The last time we saw Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators basketball team, they were fighting for their lives in the Final Four.
After falling short of what seemed to be a championship run, returning to Gainesville without a NCAA title didn’t negate the amount of success the Gators achieved.
That team was led by pure experience with four starting seniors that strived to end their careers at Florida with a statement, not knowing if they would be playing at the next level.
But that Gator squad didn’t start the season as planned and as a result came obstacles to overcome.
Scottie Wilbekin started the season being suspended with off-the-court issues of violating team rules and missed the team’s first five games. Then-freshman Chris Walker missed 12 games due to violating NCAA rules and was only eligible to play the fall semester, returning in December and the team dismissed Damontre Harris due to numerous reasons including not cooperating with the team.
The outcome?
Florida was forced to come up with solutions and fast.
With no collegiate experience, Kasey Hill was to fill Wilbekin’s role and be the team’s floor general during his absence, Florida had to rely on no height at the center position with only Patric Young at 6-foot-9 to guard the paint and the question of who was going to take the next step and lead this team in scoring were immediate concerns.
To aid the Walker situation, the Gators turned to walk-on Jacob Kurtz, who played a good amount of minutes during games off the bench that would’ve been Walker’s role.
Things didn’t go as planned to begin with, but adjustments were made.
Until Wilbekin returned, the rest of the senior class of Casey Prather, Will Yuguete and Young led with their experience.
After falling to Wisconsin in the second game of the season and then UConn in the following month, the Gators took off to shatter records.
Behind the reestablished roster, the Gators would go on to ride a 30-game winning streak, which was a school record that lasted from Dec. 10 until Mar. 29.
During that dominance, an untarnished home record of 17-0, which extended two seasons of perfection in the O’ Connell Center and included an 18-0 Southeastern conference record.
That flawless conference record led to an SEC championship, which then led to Florida’s March Madness run to the Final Four in Arlington, Texas, which was a first since 2007.
Florida also sustained being the top-ranked team in the nation for the final three weeks of the season and entered the NCAA tournament earning a No. 1 seed.
Adding to the success, the Gators were honored with awards for their performance.
Wilbekin was named the SECs player of the year, Young was the SEC defensive player of the year, Dorian Finney-Smith the SEC sixth-man of the year and Billy Donovan was the SEC coach of the year.
Although not winning the NCAA title, you can definitely say Florida had a magical year and it was absolutely one to remember, especially considering from how this team commenced the season with plenty of issues.
But what will happen now for the 2014-15 campaign with an almost new-look team?
Now with those four seniors gone who carried the team last year, what would be the fate of the Gators this season?
The answer to everyone’s questions will soon be clear, as we will all find out how Florida basketball will appear this year.
Will the team begin with issues, or will we see this team in the Final Four again?
Above all, Florida basketball is set to take on a new journey.
This was a great review but where was the preview?