SB Nation Kansas City: All Posts by Andy Hutchins

Florida football recruiting: Ryeshene Bronson decommits from Gators

2013-05-21T16:34:51Z

Florida's efforts to build its 2014 recruiting class got off to a flying start in 2012 and early 2013. That momentum has taken a hit of late: 247Sports' Luke Stampini reports that wide receiver Ryeshene Bronson has decommitted from Florida, just days after linebacker Christian Miller decommitted from the Gators' class.

Stampini doesn't give much of a reason for Bronson's decommitment — which he confirmed through sources at his school, Fort Myers' Dunbar High — but hints that he had heard rumblings of it for a while ($), which provides a few possible explanations for Bronson's decommitment.

First, it could have been related to the rumors about Bronson's grades that have been around for many, many moons on message boards. If Bronson doesn't have the grades to get in now, and needs significant work in his senior year, why would Florida keep him in its class?
Second, given that Florida's success in South Florida has been substantial to this point in this class, and its pursuit of top-flight wideout Ermon Lane seems like something that will go all the way to National Signing Day, Bronson might have seen the newly deep Florida depth chart at wideout — remember, Demarcus Robinson, Ahmad Fullwood, Marqui Hawkins, Alvin Bailey, and Chris Thompson are all one year ahead of Bronson — and decided that locking himself into Florida was not his smartest possible decision.
Third, and most interestingly, given Bronson's decommitment coming days after Miller's, and, like Miller's after a visit from new Florida wide receivers coach Joker Phillips (Bronson committed so long ago, in June 2012, that Aubrey Hill was still Florida's receivers coach, and we were still capitalizing every word in headlines), it is possible, and perhaps likely, that early Florida pledges chafe at the private expectations that those recruits continue to prove that they are worth a scholarship.

When Florida extends a committable scholarship offer to a recruit, and allows that recruit to label himself a future Florida Gator, that comes with expectations that grades and behavior remain up to Florida's standard, and that players will be re-evaluated by coaches on a regular basis, come to camps in the summer and on visits in the fall, and must do things to stay in good standing with the coaches — much like they will need to do things to stay in good standing with the coaches as a college athlete. This may also extend to hopes that those recruits touch base every so honest, are open and honest about their communication with other schools, and cut down or end their visits to other schools.

That last explanation — which, I'll be clear, is reasoned speculation, and not something I have any way of knowing for certain — is the one that would cover both Miller, now Crystal Balled to Alabama, and Bronson, who is certainly talented enough to field other offers.

If players want to make commitments to Florida 12 months or more before National Signing Day comes and their commitments become contracts in the form of a National Letter of Intent, Will Muschamp and his coaches will make sure that it is a commitment. Muschamp's spoken of players making "reservations" instead of commitments before; it would really not be surprising, or even wrong, if he and his coaches were re-evaluating their class bases on check-ups of those reservations — or if the players were, too.

Chomping at Bits: Florida women's tennis falls to Stanford in Final Four thriller

2013-05-21T14:41:51Z

Chomping at Bits comes stocked with the best Florida Gators links and news we can find. Got a link we should check out? Email us at AlligatorArmy@gmail.com, subject line CAB, or find us on Twitter at @AlligatorArmy or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AlligatorArmy.

Florida women's tennis falls to Stanford: Much more on this later, but a bitter end to a pair of wonderful careers by Lauren Embree and Caroline Hitimana. (GatorZone)

Florida women's golf tees off at NCAA Championships: I'd hope for a top-five finish. That would be great. (GatorZone)

Florida sweeps SEC All-Sports Awards: The Gators tend to dominate these. (Adam Silverstein, Only Gators)

Chandler Parsons hiring Dwight Howard's agent: Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. (Darren Heitner, Forbes)

How Erik Murphy measures up: He's only 6'8.5" without shoes, which seems right to me. (Wingspan to Height | Height Without Shoes)

