The Gators are a very interesting team this season, and we’ll get to see what they are made of very early with this trip to Madison on tap.

When you look at Florida, you have to like everything about this matchup for them. They absolutely destroyed the Badgers in this game a year ago. That one came just weeks after Josh Gasser tore up his knee and forced Bo Ryan and company to go with nothing more than a few inexperienced options at the point.

Flash forward to this season and the role have been completely reversed. The Gator are without three key players due to suspension in Scott Wilbekin, Dorian Finney-Smith and Damontre Harris. Will Yeguete and Eli Carter are also having their minutes monitored as they battle foot injuries.

Wisconsin’s 86 point outburst against St. John’s is very suspect. The johnnies look decent on paper because they have two massive center who can block shots. realistically, they are a poor on ball group on that end and, to boot, they communicate even worse.

Florida will not give the Badgers wide open shots and they will play them as tough as possible. they have an enormous advantage at the center position, where Frank Kaminsky figures to have a lot of difficulty in matching up with one of the nation’s most efficient players in 2012, Patric Young.

Some books were floating around the idea of making wisconsin as much as a 9 point favorite for this game. Those thoughts never came to fruition, and the Badgers will likely be a 5.5/6point favorite for this one, a very fair number given all the uncertainty in their rotation.

I had the Badgers as small (1.5-2) point favorites before all of this news came out. Given the seriousness of their depth issues, I have adjusted the number in accordance with what we see currently.

Wisconsin is win a different place now. They have tremendous depth at point guard as Traevon Jackson and George Marshall are both a year older. Jackson is very efficient in both his distribution of the basketball and shot selection.

Sam Dekker and Duke Dukan give the Badgers more size at the power forward spot than expected. Dekker was a relatively well known player a year ago, but Dukan seems poised to make for an excellent spell option.

I still look for the Gators to be excellent on the defensive end. Their style and discipline as a team defense is excellent. It will take a hot shooting night from the Badgers in order for them to win this one by a comfortable margin. I expect them to regress some offensively, but still like what they have. Buying Florida in this spot is really not an option.