Dooley’s Back Nine: Good Week For Florida Men’s Basketball

The Back Nine comes at you after a rainy weekend in Gainesville. But seriously, do you call that a storm? (Said Lt. Dan)

10. It is that time of year when I keep telling myself to do something constructive and end up watching multiple episodes of The Bear and Stick. But it was certainly a good week for the Florida basketball program. This was only the second time in the history of Gator hoops that more than two players have been drafted. The other time was in 2007 and we know what happened with that group of studs. I think Florida fans were about as happy as they have ever been watching an NBA Draft (not me, too much Stephen A. screaming). These three young men (Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard) did it the right way and I would not be surprised to see all three on opening day rosters next season.

11. When those guys turned pro in 2007 we had no idea it would take Florida until 2010 to make it back to the NCAA Tournament. It feels like two weeks ago that a Florida team already won 19 games by early February collapsed down the stretch. The dagger might have been the night Marcus Thornton and Anthony Randolph came to Gainesville and pushed an LSU team with one conference win to an easy victory. Yes, it still bothers me. Anyway, Billy Donovan obviously got it turned around.

12. That won’t be a problem for this team. Don’t forget, the SEC was hardly a power conference back then so those 2008 and 2009 Florida teams that won 46 games between them weren’t even bubble teams. My, how times have changed. Plus, this upcoming Florida team has already been anointed by Joe Lunardi as his No. 1 overall seed. That may be overly optimistic for a team losing its top three scorers, but it’s still got a chance to be really good.

13. CBS Sports had a story this week about the wild-card teams of college football, teams we are having a difficult time deciding just how good they will be. I prefer the term “X Factors” because how good these teams are will have a lot to do with how the SEC shapes up. Every school with “the Tigers” as its nickname qualifies and so do your Florida Gators.

14. I have an idea about what will happen with Florida this year, but 5-7 isn’t out of the question. Neither is 10-2. A lot depends on whether or not Billy Napier has figured out his red zone play-calling and can get 11 guys on the field for every play. And win on the road. And keep D.J. Lagway healthy. And continue to improve on defense. And have the kind of offensive line that dominates. And get the expected production out of the wide receivers. And find a way to beat Texas A&M (three losses in the last four). And Kentucky. And Georgia. There are a lot of ANDS at work here.

15. Last Monday, Steve Spurrier went viral again. On “Another Dooley Noted Podcast”, the HBC made a comment about Arch Manning that was interesting.“They’ve got Manning already winning the Heisman Trophy . My question is: If he was this good, how come they let Quinn Ewers play all the time last year? And he was a seventh-round pick.” Yes, I am a very lucky guy to have him on the Podcast every Monday brought to you by Meldon Law. So, I figured I would take a look at the three times a Manning played in Gainesville.

16. The 1995 game: An epic game where Tennessee took a 30-14 lead and Florida stormed back to win 62-37 as Danny Wuerffel threw for 381 yards. The Sports Illustrated crew that came to town to write about Peyton Manning had to switch gears and Danny Wonderful ended up on the cover. The 1997 game: Here come the mighty Vols to take on the No. 2 Gators and there goes Tony George taking a Manning interception back 88 yards for a touchdown. The Gators won 33-20, but Tennessee did go on to win the SEC East, so they had that going for them.

 Now let’s get to Eli because Archie never played in The Swamp (although he did play in the Gator Bowl). After Peyton went 0-4 against Florida (he barely played as a freshman but we like to give him that ’94 loss), Eli went 2-0, winning in Gainesville in 2003. In each of those two Gator losses, the Florida quarterback threw a bunch of picks. Chris Leak threw three in a 20-17 loss at home and Manning threw for 262. This was the game when Archie chose not to attend because he was tired of losing in The Swamp.

17. People have asked me how much bulletin board material it gives Texas and I don’t believe in that. But it does help their fans get fired up and gives the media something to talk about during “talking season.”

18. One more week until a few vacation days over in Vilano Beach. I’ll have this playlist queued up:

• “Barely Legal” by The Strokes.
•  I heard this the other day and it was perfect. The Supremes version of the Beatles’ “You Can’t Do That” off the ladies’ “A Bit of Liverpool” album.
• And for an old one, “Cath” by The Bluebells.

WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.