ACC Network not coming soon? Boy, if Florida State's position as the best team in the ACC left it locked into a substandard conference that can't effectively capitalize on the riches in a conference network, that would just be awful. (Michael Smith and John Ourand, SportsBusiness Journal)

Chris Sale eats a lot: I am incredibly envious. (Brian Costa, The Wall Street Journal)

Today's All-Gators Schedule

	Opponent	Time	Coverage
Women's Golf	NCAA Championships	All day	Stats: NCAA.com
Baseball	Texas A&M (SEC Tournament)	5:30 p.m.	Audio: GatorVision \| Video: ESPN3

Your Gators moment of zen:

While I'm glad this exists, and I know it could be worse, I shudder to think of how many people probably needed this video to teach them, essentially, how to use the Internet.

The comments are yours.

Florida Gators Weekend Review: Women's tennis, softball, men's golf move on in NCAA play

2013-05-20T15:35:48Z

The Weekend Review runs down Florida's sporting successes and failures in the non-football, non-men's basketball, non-track sports on crowded fall and spring weekends. If you have a club sport or other note to include in the Weekend Review, hit @AlligatorArmy.

Women's tennis makes Final Four again

Another year, another trip to the Final Four. It's getting to be a familiar road for the Florida women's tennis team.

Florida's wins on Friday over Duke and Sunday over California produced the Gators' fourth straight trip to a national semifinal, and demonstrated two different great things about this team. On Friday, it was Florida's ability to close out an overmatched foe that stood out, as the Gators won a match aided by forfeits in both doubles and singles in a little over two hours; on Sunday, Florida's depth allowed it to top a Cal team that played quite well, with Lauren Embree's expected singles win being paired with singles victories by No. 5 player Olivia Janowicz and No. 6 player Caroline Hitimana that helped stave off a Golden Bears squad that won two singles matches of its own.

Florida's Monday match with Stanford may be a little different. But it could be the best match of the entire NCAA Tournament.

Stanford's the No. 12-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament, but, as usual, the Cardinal have talent up and down their roster, and will be in great position to push the Gators, who they hold a 3-2 advantage over since 2010. (Florida is 101-4 against the rest of collegiate tennis.) The No. 8-ranked doubles team of Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs has a win over the No. 3 doubles team in the country and a game 8-5 loss to the No. 1 doubles team in the country in the last three days, and Stanford scored wins in No. 2 through No. 5 singles over a very good Georgia team to come back from losing the doubles point on Sunday.

Florida went 2-0 this season against Georgia, with a 4-0 win in the SEC Tournament, and scored a 4-2 victory over Stanford in Gainesville in February, so the Gators have had success against both Stanford and the team it dispatched on Sunday. But the Gators have just one nationally ranked doubles team (Embree and Sofie Oyen) to Stanford's two, and though Florida has nationally ranked players at every singles position, the Gators will have the lower-ranked player in two of the six singles matches, and could have had the lower-ranked player in three, depending on how Florida coach Roland Thornqvist and Stanford coach Lele Forood set their lineups.

Florida's Final Four match against Stanford could be the best of the entire NCAA Tournament.

Embree will be the higher-ranked player in her match against No. 13 Nicole Gibbs, as the No. 1 women's singles player in the country always is, and whomever plays No. 6 singles for Florida (likely Caroline Hitimana) will face unranked Natalie Dillon. But Oyen is No. 17, just a smidgeon below No. 14 Krista Hardebeck, who has been playing No. 3 singles for the Cardinal, and No. 51 Alexandra Cercone will be outranked by either Hardebeck or No. 25 Nicole Ahn. Stanford could also have matched No. 92 Ellen Tsay against No. 89 Brianna Morgan, producing a closer matchup (in rankings terms) than Tsay vs. No. 123 Olivia Janowicz, and neutralizing Florida's ability to get a cheap point from Morgan, who is 18-1 on the season in dual-match singles play.

