Players signed for far less than what they said it would take and Lopez was left holding scholarships. Still, Florida started the season splitting with Miami and Florida State and went 21-7 over the first half of the season. In retrospect, it might have been the best coaching Lopez has done at Florida. But it all seemed to evaporate with one injury. After Dill went out at Georgia with a sprained knee, the Gators went flat.
Good teams overcome adversity.
Mediocre teams flounder. To see it go the other way so quickly, said Lopez, will always puzzle me. Fortunately for Florida, the rest of the SEC East was so bad this year, the Gators still had a chance not only to make the SEC Tournament, but even win the division. Because of their difficult schedule and decent RPI, they still had a chance to make a regional. Instead, they went belly-up, botching rundowns on Friday, looking miserable at the plate on Saturday and finally running out of arms on Sunday.