Kentucky freshman Brandon Knight had 24 points and looked like a future lottery pick; Chandler Parsons simply got his Florida Gators the win.

It was a battle of young talent versus experience when the #11 Wildcats (16-6, 4-4 SEC) visited the #23 Gators (18-5, 7-2 SEC) Saturday night. However, it was Florida’s depth and Parsons’ senior leadership that prevailed in a 70-68 win.

Parsons recorded his fifth double-double of the season in the win, but his presence couldn’t be measured in statistics. Parsons flew through blocks and provided clutch plays throughout the game. When the game was on the line he was able to hit highlight reel shots, and personally reached out to the crowd to get them to believe Florida could win.

However, it wasn’t a one man show for the Gators. Florida’s go-to hero and leading scorer on the season, Erving Walker, was quiet in first half. That’s where 17-year-old Scottie Wilbekin came in. Wilbekin had nine points, all in the first half, and provided his team with a much needed spark to fill in for Walker’s production. Alex Tyus was held scoreless in the first half, but when Wilbekin cooled off Tyus stepped in. The seasoned play of Parsons and Tyus was the anchor that allowed the Gators to hold off the late game rally by Kentucky’s freshmen.

The game was a heavily contested battle between two very good, but different, teams. Both teams finished the game with 32 rebounds. Both teams took big leads at one point in the game, but duked it out at the very end. Kentucky led for most of the first half, while Florida was in control for most of the second half.

There were a few stats that Florida held in its favor that played into their win. The Gators are now 15-1 when they are able to hold opponents under 70 points. Florida also got a huge contribution from the free throw line. The Gators shot 81.8% from the line, and made 5-6 key free throws in the game’s final three minutes to help secure the win.

Kentucky depended very heavily on its youth. Freshmen Terrence Jones and Knight combined for 42 points and often looked quicker and more agile than the aged Gators. Knight led the Wildcats with 24 points, while Jones added 14.

Parsons led the Gators on offense with 17 points, while Kenny Boynton added 12 and Vernon Macklin scored 11. Parsons was also the anchor of the Gators defense with 12 rebounds.

Coach Billy Donovan believes that the test of the Gators maturity against adversity is yet to come. He believes that the challenge will be keeping focused after a big win such as Kentucky.

The Gators now travel to South Carolina to face a Gamecock team that they have already lost to once at home this season.

Super Bowls have kind of become a habit for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Make no mistake though, this year’s game has just as much current storyline as it has history surrounding it.

To understand what makes this year’s championship unique from the Steelers perspective it’s important to look at the team’s past Super Bowl appearances. Pittsburgh has more Super Bowl wins than any other team with six, and has a total of eight appearances including this year.

The Steelers are a team steeped in tradition and consistency. Since the NFL merged with the AFL in 1970 Pittsburgh has only had three head coaches: Chuck Nolan, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin.

Tomlin’s Steelers fit the team’s smash-mouth mold perfectly. Pittsburgh’s win over the Cardinals in Super Bowl 43 had all the grit of Mean Joe Green with Franco Harris’esque last-second excitement. A look at the championship squad from 2009 provides a clearer picture of what to expect from Pittsburgh vs. Green Bay.

The Steelers finished the 2008 season with a 12-4 record and the second seed in the AFC playoffs. They still had several members of their Super Bowl squad from 2006, and a mix of strong young talent.  Pittsburgh led the league in total defense during the regular season, and saw four players chosen to the Pro Bowl

Pittsburgh finished the 2010 season with a 12-4 record and the second seed in the AFC playoffs. They still have several members of their Super Bowl squad from 2008, and a mix of strong talent. Pittsburgh led the league in total defense during the regular season, and saw four players chosen to the Pro Bowl. Sound familiar?

As noted earlier the Steelers are a very consistent franchise. Actual change is something that takes years for this organization. When a key player retires or leaves the organization instead of reinventing the position they usually plug in another guy that fits a certain prototype. Keeping it simple seems to work. This year’s game ties Pittsburgh with Dallas for most Super Bowl appearances.

Pittsburgh won’t be fancy and come out looking like a different team in this game. The team and game plan for this week shouldn’t look too different from Super Bowl 43. The major difference is that the Steelers are in their prime. 2008’s appearance was a first for Coach Mike Tomlin. The leaders of the team from that year are mostly the same, but just older.

The Steelers are aging quick; especially on defense. They don’t need to press the panic button yet. However, Pittsburgh will need to get more production from its younger players soon if its want to continue to remain relevant in future seasons. That being said, age benefits the Steelers going into this week’s game. It can be debated whether Super Bowl experience is a positive or negative, but the Steelers have a core group of leadership that have been around the block more than once. With a seventh year quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger at helm on offense, and Troy Polamalu and James Harrison anchoring the defense the Steelers are going to play Pittsburgh football.

