Well, it was fun while it lasted. The Gators took the fun away.

Bigger and stronger and deeper Florida assigned Tennessee to second place in the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament. What may be the best team in the country won the championship, 86-77, Sunday in Nashville.

The Volunteers landed in the NCAA Midwest regional as a No. 2 seed. They’ll play No. 15 Wofford on Thursday in Lexington. Tipoff time is set for 6:40 p.m. on TNT.

Yes, Lexington is far away from the Midwest but that’s the NCAA for you. It isn’t very strong in geography or anything else right now. Do be careful when filling out your bracket. Houston is in that region. So is Kentucky. A record 14 SEC teams are in the tournament. The league is the best it has ever been. Only LSU and South Carolina are not involved in March Madness.

The SEC final was a spirited, competitive warm-up for the main event. The Bridgestone Arena loud crowd made it home away from home for the Volunteers. Florida won all around the rim, 32-20 on points in the paint and the rebounding battle by 14. Every Gator jumper seemed a foot taller than the guys in orange.

Proof in numbers: Tennessee got a disappointing total of 13 points and seven rebounds from big guys Felix Okpara, Igor Milicic and Cade Phillips. Three big Gators produced 28 points and 19 rebounds. Walter Clayton led Florida guards with 22 points.

“The one thing we didn’t do was our main point of emphasis,” said Rick Barnes. “We knew it was going to be physical on the glass and we weren’t.”

Barnes said he knew the Vols could do it. They had done it in the past.

“But I’m proud of what they did this weekend. It was hard.”

The coach said “Florida is playing great basketball, I’ll tell you.”

He said when a team crushes you on the boards, it deserves to win.

“Like they did us … we just made some mistakes … that you really can’t make.”

Asked for something positive about his team, the coach said “the way we’ve responded all year. We got a group that really cares … they work hard … they prepared well…got good leadership.

“We got a lot of great things going and we just got to get everybody, everybody, doing their job.”

The final was an uphill climb in every way for Tennessee. The Vols weren’t good enough to beat a really good team but they never stopped trying. Give up? Are you kidding me? They trailed by 58-45 with less than 11 minutes remaining. Jordan Gainey took over the game. He scored Tennessee’s next 10 points. He reduced the deficit to five.

Jordan Gainey #11 takes flight to score over a taller Gator on Sunday in Nashville.

“We came with the idea of winning this tournament,” said Barnes. “Disappointed that we didn’t. We get to go again. Hope that we can survive and keep moving on.”

Gainey finished with 24 points. Gritty Zakai Zeigler had 23. He hit four of seven long shots and nine of 10 free throws. Chaz Lanier had a low-key game, 11 points, one rebound, five fouls. Jahmai Mashack scored one point but had six rebounds. He, too, fouled out. Milicic got into early foul trouble. He generated but four points and one rebound.

Tennessee lost the game in the first half. It fell behind by 12 but closed with back-to-back threes by Ziggy. It was going toward the rest stop only six behind and with momentum until Denzel Aberdeen hit a long three at the buzzer.

Each team scored 47 in the second half.

“I got three or four plays running through my head right now, defensively, that we gave up. Just a little bit out of character,” said Barnes.

“You can’t be a great defensive team if you don’t finish the possession by rebounding the ball … It’s a huge part of what we emphasize … we didn’t get it done. All we can do is address it, which we already have. We’ll continue to emphasize it.”

This shot has an almost biblical theme as the Gators practice laying on of hands as Darlinstone Dubar #8 shoots during Sunday’s championship game.

Time to turn the page: How about the Midwest regional and Wofford? Barnes said he hadn’t studied the bracket. He said what he says every year; you don’t ever take anything for granted.

“This team has worked really hard to put itself in a position to get where we are right now. And obviously we know what every game is about in this tournament.”

It’s about advancing or going home.

Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com