As the top seed remaining in the Southeast Regional, the Florida Gators shouldn't be overly rattled by whatever comes next in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament.
We're talking now, though, about Jimmer Fredette, the exception to every rule.
The nation's leading scorer at 28.8 points per game, Jimmer shoots from anywhere and everywhere, without conscience and without mercy.
He makes BYU a national championship contender all by himself, and gives Florida a challenge so different from Saturday's gritty win over UCLA that it hardly seems that we're even talking about the same game.
Is this the end of the road then for the 28-7 Gators, whose defensive matchup for Jimmer is Kenny Boynton on a slightly swollen and sprained left ankle? Not necessarily, providing Fredette's teammates cool off just a bit in Thursday's game at the New Orleans Arena.
Altogether, the Cougars hit half of their three-pointers, 14 of 28, in Saturday's 89-67 splattering of Gonzaga. Tough to outrun that kind of avalanche.
The Gators enjoy a good shootout, too, however. It suits Billy Donovan's guys better than the sumo-wrestling style that was needed to outlast UCLA.
Matter of fact, Thursday shapes up a lot like last year's BYU-Florida game in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Oklahoma City.
Jimmer scored 37 points that day, driving all the way to the basket for a bunch of them, but it took BYU two overtimes to polish off the Gators, who are deeper and more confident this time around.
At the end of regulation the score was tied at 75 with BYU, which is just a touch under Florida's current tournament average in victories over Cal-Santa Barbara and UCLA.
What's more, the Gators matched BYU's three-point production a year ago with 10 long balls each. As for Jimmer's unending range, Erving Walker has been known to pop one from 30 feet at the slightest provocation. Florida isn't shy about that, or anything else.
So much depends on Boynton, who couldn't finish Saturday's game at the St. Pete Times Forum but said his ankle will be fine by Thursday.
He and Walker have combined for 150 of Florida's 227 three-pointers this season. Getting the quick burst of points that will be needed on several occasions against BYU will be all but impossible without both of Billy's guards on top of their game.
On top of that, Boynton is Donovan's most reliable free-throw shooter with a success rate of more than 82 percent. If the game comes down to foul shooting in the final few minutes, it's pretty much of a coin flip with several other key Gators, including SEC Player of the Year Chandler Parsons.
That's the worst of it for Florida.
The best, other than knowing that No. 1 Southeast seed Pittsburgh got eliminated by Butler on Saturday, is this head-to-head headline.
Back in December at the John Wooden Classic, UCLA handed BYU one of its four losses. The Bruins had no difficulty scoring, rolling out 43 points in each half of an 86-79 victory, and Fredette was made to look fairly manageable against UCLA's physical defense.
Jimmer scored 25 points on the Bruins, which Donovan would take in a hearbeat, and turned the ball over seven times while battling just to stay in the game because of foul trouble.
UCLA's Reeves Nelson, for one, had a much easier time against BYU (23 points) than he did against Florida (only 16) and estimated on Saturday "I can definitely see them (the Gators) in the Elite Eight and possibly the Final Four, whoever comes from the top of their bracket."
That's what he said before Butler, Wisconsin and BYU were confirmed as the teams that will join Florida in the New Orleans regional. Nothing easy there, but Pittsburgh was supposed to be the most fortified foe on the way to the Final Four in Houston.
There is much more to say about Jimmer, and much more to do to get ready for him.
All Billy has to say right now, though, is "Let's run with 'em and see if they can stay up."
That's the best way to switch the psychology on Jimmer, and if nothing else it will sound like fun to a Gator bunch that didn't get to do nearly enough of that against UCLA.