Of course, Stanford and Florida know full well that rankings don't guarantee wins: The Cardinal scored a quarterfinal upset of USC that saw an upset win over the No. 2 player in the country more than cancelled out by losses in No. 2 and No. 3 singles, including an upset of Hardebeck (who is 1-1 against both Oyen and Cercone in the 2012-13 season, and lost to Cercone in the teams' dual match), and have upset higher-ranked USC and Georgia teams in their Final Four run, while Florida has gone 1-1 as the higher-ranked team and 1-0 as the lower-ranked outfit in NCAA finals since 2010.

And then there's the other reality of Florida-Stanford matches: They're never boring, and never go quite like you expect, as five matches with none closer than 5-2 since 2010 indicates. If you have any passing interest in women's tennis at all, you're going to want to tune in to FightingIllini.com's coverage of tonight's match at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Softball sweeps Gainesville Regional play

Last year, at this time, Florida had ceded its place in the constellation of softball teams to USF, crashing and burning in the Gainesville Regional as turmoil roiled the Gators and ruined their season.

This year, things are a lot more harmonious. And Florida's marching along to its new drumbeat.

No. 2-seeded Florida swept the Gainesville Regional over the weekend, topping Hampton 7-1 on Friday, and getting 11-1 and 2-0 wins over USF and ace Sara Nevins on Saturday and Sunday. The Gators trailed in each of the first two games after letting up first-inning runs, but Florida answered Hampton with a four-run rally in the fourth inning and got homers from Kelsey Horton and Taylore Fuller in the fifth inning, and Lauren Haeger pounded USF pitching for her 18th home run of the year and seven RBI on Saturday, tying Florida's team record.

Sunday's game was a true pitching duel, however, as Hannah Rogers held the Bulls in check for a complete game shutout, and Nevins allowed both of USF's runs without yielding a hit, as Florida took a 2-0 lead produced by walks and hit batters to the top of the seventh inning before Kelsey Stewart rapped a single off Nevins.

The Gators will move on to face UAB in this weekend's Gainesville Super Regional, and are lucky to get the Blazers, upset winners over Louisville and UCLA in the Louisville Regional this past weekend. Game 1 of that best-of-three series will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, and will be televised by ESPNU, while Game 2 is Sunday at noon, and slated for ESPN.

Men's golf finishes second, makes NCAA Championships

For a while, it looked like Florida was going to stage a massive upset at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional over the weekend. Then, on Saturday, Alabama's excellent men's golf crew came back with the round of the weekend.

But the Gators took more than a berth to the NCAA Championships for the 13th consecutive year away from the competition.

Florida finished in second at 10-over, six strokes behind Alabama, after an eight-over Saturday 296 that helped the Crimson Tide (who fired a six-under 282, the best round of the competition), and after T.J. Vogel, Tyler McCumber, and Eric Banks were first, second, and tied for third heading into the day, Vogel and McCumber finished tied for third, and Banks in a tie for 17th.

That's what happens when two very good rounds are followed by an over-par performance, as was the case for all three golfers (Vogel went 70-71-74, McCumber 70-72-73, and Banks 72-71-81) and Florida (286-292-296) as a whole. The Gators led Alabama by 10 strokes after Thursday's first round, and eight shots after Friday's second, but exceptional days from Scott Strohmeyer (69 on Saturday) and Bobby Wyatt (a Saturday 66 that was the best round of the competition) led both players to leapfrog Vogel and McCumber for first and second, respectively, and powered a charge by the most consistent team in the field, one that has won its last five tournaments.

Florida's slim national title chance is more than it had before this weekend.

Florida's going to see that Alabama team again at the NCAA Championships in two weeks, but the Gators did produce the second-lowest round of the weekend on Thursday, and now know that Vogel and McCumber can go low in the same tournament. Both players finished in the top five for the first time since Florida's first tournament of the fall season, and each has the game to go low and win medalist honors at the NCAA Championships.

