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Cougars and Gators collide in West Regional action

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/18/2010 - Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Back in the NCAA Tournament after a two- year absence, the Florida Gators open first-round play of the 72nd annual event this afternoon as they tangle with the BYU Cougars in the West Regional at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.

Florida is a 10 seed in the tourney, and the team kicked off the 2009-10 campaign with eight straight wins, but then hit the wall against SEC foes. The team nearly locked itself out of the NCAA Tournament with three straight losses to close out the regular season, but picked up a victory in the SEC Tournament before bowing to Mississippi State in a 75-69 final last Friday.

The Gators have made the Final Four four times in school history, with three of those coming with Billy Donovan as the head coach. In fact, it was Donovan who led Florida to back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. The program is 22-7 in the tourney under his direction and 29-12 overall in 15 previous appearances.

As for the Cougars, they were named the seventh seed in the West Region as they make their 25th appearance in the tournament. BYU is in the tourney for the fourth straight year, but the team has failed to get out of the first round since 1993 when it defeated SMU in the Midwest Regional by a final of 80-71. Taking into account the squad's 90-76 setback to Kansas that year, the Cougars have dropped eight in a row in the tournament.

This season the Cougars were one of the teams to beat in the Mountain West Conference, putting together a 13-3 league mark and a 29-5 record overall, which is a new school record for wins in a single season and marks the fourth straight campaign in which the squad has reached at least 25 victories.

As far as the all-time series between these two teams is concerned, BYU has won both previous meetings, the most recent of those coming in Orlando back in 1991 by a score of 79-73. Prior to that, the first meeting was back in 1959 with the Cougars posting a 74-65 triumph.

The winner of this game will be back in action on Saturday against the survivor of the North Texas/Kansas State bout.

Thanks to some early wins over weak opponents, the Gators were able to pad their defensive stats a bit and after 33 games are showing that they are giving up just 65.4 ppg. From an offensive standpoint the squad boasts five double-digit scorers, beginning with Kenny Boynton and his 13.6 ppg, and even though he has made more three-pointers than anyone else on the roster (67), his mere 28.5 percent accuracy out on the perimeter is poor to say the least. Add to that his 37.1 percent shooting from the floor overall and it is easy to see why the squad shot a collective 44.4 percent this season. Erving Walker (12.6 ppg) was a key to getting the offense into gear with his team-best 162 assists and not so much his 34.3 percent shooting from the field. Chandler Parsons (12.1 ppg) and Alex Tyus (12.0 ppg) each shot at least 50 percent from the field and cleared 6.8 rpg, while Vernon Macklin (10.4 ppg) proved to be picky with his shot selection, resulting in his 60.1 percent effort from the floor.

Jimmer Fredette, who scored 18 points and logged four steals in the loss to Texas A&M in the first round of this tournament last year, is clearly the top threat for the Cougars again this time around. An All-MWC First-Team selection for the second time in his career, Fredette might be the most explosive offensive player the Gators will have seen all season as he became the first player in BYU history to have two 40-point games in his career, with both of them coming this season. Fredette put up 21.7 ppg over the course of his 32 appearances, shooting a staggering 89.6 percent at the free-throw line and 44.8 percent behind the three-point line, all while handing out a team-best 151 assists. Jackson Emery (12.6 ppg) and Tyler Haws (11.3 ppg) were also key starters for BYU this season, combining to average almost nine rebounds per outing as well. Bringing Jonathan Tavernari (10.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg) off the bench now means the Cougars have one of the best reserves in the MWC for a team that has outscored the opposition by almost 18 ppg this season.

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