Six games into the season, Florida basketball has seen a different side of the road compared to the preseason hopes and everyone realizes the struggles have taken a toll on the team.
Putting aside all the basketball talk everyone has witnessed regarding the offense and roster, it’s reasonable to look deeper into what exactly is going on internally.
It’s likely the source that’s revolving over the team.
Head coach Billy Donovan has touched on that concern that has now grown to be the issue and it’s more of a psychological problem than physical.
“I don’t think necessarily technique but just more giving a good rep,” Donovan said of how his players are shooting the ball “Like when Michael Frazier misses a shot, do you have the internal confidence and fortitude to really believe the next one is going down? Dorian Finney-Smith, do you believe the next one is going down? Can you get off a good, do you really believe? And it’s not necessarily where I look at it and say gosh, we’re taking crazy shots. We’re getting really really good ball movement, we’re getting player movement, the floor is being spaced, we’re getting in the lane, we’re dishing it.”
After reviewing the trip down to Paradise Island, Bahamas, Donovan truly believed his team got off good shots that just didn’t go in. As a result, the shooting percentages aren’t pretty, but he isn’t blaming a misses, rather the discipline to knock down the next.
For many of the players that have moved into new roles, the season has provided a new experience for many on the team.
“When you come in with an expectation and the expectation is not being met, it bleeds into frustration, disappointment, upset, anger, bitterness,” Donovan said. “And what happens is you never go into a season factoring in adversity and that’s all I talked about this off-season, was trying to help them understand the adversity.”
That difficulty has come along with being unranked for the first time since Jan. 31, 2011. A loss Friday would give Florida a sub-.500 record for the first time since the 1996-97.
A part of that adversity is not being able to take the blows as they come; instead it’s taking the blows and faltering.
Donovan said he sees that a lot with the returning players, as they aren’t heavy lifting right now. They don’t understand what heavy lifting is right now and they have to learn how to do it, but for now they don’t know how.
Alongside this internal conflict, being a 3-3 team might be a concern for fans, but it isn’t one for Donovan. With a difficult schedule, including games against Miami, Georgetown, North Carolina and now Kansas, he believes in his team right now.
“I don’t think we’re necessarily looking at the record, I’m much more concerned about how we’re playing right now,” Donovan said. “We’ve got to get better discipline wise and we’ve got to get better on just our approach. I think, like I always say this, players always come into a season with expectations and the thing they never factor into their expectations is adversity.”
At this point, the Gators are aware that this hasn’t been as easy a task as previously thought. Entering the season, they may have thought they really were the seventh ranked team in the nation, but in reality they weren’t even close. After holding the third-longest active streak of placing in the polls at 68 weeks, it’s understandable to think why the players felt that way.
It’s just a matter of time for the individuals on the team to lock down their physique and putting confidence in every play on the court.
“I think they thought they were and reality has hit them right now from the standpoint that there’s a lot of work in front of us,” Donovan said on the team’s thoughts on their rank preseason. “Maybe our team looked a lot different in the summer than it looks, but all you can do is go off of the hands you’re dealt right now.”