Article:Gator Nation Sports Page Thursday March 5

This article originally appeared here.

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We help you live Gator 24/7. Now you can die Gator.   And on a non-Gator centric note, the Mountain West Conference is wasting everyone's time by continuing this College Football Playoff nonsese.

= Men's Basketball =

The Florida Gators lost to the Mississippi State Bulldogs last night, 80-71. Here is the story from the Gainesville Sun, alligator, Palm Beach Post blog, Orlando Sentinel, Florida Times-Union,

I personally think our NCAA Bubble has burst. ESPN's Joe Lunardi didn't count us out before the loss, but he might now, especially when he was throwing out things like 'Well, to be completely safe a team needs to win the conference tourney'.

If you were in the LiveBlog for the game last night, we had a good debate about this subject. Reader Tim thinks- and I'm paraphrasing- a win over UK and 2 conference tourney wins will be good enough to get in, because his feeling is 24 wins by a BCS-conference school will not be passed over by the committee. I think we need to win 4 more games, (placing us in the conference tourney finals), and even then I won't feel great until the matchups are announced. But we all seemed to agree with the current play, expecting these Gators to rip off a streak like that is far-fetched, and it will probably be a moot point. Feel free to respond below with your take on this subject.

Florida Times-Union's Gene Frenette says UK and UF are dancing into the NIT, and previews this weekend's game. The 'panic' the Gators were feeling earlier in the week might be turning into ' confusion '.

I got a fever... and the only prescription... is more Ray Shipman?

= Football =

Tim Tebow, Ryan Stamper, and Urban Meyer are headed to the Governor's Mansion today to be honored for the BCS Championship.

Add this one to timtebowfacts.com, " Tim Tebow has proven there is no Sports Illustrated curse ".

The coaching staff is not giving up on Torrey Davis. John Brown, however, is expected to transfer.

= Gators in the NBA, NFL =

Percy Harvin catching passes from Peyton Manning? It could happen.

A listing of all the Gators in the NBA... which mentions Joakim Noah's improved play since the trading deadline.

HoopsAddict.com had this feature on what Al Horford and the Hawks went through in a 24-hour period recently. The author compares it to 24, but I missed the part where Al went Jack Bauer on someone's neck.

= Total Sports Domination =

Women's basketball will enjoy a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament.

#9 Men's tennis won on the road at #15 FSU. Beating the Noles is always a good thing.

Baseball coughed up a mid week game to FAU, after ending their losing streak by beating Stetson earlier in the week.