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Tag: Florida Gators

  • Tim Tebow Buys Home in Jacksonville

    Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow just purchased a $1.4 million home in Glen Kernan Golf and Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida.

    The Heisman Trophy winner bought a five bedroom, 4.5 bathroom house located on Swilcan Bridge Lane from David and Virginia Bailey. The sale of the 6,500 square foot property closed on June 27, and was recorded Monday. No word yet on when Tebow plans to move in.

    University of Florida Gators fans are happy Tebow is back in the state. The quarterback’s record-setting collegiate performance didn’t translate well in the NFL, and Tebow saw brief stints with the Denver Broncos, the New York Jets and the New England Patriots.

    New neighbor Gwen Peterson commented, “I think he’s great. I think he’s what Jacksonville needs.” Neighbor Brian Petty added, “I’m just happy he’s back in Florida. I think he’s a great individual. He adds a lot to the community here. I think he’ll be a great leader.”

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    Tebow and his brother have also bought into the PDQ restaurant franchise in Jacksonville. While not presently affiliated with any NFL franchise, Tebow’s contract allows him to continue to pursue opportunities as a player. Though it would appear the popular quarterback, who made Tebowing into a “thing”, might be better suited for broadcast. In December, 2013 Tebow was hired by ESPN as a college football analyst for the SEC Network as co-host of SEC Nation, a travelling pre-game show. He made his ESPN debut during the 2014 BCS National Championship Game.

    Tebow also co-hosted ABC News’ Good Morning America in January, shortly before Super Bowl XLVIII, and was joined on the morning show by Eli Manning.

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  • NCAA Final: Kentucky Wildcats Will Meet The UConn Huskies

    In an incredibly unlikely scenario in the NCAA Final, Kentucky will match up with Connecticut, in a game between the SEC and the AAC conferences. Neither team was predicted to go far, yet they will both be playing for the national championship.

    In order to reach the NCAA Final UConn defeated Florida for the second time this season, and Kentucky beat Wisconsin, which was a bit of an upset for both teams. Kentucky has risen above the competition, and has arguably upset their opponents in every game of the tournament, including a game against Michigan in order to make the final four, receiving a 3-pointer at the last second for the victory.

    Florida and Michigan State were two of the top teams heading into the tournament, along with Louisville heading into the tournament, and Michigan State and Louisville were taken out by UConn, while Kentucky took down their Louisville rivals.

    One thing that also makes this match-up unlikely, and incredibly rare, is the fact that neither Kentucky or UConn played in the NCAA tournament last year. UConn was ineligible to play due to academic issues, and Kentucky played in the NIT.

    The last time that two teams that did not play the year before, and still made the final, was in 1966, a game that Kentucky played in against Texas Western. This year, Kentucky has a crop of freshman that continue to improve together, and they become only the first all-freshman starting lineup in an NCAA title game since Michigan’s Fab Five in 1992.

    They are led by twins Andrew and Aaron Harrison, along with Julius Randle, who were all Mcdonald’s All-Americans when they were recruited by coach John Calipari. Kentucky was the No.1 team in the preseason, but struggled throughout the season, and were not in the top 25 heading into the NCAA tournament.

    Some people have said that it is destiny for the five freshman of Kentucky to have made it this far, and have also won their last three games from late 3-pointers from Aaron Harrison. However, the young freshman spoke about the issue and said “We all just fight, we don’t let the games go, and we know no matter what that we have a chance to win so we always try to keep fighting.”

    Connecticut will be returning to the NCAA Final for the second time in four years, after having won the championship in 2011 behind their star Kemba Walker. Three seniors remain on the team from that year, and as Shabazz Napier continues to show similarities to Walker, they have found a way to keep winning.

    This NCAA Final marks the highest seed total to play in the title game since 1979 when the committee started assigning numbers to the teams. The previous high also included UConn, in the 2011 title game against 8th-seeded Butler. It’s also the fourth time an eighth seed has made the championship game, and the first trip for a seventh seed.

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  • Final Four Match-Ups Have Been Set, Who Will Win It All?

    After an incredibly exciting NCAA tournament leading up to Final Four, the four remaining teams, and their match-ups, have finally been set. It features the No.1 overall seed Florida, and a few familiar foes for the Gators.

    The Florida Gators are the No.1 overall seed in the tournament, and were one of the hottest teams heading into March Madness, having all sorts of talent that could easily win it all. However, the three remaining teams all pose an interesting challenge for Florida, and ironically, they have played each of them already over the course of the season.

