Florida Gators May Have Been Figured Out by One Scary Team

The Florida Gators have given up 90 points just twice all season, and both of those occasions came at the hands of the Vanderbilt Commodores.

That included the SEC Tournament semifinals, when Vanderbilt hammered Florida by a score of 91-74, briefly putting the Gators in danger of losing out on a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

That didn't happen, as Florida ultimately nabbed the top seed in the South Region, but guess what? The Gators are on a collision course to see the Commodores again.

If the stars align (and they very well might), Florida is on track to face Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16, which could ultimately spell trouble for the Gators.

Make no mistake: Florida is a terrific basketball team, and while the bulk of its top players from last year's national championship run are gone, that championship pedigree still exists.

But did you know that the Gators (26-7) and the Commodores (26-8) finished with nearly identical records this season? Yes, Florida held a major edge in SEC play, going 16-2 to Vanderbilt's 11-7, but Vandy has a pretty darn good resume in its own right.

And let's face it: clearly, the Commodores know something about the Gators that most other teams don't, which was why they were able to puncture a typically stout defense multiple times this season.

Vanderbilt shot a blistering 55 percent from the floor in its conference tourney win over Florida, and even during its 98-94 loss to the Gators during the regular season, it managed to connect on 52 percent of its field-goal attempts.

This surely wasn't just happenstance. Clearly, the Commodores have cracked a code, and now, it's up to head coach Todd Golden to potentially prepare for it.

Of course, Florida needs to take care of business the first couple of rounds first, as does Vanderbilt. But the general expectation is that these two teams will end up facing each other again pretty soon.

The Gators limped to a 5-4 start this year and responded by going 21-3 the rest of the way, including a 12-game winning streak that was snapped by the Commodores over the weekend. Golden's squad has certainly overcome plenty of adversity to get here.

But the road to a repeat will be more than challenging, and perhaps the biggest obstacle will be a tough opponent with him Florida is all too familiar.

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