The Gators’ preseason expectations were put to a vote Thursday with the release of the first USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ poll.
Florida checked in at No. 10, its highest opening position in the coaches’ poll since 2006 when the team entered the preseason No. 1. This year, top-ranked North Carolina holds the honor with 29 more first-place votes than No. 2 Kentucky.
“It’s kind of like a curse in disguise, honestly, because we’ve got so much pressure on us because of that,” sophomore forward Casey Prather said. “But we just have to do a great job of limiting the pressure and focus on what we need to do.”
Four of the six ranked opponents UF will face this season are in the top 10, with No. 3 Ohio State the highest outside of the Southeastern Conference.
The Gators travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on the Buckeyes on Nov. 15.
“With our nonconference schedule we’re going to be faced and put in a lot of adverse situations,” coach Billy Donovan said. “And we better figure out how to deal with that now. That’s what this time is for, to be able to deal with that.”
Last season, then-No. 11 Florida lost three of its first 11 games, including two against unranked teams. Prather said the Gators came out flat to begin the year and struggled with the high expectations.
While three starters off last season’s Elite Eight squad are gone, Florida has added junior transfer Mike Rosario and a pair of freshmen in guard Bradley Beal and forward Walter Pitchford.
“We obviously have lost some players, and how this team can progress, there probably could be some games where we look like the 10th-ranked team and probably some games where we don’t even look like we should be ranked,” Donovan said.
Inside-out: After five days of practice, Florida’s crowded backcourt is still finding a way to keep its big men involved.
Donovan said sophomore center Patric Young has been taking the bulk of the shots during scrimmages, and the team will continue an inside-out approach.
In a much-hyped freshman season, Young was streaky offensively and garnered just 2.4 shots per game.
“There’s been good balance there,” Donovan said. “Patric’s not drastically ahead of the guy that’s in second. It’s all pretty well distributed within our team right now, which is good.”
The Gators’ point guards — including last season’s leading scorer, Erving Walker — are taking the fewest number of shots in practice, according to Donovan. Walker is currently third to last in the number of attempts.
“Erving’s already proven he can score,” Donovan said. “I’m not worried about that. I’m worried much, much more when I watch tape of practice of what are the quality of shots we’re getting.”
An eyesore: Sophomore forward Erik Murphy had to miss most of Wednesday’s practice after getting poked in the eye.
“It wasn’t his cornea, but part of his eye got scratched,” Donovan said. “Had a lot of swelling, couldn’t open his eye, wasn’t able to come back to practice.”
Murphy saw a doctor following the incident and was cleared to practice Thursday.
Press: Junior guard Kenny Boynton said the Gators have been working on their full-court press every day in practice.
Although the squad struggled at times last season maintaining pressure defense, Boynton said the team is using the same sets. He feels this year’s depth at the guard position will allow for a more effective defense and more forced turnovers.
“It’s the same press, but I think with our speed this year we can fly around and we could cheat some because we have the speed to get there,” he said.
Whether in a three- or four-guard lineup, the man usually at the back of the press protecting the basket has been the 6-foot-9 Young.
“Pat’s been pretty vocal,” Boynton said.
“Pretty much he has the easiest job because we’re going hard in the front, so all Pat has to do is anticipate the passes.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Despite the departure of seniors Chandler Parsons and Alex Tyus, coach Billy Donovan’s squad is ranked in the top 10 to start the 2011-12 season — its highest position since 2006.