    Joining Florida in the Final Four are the UConn Huskies, who they will meet first, along with the Wisconsin Badgers, and the Kentucky Wildcats. It may come as a shock to a number of people, but the last time that the Florida Gators lost was in a game against the UConn Huskies, which took place on December 2, before conference play started.

    Another interesting thing to note is that their only other loss this year is to Wisconsin, while Kentucky of course has experience playing against the Gators in SEC conference play, where they have lost to the Gators three times already.

    The Florida Gators have seemed almost unstoppable this year, and after going undefeated in the SEC, they have an overall record of 36-2 including the NCAA tournament.

    The Wildcats almost beat the Gators in the SEC Conference Championship Game, which was when the Wildcats finally started to get their groove back. Their young freshmen have matured over the season, and may be able to prove everyone wrong by making it to the championship.

    Florida has looked quite impressive throughout the NCAA tournament on their road to the Final Four, while each of the other teams have had their fair share of struggles. The Gators have seen a handful of great performances from their star Scottie Wilbekin, who was named the SEC Player Of The Year.

    The Wildcats just escaped a close game with the favored Michigan Wolverines earlier, while the UConn Huskies defeated the heavily favored Michigan State Spartans, who many people thought might be able to win the championship.

    Florida defeated the Dayton Flyers in order to make it to the Final Four, and while it was not as much of an upset as the games today, Wisconsin beat Arizona in overtime last night in order to give coach Bo Ryan his first trip to the Final Four.

    The Florida Gators were the No.1 seed coming into the tournament, and as the teams are set for the Final Four, they are the only No.1 seed that is still remaining. Will they end up winning it all, or does one of the other three teams have what it takes to defeat the seemingly unstoppable Gators?

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  • March Madness 2014: The Games Start On Thursday, Are Your Brackets Ready?

    The madness will soon be upon us, as all of the top teams, and their fans, prepare for the big NCAA tournament that will ignite March Madness 2014. It has been a wild year that has seen several top teams go up and down, and no team has much of an edge heading into the tournament.

    The seeds and first-round match-ups have been selected, and as people hurry up to finish up their brackets, they continue to debate about the right picks. Of course, it is impossible to tell who will win, and some people might even pick them at random.

    A perfect bracket has never been done before, but fans continue to do them every year in the hopes that they could be the first. This year, Warren Buffet is even offering $1 billion to anyone who is finally able to complete the near-impossible task.

    Some people could make rough drafts, and continue to edit them starting on Sunday night, and others may wait until the last minute. However, everyone must remember that in order for a bracket to be counted, they must be submitted before the tip-off of the first game on Thursday, March 20th.

    President Obama took time out of his busy presidential schedule to fill out a bracket as he has done every year, and while his Final Four was unveiled initially, every pick that he made was revealed to viewers on a special edition of Sportscenter this morning.

    If someone wants to copy Obama’s picks, then go with Louisville, Michigan State, Florida, and Arizona. He correctly picked Lousiville in the championship last year, and has them going again this year, but feels that Michigan State has the power to overcome the defending champions.

    The four No.1 seeds this year are Florida, who obtained the No.1 overall seed after going undefeated in the SEC, Wichita State, who is undefeated on the season, Arizona, and Virginia. Any of them has the ability to go to the Final Four, but then again, many others do as well.

    Two teams from Obama’s Final Four are No.4 seeds, Louisiville and MIchigan State, and both teams have a great chance of making the championship. There are several teams that have peaked at different points during the season, and if recent years have taught fans anything, it would be that any team is capable of making a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

    Michigan State may not be a No.1 seed, but they have plenty of experience playing in the tournament, and were picked to win by all five ESPN analysts, which includes Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg, Jay Williams and Dick Vitale.

    March Madness 2014 will be underway on Thursday, and while plenty of people seem to be picking Michigan State to win it all, there are always surprises in the tournament. The Spartans did just win the Big Ten tournament, and when healthy, they are certainly one of the teams to beat.

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  • President Obama Reveals His Picks For The Final Four

    It’s March Madness time again, and like no president before him had done, President Obama has taken the time to publicly fill out an NCAA March Madness bracket, letting everyone know what his final four picks will be.

    He has proven over the years that he is a big fan of college basketball, and has even shown a bit of favoritism toward certain teams in a way. From 2009 until 2013, President Obama has picked three different teams to win the championship, and he as been correct once.

    In the era that has become known as “Barack-etology,” Obama has picked Indiana (over Louisville in 2013), Kansas (over Ohio State in 2011 and Kentucky in 2010) and North Carolina (over Kentucky in 2012 and Louisville in 2009).

    However, he did also correctly pick that Louisville would go to the championship in 2013, a game that they won. He predicted that they would lose to Indiana, and Louisville ended up winning when they beat another Big Ten school, Michigan.