If both can rack up birdies there, Florida has a slim chance to win another national title, which would be its first since 2001. And while a slim chance isn't much, given how great every NCAA Championships field is, it's more than virtually anyone would have given the Gators before this weekend.

Lacrosse falls to Syracuse again

Florida's lacrosse team has done a lot in its four short years of existence, but perhaps the most painful thing the Gators have done is make a pair of nemeses. One is Northwestern, the reigning titan of women's lacrosse, which will compete with Florida for ALC titles for years to come.

The other is Syracuse, which has eliminated the Gators from the last two NCAA Tournaments, most recently on Saturday, with a 13-9 victory in the Carrier Dome that ended Florida's dream of winning a national championship with its first recruiting class.

More: Orange crushed again Florida's 2012 loss to 'Cuse

The Orange's talented duo of Alyssa Murray and Kayla Treanor dazzled on Saturday, darting past Florida defenders time and again and helping Syracuse build a five-goal lead in the second half that the Gators could not erase. Florida couldn't get any offensive consistency until the final moments of the game, thanks in part to swarming and physical 'Cuse defense.

Without repeating too many of the points from our Saturday post or cannibalizing a post to come on the future of the team, Florida lacrosse's great success to this point is making failure something unexpected and painful; no one could have imagined that the Gators would be great in their nascence, but Amanda O'Leary and her talented players have proven to be successful beyond most dreams. And that is the foundation of a powerhouse.

It's also nice to have measuring sticks like Northwestern and Syracuse. Florida will do well if it can continue competing with the best teams in the sport.

Baseball secures winning record despite struggles

Florida's beleaguered baseball team won its Thursday series opener against Georgia, ensuring the Gators' sixth straight winning regular season and the .500 record necessary for NCAA Tournament eligibility. If the Gators want to make sure they're going to avoid a losing season overall, they will need to play better than they did in the two other games of that series.

Florida followed its 4-2 Thursday win with woeful 3-1 and 9-2 losses on Friday and Saturday, dropping its record to 29-17 overall and 14-16 in SEC play; this is the first time Florida has had a losing SEC record under Kevin O'Sullivan. And Florida's stretch run has been abysmal, with the Gators going 4-8 over their last 12 games, winning just two SEC contests, after an 11-1 tear that featured road wins over Mississippi State and Florida State and a home sweep of South Carolina.

Florida will see Texas A&M in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in Hoover, Alabama, but I wouldn't bet on the Gators getting past the Aggies, who have been a white-hot 15-1 in their last 16 games, and had a 14-game winning streak snapped over the weekend in a 5-4 loss to Alabama. Florida is also 1-5 against A&M, having lost series to the Aggies in Gainesville in 2006 and College Station in 2007.

One bright side for Florida: Sophomore hurler Johnny Magliozzi will take the bump on Tuesday, and his 4-1 record and 2.14 ERA give him the team lead in both winning percentage and ERA.

Chomping at Bits: Florida women's tennis, softball score Sunday wins

2013-05-20T13:30:05Z

Florida women's tennis makes fourth straight Final Four: And now, Stanford stands in the way of a fourth straight final. (GatorZone)

Florida softball sweeps Gainesville Regional: The Gators will host UAB in the Gainesville Super Regional this weekend. (GatorZone)

Florida not among the 10 most talented college football teams: But Miami is? (Travis Haney, ESPN Insider)

New book on college football uses Gators on cover: This is from the 2011 season opener, I believe. (Saturday Millionaires)

Europe's more socialist sports: Really enjoyed this somewhat cursory look at the differences between European soccer's competitions and their American equivalents. (Michael Bertin, Grantland)

How the superrich shape housing: Demand for incredibly luxurious housing pushes up prices in New York, and the rise of luxury rentals is hampering neighborhoods in London. (Charles Bagli, The New York Times | Sarah Lyall, The New York Times)

Today's All-Gators Schedule

	Opponent	Time	TV/Radio
Women's Tennis	Stanford	6 p.m.	FightingIllini.com

Your Gators moment of zen: Patric Young is pretty good at singing!

