The Florida Gators failed to defeat UConn in the Final Four on Saturday. Cole Pepper shared his thoughts on the loss and more in his weekly sports wrap up.
Gators lose against UConn in Final Four
This was an amazing season for the Gators, but it ended Saturday night with a loss to Connecticut. The Gators only lost three games all year, but two of them were to UConn.
It was a very frustrating game for Gator fans who saw their team play a very uncharacteristic game. In fact, Florida point guard Scottie Wilbekin didn’t commit a turnover all tournament long, until Saturday. Florida just couldn't get anything going.
Their 30-game winning streak came to an end and to make matters even worse, they’re going to have to sit and watch arch-rival Kentucky play UConn for the national championship tonight. So the national champions will either be the team that beat Florida twice or a team that the Gators beat three times.
Now, as for what’s next for the Gators, there will be some changes next season for head coach Billy Donovan’s team. He’s losing four senior starters, including Wilbekin, Jacksonville native Patric Young, Casey Prather and Will Yeguete. They will have sharpshooter Michael Frazier back.
They have three top 100 recruits coming in, including Brandon Francis from Arlington Country Day. You have to think that the Gators will take a step back, but Billy Donovan has clearly proven himself as an elite coach in college basketball, so I wouldn’t count the Gators out.
Jaguars chasing Browns center Alex Mack
The draft is still a month away, but the Jaguars are trying to sign the player who was considered the top free agent when the off-season began: Cleveland Browns center Alex Mack.
He was tagged as a transition player by the Browns and Cleveland could still match any offer that the Jaguars would make, but this is the kind of move that Jaguars fans envisioned when a billionaire bought the team. We’ll be following this to see how it plays out.
Masters week and distinct developments for this the 2014 Players Championship
It’s Masters week, the first major of the golf season this week at Augusta National. With Tiger Woods out of the tournament after back surgery, the favorites are Rory McElroy and defending champ Adam Scott. Phil Mickelson is attracting a lot of interest, of course.
We’re a month away from the Players Championship. I was out at the course last week discussing some of the changes with Matt Rapp, the executive director of the tournament.
A couple of changes you’ll notice include more seating around holes 16 and 17, including a platform area where you can watch the approach shots on 16th, the play at the island 17th and then turn around and watch the 18th hole, all under shade and near a bar.
Also, for the first time this year, fans can watch the players practicing on the back side of the driving range and watch them practice their short games. Basically, Rapp tells me that they always look for better ways to make the viewing experience the best in golf.
You can follow Melissa Ross on Twitter @MelissainJax and Cole Pepper @ColePepper.