    Speaking on last year’s championship game, President Obama said that it was “one of the best championship games that any of us have seen in a very, very long time.”

    This year could be the most exciting one that basketball fans have seen in a while since no team seems to be a real front-runner heading into the tournament, except possibly Florida, who went undefeated in conference play, and earned the No.1 overall seed.

    As a result, President Obama only has two No.1 seeds in his final four, but as most people know, a Final Four that consists of four No.1 seeds almost never happens. The president’s final four picks are Florida, Arizona, Michigan State, and Louisville.

    Do you agree with Obama’s picks? Who will be making the Final Four this year?

    Last year Obama’s men’s bracket ranked 2,080,996 out of 8.15 million entries in ESPN.com’s free ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge, placing him in the 74.4th percentile. Every year is different though, and this could be his year again.

    Michigan State and Louisville are the No.4 seeds in the East, and Midwest, respectively. However, both teams are on a role after winning their conference championships, and are likely contenders to win it all. They are led by Michigan State’s Gary Harris, and Louisville’s Russ Smith, both contenders for the Wooden Award.

    President Obama correctly placed Louisville in the championship last year, but do they have the potential to get back? They lost Peyton Siva, but still have a load of talent on their team, and are seeking another championship.

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  • NIT Tournament Reveals Bracket, SMU Is No.1 Seed

    Well, clearly the NIT tournament is not one that everyone gets excited about, but some teams that do not make the NCAA tournament are able to continue playing, and have even been able to make a statement in the NIT in past years.

    After being one of the big snubs in the NCAA tournament, SMU was given the No.1 overall seed. SMU was ranked in the top 25, but due to the lack of strength of the American Athletic Conference, the committee did not feel that they qualified to play in the NCAA tournament.

    SMU had a successful season until the end, much like Syracuse, and the Mustangs didn’t have consecutive losses until ending the regular season with losses to Top 25 teams Louisville and Memphis. Following that, they suffered an embarrassing loss to Houston in the first round of the tournament.

    The SMU Mustangs are led by veteran coach Larry Brown, and are clearly the favorite to the win the NIT. They are joined by Minnesota, St. Johns, and Florida State as teams from major conferences that each have a chance at winning the NIT.

    The disappointed coach spoke on his team’s NIT appearance when saying “We could have beaten Louisville at home. … We didn’t play our best game at Memphis, but we didn’t get blown out by either team. But when we didn’t beat Houston, I kind of thought this could possibly happen.”

    The moment that every college basketball fan had been waiting for finally happened last night when the selection show revealed where each team would be heading in the NCAA tournament, and those who would be left out, heading to the NIT instead.

    Florida leads the way in the NCAA tournament with the No.1 overall seed, but this year could see anyone heading to the championship, and it might not be a surprise, in a year that has seen several top teams go up and down throughout the season.

    Florida Gulf Coast, who many people will probably remember as the No.15 seed that made the “Sweet 16” from last year, is also in the NIT tournament, and will play against Florida State in the first round. SMU opens the tournament against UC Irvine from the Big West conference on Wednesday night.

    As opposed to the NCAA tournament, which now features 68 teams, the NIT is only host to a group of 32 teams. The NIT bracket includes 13 automatic qualifiers, which are teams that won their regular-season conference titles without getting an NCAA bid.

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  • Florida Gators Win SEC, Claim No.1 Overall Seed In NCAA Tournament

    In a year where no team seems to be in control, the one thing that most people seem to agree on is the fact that the Florida Gators were the team that deserved the No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

    Florida already had the No.1 ranking heading into the SEC Conference Championship Game this afternoon, and they hung on to beat Kentucky, although Kentucky is peaking at the right time, and did have a chance to upset.

    The Florida Gators are on a better streak than any other team in the nation right now, and squeaked by after a late run from Kentucky to win 61-60. Florida is currently on a 26-game winning streak, and has an overall record of 32-2 on the season.

    Florida is undefeated in SEC league play this year, and while they did not maintain an undefeated record for the entire season like Wichita State, due to their conference being stronger, the committee decided that their performance was more impressive.

    To the surprise of some people though, Arizona, who held the No.1 spot for much of the regular season, jumped up to the No.2 spot, obtaining the second No.1 seed. The final No.1 seed went to Virginia, who defeated Duke today in order to win the ACC Tournament, in addition to being the ACC champion of the regular season.

    During conference tournament week, some of the top teams such as Syracuse and Villanova fell early, and were unable to continue playing. However, other teams like Providence were able to advance to the championship of the Big East, where they upset Creighton, who was playing in the Big East tournament for the first time after leaving the Missouri Valley Conference.

