On paper, Florida should probably be playing in the National Invitation Tournament for the third-straight year.
The Gators’ field-goal percentage (44.4) is their lowest since 1998, and the team’s three-point percentage is even worse: 31.3, the worst UF has shot from the outside in more than 20 years.
In reality, the Gators overcame a lengthy list of have-nots and why-nots to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since winning back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007.
Of the three Florida teams that have taken the O’Connell Center floor since Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green left, this year’s squad arguably had the most excuses for playing in the NIT rather than the Big Dance.
Injuries? Check. Forward Adam Allen sat out all year with a knee injury, and center Kenny Kadji had season-ending back surgery on Feb. 10 after playing limited minutes in early nonconference play.
Lack of depth? Absolutely. Due to injuries, transfers and a few misses on the recruiting trail, the Gators have been forced to employ an eight-man rotation in which only six players see a majority of the minutes.
Inexperience? That, too. Sophomore Erving Walker is in his first full year at point guard, and freshman guard Kenny Boynton played 32.6 minutes per game.
On top of that, UF coach Billy Donovan has essentially built his team around role players after the early departures of his two biggest stars, Marreese Speights and Nick Calathes, who left for professional careers.
“Really, it probably should have taken a lot longer with what we’ve lost the last three years,” Donovan said. “These kids deserve a lot of credit — with a team that did not have a lot of depth and a team that had no experience in the backcourt. For them to do what they did, I’m just really proud.”
So, how is it that this version of the UF men’s basketball team has overcome the odds and put together a Tournament-worthy season?
It’s not an easy question to answer, especially for those who have followed the Gators’ up-and-down year as it has unfolded, but Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl had a simple, succinct response.
“Chemistry, confidence, toughness, size,” Pearl said on Feb. 22, a day before UF topped UT 75-62 — one of the most impressive lines on the Gators’ NCAA Tournament résumé.
With that formula, Donovan has his team playing above its level — and right back into the NCAA Tournament.
Chemistry
The Gators had to do one thing first before everything else could fall into place.
Grow up.
The previous two years, young players were thrust into leadership roles before they were ready, and the team suffered as a result.
Donovan said UF could hardly practice in 2007-08, given the squad’s abysmal work ethic. Last season, the work ethic improved, but the players still had no idea what it took to win.
“I wouldn’t say we had bad chemistry last year,” Walker said. “But this year with guys being more mature and understanding their roles better, that brought us together more.”
That group mentality has shown on the floor as well, as the Gators have been a more balanced team than in previous years, when everything ran through Calathes.
All five of UF’s starters are scoring in double figures this year, and the margin between the top scorer, Boynton, and fifth-leading scorer, Vernon Macklin, is just 3.2 points.
That number is surprisingly similar to the 2005-06 and 2006-07 national championship teams (3.3 and 3.0, respectively). By comparison, that margin for the 2007-08 Gators was 6.8, and the gap widened in 2008-09 to 8.3 points.
All six players averaging more than 13 minutes per game have led the team in scoring in at least one game this year, and each starter has dropped the most points in at least four games.
That kind of offensive balance has allowed the Gators to overcome their occasionally woeful shooting, something they couldn’t do the last two years.
“I know we’re not shooting the ball great, but we’re capable of doing that, and we’ve got guys who can score the basketball,” forward Chandler Parsons said.
Confidence
Florida entered the most important stretch of its season with nothing to lose and a chip on its shoulder.
The Gators hadn’t beaten FSU in three years, and Michigan State was the second-ranked team in the country. They had to play both during the last week of November.
By the time it was over, UF had shocked the college basketball world, shutting down the Seminoles 68-52 and upending the Spartans 77-74 in Atlantic City, N.J.
Those two wins were the Gators’ strongest argument for returning to the NCAA Tournament — two games most people counted as guaranteed losses before the season.
“You always want to challenge yourself,” Parsons said. “Those are great teams that really made us better. Win or lose, we’re going to get better from playing the best competition.”
