During the heyday of the Florida Gators basketball program, coach Billy Donovan strung together 18 straight postseason wins — the most in the NCAA since John Wooden’s UCLA squad conquered 28 in a row en route to seven consecutive championships back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Unfortunately for UCLA, Wooden won’t be coaching the No. 4 seeded Bruins (28-8) when they match up against the No. 1 seeded Gators (34-2) in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday night at 9:45.
Unfortunately for Florida, Ben Howland won’t be on the visitor’s bench either.
Howland faced off against Donovan three times — all in the NCAA Tournament — in his 10-year tenure. Florida came out victorious in all three games, the most notable of which secured the Gators’ first national championship on April 3, 2006.
But now that the Bruins have a new coach, Steve Alford, and an entirely new lineup since they last played the Gators in 2011, Donovan said that he is ready to see a new UCLA team.
“I mean, it doesn’t even necessarily need to be UCLA right now ... You have a totally different coach, you have a totally different style of play, you have a totally different philosophy and you have totally different players,” Donovan said. “The name on the jersey happens to be the same one that we’ve maybe played three different times in the NCAA Tournament, but everything else is really a lot different.”
The differences start at the top between these two schools.
Rick Pitino mentored Donovan during their days at Providence, and the young point guard out of Long Island picked up on his coach’s emphasis on defense. Today, KenPom.com ranks Florida as the second best team in the country in adjusted defense while Pitino’s Louisville squad falls just shy at third best.
“I think it’s really important,” Donovan said of playing efficient defense. “And . . . certainly the last two years we’ve been exceptional at it, and it’s always been a point of emphasis for us.”
On the other hand, Alford fine-tuned his offensive knowledge while he played under Bob Knight at Indiana from 1983 to 1987. As a result, Alford’s UCLA team ranks 12th in adjusted offense and 11th in turnover percentage, according to KenPom.com.
“I think Steve is a really, really good offensive mind,” Donovan said. “I think he does a lot of really good, unique things with his team. I think he puts his guys in situations to be successful.”
In 13 of the Bruins previous 14 games, Alford has led his offense to score at least 74 points during their 11-3 stretch. The last time Donovan’s players surrendered at least 74 points came on Jan. 11 in the Gators’ overtime victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The last time Florida gave up 74 in regulation? A 77-75 neutral site win against Memphis on Dec. 17.
Whether the Gators continue their strong defensive stretch Thursday comes down to the play of Scottie Wilbekin — the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year — and Patric Young — SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
Both Wilbekin and Young excelled defensively during Florida’s 61-45 thumping of Pitt in the Round of 32. But with two first-team All-Pac 12 players in Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams on the docket for Donovan’s squad, the Gators will have their hands full in their attempt to reach their fourth straight Elite Eight.
If things go how they did in 1987 when both Donovan and Alford were seniors at Providence and Indiana, respectively, then it will be Alford coming away with the last laugh.
Although each former point guard led his team to the Final Four, Alford and the Knight-coached Hoosiers advanced and eventually won the national title while Donovan and the Pitino-coached Friars fell just shy of the final game.
But like Donovan has said about contests in the past:
“There’s nothing we can even take from those past games that you can sit there and say, ‘Wow, there’s a great carryover to getting prepared to play them here on Thursday.’”
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn
Billy Donovan looks onto the court during Florida’s 71-66 win against Auburn on Feb. 19 in the O’Connell Center. Donovan and the Gators will play the Bruins tonight at 9:45 p.m. in Memphis, Tenn.
