Russell Report: Gator Men’s Basketball team hope to keep their momentum after a huge win against Auburn
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - The Florida Men’s Basketball team is 5 and 1 in its last six games after blowing out nationally ranked Auburn on Saturday in front of another sold out crowd. Did it help that Florida was at home, wanting to make up for a late game road loss at Texas A&M in a game they thought they should have won, and that Auburn was coming off an emotional home win against rival Alabama? Ok, but the Gators got a big NCAA tournament resume win, and they play two games this week at home against LSU and on the road at Georgia that are certainly winnable. The arrow is definitely pointing up for this team and this program and if they keep playing like this, no one will want to see them come NCAA tournament time.
Gator baseball, fresh off a national championship runner up finish a year ago, opens its 2024 season this weekend by hosting St. John’s. A lot again is expected from this team despite losing two great pitchers, outfielder Wyatt Langford and shortstop Josh Rivera. The lineup should still be very good and this team should hit and the defense seems solid. If there’s a question it is in the pitching. Right now, lefty Cade Fisher gets the ball on Friday, with freshman Liam Peterson on Saturday and of course Jac Caglianone on Sunday. All-American Brandon Neely anchors the back of the bullpen but who fills the other roles on the mound could be the key to the season. You may see some young arms that will need to develop to get to Neely for the season to be a special one. But Florida’s SEC schedule is brutal, with back-to-back road trips to top 10 ranked Vanderbilt and Arkansas plus a trip to LSU as well.
Gator softball opened its season this weekend and we got an early glimpse of the future in the circle for Florida as highly touted freshman arms got into the fire right away in Keegan Rothrock and ava brown, the national player of the year a season ago in high school. They were dominant at times as Rothrock threw a complete game one hitter against nationally ranked Michigan despite suffering the loss and brown even got her first career hit in the tournament as well. The Gators got a few games under their belt in a tournament at USF this past weekend and they’ll face Jacksonville on the road before returning home for their season opener against JU on valentine’s day.
Finally, watch out for a trend in college football which has already started. Coaches leaving the sport to go to NFL jobs, the latest being when Alabama just lost its play caller, Ryan Grubb, who had worked with coach Kalen DeBoer for 12 seasons. He left to be the OC with the Seattle Seahawks. You see, in the NFL, there is no NIL, there aren’t transfer portals, there are no NCAA rules, you don’t have to recruit, and there is actually down time as well. And the money ain’t bad either. If and until the college situation gets fixed, coaches will be doing a little transferring of their own. I’m Steve Russell, that’s the Russell Report!
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