But this is funny:

@jaron_a_mo @ufcoachbillyd dang Jaron you trying to do me like that lol
— Patric Young (@BigPatYoung4) May 18, 2013

The comments are yours.

Chomping at Bits: Lacrosse season ends, baseball gets No. 8 SEC Tournament seed

2013-05-19T16:30:06Z

#FLax takes its last fall of 2013: In case you missed it yesterday. (GatorZone | Alligator Army)

Baseball gets No. 8 seed in SEC Tournament: After dropping a series to Georgia, this feels very fair. (GatorZone)

Men's golf moves on to NCAA Championships: Despite a swoon of sorts on Saturday, the Gators made it 13 straight years of qualifying for the final stage of collegiate golf. Which is, as you might guess, nuts: It's the nation's longest current streak. (GatorZone | Golfstat)

The difference between great and elite defense: Our 'Bama blog goes hunting. (Slice of Life, Roll 'Bama Roll)

Is the SEC's NFL talent production overrated? Our Ohio State blog goes hunting. (Buckskin, Land-Grant Holy Land)

Brittney Griner was asked to keep sexuality quiet: And this is part of why I think statements like "Homosexuality is a sin" are more powerful than the reverse. (ESPN)

Today's Florida schedule:

	Opponent	Time	TV/Radio
Softball	USF	1 p.m.	GatorVision
Women's Tennis	California	1 p.m.	FightingIllini.com
Softball	USF	After first game (if nec.)	GatorVision

Your Gators moment of zen:

It may not have ended how we dreamed, but we had a damn good run and started something so special #flaxforever
— Kitty Cullen (@kittytwitty4) May 19, 2013

When an entire bar begins chanting on behalf of your team, you have done something right! #GatorNation
— Kitty Cullen (@kittytwitty4) May 19, 2013

The comments are yours.

Orange crushed again: Florida lacrosse falls to Syracuse in NCAA Tournament for second straight year

2013-05-18T20:28:04Z

Florida's nascent lacrosse powerhouse came to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse with revenge for last year's NCAA Tournament loss on their minds. After Syracuse's 13-9 win over the Gators, the wonderful women who built this program will leave it this evening without that revenge, and with a bitter taste in their mouths after one of the sweetest possible beginnings for a brand-new program.

Florida never had the upper hand in this game, which was played on the road by virtue of NCAA Tournament seeding that gave the Gators the No. 5 national seed despite wins over the No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 seeds. And Florida looked out of sorts, on offense and in the midfield, especially, in their first trip to the Carrier Dome — the Gators fell in a 2-0 hole, battled back to lead 3-2 and 4-3, but never led in the second half.

13 turnovers also squandered precious possessions to a Syracuse team that leaned on Kayla Treanor (three goals, one assist) and Alyssa Murray (two goals, one assist) to make plays on offense and get the Orange out in front. All seven of the goals Treanor and Murray had a hand in came in Syracuse's first 10 goals, and stuck Florida with a 10-6 hole with just under 14 minutes to play.

The Gators couldn't muster any easy offense on the day, much less consistent good shots, and fought hard just to keep the Orange from running all the way away, scoring three goals in the game's final eight minutes and cutting Syracuse's lead to three goals with 1:48 to go. But Syracuse won its 12th draw control of the day on the faceoff immediately after that goal, and added another goal of its own to essentially end the Florida comeback attempt.

Florida's loss wasn't the same as their collapse against Syracuse last year, when the Orange rallied from a five-goal deficit in the final seven minutes of play and prevailed in an overtime with controversial calls aplenty to deny the Gators their first trip to the NCAA Tournament final, but this one may hurt more: For Florida's 13 seniors, 12 of whom who have been with the program since its inaugural season in 2010, this was the last chance to handle unfinished business, and take a team from its start to the stars.

