Gators will have to wait to find out postseason fate

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- You'd seen it before.</p><p>You hoped you wouldn't see it again.</p><p>Especially not here with a chance to erase any doubt about the NCAA Tournament.</p><p>But there it was again.</p><p>The hole.</p><p>They dug and dug and funneled it out again. Just like they had in their three straight losses to close the regular season, the Florida Gators found themselves looking for a ladder at the bottom of a deep well filled with spiders and creepy bugs and you swear the worms were spelling out N-I-T. This was the deepest yet, a 19-point deficit at Bridgestone Arena against an underachieving team that suddenly was earning an achievement merit badge.</p><p>In an arena named after a tire, the Gators were getting run over.</p><p>"They wanted it more than us," Kenny Boynton said. "And then reality kicked in and we tried to come back."</p><p>Which they did. Again.</p><p>And fell short. Again.</p><p>One hand reached out of the hole, only to see the other one slip. One more try to escape the darkness ended up rattling around the general area of the Gator band.</p><p>And so this SEC Tournament ended for the Gators. Their next tournament is still open for debate and subject to scoreboard watching.</p><p>I still think they're getting in, but they certainly don't need Mississippi State to do what it did last year and win the tournament.</p><p>There are only so many slots left in the field of 65. UF is living in one of them. But for now, the Gators are renting.</p><p>If nothing else, what happened Friday night will make Sunday night ripe with drama.</p><p>That the Gators managed to turn a 19-point deficit into a six-point loss helped. That they have lost four of five in almost exactly the same way doesn't.</p><p>We'll see what happens there, but here it was an amazing showing by the Bulldogs early. They jumped to a 10-0 lead. They made 13-of-19 shots at one stretch and were knocking down 3-pointers with such ease it was a surprise when one rattled out.</p><p>With the game 25 minutes old, Mississippi State had scored 54 points.</p><p>On the defensive end, Rick Stansbury decided to double-team Vernon Macklin, who killed them in Gainesville. Florida expected it and counted on Macklin to kick the ball out. The Gators made nine 3s of their own, one fewer than the Bulldogs.</p><p>"The problem wasn't our offense," Billy Donovan said. "It was our defense."</p><p>Many of the looks in the first half were wide open. But even the covered Bulldogs knocked down 3s. Barry Stewart made one while being fouled by Erving Walker. Hello, four-point play.</p><p>But here came the Gators charging back like you knew they would. They scored 14 straight points to cut the lead to five. They fell back by 11 and fought back again cutting the lead to four as the game reached its climactic minute.</p><p>Two possessions.</p><p>Two flops.</p><p>Kenny Boynton, blurry fast on the move, took the ball to the hole. It never reached the backboard.</p><p>"I thought Boynton got fouled on the play," Donovan said. "But I'm sure some of their guys got fouled, and they didn't blow the whistle."</p><p>Still, down four, with numbers, a bullet pass from Erving Walker to Dan Werner .. right ... through ... his ... hands.</p><p>Game over.</p><p>"That was a play I wish we could have back," Donovan said.</p><p>That fairy doesn't exist, the one who would let them start the game over or let Alex Tyus try that shot against Tennessee again or Boynton the 3 against Vandy or make the South Alabama loss disappear in a plume of pretty purple smoke.</p><p>The resume is complete, locked in. Whether it's thick enough we find out Sunday.</p><p>"The NCAA committee has to look at the whole body of work, which I'm sure they will," Donovan said. "But this team, to me, is so much better than it was a year ago. Who we played in the non-conference, I'm not so sure that last year's team could even come close to having the record that this year's team has had."</p><p>Better? No doubt.</p><p>Good enough to dance? We'll see.</p>