Same (Gators) Team, So Same (Beating the Bruins) Result

We spent our first night at our new home last night. Actually it was already past mid-night when we went to bed after all the setting up of the new home following our moving earlier in the day, with hired help.

And it was an auspicious day for the Gators when its semi-final game against the Bruins was the very first collegiate basketball game that we watched in our new home. This time, though, we have basic cable, which means we got to watch the game in clear picture and vivid color (we had to depend on a TV-top aerial for reception in our previous home). Same Gators team, and what else but the same result.

Jeff Goodman has this to say in his piece entitled Florida better not expect same UCLA team “The Gators could very well still come out with a victory, but this one definitely won't be a double-figure win.”

After the Gators came up top tonight 76-66 and a double-digit lead for most of the second half, one can say Jeff Goodman is only half right, that the Gators was victorious, but with an exactly double-digit margin.

In comparison, my prediction seems to have fared better, that the Gators won with sort of a mini runaway triumph. The Gators team has simply too many weapons for the Bruins to handle despite the latter's reputation for playing stifling defense. And tonight is Corey Brewer's turn to do damage. And the Gators' big men were phenomenal on the offensive board.

As for the final on Monday, the Gators have already handed the Buckeyes two landslide defeats: one on the basketball court in last December despite that the game was played in Gainesville, and the other one on the football field early this year, so it would not surprise me at all if history is repeated come Monday, given the balance, the depth, the chemistry among the players, and the championship game experience, not forgetting the coach.