The UF basketball team sat and watched the NCAA Tournament selection show Sunday just like all the others.
But even they knew any chance of seeing orange and blue light up the screen was a long shot.
"We definitely watched it, but we figured our name wasn't going to be called," sophomore guard Nick Calathes said. "Obviously, in our mind, we knew we didn't get enough wins to get in."
Instead, the Gators will play in the NIT.
UF (23-10, 9-7 Southeastern Conference) earned one of the tournament's four No. 1 seeds and will play the first three rounds at home.
"It's tough," Calathes said. "One of your goals at the beginning of the season is to win the NCAA Tournament."
The Gators made it to Madison Square Garden and the semifinals of last season's NIT before losing to Massachusetts.
UF will open the NIT against Jacksonville (18-13) tonight at 8 p.m. in the O'Connell Center.
The Dolphins come into the NIT having won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season title after going through an out-of-conference schedule that included FSU, Ohio State and Georgetown.
"We're still playing a basketball game," Calathes said. "If you look at the NIT, there are really good teams who didn't get it in. It will be a good opportunity to finish the year out the way we want to."
UF suffered yet another late-season collapse, losing seven of its last 12 games.
"Coming down the stretch, if you look at our games, we played Mississippi State, we played LSU and we played Tennessee," coach Billy Donovan said. "Those are all the teams that are in the tournament and really, to be honest with you, teams that were better than us.
"I think we need to get physically tougher, and I think we really need to get a whole lot mentally tougher."
CHANEY OUT FOR NIT: Donovan said Tuesday that freshman forward Allan Chaney is likely done for the year.
"He's got a ligament problem that's kind of attached to the bone (in his foot)," Donovan said. "I wouldn't anticipate him playing the rest of the year."
