Vermont at Florida

To borrow a phrase from their old coach-turned-TV-analyst, Vermont was the statue in this game, as the young Gators overpowered them with their talent, depth, quickness, occasional defense, and shooting.

While the Gators are obviously not going to three-peat this year, don't be surprised if this foundation class of Billy Donovan ends up winning another NCAA championship before they graduate. They are a young and untested team, but this nine man rotation is among the most versatile in the NCAA. They have it all, a speedy mini-me point guard, a tough combo guard, two very versatile wings in teammates Calathes and Parsons, a very promising big man in M. Speights, and two versatile forwards in Jonathan and Werner. So this team can play big, can play small, can play, and can play very fast.

Of course their growth is not going to be a bed of roses, they are going to have their ups and downs, and the downs may be more than the ups when the SEC conference season begins. Billy "the diva" Donovan did a good job in "shielding" them during the early schedule, and for good season since they are so young and inexperienced in D1 hoops.

Vermont played one of those games that mid-major teams have to play that I call "lambs to the slaughter" games. The good part for mid-majors is that occasionally they get a win, the bad news is that the wins are rare in these type of games.

So what did we learn? Not much about Vermont, but the Florida Gators are talented, versatile and inexperienced.

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