For those players, like Kitty Cullen (two goals and an assist), Brittany Dashiell (four draw controls), and Mikey Meagher (12 saves on 29 shots), this will hurt for a long, long time, and perhaps forever. This is true of the end of any athlete's career that never featured a trip all the way to the top, but it's far more painful when those athletes get as close as Florida's did, and, frankly, seems like the wrong ending for this precocious, audacious team, which shocked the world of college lacrosse repeatedly en route to this moment.

In time, the sharpness of this pain will fade; the wound will close, and scab, and it'll only really hurt if these players pick at it. But, right now, perhaps their greatest tribute is the truth of how far they've come.

Four years ago, Florida making the NCAA Tournament was unthinkable. Three years ago, it was shocking. Two years ago, taking the No. 1 overall seed was incredible. Now, it's stunning that the Gators are going home.

These Gators didn't get to the mountaintop. But there's a base camp now. And when Florida does get to the peak of this sport, it will be sweeter because of this struggle.

Chomping at Bits: Florida still leading NCAA Baton Rouge Regional

2013-05-18T14:30:02Z

T.J. Vogel leading Gators in Baton Rouge: What Vogel, Tyler McCumber, and Eric Banks are doing right now is really, really special. (GatorZone)

Florida moves on in NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament: A sweep win avenging their worst loss of the season? Just another day for these Gators. (GatorZone)

Softball cruises to win over Hampton: Florida plays USF at 1 p.m. today. (GatorZone)

Baseball drops second game of series at Georgia: Another offensive brownout doomed the Gators. (GatorZone)

Brendan Donovan leaves for Cleveland: On one hand, it hurts to lose a guy who was an important cog in Florida's recruiting machine; on the other, the last two guys to hold his job have moved on for Ohio State and the NFL, so there's an obvious appeal to having the position. (Chris Pokorny, Dawgs By Nature)

Florida part of many non-conference showdowns: And this year's bunch seems to be very, very good. (Andy Glockner, One And One | SI.com)

Florida target Brandone Francis ready to commit: And the Gators likely lead. (Jeff Borzello, Eye on College Basketball | CBS Sports)

Local sports anchor goes up against Hannah Rogers: It goes poorly for the anchor. (Zach Aldridge, WCJB)

Paco Rodriguez faces Justin Upton: It goes very poorly for Paco. ()

More of Tim Tebow's imagined CFL future: I like the CFL, but this is very funny. (Jon Bois, SB Nation)

The history of video coordinators for the Miami Heat: This is a sweet little look at how Erik Spoelstra got to where he is. (Tom Haberstroh, Heat Index Blog | ESPN)

Your Gators moment of zen: Okay, so Patric Young posted a Vine earlier this week "detailing" his diet.

Then Florida golfer Katie Mitchell came back with this wonderful response.

The comments are yours.

Weekend Preview: Softball, women's tennis, lacrosse, men's golf look to advance in NCAA play

2013-05-17T22:11:27Z

Softball begins NCAA Tournament

As it enters the 2013 NCAA Tournament, Florida's softball team is in almost the exact same position its 2012 predecessor was. There are a couple of major differences, though: First, it seems unfathomable that this team is going to blow up off the fiel like last year's did, and second, these Gators might just win it all.

Florida had the No. 5 national seed in 2012, but a better finish to their 2013 campaign, which featured a sweep of the SEC's regular season and tournament titles, earned the Gators the No. 2 national seed this year. And the 2013 iteration of the Gainesville Regional is stocked with less talent than in 2012, when Florida Gulf Coast and USF both took wins from Florida to knock the Gators out of postseason play.

This year, Florida begins with MEAC champion Hampton, a 34-24 squad that went 16-2 in conference play and 18-22 outside it, and should make short work of the Pirates: The Gators have a 21-2 record against fellow MEAC teams Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M all-time. USF and Georgia Southern make up the other half of the Gainesville Regional's bracket, and it's a good bet that we'll see the Gators take on the Sara Nevins-led Bulls for the third time this season on Saturday: USF defeated Georgia Southern 1-0 Friday afternoon. Florida took wins from USF in Tampa and Gainesville earlier this year, and has the rare battery of hitters that can make things happen against Nevins.

