsbook has odds on these games:
Kentucky at Florida – UK is +8.5 -110 and the Gators are -8.5 -110 ATS. We like Florida to cover in this one. The Gators will be pumped up and UK has struggled against some pretty weak competition lately. Take Florida -8.5 -110.
North Carolina at Duke– UNC is +7 -105 and Duke is -7 -115 ATS. We like the Heels in this one with seven. They have been playing better lately than Duke has. Take North Carolina +7 -1-5.
