Give credit where it is due.
Someway, somehow, the UF men's basketball team has arisen from the mediocrity.
Certainly this is not as impressive as if the Gators had actually turned it on when it really mattered, but it's worth something, right?
"Shocked" doesn't measure my reaction after UF jetted out of the gates Friday night against Miami.
The Gators looked like a potential NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 team, and the Hurricanes looked like they should have been in the College Basketball Invitational.
Yeah, yeah, I know UF plays its best basketball at home. But a 23-4 run to start the game? That's pretty impressive against any halfway-legitimate team, a category for which Miami certainly qualifies. Miami had quality wins against No. 16 Florida State and No. 12 Wake Forest, and in one eight-day span lost to No. 2 North Carolina and No. 6 Duke by a combined 7 points.
The biggest factor in UF's rebirth is the re-emergence of all-everything point guard Nick Calathes.
Welcome back, Mr. Calathes.
The First Team All-Southeastern Conference performer (and quite possibly Player of the Year if Calathes and the Gators didn't fall apart down the stretch of the regular season) has rattled off 40 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists in the first two rounds of the NIT.
Inserting Erving Walker into the starting lineup instead of Chandler Parsons looked genius against Jacksonville and then like just another roster move against the 'Canes.
It doesn't really matter for now because nothing can be changed or fixed this late in the year, and both players still received plenty of playing time.
I doubt Walker is ready to be a full-time starter in the SEC next year (if the Gators want to be good again), because he provides such a spark off the bench.
Regardless, UF is doing the important things, including outrebounding a supposedly physical Miami team 37-25 on Friday.
But like that man who has been teased by his dream girl too many times, it is hard to completely erase the skepticism. Three more quality wins and an NIT championship would undoubtedly change that, but I would not be a single bit shocked if UF turns around and lays an egg against Penn State tonight.
This is where I might consider analyzing the Gators-Nittany Lions matchup, but I have since realized all the numbers and matchups don't matter as much with Billy Donovan's team. The Gators have shown glimpses where they might compete with any team in America, but those periods are often followed by longer stretches that show why they've been banished to the NIT and can lose to almost any decent team.
And Penn State - despite being involved in that ridiculous 38-33 debacle with Illinois on Feb. 18 - could top UF if the Gators don't show up.
The fourth-place finisher in the Big Ten hopes to have its standout point guard and Big Ten leading scorer, Talor Battle, back in the lineup when it tips off tonight. Penn State defeated current NCAA Tournament Sweet 16-member Purdue at home on Jan. 6 and swept Illinois, which fell to 12-seed Western Kentucky in the first round of the tourney.
The key to the game is so simple though: Which UF squad shows up in the O'Connell Center tonight?
Just stop the teasing.