NCAA Tournament play is double-elimination, and Florida will have to win no fewer than three games to advance, but the Gators can reduce their weekend to little more than a series-like string of games by beating Hampton tonight (the game started at 6 p.m.), as the winner of that game plays USF at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and the winner of that 1 p.m. Saturday game doesn't play again until 1 p.m. on Sunday.

GatorVision has live, free streams of all of the games from the Gainesville Regional this weekend. For tons more on Florida softball, and on ticket and other information about the Gainesville Regional, head to GatorZone.

Women's tennis moves on to Elite Eight

Florida's women's tennis team is just three wins away from three national championships in a row. The Gators already have three wins in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, after making quick work of Duke this morning in Illinois.

Florida swept the Blue Devils, 4-0, and had only to win three matches and five sets to do it: Duke's five-player teamwas forced to forfeit on No. 3 doubles, helping Florida win a quick doubles point thanks to the team of Lauren Embree and Sofie Oyen, and No. 6 singles, giving the Gators a 2-0 lead before singles play commenced.

With that lead in hand, Florida calmly went on to avenge a 4-0 loss to Duke in Durham earlier this season, with Olivia Janowicz and Brianna Morgan weeping No. 5 and No. 4 singles matches, respectively. The whole match took a little over two hours, very quick for a Sweet Sixteen match, and Florida should be fresh for the grueling stretch run before it over the next four days.

That's because Florida, which will play California on Sunday in an Elite Eight matchup, must win matches on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to earn the national championship, thanks to the NCAA Tournament's format, which allows for team play to spill from one weekend into the next week before individual play begins next Wednesday and ends next weekend.

Of course, the well-conditioned Gators are the No. 1 seed in this tournament and its two-time defending champions for a reason: Since 2010, when their current string of three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament final began, they have lost just 11 games in nine matches in the Elite Eight or later, with 10 of those losses coming to either possible Final Four foe Stanford or the Duke team they dispatched today.

Florida plays Cal at 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. Live stats and free streams will be available all weekend at FightingIllini.com, the athletics website of the University of Illinois.

Lacrosse faces Syracuse in NCAA Tournament rematch

There's unfinished business remaining for Florida's women's lacrosse team in the three games that stand between it and the program's first national title, and the Gators will have to go through old foe Syracuse in a tough matchup on Saturday to make it back to the Final Four where the Orange defeated them in 2012.

Florida's No. 5 national seed, given despite the Gators' wins over No. 2 Northwestern, No. 3 North Carolina, and No. 4 Syracuse during the regular season, earned the Gators a trip up to the Carrier Dome to play the Orange it beat by a 14-10 count in Miami this March. We already detailed how this Syracuse team is likely to be different without Michelle Tumolo, out for the season with an ACL tear, but Florida's road test merits some more examination.

Syracuse has just a 10-10 record in the NCAA Tournament, but was largely playing road games at higher-seeded teams until the arrival of head coach Gary Gait in 2008. Since then, Syracuse has hosted five NCAA Tournament games, and won them all, including a thrilling comeback against North Carolina in 2012.

Florida has far less NCAA Tournament history, with a 4-2 record since its first appearance in 2012, but hasn't had to play a road NCAA Tournament game yet, with the Gators hosting Stanford and Duke in 2011, Albany and Penn State in 2012, and Denver last Sunday. So this trip to Syracuse and the cavernous Carrier Dome is profoundly strange for the Gators, and saddles a team that defeated its foe at a neutral site in the regular season with a disadvantage in NCAA Tournament play.

That's not to say that Florida shouldn't be able to handle Syracuse on the field on Saturday: The Gators, whose 2 p.m. tilt will be televised by Sun Sports and broadcasted on ESPN 850, led by two or more goals for all but 5:47 of that first matchup in Miami, and the weather was unseasonably cold for South Florida, nullifying some of the advantage of a neutral-site home-state game. And that was with Tumolo, whose four goals and five points led Syracuse in both categories.

