When asked about the greatness of this season’s Southeastern Conference, Billy Donovan gave a somewhat surprising, yet enlightening, answer.
“I think that a lot of times when people define greatness, a lot of times they define greatness on what happens in the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s necessarily always fair.”
So, how is greatness achieved?
“I think you have to define that over the whole entire course of a season,” Donovan said.
If this is the case, the Gators aren’t too far from reaching that level.
Florida has won more than 20 games in the three seasons since it won its second consecutive national championship in 2007.
It needs just six more victories this season to make it a fourth straight year.
It has accumulated 85 wins since Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Al Horford left Gainesville in 2007. That’s an average of about 21 wins a season.
All of those numbers are a sign of consistency — not greatness.
However, all of that doesn’t matter. The Gators are miles away from being considered great because of one glaring hole during the last four seasons: Florida has earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament just once in that time.
Its lone opportunity was gone in the blink of an eye as UF lost to BYU in double overtime in the first round last year.
The Gators took part in the NIT during the other two seasons.
I wouldn’t categorize this run as even close to great.
Contrary to Donovan’s definition, a team becomes special only when it can achieve success in the postseason.
After all, the NCAA Tournament is the reason Donovan has been granted immunity through these empty years.
His back-to-back titles and historic run with the ‘04s have won him a break from criticism during this time — much like the one Urban Meyer’s success earned him during a five-loss year last season.
The '04s even earned their reputation with two championships. Tim Tebow cemented his legacy when he won a national title as UF’s starting quarterback.
People don’t remember regular-season success.
They remember the team that captured the country’s attention with a deep postseason run.
Don’t be fooled by Donovan’s comments.
Tonight’s game against Georgia, and UF’s tough nonconference slate do not define this year’s team that began the season ranked No. 9.
Fans must wait until March to find out what this squad is made of and if that ranking was justified.
Florida is no stranger to regular-season success, but postseason success is foreign to Donovan’s teams lately.
There is nothing, so far, that sets this team apart from the recent ones that ended their years watching teams with which it was once mentioned alongside (Kentucky, UCLA, Connecticut and Duke) advance deep into the tournament — and I’m not talking about the NIT.
Inconsistency marked by losses to teams such as Jacksonville and UCF, and wins against quality opponents like Kansas State and Xavier, have fans and analysts guessing on just how great this team can be this season.
Instead of gaining hope with every win while considering the season a lost cause with every loss, wait a couple of months to do that.
Nobody will know whether this Gators team is special until it does something that has not been done since their last championship — win in the NCAA Tournament.
