Posted Mar 12, 11:05 PM in Gators by Scott Conley

Congratulations are well in order for the mighty UF men’s basketball team, the 2006 SEC Tournament Champions ! We Gators are celebrating only our second tournament championship ever, but with style- having won back-to-back with last year’s 2005 team.

This was Florida’s third year in a row appearing in the SEC Tournament finals, and our fourth visit all-time. Alabama holds the record with four consecutive appearances and Kentucky with three consecutive wins.

Faithful 14to9 readers (both of you) will recall sage words in this space :

“Please focus your attention on Mr. Taurean Green and Mr. Joakim Noah, certain to be at the center of any Big Dance success this team experiences.”

Not exactly Nostradamus at work if you’d ever seen these guys play, but nonethless: Green was named tournament MVP and Noah amazingly had both the game-winning shot and game-winning block in the championship game against South Carolina! And given how much my readership knows about Gator basketball, you probably DID hear it here first!

So, on to the Big Dance! The Gators are a three seed and I’ve already committed a bracket that verily REEKS of Gator fanboy.

Some observations (to save you the effort of scrolling around that enormous JPG):

• Wishful Thinking Gators in the finals, losing to Duke.
• Super Sleeper San Diego State and Steve “Dr. Evil” Fisher making to the Elite Eight.
• Who beats Duke? Nobody. JJ Redick won’t lose the big one! He just won’t!
• *I’m a Buckeye, where are my guys going? *The other JJ loses to 3/16: update my BOYZ in the Sweet Sixteen.
• Why are you such a hater? I’m not a hater, but I crush a lot.

Gators tip off against South Alabama (and a longtime Gator assistant now head coach- Eeek!) at 2:45p Thursday.

I’ll be ‘working from home’.

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