    The Florida Gators have been placed in the South region in order to have home-court advantage, and will play their first two games in Orlando. They will play their first game on Thursday, and will find out their opponent after St. Mary’s (16-16) and Albany (18-14) finish their game on Wednesday.

    If Florida wins their first game, they will be playing the winner of the #8/#9 match-up between Colorado and Pittsburgh. Other top teams that Florida could have trouble with on their way to the final four include Syracuse, Kansas, UCLA and Ohio State.

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  • Florida Gators DT Dominique Easley Out for the Season

    Florida just can’t catch seem to catch a break this season as the injuries just continue to pile up. First starting quarterback, Jeff Driskel, suffered a broken fibula with no possibility of returning this season. Now, senior defensive tackle Dominique Easley has suffered a season-ending injury. According to Sports Illustrated, Easley only “tweaked” his knee in practice on Tuesday. However, his injuries were later determined to be more extensive than the initial outward assessment.

    Florida Gators’ head coach Will Muschamp, later confirmed that Easley did, indeed, tear the anterior cruciate ligament and medical meniscus in his right knee. His injury will require surgery, which will keep him out for the remainder of the season.

    “Watching any of your players go through this is one of the hardest things about being a coach. Obviously, it is hardest on Dominique. We are disappointed for him, but we will be there for him every step of the way through his surgery and rehab process,” admitted Muschamp.

    Regardless of the season-ending injury, Easley took to Twitter to ensure fans that he was in good spirits in spite of having to forfeit his senior year on the field. The Alligator Army, Florida’s fan-base nickname, re-tweeted his post to share it with all of the team’s fans. His statement, while bittersweet, denoted a laudable sense of optimism and keen sportsmanship.

    The Gators’ injured quarterback, Jeff Driskel, also took to twitter to share his sentiments for his teammate:

    Easley, a native of Staten Island, N.Y. was a major component for Florida’s defensive. Standing 6-foot-2, weighing in at 280 pounds, Easley had five tackles, with two tackles for loss in the three games he has played for this 2013 season. Number 20 Florida, (2-1) ranks second nationwide in total defense, which equates to a yardage allowance of approximately 212.3 yards a game.

    Nothing gets past that Gator defense. Let’s just hope they can maintain that line of demarcation where the line of scrimmage is concerned. The Gators journey to Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington to take on the University of Kentucky. The Gators must continue to hold that line in wake of the present injuries.

     

    Image via Dominique Easley | Twitter

  • Nick Saban Called “The Devil Himself” By Florida Assistant

    In the south, they take their college football incredibly seriously. In fact, it probably wouldn’t be a stretch to say that, in the geographic area that comprises the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference, the fans there enjoy college football more than the NFL, which could be seen as blasphemy in northern parts of the United States. Whatever your feelings are about the SEC and college football, you cannot deny the conference’s dominance in relation to college football national championships. Since the inception of the BCS Championship Game in 1998, there have been 15 such national champions. Only six have come from schools that do not reside in the SEC. Furthermore, SEC schools have won seven straight titles, with three of them going to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

    As far as the SEC pecking order of coaches goes, if there was a table that all the coaches sat, at the head would be Nick Saban, who is the head coach of those Crimson Tide championship teams. As you might have noticed, the coach’s last name is one letter away from sharing the name with Satan, and for some of the teams and coaches that have to go against the Alabama coach, who, aside from being a proven winner, is, perhaps, the best recruiter in the business, this little coincidence is anything but. Just ask Tim Davis, the offensive line coach for the University of Florida, another SEC school. During a meeting with boosters, Davis had this to say about his boss, Florida coach Will Muschamp, and what it’s like working for another intense SEC coach:

    “I’ve always wanted to work with Will. Will’s got a plan. Will coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three. He did seven. And his DNA is not any different than Nick.”

    Of course, it didn’t take long for such propaganda to hit the Internet, and from there, the “someone called Nick Saban the devil. Again.” cries could be heard from college football fans all over the world. Serving as an example for the popularity of such an utterance is the ESPN comment thread about these innocuous statements, which checks in at well over 5000 comments. While the content is really not that important–it’s just sports fans arguing among themselves–the fact that such a throwaway story garnered so much reaction serves as great indication of just how popular the following things are (not necessarily in the following order):

    1. Nick Saban
    2. College Football
    3. The SEC
    4. Sports fans arguing on the Internet

    According to ESPN’s report, the coach in question apologized for the comments that were made, but even if he didn’t, Saban still gets the last laugh:

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    Or, maybe he didn’t even hear the recent chatter, what with all those championship rings clogging up his ears.