March 15, 2010, at 8:19 pm
The first official game of the 2010 NCAA Men’s College Basketball tournament pits the fifth seeded BYU Cougars against the 10th seeded Florida Gators. Some of you might be wondering how a team like BYU was ranked seventh and even more mind-boggling is that Florida, a team that had no business making the tournament, received a 10 seed. Is this game as close as the seeds would lead you to believe?
(7) BYU Cougars (29-5) vs. (10) Florida Gators (21-12)
Game Time 12:20 ET Thursday, March 18th 2010
In this bloggers opinion, Brigham Young has had the most underrated team in college basketball for as long as I can remember. In what was expected to be somewhat of a down year for the Cougars due to the loss of Lee Cummard, BYU came out of the gates blazing. It took 22 games for the Cougars to lose their 2nd game of the season and the good fortune can be attributed to the MVP play of guard Jimmer Fredette. Averaging 21.7 points per game, Fredette is the floor general for BYU and when you have a supporting cast that includes Tyler Haws and Jonathan Tavernari, BYU should have done much better than a seven seed. The pace is extremely fast for these guys and when their hitting their treys, they are as close to invincible as any other team in this tournament. BYU tanked in last years tournament with an opening round loss to Texas A&M but I expect better things from them this year.
Thanks to an extremely favorable NCAA committee, the Florida Gators were blessed with a tournament birth. representing the SEC, Florida was impressive at times but overall the team showed an inconsistency common with youth. Every starter averages double figures, so the one thing Florida has going for itself is unpredictability. At any given time, a different Gator can catch fire and carry the team. The offense usually revolved around the post play of big man Vernon Macklin, and Florida can also play a fast paced style. After winning back to back NCAA championships, Florida had missed the NCAA tournament in 2008 and 2009 and without a senior on the starting squad, the team lacks big game experience because of it.
Previous NCAA tournaments have shown that teams undeserving of an NCAA bid usually prove why they received one, but any sane minded soul should see how much better the BYU Cougars are from the counterpart. Florida may be a team to reckon with next year, as everyone is returning, but expect BYU to start the game off with some hot shooting, never allowing Florida a chance to breath.
Final Score Prediction: BYU Cougars 84 – Florida Gators 66