One position full of youth for the Steelers that bares a strong resemblance to 2008’s squad is wide receiver. Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington both had standout season’s for Pittsburgh that year, and left for bigger contracts with the Jets and Titans after the Super Bowl. Mike Wallace had a huge regular season and Emmanuel Sanders has been emerging as a legitimate threat lately. Many believe that Wallace will be the player turned too if the Steelers offense needs Santonio Holmes-like heroics late in the game. Other noticeable roster changes from 2008 include a change at kicker from Jeff Reed to Jeremy Kapinos, and the presence of Doug Legursky due to the injury of Maurkice Pouncey.

Green Bay is very similar to the Arizona Cardinals of 2008 in some regards. Hunger is a word synonymous with both groups. The Packers have had more success over the years than the Cardinals, but there is still a need to go further. Green Bay’s last trip to the Super Bowl was in 1998. The Steelers will once again face a team that is looking to prove themselves.

In terms of player personnel commonalities are a little harder to find. Both the Cardinals and the Packers defense focused around the 3-4 scheme. However, the style in which the Packers use that scheme varies a little from the Cardinals. On offense, both teams featured a dynamic group of veteran receivers.

One of the key storylines from Super Bowl 43 was Ken Whisenhunt’s attempt to take down his former team. The former Steelers offensive coordinator took the head job with Cardinals after Cowher retired in 2006. As a result there were several resemblances on the field between the Steelers and Cardinals.

This year’s game is all about the historic two franchises. There are several off-field issues surrounding the game, but the big story is the matchup itself. Pittsburgh is aiming to avoid all the pregame talk as an organization and just wants to prove that they’re the best on the field.

This year the media has had to dig deeper than normal to find controversial topics surrounding the game. The Packers had a minor skirmish over team photos earlier this week, but for the most part there is more focus on the actual game than gossip and smash talk.

There’s no clear cut favorite going into this year’s game. In 2008 the Steelers were picked as seven point favorites over the Cardinals. This year the odds makers have Pittsburgh as underdogs, which is where they love to be.

One popular source, that’s usually accurate at predicting the Super Bowl winners, has the Steelers coming out on top. EA Sports’ Madden video game series has correctly predicted the winner of six of the last seven Super Bowls through simulations; including the Steelers’ win over Arizona. This year’s prediction: Pittsburgh 24 – Green Bay 20.

How accurate that prediction will be is yet to be determined, but there is one interesting prediction the simulation made. The Madden simulation was a decided by a Steeler interception with :24 seconds left to play; similar to the late game heroics by Santonio Holmes versus the Cardinals.

The Florida Gators fought to keep up with Mississippi State for 35 minutes, and then they ran out of gas.

The Gators trailed the Bulldogs for most of their 71-64 loss on Saturday. However, Florida was on the verge of positioning themselves for the win until their offense fell asleep in the final five minutes of the second half.

Erving Walker’s basket with 5:17 left gave Florida a 63-62 lead, but would be the team’s last basket of the game. The Gators missed their final eight shots and went 1-6 from the line after Walker’s basket.

Foul shots were a key component to the Bulldogs victory. Mississippi State was 19-23 from the charity strike in the game including a 6-6 mark in the games final minute. Florida was a dismal 9-19, and is 10^th in the SEC with a .653 mark on the season.

The outcome was almost a flipped script of what may have been expected entering the contest. The 23^rd ranked Gators (16-5, 5-2 SEC) entered the game in sole possession of first place in the SEC East and on a three game winning streak. The Bulldogs (11-9, 3-3 SEC) were coming off back-to-back losses to Georgia and Vanderbilt, and were still searching for a signature win this season. They got it against the Gators.

Dee Bost led the Bulldogs with a commanding 24 point performance. The floor leader helped the Bulldogs control the tempo throughout the game. Mississippi State led by as many as ten points, but the Gators kept it close until the end. That’s when the Bulldogs really stepped out of character.

On Thursday, Mississippi State dropped a similar game against Vanderbilt in which they led for most of the game, but weren’t able to finish.

In some ways Florida practically gave Mississippi State the game. The Gators had one of their worst offensive performances of the season, and often look disinterested and out of character.

There were a few bright spots in the game. Florida outrebounded the Bulldogs 42-34, and grabbed an impressive 16 offensive rebounds on the game. Chandler Parsons led the Gators with 10 rebounds, while Vernon Macklin and Will Yeguete both added 6.

Erving Walker continued his starring role on the Gators offense by leading the team with 18 points. However, this time he wasn’t able to hit the big shots, or any shots for that matter, in the games final moments. After scoring the Gators’ last basket of the game, Walker went 0-5 during Florida’s drought.

Things don’t get any easier soon for the Gators. They travel to play #22 Vanderbilt on Tuesday, and #16 Kentucky on Saturday.

