The Big Dance

Yesterday the brackets were released for the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and for the first time in a long time the Gators were left out. Florida is not alone in having to sit it out this year. The Gators' opponent in last year's National Championship game, Ohio State, will also be missing the tournament. This was to be expected after the team's performance, but it still sucks. No one expected the team to do much after about half of last year's squad went to the NBA. Early in the season the Gators did a lot better than most people expected and the thought of a tournament bid started floating around. But as the season wore on the fact that the team was extremely young and inexperienced started to show. They started performing the way everyone thought they would from the beginning.

Toward the end of the season many of the analysts designated us as a bubble team and thought we had a shot at going to the Big Dance if we could close out the season on a high note and make a good showing in the SEC Tournament. Well, we lost the last three games of the season and were knocked out of the SEC Tournament in the first round. That tournament game against Alabama was painful to watch. Some of the commentators surmised that maybe the pressure of the Gators' success of the past was wearing on the team this year. We had previously won the last 3 SEC Tournament Championships in a row and have been the defending National Champions for the past 2 years. Most of the kids on the team now are freshmen and weren't around for any of that. So now the team will play in the NIT, which is the tournament for those who didn't make it to the biggie. The Gators' first NIT game will be against San Diego State on Wednesday, March, 19 at 9:00 p.m. in the O'Dome. The game will be shown on ESPN2.

It's a tough pill to swallow to know that Florida's reign as the undisputed king of the college sports world is coming to a close, but it was fantastic while it lasted. In the last two years the University of Florida's Men's Basketball and Football teams did something that has never been done in history and plausibly will not be repeated for a long time to come. I have thoroughly enjoyed it while it lasted and will carry the pride with me forever.