Some may be searching for what went wrong all of a sudden or when everything just went bad.
How did the Gators go from 22-2 and tied for first place in the Southeastern Conference to the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament and a major losing skid?
If you ask UF coach Amanda Butler about why her team has lost four of its last five games, she'll give you a pretty straightforward answer.
"We just played some really good teams, and we played some really good teams on their home floors," Butler said during the SEC Tournament teleconference on Monday. "We ran up against some teams that were really, really ready to play and took very seriously home-court advantage."
The list of the Gators' defeats includes road losses at SEC Tournament No. 2-seed Vanderbilt by 16, at No. 3-seed LSU by 19 and at No. 7-seed Georgia by 9.
Throw in their only home loss of the season to No. 8-seed Arkansas, and people are wondering if the wheels have fallen off at the worst possible time.
"When you get to February in the SEC, you're going to see great talent and great coaching combined," Butler said. "Nobody's going to have an easy win."
Nothing has come easy for the Gators since Feb. 8.
That's the day UF had what appeared to be a monumental win against then-No. 12 Tennessee.
The Gators were sitting at 8-1 in the conference and appeared to be on cruise control following their toppling of the powerhouse Volunteers.
Then things went bad in a hurry.
Butler attributes much of her team's failures to its inability to defend.
UF, which had prided itself on defense in all of its wins earlier in the season, allowed 84, 66, 83 and 84 points in its last four losses.
The Gators had only given up 45 points to Georgia in Gainesville during the teams' first meeting, but let the Bulldogs post 84 on Sunday.
"We could play better defense," Butler said. "We, in all of those losses, gave up way, way, way too many points."
The reason for UF's difficulties may very well have been playing some pretty good teams away from home.
But the Gators better get used to that and learn how to adjust quickly if they want make a run in the postseason.
UF will likely face No. 5-seed Tennessee on Friday night in North Little Rock, Ark. - another good team away from home.
Butler is confident her team will answer the challenge this time around.
"The one thing that this team has really responded to this year is the opportunity to practice and improve," Butler said. "I fully expect that's what we'll see from them this week as well, knowing that the stakes are even higher and there aren't going to be second chances, there aren't going to be next games."
