Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida has the best team in college baseball. Nearly everyone says so.

The Gators sit atop the Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and USA Today/ESPN Coaches preseasons polls and had an NCAA-record seven players named preseason All-Americans by Louisville Slugger and Baseball America. Perfect Game tabbed five UF players preseason All-Americans, and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association had five on its list.

UF returns seven position starters and nine pitchers from last year’s team that finished runner-up to national champion South Carolina in the College World Series. The Gators also have 14 players who are projected to be drafted in June -- including seven who could go in the first three rounds.

With all that talent and experience, expectations for the Gators are pretty high in 2012. Just making the College World Series -- something UF has done only seven times in school history -- isn’t even enough. It’s almost national title or bust.

“This isn’t the first time they’ve had expectations. They’ve been through this before, especially last year,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Hopefully they’ll draw from their experiences last year and be well prepared for it this year. We’ve talked about it. It’s Florida. There’s expectations. We want to be in Omaha every year and compete for a national championships.”

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In this episode of RecruitingNation 411, we focus on the defensive side of the ball in the 2013 recruiting class. Our experts tell you which prospects are primed to be the stars of the class, and which ones have already given a verbal commitment. Specific Florida targets include DBs Nick Washington, Leon McQuay III and Marcell Harris.

Check out the transcript of Wednesday's chat with GatorNation recruiting writer Derek Tyson.

There was lots of talk about the Gators' prospects of adding 2013 running back Kelvin Taylor, the upcoming Florida junior day on Saturday and the 2013 recruiting class in general.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It was only a matter of time before reality caught up with the Crimson Tide. Alabama held serve in the first half only to be dominated by No. 12 Florida in the final 20 minutes, losing at home 61-52.

Florida was led by forward Patric Young, who finished with 19 points on 9 of 12 shooting.

Trevor Releford and Andrew Steele, who were suspended indefinitely before the Tide’s last game at LSU, returned to the starting lineup on Tuesday. Steele had 11 points and Releford finished with 8 points, 2 assists and 2 steals.

Big men, big advantage

Alabama couldn’t overcome the discrepancy in the paint with forward JaMychal Green still out due to suspension. Carl Engstrom, Nick Jacobs and Moussa Gueye played center-by-committee and the Gators took advantage. Florida’s starting forward, Patric Young, and starting center, Erik Murphy, combined for 33 points and 11 rebounds.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- How bad was Florida's last week? The Gators followed up their only blowout loss of the season, which occurred in UK's house of horrors (known as Rupp Arena), with a big bummer against Tennessee. The final tally -- two losses, three injuries and a slide down the polls. Here's what was written and said about UF across the ESPN universe:

Counting down the days until the NCAA tournament begins
There are only four weeks until the start of March Madness. What can we expect from not until then? Jason King lists Florida among his "four blue bloods who could fall flat on their faces and make an early exit." Ouch.

Bubble Watch
Eamonn Brennan has the Gators as his only SEC team that "should be in", which is better than the cluster of teams that still have work to do. Still, he says the Gators had better improve their lackluster defense. Hard to argue.

The Bilas Index: Gators still rank high (Insider)
Jay Bilas is always fair, right? In Week 9 of The Bilas Index, Jay still has the Gators ranked high and says he wouldn't want to play UF in the tourney. Alabama falls the farthest down the Index.

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In his Weekly Watch, Andy Katz previews four weekday games, including depleted Florida at depleted Alabama.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida coach Will Muschamp doesn’t have to worry whether new offensive line coach Tim Davis will be a good fit with the rest of the coaching staff.

Davis, who spent the 2011 season at Utah, has already worked with nearly all of them.

Davis was hired on Monday to replacing Frank Verducci, whom Muschamp said left the program over the weekend to pursue other interests. Davis has spent nine years working alongside four UF coaches, including Muschamp.

"Tim is a perfect fit for our program," Muschamp said. "He has a history of coaching in a pro-style offense and shares the same program philosophies.

"He understands the values that we put on the line of scrimmage and he will help us get where we want to be at that position."

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