“Bitter--Sweet”… The apropos TERM...

Talking “Body of Work” for the

2011 Florida basketball team---

it is FILED under “SWEETNESS”…

Surely NO Orange-and-Blue soul

was “so insanely zealous”

in November---as to figure

these Gators would “win 29 GAMES”---

be SEC “regular-season champs”---

RISING to the “NCAA ELITE EIGHT”...

In the “SWEET 15-year Gainesville run”

of Billy Donovan---these “2011’s”

fit in as---“FOURTH BEST”…

Trailing only “THE BIG TWO”---

back-to-back ’06-’07 national champs---

as well as Billy D’s “NCAA FINALISTS”

of 2000--who lost THE BIG ONE

to Michigan State…

NEVER has there been

“more PRODIGIOUS coaching” by

Donovan and associates…

When it “counted most”---these

Gators “kept finding HEROES”… Parsons…

Walker… Boynton… Macklin…

and, in the SWEET 16---TYUS…

YES---“Sweetness”…

But there came “A BITTER END”…

All season, Florida

had repeated SHORTFALL

with “FINAL-SHOT OPPS---chances

to WIN in "final regulation ticks"...

They “seldom generated”

A WORTHY CHANCE…

NO LUCK AGAIN---

"overtime" had been terrific

for these Gators---but NOT in

“THE BIG BITTER” of the Elite Eight…

FACT IS---

In the "LAST 12-and-a-quarter MINUTES"

of their season---the Gators were outscored

by Butler---"30 to 18"...

As Florida STRIVED to reach

“another Final Four”---Parsons and Walker---

“the 1-2 MVPs” of “a memorable season”---

made just “THREE-of-19 shots”…

I HOPE---for “THESE 2011’s”---

that the “LONG-RUN MEMORIES

of their lives”

will be “predominantly SWEET”…

Even if, RIGHT NOW---

it’s “a little difficult to

feel REALLY GOOD”… I’m

Hubert Mizell, and that’s what I think.