Florida still on NCAA tourney bubble

NASHVILLE -- If Mississippi State-Florida was supposed to be the ultimate "bubble game" of this Southeastern Conference basketball tournament, the Gators may be in for a sleepless 46 hours after losing 75-69 to the Bulldogs on Friday night.

"We're just keeping our fingers crossed, and hopefully we'll hear our name on Sunday," Florida guard Erving Walker said of his team's NCAA tournament chances.

Added fellow guard Kenny Boynton, who led the Gators with 23 points: "Right now it's up for grabs. We're not sure."

Florida coach Billy Donovan was pretty sure he knew why the Gators fell behind by 15 points in the opening half and 19 in the second before rallying to within three (71-68) with 28 seconds to play.

"I thought we could have come out with a different disposition to start the game," Donovan said.

Added Walker: "We didn't come out with the right intensity."

And because they didn't, the Gators must hope the NCAA Selection Committee pays far more attention to their 21-12 overall record than the fact that they have lost four of their last five games.

"I think you have to look at the whole body of work," Donovan said, "which I'm sure they will."

If the committee decides between Mississippi State's and Florida's bodies of work, the Gators might still have an advantage. In RealTimeRPI's latest rankings, Florida has an RPI ranking of 52 to MSU's 67 and a strength-of-schedule rank of 32 to the Bullies' 103.

With both teams finishing 9-7 in league play, Florida might well have the edge to make the tournament, even though MSU did win the SEC West and Florida finished fourth in the SEC East.

"We don't talk about it," said Rick Stansbury, who coached the Bulldogs into last year's NCAA tournament by winning the SEC tourney. "But our guys understand where we're at. Our guys understand what we have to do."

What they probably need to do is knock off the Vanderbilt-Georgia winner in today's second SEC semifinal game to make a strong case for inclusion.

"We're doing a great job of staying in the moment and going game to game," said MSU's Barry Stewart, who led the winners with 17 points.

"I feel like we have nothing to lose," said Bulldogs center Jarvis Varnado, who backed Stewart with 15 points and four blocks. "We had success last year playing together, and we want to continue that in this year's tournament."

With this year's SEC tournament over for the Gators, Boynton was philosophical about the next 40 or so hours.

"We'll just have to wait until Selection Sunday," he said, "and see what happens."

He won't be alone.