Entering her eighth year as UF’s head women’s basketball coach, Amanda Butler is quickly able to grasp where the team is on both sides of the court and where they need to make the most improvements.
With just over a month until the team opens the season against Jacksonville, Butler is putting a heavy emphasis on the defensive side of the ball.
"This year we look to be a much better defensive unit than we were last year," Butler said at the team’s media day on Thursday. "The way they will compete, you should see that on the court."
Admittedly, the Gators struggled on defense last year. With redshirt junior center Viktorija Dimaite sidelined all of last season with a torn ACL in her left knee, the team often had to rely on redshirt senior Kayla Lewis to defend the post in her absence.
Lewis, the tallest healthy player on the team last year at 6-foot, performed notably well in the role. She led the Gators in rebounding and was the team’s No. 2 scorer despite often playing out of her comfortable guard position.
This year, though, things are different.
Along with the return of Dimaite, the Gators welcome incoming freshmen Haley Lorenzen and Brooke Copeland to help shore up what could be a dangerous frontcourt if the team gels well and remains healthy.
"Every one of these freshmen we recruited with the expectation that they’ll make an impact." Butler said. "We weren’t very big last year, so the opportunity is there for Haley, right out of the gate, to make herself important."
The 6-foot-3 Lorenzen will see time at center this year and ease the pressure on Dimaite, who is healthy but still dealing with soreness in the knee that’s kept her off the court for two years.
Despite being on the team for three years, Dimaite has never played a game for the Gators. A graduate from The Rock School in Gainesville, Dimaite missed her entire freshman season after dislocating her right ankle over the summer before she even stepped on campus.
She rehabbed successfully to return to the team the following season only to tear her ACL for the first time on Nov. 3, 2012 and again less than a year later.
Now that Dimaite finally looks ready to make her debut as a Gator, she has some depth behind her.
"She’s worked so hard every year, and while it’s one of the unfortunate parts of our game, she’s also handled it with a great deal of toughness and grace, and been an awesome leader in that regard for our players," Butler said. "I just hope she gets what she deserves this season."
While the Gators are rich in the backcourt, with nine of 13 players listed as a guard, they all bring versatility to the position.
Redshirt junior Cassie Peoples is a player that has continued to surprise her coach. Despite being slightly undersized at 5-foot-6, Peoples plays like she is unaware of her own height.
"Cassie doesn’t know that she has any physical shortcomings, so don’t tell her anything," Butler said, jokingly. "She’s just as big as anybody."
A consistent slasher, Peoples has expanded her game by improving on her three-point shot. After only taking 15 three-pointers her first season in 2011-2012 before transferring from Texas, Peoples repeatedly showed the confidence to take a shot from behind the arc last season, converting nearly 30 percent of her attempts.
"She’s been really dominant this summer with her conditioning level, her body, her mental makeup, and she’s grown more into a leadership role and embraced that, I’ve been so proud of those things," Butler said.
Many players, including freshman Dyandria Anderson and sophomore Ronni Williams, have experience playing larger positions despite their smaller size. Their knowledge of positions different than their own is only a benefit to the growth of the team.
With 16 of their 29 games coming against teams that made the 2014 Postseason, the Gators will have to rely on a tough nonconference schedule that includes St. John’s and Georgetown to prepare them for the ever-competitive Southeastern Conference.
For a team that took fifth in the SEC last year, the Gators are confident that they can improve on last season’s finish.
With numerous outlets describing the Gators’ season last year as an "overachievement," the sentiment around the team is that it’s a new season and the only expectations that matter are their own. The team thinks they can advance farther than the second round of the NCAA tournament, where they lost last year 83-61 to Penn State.
The only expectation is to play as well as their coach has seen them play.
"This group has really taken the challenge of what they did last year, where they all played giant roles and were important in different ways, and they’re more motivated and inspired to do more," Butler said.
"Look at what we did with a bunch of short kids and no bench. We’ve got depth now, we’ve got size now, but we still have to have that same sort of fight and spirited resilience in all the things they possess. There’s nothing we can do about last year, and that returning group is really practicing and preparing with a great deal of purpose and a high sense of accountability for those holes being plugged now."
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @graham311
UF women's basketball coach Amanda Butler speaks to reporters during Florida's media day on Thursday.
