The Basketball Diaries, College Edition - Gator Wrastlin'

LSU 66, Florida 56

Struggling all this season and without their lead scorer, the LSU Tigers defense awakened and took a large bite out of the Gators's pride yesterday, taking the lead two minutes into the game and never giving it back.

LSU, once ranked as high as sixth this season, had lost three straight before hosting the number 3 Florida team, so the victory was even sweeter. Missing leading scorer and rebounder Glen Davis, Terry Martin, with 18 points, and Garrett Temple, with 17 , picked up the slack. As LSU ran out the clock, the student section roared, "Overrated," at the fallen Gators. (To Joakim Noah's credit, he did not run into the stands and slap any of the fans.)

You could chalk this loss up to the fact that Florida had already wrapped up the SEC regular season title and really didn't give a crap. And you'd be right.

To a point.

But it is said, "pride goeth before the fall," and this loss was bad enough to make even a die-hard Gator fan a little concerned.

Understand these three quotes and you will understand what's happening to Gator basketball:

• Vandy's Derrick Byers on last week's win over Florida:"This is one for the ages. Twenty years from now, I'll be able to tell my little kids this. This is special. You can't explain it."
• LSU coach John Brady on yesterday's win over Florida: "I was coaching so hard and trying to do everything I could in the last five minutes to make sure we won that game...I was so emotional when I was talking to them after tonight's game I couldn't even finish talking."
• Florida coach Billy Donovan on their loss yesterday: "[Florida] looked like a team that just won a championship, and competing maybe wasn't the most important thing on their mind here today."

Billy Donovan sure better get his team to stop thinking about confetti and endorsement deals and start thinking about the basics. When your opponents are playing for a memory that will last a lifetime, you sure as hell better take the game as seriously as they do. Regardless of the stats they bring into the game.

Or come March, Florida will end up one of the stepsisters at the Ball.