It was only a matter of time before those three dreaded letters were bandied about.
N-I-T.
On a yearly basis, coach Billy Donovan uses them as an alarm. They cut to the core of his players, inspiring desperation and fear. No one wants to play in the NIT.
After losses to Richmond and South Alabama in 2010, the NIT talk popped up. Last year it came following defeats at the hands of UCF and Jacksonville.
And now, even with a No. 7 national ranking, the NIT chatter is back after Florida lost 75-70 to Tennessee on Saturday.
Donovan invoked the memory of UF’s 2009 team — which started 18-3 before losing seven of its last 12 — to try to teach the Gators the importance of maturing and becoming mentally tougher.
In reality, Florida would have to lose five of its last six regular season games and then fall in the first or second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament to even reach the bubble.
Still, Donovan was right to play the NIT card when he did.
“You’ve got to say that to wake a team up,” Kenny Boynton said. “That’s the reality of the situation.”
‘Wake up’ is the operative phrase, because that’s all the Gators really have to do.
Florida’s loss Saturday was nothing more than a hangover from the Kentucky game, a 20-point beatdown that obviously took a heavy physical and mental toll.
UF’s energy lull let a tough Tennessee team dominate inside, where the Vols had a 36-30 rebounding edge and outscored UF 36-14. Florida’s offense was off beat and out of sync, leading to 39 percent shooting over the first 39 minutes and 15 mostly careless turnovers. With sparkplug Mike Rosario and top energy man Will Yeguete out with injury, there was nothing to break UF from the funk.
Saturday’s drubbing is a wake-up call for the Gators to mature and focus, the same thing last year’s team had to do to make an Elite Eight run. It’s not a signal to hit the panic button or jump off the bandwagon, just a reminder that there’s still work to be done.
If sports has shown us anything over the last year, it’s that peaking at the appropriate time is much more important than avoiding losses like the one Florida had Saturday.
Last year’s NCAA Champion, UConn, lost seven of its last 11 regular-season games before tearing off 11 straight to win the Big East and NCAA Tournaments.
The Super Bowl Champion Giants lost five of six in the middle of the year to fall to 7-7, only to turn around and win it all.
Before that, Alabama lost the “Game of the Century” to LSU and then exacted revenge in the BCS Title game.
The St. Louis Cardinals were 67-63 late in August and had only a 1.3 percent chance of making the playoffs. They went on to win the World Series.
Even the Dallas Mavericks were everyone’s sexy pick to get upset in the first round of the NBA playoffs after they lost four in a row a week before the end of the season. Then Dirk Nowitzki became the best player in the world and propelled the Mavs to the title.
How a team plays at the end of the year is far more important than any step along the way, and Florida’s loss Saturday — coupled with Donovan’s NIT wake-up call — could be the impetus the Gators need to get their issues corrected before the Big Dance.
Contact Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org.
