The Florida men’s basketball team did wonders for its NCAA Tournament hopes by beating Tennessee on Tuesday, as the Gators are trying to avoid their third NIT appearance in as many years.
And the Gators should be proud.
It sounds weird to say because Billy Donovan has established UF as one of the Southeastern Conference’s premier basketball programs, and the Tournament certainly hasn’t been foreign territory in his 14 years in Gainesville, but this year’s team has really overachieved.
Donovan has been handcuffed into using just an eight-man rotation by a brutal lack of depth, and two of those players, Erik Murphy and Ray Shipman, have combined to play just 21.6 minutes per game.
It wouldn’t be far off to say the Gators have won 20 games this season using little more than six players, a nearly impossible feat.
Add to that the fact that senior Dan Werner is in the midst of by far his worst season as a Gator, and most nights it’s just Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Chandler Parsons, Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin against the world — or at least the SEC.
Of those five guys, there’s not one sure-fire NBA player in the bunch.
I can’t think of a team I’ve watched this season that has done more with less than Florida.
From where I sit, there are two reasons the Gators have been able to post a 9-4 conference record with a roster that includes only two true guards and one true center.
The biggest reason is Donovan finally getting a post-’04s team to commit to defense every night.
There have been many games this season in which the team’s collective shooting touch has abandoned the Gators — to put it lightly — but they’ve competed hard on the defensive end every time out, whether or not the shots have fallen.
No one exemplifies this attitude more than Boynton, who has shot 37 percent from the field in his first collegiate season but established himself early on as a lock-down defender.
UF was third in the SEC in scoring defense coming into the game against the Vols, letting up 64.3 points per game.
The other reason for Florida’s success is the dramatically improved play of Parsons.
The junior forward has easily been the Gators most — and arguably only — consistent player after logging two years of constant ups and downs.
He is averaging career highs in points (11.7), rebounds (seven), assists (2.4), field-goal percentage (50.2), free-throw percentage (66.1), three-point percentage (36.5), buzzer-beaters (two), guys who wish they were him (5,472) and girls who wish they were with him (4,591).
With Parsons’ natural talent, he should be a 3,000-3,000 guy at best.
It was only fitting that he would lead the charge with a 19-point, eight-rebound performance as UF pulled away from Tennessee in the second half.
It’s safe to say no one expected the Gators to be playing for their 10th SEC win with three games left on the schedule. They have overachieved in every sense of the word.
And I mean that as a compliment.
