After two seasons of strong starts and weak finishes, the Florida men’s basketball team is hoping its 6-0 start is no fluke.
The Gators are back in the national rankings for the first time since early last season, jumping into the Associated Press (media) poll at No. 13 and the USA Today/ESPN (coaches’) poll at No. 17 with their 6-0 start. Florida was 3-0 last week, beating Florida State and then knocking off No. 2 Michigan State and tournament host Rutgers in the Legends Tournament in Atlantic City, N.J.
In the two previous seasons, this is the point of the schedule when the Gators start to lose games they shouldn’t. But with a majority of this year’s players being veteran contributors, head coach Billy Donovan is hoping his team has learned from its past mistakes.
Two seasons ago, the Gators jumped into the rankings with a 22-point victory at home over Vanderbilt. But the celebration didn’t last for long. They went on the road the following week to play Arkansas and went to the locker room at halftime trailing by 25 points.
“The biggest thing is to have a level of humility, and hopefully through past experiences, these guys can deal with the fact that we had a great week,” Donovan said. “But like I told our guys, is that all we’re playing for is to have one good week? The goal is how to improve and get better. I would be concerned as a coach if we were clicking on all cylinders and I didn’t see any room for improvement. I still think we can get a lot better.”
Donovan and his staff now remind the team constantly of the past two seasons when they tasted early-season success only to be let down as the SEC portion of the season began.
Every time Donovan is reminded of his team’s struggles in the past few years after success, he immediately thinks of why this year will be different. It’s the time that some of his key players have had in the Florida system that helps him stay positive yet grounded enough to keep his players working.
“It’s the things you can’t put a price tag on,” Donovan said. “Chandler (Parsons) was the same person, but there have been positive changes to allow him to get better. In order to play and perform, you have to go through adversity, difficulties and challenges. I don’t know anybody competing that it has always been easy for them. There needs to be failures and setbacks. Those to me are the greatest learning tools. It’s about changing your mindset to what we need to be focused on.”
There have been times in the past two seasons where even Donovan admits that he questioned whether his team deserved to be ranked, but that isn’t the case this week. Their wins over Florida State and Michigan State were both wins that will look good on a postseason NCAA Tournament resume, and the win over a scrappy Rutgers team also seemed to indicate that this team is better than expected.
However the possibilities for improvement are still there. The outside shots from Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton haven’t gone down with the consistency Donovan would like to see. The Gators are actually shooting 26 percent from beyond the 3-point line. They also are averaging 14 turnovers a game.
For the first time since Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer roamed the court for the Gators, the defense now looks to be a strength of the team. The Gators have allowed only 18 3-pointers to the opposition, which is less than half of the 40 they had given up through six games last season. In their last three games, the Gators have come up with 30 steals.
“The defensive part has a lot to do with chemistry,” Donovan said. “Some people think that means getting along, but our guys have always gotten along. When you’re playing a team like Michigan State which runs an enormous amount of sets, someone like Dan Werner can sniff out a play coming and get himself in the right position. We’ve gotten better at sniffing out plays. Everybody talks about helping on defense, but a lot of times it’s about helping the help guy. Once you give help, there needs to be a rotation where other guys are providing help for the guy who is giving help.”
Another key aspect for the Florida defense has been its full-court pressure. It forced 23 turnovers against Michigan State, even with their point guard Kalin Lucas running the offense. The Gators have forced an average of 17.5 turnovers a game because of two quick defending guards in Boynton and Walker.
Running the full-court pressure is only possible because of the work that was put in during the summer. The focus of the Florida players was getting into the best possible shape to run the defense that the Florida coaching staff wanted. It’s an up-tempo style that requires every player to be in top physical condition, whether it’s the point guard or the center.
“I thought we needed to get tougher mentally and physically,” Donovan said. “The guys who needed to make a big jump were our freshmen. Dan Werner didn’t play much as a freshman, but his body was completely changed as a sophomore. We were fortunate when we started that Boynton and (Erik) Murphy were in good shape and able to handle the workload of practice. Ray Shipman, (Kenny) Kadji, (Eloy) Vargas and (Allan) Chaney couldn’t handle it (as freshmen). We’re fortunate that Boynton and Murphy can handle the rigors of practice every day.”
The Gators toyed with the pressure during parts of last season, but the level of conditioning simply wasn’t the same.
“We had guys who couldn’t even run three times up and down the floor in transition,” Donovan said of last season. “I don’t think people understand the physical duress. What Walker and Boynton do at the front of the press, then run our team with the ball, it’s remarkable physically and hopefully they can sustain it. I feel like the bottom part of our team is in better shape to contribute and make practice more competitive.”
The players all had offseason goals. Kadji, Shipman and Walker focused on getting to a higher conditioning level. Parsons and Boynton have the same characteristic, which Donovan refers to as a high threshold for work, that allows them to push through fatigue. Murphy also has that ability.
“We ran on offense last year, but we weren’t able to pressure the ball like I would have liked to because we had a lack of depth,” Donovan said. “It may be an exciting brand of basketball when you’re watching on television, but the physical demands are such that it’s something they’ve never been through before.”
The players are the first to admit how hard it was during the offseason. The 6 a.m. start times for conditioning are enough to make anyone feel sick. But while the rest of Gainesville was still in bed, the Gators were out training for this season. Any lost sleep is now forgotten and they are realizing the benefits.
“It was brutal,” Parsons said, looking through the window of the basketball facility towards the track as if recalling the memories in his mind. “It was so tough to go through this summer, but as you can see, it’s paid off. I think we’re one of the best conditioned teams in the country. We’ve spent many mornings out on the track doing things.”
Donovan is always seeking ways to continue motivating players to get better, but there are some players on this team he doesn’t feel the need to push as hard. Those players, such as Parsons and Boynton, don’t need to be reminded to push through the fatigue. Instead, they work as hard as possible to improve through their pain.
“I had nothing to do with Kenny Boynton’s energy and threshold for work,” Donovan said. “He came in like that. I had nothing to do with Joakim Noah’s energy. We can help them get better and in better shape, and it takes them a little while to figure that out. Some guys take longer than others. Corey Brewer and Al Horford figured it out right away. It took Joakim Noah a year to figure it out. Matt Bonner couldn’t figure it out his freshman year. Everybody is a little different.”
The past two years have been a process for the Florida staff to feel out their team. But this is also the point in the veteran players’ careers that they have to learn on their own how to deal with the success they have had in this part of the season. The older players have dealt with it on their own, while the two freshmen must trust the experiences of their older teammates to avoid complacency.
“People learn through either other people’s experiences or their own experiences,” Donovan said. “You can tell Joakim Noah something is hot and not to touch it. Al Horford isn’t going to touch it. Noah is going to touch it to see what it feels like.”
The hope for Billy Donovan and his team is that they will now reach out and touch some of the experience and success that Noah and his Florida teammates achieved.
For the latest men’s basketball polls, click below:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/rankings