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mauconnfan said:Good points - the TO's though are skewed as Bazz was the man with the ball for 3 years and Boat for one. Obviously Boats assistance, especially last year helped him along but nonetheless he had the ball in his possession mostly for 3 years and was basically Boat for a year with Kemba.
It was more like a 50-50 split during the probation year. Boat actually finished the year with more assists than Bazz (although he played in two more games, so per game was Bazz 4.6 and Boat 4.4).
I don't think a "who's better" argument is really a fair argument for Boat. The guys who lead us to titles enter rarified air and deservedly so, and unless Boat leads this team back from the dead, he's not going to accomplish that. I think anyone would take Bazz on their Mt. Rushmore (or whatever term you use) ahead of Boat.
But it's also important not to discount Boat's contributions in last year's title on offense (his D was obvious) - he picked Bazz up against St. Joe's (until OT, when Bazz finally stepped up). Florida had the game plan and personnel in place to shut Bazz down and it worked) Seth Davis called it "grown man defense" when we were down 16-4, and Bazz ended the game with only 6 FGA), but DD and Boat stepped up. Bazz's 3 in a Harrison face was probably the key shot of the title game for us, but Boat's step back over Randle was huge, and right after Bazz had a couple sloppy turnovers (not seeing the defender behind him in the backcourt). The drive and dish to DD could have been too, - he was 5-6 in the title game and was a one-man defensive wrecking crew on the last UK possession.
Bazz had his wingmen step up for him. As did Kemba - Lamb against SDSU to take us over the finish line and against Arizona, AO against Butler. Boat had it happen for him at Florida (Purvis with big threes) - he'll just need it more often in March.