Despite a few bad losses, some lengthy losing streaks and the uncharacteristically low shooting numbers, Donovan encouraged his players to keep trusting their shots — an attitude that permeated through the rest of the team.
“I’d attribute that to Billy preparing us, not giving up on us and forcing confidence — making us believe we could do it,” Walker said.
UF entered the season as an underdog — unranked, unheralded and picked to finish fifth in the Southeastern Conference East — but accomplished what most people thought it couldn’t.
Even after silencing their doubters, the Gators are taking that attitude into the NCAA Tournament.
“We want to go like we have something to prove,” Parsons said. “We want to go with a chip on our shoulder, with a hunter mentality and like we’re the underdog. We want to shock the world.”
Toughness
It wasn’t always easy for the Gators to maintain that level of confidence, though. The team suffered plenty of setbacks over the last two years.
Amid the early departures, late-season collapses and disappointing finishes, Donovan kicked them out of their luxurious practice facility during the postseason in 2008. After the 2008-09 season, he told them to stay in Gainesville for both summer sessions so they could get a better idea of what it took to succeed at the college level.
“When they got here, as much as I tried to explain and tell them, they thought they were next in line to win it all,” Donovan said. “They just thought it was going to happen without having any clue of what goes into winning.”
As difficult as his first two seasons were, Parsons said the team needed those wake-up calls.
“They make us tougher,” Parsons said. “They make us understand how important everything is. I think they bring us closer as a team and make us a much better team.”
That mental toughness helped turn the Gators into the team they are this season. When things didn’t go their way, and especially when their shots weren’t falling, they displayed a resiliency that had been missing.
And this season, the only reason UF has overcome its circumstances and its own flaws has been its defense.
While the Gators’ shooting has been almost historically poor by program standards, their ability to slow down opponents has been just as good.
UF is allowing 65.4 points per game entering the Tournament — better than the previous two years, and better than all but four teams (2003, 2005-07) in school history dating back to 1968.
The renewed commitment to defense the Gators made in the offseason has paid serious dividends on the court, as they are forcing opponents to shoot just 42.9 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from three-point range.
By focusing on defense, they have stayed close with every opponent, even when facing deeper, more talented teams.
“A year ago or two years ago, we wouldn’t even be in those games. We’d be losing by double digits,” forward Dan Werner said. “It’s all about the defense, the stops and the toughness we have.”
Size
Before the season started, Macklin was the X-factor for Florida’s frontcourt: If he was effective, everyone would reap the benefits.
Although he has struggled at times, the redshirt junior center started all 33 games for the Gators, and his presence sparked some of the changes Donovan had hoped for.
UF is 13-4 this season when Macklin scores in double digits, but perhaps his greatest contribution has been what he has allowed his teammates to do in their more natural positions.
Alex Tyus, playing at the power forward spot, went on a tear during the middle of the season, putting up 15.5 points and 7.4 rebounds over a 13-game span.
And Parsons, who finally came into his own on the wing, picked up where Tyus left off, averaging 17.7 points and 8.4 boards in the seven games following Tyus’ impressive streak.
Down the stretch, Parsons developed into one of the most versatile players in the SEC, as he has proven capable of playing four positions, seen some time running the point and led the team in rebounds.
“When I think of Werner, Parsons, Tyus and Vernon Macklin, what these kids have done and the changes and the growth I’ve seen, it will go down for me as one of the most special teams I’ve ever coached,” Donovan said.
Even with all the pieces falling together — the improved chemistry, newfound maturity, renewed commitment to defense and more traditional lineup — the Gators wouldn’t have made it this far without a little luck on their side.
If the rest of the teams on the bubble hadn’t struggled down the stretch, if Parsons’ 75-foot miracle heave at N.C. State didn’t find its way in or if his game-winner against South Carolina had been slightly off, the Gators’ 1-4 close to the regular season would have likely kept them out of the NCAA Tournament.
But a little luck went a long way for Florida, putting the Gators where they thought they belonged all year: back in the Big Dance.