If Florida can lasso 100-point scorer Alyssa Murray and leading goal-scorer Kayla Treanor, it should have enough firepower from Kitty Cullen, Shannon Gilroy, Ashley Bruns, Brittany Dashiell, and/or someone else to make a second straight Final Four.

Men's golf going low while aiming high at NCAA Regionals

Florida's men's golf program has spent its spring muddling through despite a wealth of talent. At the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional over the last two days, that talent has been on full display.

Florida shot a 2-under 286 in Thursday's first round to take a 10-shot lead on No. 2-ranked Alabama, then followed it up with a 4-over 292 on a tougher Friday that ceded just two shots to the Crimson Tide. T.J. Vogel has been the Gators' leader, is the only player in the field to card two under-par rounds, and leads all players at 3-under — but his one-shot lead is over teammate Tyler McCumber, and McCumber is alone in second, and one shot ahead of Florida's Eric Banks and Alabama's Scott Strohmeyer.

The performance of that top three has done a ton to help Florida, which has also seen J.D. Tomlinson struggle to a 77 on Thursday and a 78 on Friday and counted a 74 from Tommy Mou in the first round before eight bogeys and three double bogeys on Friday contributed to his second-round 82.

The Gators tee off on Saturday morning, and live stats will be available via Golfstat. There is no stream or radio broadcast, but, c'mon, it's golf.

Baseball finishing regular season

Florida's baseball team assured itself of a winning regular season with a win over Georgia on Thursday night. With one win in the next two games, the Gators will also lock in a .500 record in the SEC in a rebuilding year.

Florida's 4-2 win over the Bulldogs in Athens on Thursday night was notable for reasons other than boosting the Gators' record to 29-25 and 14-14 in the SEC: Jonathon Crawford worked 6.2 innings and allowed just one earned run (Georgia's other run was unearned because of a Cody Dent error, of all things), freshmen Harrison Bader and Brady Roberson combined for Florida's three RBI on the night, and Florida's bullpen allowed one hit in 2.1 innings of sterling work.

But these Gators really just needed a win to avoid the potential disaster of a sweep at the hands of a cellar-dwelling Georgia team that has a dismal 5-20 SEC record, one that would have forced them to win two games at the SEC Tournament to guarantee a winning record. With that possibility eliminated, Florida can tinker with its rotation and lineup this weekend, rest bullpen arms, and prepare for the SEC Tournament, which has a higher risk-reward proposition than two more games against a bad Georgia team.

SB Nation Kansas City: All Posts by Andy Hutchins

Florida football recruiting: Ryeshene Bronson decommits from Gators

Chomping at Bits: Florida women's tennis falls to Stanford in Final Four thriller

Today's All-Gators Schedule

Florida Gators Weekend Review: Women's tennis, softball, men's golf move on in NCAA play

Women's tennis makes Final Four again

Softball sweeps Gainesville Regional play

Florida softball's Black Friday

Men's golf finishes second, makes NCAA Championships

Lacrosse falls to Syracuse again

Baseball secures winning record despite struggles

Chomping at Bits: Florida women's tennis, softball score Sunday wins

Today's All-Gators Schedule

Chomping at Bits: Lacrosse season ends, baseball gets No. 8 SEC Tournament seed

Orange crushed again: Florida lacrosse falls to Syracuse in NCAA Tournament for second straight year

Chomping at Bits: Florida still leading NCAA Baton Rouge Regional

Weekend Preview: Softball, women's tennis, lacrosse, men's golf look to advance in NCAA play

Softball begins NCAA Tournament

Women's tennis moves on to Elite Eight

Lacrosse faces Syracuse in NCAA Tournament rematch

Men's golf going low while aiming high at NCAA Regionals

Baseball finishing regular season