Two years ago, this Senior Night would have marked the end of a dark time for Florida basketball.
Nearly a decade of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and two national titles had come undone at the hands of a group of overly entitled role players who came to Gainesville thinking they were destined for championships.
No one thought the Class of 2011 could right the ship, transforming from a disappointing crop of NIT-bound role players into the heart and soul of a bona-fide NCAA Tournament team.
Not the Predator-lookalike rim-rocker. Not the Georgetown transfer whom Billy Donovan once publicly called out for not being physical enough in practice. Not Nick Calathes’ sidekick.
But now, two years removed from consecutive NIT appearances, Florida is on the verge of a second straight NCAA Tournament berth and what appears to be a promising future.
And the Gators can thank Alex Tyus, Vernon Macklin and Chandler Parsons for being such a major part of their success — however unlikely that idea would have seemed in 2009.
“It’s taken two years to really kind of figure things out,” Donovan said. “I saw a team with a disposition that did not learn from their experiences and thought, ‘OK, I’m a year older; we’re going to be a year better. I’ve got this.’
“It was terrible, because you could see that they were going right back into what I would consider a failure mentality.”
Donovan fought that mentality throughout the 2009-10 season, occasionally even continuing the struggle this year.
They didn’t know what it took to win, but the bigger problem was that they were 100 percent sure they did.
He experimented last season with the way they practiced and has altered the way they prepared this year, putting the team in a hotel the night before important home games to keep them focused and shut out potential distractions.
“I’ve tried to do some different things to get them to understand. So much of what we’re dealing with is human nature,” Donovan said. “It’s so easy to fall back into that complacent mode, because no one wants to constantly be stressed or on edge all the time. In sports or anything, you’re always battling the human element.”
It certainly hasn’t been easy. The disappointment of a second straight NIT appearance still stings. The ups and downs, late-season collapses and erratic appearances in the rankings hang fresh in their minds.
Macklin pointed to the difficulty of the team’s 6 a.m. offseason conditioning sessions. Parsons and Tyus recalled not so fondly the memories of Donovan kicking them out of their practice facility and stripping them of their Gators gear.
“It was definitely different,” Parsons said. “Those experiences have helped our upperclassmen get to where we are today.”
At some point between losing to Penn State in the 2009 NIT and the time Macklin, Tyus, Parsons and Adam Allen are recognized tonight in the O’Connell Center, it clicked. An immature collection of underachievers turned into a cohesive unit that heeded Donovan’s advice about what it takes to win.
“It’s been very rewarding for me, as a coach, to see these guys where they were and see how much they’ve grown and how much better they’ve gotten,” Donovan said.
Macklin, with his signature hook shot, has become one of the conference’s most potent low-post offensive threats. Tyus has grown as a player and a person, even if he stopped growing his trademark dreads. And Parsons has become the face of the program, a legitimate NBA prospect and the leader no one expected him to be.
And if they have their way, their legacies aren’t nearly set in stone yet.
“This year, we have an opportunity to end it the right way,” Parsons said, “and get some championships.”
