As a long time college basketball fan the abuse and mistreatment heaped on UF athletes by their supposed supporters is striking. As a Gator it is embarrassing to see how some treat their own.

For 2007/08-09-10 the favorite whipping boy was Dan Werner. Average player who never got in trouble, stayed four years, got a couple of rings and never complained. Few have been the Gators that were more lambasted, mocked, taunted, and booed by their own fans than Dan was.  Despite his extremely poor treatment by the fans his family was at the Gator game last night cheering for UF. It appears at least they have some concept of loyalty.

Now the rabid Gator fan base has targeted Erving Werner Walker as the source of any and all ills that befall the UF hoops team.  Second verse same as the first.  Forget anything good he has done, like lead last year's elite 8 team in scoring, go5/8 for 21 points including a circus shot while being all but absorbed by the Bruins blob of a center vs UCLA in the NCAA tourney to help lead us to the elite 8, that he has a 2/1 assist to TO ratio this year, he's just under 10 percentage points better than anyone else on the team shooting FTs, he's averaging more steals per game this year than last when he led the team, has the 5th highest assist total for a single season in UF history, and has hit numerous big shots. Not too shabby for a guy that is 5'8" tall and came in as a shooting guard but has been saddled with the PG position to best help the team.

Nope, none of that matters.  He sucks and should be benched with many calling him the 4th best guard on this team and attributing last night's loss to him alone.  He didn't have a very good night, but I guess that's because the bar is higher for him than for some other fan favorites.  I read lots of condemnation of Walker and praise for Beal.  Walker turns the ball over, Walker doesn't shoot well, Beal carried us.

Funny, when you look at their stat lines

			Total	3-point		Rebounds
##	Player	p	fgm-fga	fgm-fga	ftm-fta	off-def	tot	pf	tp	a	to	blk	stl	min
11	Walker, Erving	g	4-11	1-5	0-0	0-6	6	3	9	6	4	0	1	36
23	Beal, Bradley	g	4-12	1-6	6-7	2-5	7	3	15	1	7	2	1	45

Beal shot worse than Walker. Beal only had 1 more rebound despite being 7" taller. Beal only had one assist vs 7  TOs while Walker again had a much better A/TO ratio.  Not to mention it was Beal who dribbled into three defenders and got stripped in OT without even getting a shot off.  At least when Walker got the ball in a similar situation - albeit with far less time to create - he managed to at least catch iron.  If you don't get a shot off you have no chance.

Wilbekin? He is a terrible shooter who is not an option at crunch time when a basket is needed.  He normally plays good D, but it was his lapse that allowed Myles to hit the 3 in the 2nd OT that gave Rutgers the 4 point cushion and all the points they'd need to win.

Rosario? He is the worst of our guards on defense and last night he managed not a single assist. No surprise there as he has only 13 in 13 games.

In the two OT periods Walker was 1-2 with a rebound. Boynton was 1-3 with a TO.  Beal was 1-2 with 2 TOs and 1 assist. Wilbekin and Rosario had no contribution other than the critical defensive failing mentioned previously. 

I HATE pointing out the shortcomings of other Gators, but I would be remiss to allow the perception of Walker being a liability, the major reason for any UF loss, unproductive, and undeserving of being a starter to go unremarked. Walker is far from perfect, but he is easily UF's best option at PG and deserves a hell of a lot more respect and appreciation from those who follow Gator basketball.