Erving Walker was the hero in Florida’s 104-91 double-overtime win at Georgia Tuesday; he was also the villain.

Walker hit a 3-pointer from 30 feet out with one second on the clock to force a second overtime period, and was the Gators floor leader throughout the game. However, Walker’s gutsy style that eventually gave Florida the W is what put the game in jeopardy in the first place.

With the Gators (16-4, 5-1 SEC) up 72-66 with two minutes left in regulation Walker would be the only Gator to record a shot before overtime. The result: a turnover, two key missed free throws and a missed three pointer. Those two minutes of play were an anomaly in what was overall a stunning performance by the junior guard.

Walker’s play wasn’t the reason the Gators almost lost. The two teams were playing for first place in the SEC East, and both looked the part. This was not another game that went down to the wire because Florida let their opponent control the tempo of the gave. These squads were evenly matched, and were simply just fighting to prove who the better team was on that night.

Both teams were able to take decent leads of up to eight points, but every surge was responded to with great displays of resilience from the opponent. In regulation the game came down to the final possession. That was one area where Georgia (14-5, 3-3 SEC) had the advantage over Florida. Seven of Georgia’s games this season had decided on the last decision, with six going in favor of the Dawgs. Trey Thompkins, who had a great game for Georgia, slammed in an offensive rebound with one second left in regulation to triumphantly even the score.

This is the point in the game where Walker’s two minute slump changed to story of the game. If Walker was to not commit just one of the mistakes in the waning moments of regulation Georgia would have been forced to hit a three, which Florida’s defense had completely blocked. Instead, the Dawgs used the momentum from Thompkins dunk to set the tempo in overtime. Florida was very lucky that Walker even had a chance to get off his miracle shot. It took a total lapse in the Georgia defense to set up the wild highlight reel shot.

Double-overtime was the Gators turn to use momentum in their favor. Fueled by Walker’s shot, Florida outscored Georgia 19-6, which included nine points from Chandler Parsons.

The win was not a one man show by Walker. Parsons, Kenny Boynton and Vernon Macklin added MVP worthy performances of their own. Walker and Boynton led all scorers with 24 points, while Macklin added 23 and Parsons had 18.

Georgia was led on offense by Travis Leslie with 21 points and Thompkins with 20.

Parsons and Macklin anchored the Gator defense for a combined 21 rebounds. However, it was Florida’s play involving the free throw line that may have given them an extra edge. The Gators were an impressive 26-36 from the line compared to Georgia’s 16-24 performance. Furthermore the Dawgs had two starters, Gerald Robinson and Dustin Ware, both foul out while the Gators haven’t had a player foul out all season.

With the win, the Gators are now in sole possession of first place in the SEC East, and will look to defend that title at Mississippi State on Saturday.

The Florida Gators need to figure out who they are.

The Gators look to be in the middle of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type identity crisis as of late. The Gators rebounded from an ugly slugfest of a win against Auburn on Thursday to humiliate Arkansas 75-43 on Saturday.

Within two days Florida went from looking like a Joke to playing like a legitimate contender come March. For a team that has shown lack of consistency and rhythm in spots this season the Gators looked like a well oiled machine in every aspect of play.

The Razorbacks took a 4-2 lead to start the game before the Gators went on an eight point run fueled by Vernon Macklin who scored eight of Florida’s first 10 points. That momentum would carry Florida to their best half of the season, which gave them a 39-17 lead at the intermission.

The impressive start was fueled by strong performances from Macklin, Alex Tyus and Kenny Boynton.  Macklin and Boynton both scored 11 points in the first half, while Macklin connected on his first five shots inside, and Tyus made his first four.

Boynton led the Gators in scoring with 20 points, while Tyus added 15 and Macklin scored 13. Delvon Johnson was the top scorer for the Razorbacks with 12 points.

The Gators did an amazing job of spreading the ball around and balancing the offense. However, one player stole the show from early on. Macklin, who has been outshined by freshman Patric Young as of late, was a beast from the beginning. His play carried an enforcing tone that displayed why he is the anchor of this Florida team down low.

The offensive barrage was a polar opposite from the team’s output against Auburn. The Gators came close to surpassing their total scoring performance against Auburn in one half against the Razorbacks. Their shooting percentage improved to 49.2% from a measly 28.3% against the Tigers.

However, shots from behind the arc seem to remain a challenge. Florida was 5-17 for a 29.4% from three to improve from a ghastly 5-26 outing against Auburn. The only Gator that found a rhythm from three was Boynton; as he went 4-7 from three.

Defense proved to be a big plus for Florida in the game as well. Chandler Parsons grabbed a career high 15 rebounds, and the defense implemented a well conceived gameplan that was successful throughout the contest. This allowed the Gators to hold the Razorback’s lead scorer, Rotnei Clarke, scoreless on the night. Instead the pressure forced Clarke into several forced shots that landed closer to the exits than to the hoop.

