This year's NCAA Tournament Final Four features all of the top-seeded teams entering the Big Dance, pitting the best of the best against each other over the next two games to determine who takes home the national championship trophy.
Among the four finalists are the Florida Gators, who stormed through the regular-season schedule and continued their meteoric rise during the SEC Tournament — which they won by beating Tennessee. Now winners of 10-straight games and 16 of the last 17, Todd Golden's team entered the tournament considered the hottest team in the nation, but that sentiment has significantly cooled after the rallies needed to overcome UConn and Texas Tech.
The other SEC team to make it to the Final Four is Auburn, who has bounced back from a weak finish to the season and conference tournament to bulldoze their NCAA Tournament opponents. However, Florida got the better of them at Neville Arena almost two months ago.
The Athletic's CJ Moore interviewed a handful of coaches, including those who faced the Gators during the regular season, to provide scouting reports for this Saturday's matchup. Below is a look at what he was able to aggregate.
Scouting Florida's style of play, top players
"Florida could play every style possible. Slow? Fast? Doesn’t matter," Moore declares. "The ace in the hole is they’ve got Walter Clayton Jr., who can make tough shots and bail you out. He spreads out everything that you’re trying to do because it’s not just him shooting, it’s him dribbling into a shot. It’s almost a little bit Steph Curry-like where your point of pickup’s gotta be really high and now automatically you’re spaced out."
However, the Gators have another intriguing weapon beyond the First-Team All-American point guard.
"Clayton’s phenomenal, but the player on their team that I’m most impressed with every time I see him on film is Alex Condon. I think he’s a 10-year NBA guy. He’s tough as can be. His defense is really good."
Where Florida excels in the playbook
"They’re the best that I’ve seen this year at playing off a dribble-handoff, and it is because of the bigs," he notes. "The guards set up the dribble handoffs better than anybody else. And you watch Clayton, Alijah Martin, Will Richard, and even when they put in Denzel Aberdeen, they’re so good at setting up that if you play it high, they’re going to back-cut. They know the counters."
Anyone who has watched the Gators play this season recognizes the above-described play, which typically took place between the top of the key extended to shallower parts of the left and right wing areas. This movement created a lot of chaos for the defense, and thanks to their unselfish play, it always seems to leave a man open for the shot.
"Just their rhythm and pace of it, it’s really tough, and you make a mistake on a dribble-handoff with Clayton, it’s a 3-point mistake, and that’s where they kind of get you panicked and out of position. Next thing you know Condon’s going to the rim or the big fella Rueben Chinyelu’s getting something at the rim. You need to constantly have pressure and be ready to hard hedge and or trap those dribble-handoffs or ball screens that they’re stepping right into."
Not to mention how well Florida's depth in the frontcourt has benefitted the Gators as well.
"The combination of their fours and fives, they have four of them and the backups could be ...
