Five reasons Florida wins the 2014 NCAA Tournament – Cappers Picks Blog

2014 NCAA Tourney Handicapping

Besides undefeated Wichita State, which flamed out in the Big Dance 3rd round, the Florida Gators ended the season with the nation’s longest winning streak. [ad-4468020]

They not only ended the season as the top-ranked team in the nation, but in the SEC tournament final they beat fellow Final 4 team Kentucky.

Can Florida beat beaten? Well, they made it this far and they have not lost a game since the beginning of December. The Gators are favored to beat UCONN, who was their last loss on the season, and are the betting favorite to win the whole tournament.

Here are 5 reasons why Florida will win the NCAA Tournament.

1. Defense, defense, defense

The Gators are not a high scoring team, ranking 181st in the nation in points per game, but they have the nation’s 3rd ranked defense only giving up an average of 57.6 ppg.

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In 3 of their 4 games in the Big Dance the Gators held their opponents to under 50% shooting and in the one game they didn’t they held UCLA to 42.2% shooting.
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2. Hotter than hot

The Gators are riding a 30-game winning streak and they played three teams that were in the top 25.

3. They have Kentucky’s number

There is a good chance that the Gators will play Kentucky in the National Title game. Kentucky is the betting favorite facing Wisconsin and while I think they can beat the Badgers beating Florida is another story. Florida faced Kentucky 3 times this season and won every time.

4. It’s a team game

The Gators are getting great all around play, as they do not have one big gun.

The season’s leading scorer in Casey Prather (13.8 ppg) only had 6 points in both the Elite 8 game facing Dayton and in the 3rd round facing Pitt and the Gators still won both of those games by double digits. 2nd leading scorer Scottie Wilbekin (13 ppg) has stepped up his play and in the last 3 tourney games he is averaging 19 ppg.

5. Hitting the glass

While Florida only ranks 181st in the nation in rebounds per game that is a little misleading since they shoot a good FG% as a team.

IN the Big Dance this season the Gators have won the battle of the boards in every game and in their last 2 they outrebounded their opponents by at least 10 per game.

Below we make a case for all teams in the Final 4.