The win was the biggest margin of victory ever against Arkansas topping a 77-56 win March 11, 2007. It was also the lowest point total ever earned by Arkansas against the Florida.

The Gators (15-4, 4-1 SEC) are now in first place in the SEC East going into a big game Tuesday against rival Georgia.

Billy Donovan has never seen his offense play worse, but the Gators still won.

Florida defeated Auburn 45-40 Thursday night in a game that was far from an offensive shootout. One thing that was offensive was the play of both teams.

The scoring performance by the Gators is the lowest total ever by a Donovan led Florida team. The previous low was a 46 point total put up against Michigan State in a 2003 NCAA tournament game.

A large reason for the underwhelming score was the team’s output from three. The Gators went 5-26 from beyond the ark in the contest. However, they were able to make the ones that mattered.

Down 40-37 with 1:53 left in the game Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker hit back-to-back threes to give the Gators the momentum and the lead. Walker added two free throws to put away the game for Florida. The win takes the Gators to a 14-4 overall and 3-1 in SEC play.

It was a close game throughout in which both teams looked uneager to win. Neither team was able to grab more than a six point lead. Shooting was atrocious all around. The Gators hit 28.3% of their shots, while Auburn was able to make 37.5% of their attempts. What made things worse was that both teams did not appear to be rushing shots. Each squad had several great looks that missed its target by miles.

The Gators were led on offense by Erving Walker with 12 points, while Kenny Boynton added 9. Florida’s defense had a strong night overall winning the battle of the boards 34-27. However the tandem down low of Vernon Macklin and Patrick Young only added a total of 8 points and looked less affective than usual.

Kenny Gabriel and Earnest Ross led the Tigers offensive charge scoring 12 and 11 points respectively.

Florida is beginning to develop a pattern to how they play their games of late that is rather risky. The Gators start games with a demanding presence, but quickly allow the other team to dictate the tempo of the game.

Florida essentially appeared to play down to the level of an Auburn team that they are far superior to. This may be an explanation for several of their losses and close calls this season.

ESPN’s crew of announcer considered Auburn’s play a success throughout the game. The Tigers 24 points in the first half was six better than their season average before the intermission.

This team can flat out play better, and they will need to. The combined record of their next four opponents is 38-20. The Gators next match will be at home on Saturday versus Arkansas.

Florida Defensive Coordinator Larry Shyatt better be angry.

The Gators allowed South Carolina 21 three point attempts in a 72-69 loss Saturday. Florida’s defense hovered around the key throughout the game, which gave the Gamecocks plenty of time to pick their shots and grab a quick lunch before releasing the ball.

The first few minutes of the game were only a mirage of what could have been. The Gators set the tone out of the gates by using a loose laidback approach, while South Carolina seemed rushed and out of rhythm. However, the Gamecocks broke out of an 18-18 tie with around eight minutes left in the first half by going on a 9-0 run. From that point on the Gators looked lost and confused until late in the game. The Gators went flat on offense late in the first half and did not score at all in half’s final five minutes.

With four minutes left in the game it looked as if the Gamecocks had survived the last of the Gators comebacks and had the game in the bag up 59-49.  That’s when Florida decided to wake up.

The Gators tied things up with 3:10 left in the game by constructing a 10-0 run led by a pair of three-pointers from Kenny Boynton and Chandler Parsons. The Gators kept the game interesting for two minutes until 1:09 left in the game. An Ervin Walker missed foul shot with led to a Sam Muldrow three-pointer and a four point swing that would be the nail in Florida’s coffin.

The Gators were horrid from the line throughout the game shooting 54.5% on 22 attempts.

It was a game that the Gamecocks should not have been able to make close. Florida lost the game because of the way they played, but South Carolina should not be discredited. For a team that has nine freshmen on its roster, five that are active, the Gamecocks looked like a seasoned SEC contender.

South Carolina was led on offense by freshman guard Bruce Ellington who had a game high 23 points. On the other side of the ball the Gamecocks relied on the shot-blocking skills of senior forward Sam Muldrow. Muldrow looked bigger and more aggressive than the entire Gator roster at times, and put a huge roadblock in any possible comeback.

The brightest spot of the game for Florida was the emergence of freshman forward Patrick Young. Young had 12 points in 19 minutes off the bench and provided a defensive spark that kept his team alive. The game’s announcers summed it up best, “He looks like Dwight Howard out there.”

The Gators were led on offense by Walker with 17 points, and Vernon Macklin and Young who added 12 each. Macklin added 12 points to anchor a defensive effort which often seemed non-existent.

The loss drops Florida to 13-4 overall and 2-1 in SEC play. The Gators now travel to Auburn Jan. 20 and will see Arkansas at home Jan. 22 in a pair of manageable conference games.