Everyone's going gaga over Donovan's Gators

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

This is the first in a series on SEC basketball teams

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- When The Associated Press preseason college basketball poll is released Monday, it will be interesting to see if Florida is ranked as high as its football team.
Don't laugh.
Gators Coach Steve Spurrier's team is No. 5 in this week's AP football poll, but Gators Coach Billy Donovan's team may equal that or be even higher in the basketball poll. Florida is ranked among the top five in several preseason magazines, including No. 1 by Basketball Times.
"People around campus tell us they can't wait until basketball season starts, that we're going to be great," Gators senior guard Kenyan Weaks said Wednesday at SEC Media Days. "It makes you feel real good to hear stuff like that."
Expectations for basketball are at an all-time high at Florida -- even higher than after the Gators' surprising 1994 Final Four appearance -- because Donovan appears to be building a monster of a program.
Florida returns four starters from last season's 22-9 team that reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, and Donovan has added a second consecutive top-five national recruiting class.
Prior to Donovan's arrival as coach three seasons ago, Florida had signed two McDonald's All-Americans in its history.
The Gators' roster now includes four McDonald's All-Americans in sophomore forward Mike Miller, sophomore guard Teddy Dupay, freshman forward Donnell Harvey and freshman guard Brett Nelson.
"I'm not going to sit here and say, 'Oh, listen, we're not that good, we've got eight freshmen and sophomores and, geez, I don't know, we're probably a year away from where we need to be,' " Donovan said. "I want our players to dream of going to the Final Four, and I think that's a realistic and attainable goal with the personnel we've got, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen."
Donovan knows Florida's program isn't used to these type of expectations and the accompanying pressures.
"Our guys have never handled having a bull's eye on their back before," he said. "Hopefully, expectations will force us as a team to understand that every single time we step on the floor, we've got to be prepared to play our best.
"To me what's so impressive about the Dukes and the Kentuckys and those people is that year after year after year they're getting everybody's best shot, and they've still wound up on top.
"That's going to be our challenge, to do over a long period of time what we've done for a very short period of time."
Another challenge for the Gators will be meshing as a team with a wealth of talent and making sure egos don't get in the way of winning.
That's a potential problem for a team that returns 74 percent of its scoring, 77 percent of its rebounding and 70 percent of its minutes played from last season and has added four top recruits.
But Donovan likes how the Gators are coming together as a team through the first three weeks of preseason practice. He said the freshmen have been humble and respectful of the older players, just as the freshmen were last season.
"I think the way these guys are getting along is very, very good," Donovan said. "I like our chemistry a lot right now."
The Gators figure to use a 10- or 11-man rotation, and Donovan, sounding like Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson, said who starts isn't as important as who finishes games.
Weaks, the Gators' only senior, is the team leader who averaged 11.3 points and 2.3 steals last season.
Miller, who averaged a team-high 12.2 points, should be much improved after being slowed by ankle injuries last season.
Dupay, who hit 64 of 170 three-pointers last season, is the top candidate to replace Eddie Shannon as the starting point guard but will have to compete with Nelson.
Harvey, 6-8 and 216, will give the Gators' a rebounding boost and a strong inside presence to go along with 6-8 junior Brent Wright and 6-7 sophomore Udonis Haslem.
Weaks said Nelson, who averaged 31.9 points and 7.0 assists for St. Albans (W.Va.) High School last season, reminds him of former Gators point guard Jason Williams, who is now starting for the Sacramento Kings.
"I loved playing with Jason, and Brett brings that same style of play to the game," Weaks said. "He has the flashy passes."
There is nothing flashy about Harvey. He's a blue-collar rebounder.
"Donnell is without question one of our hardest-playing guys," Donovan said. "He plays hard all the time."
Weaks said Harvey is so intense in practice "that when we don't get shots off quickly enough, he gets mad because he wants to get a rebound. He loves rebounding, and that's what we need."
The Gators have come a long way in a short time under Donovan, who three years ago inherited a program coming off a 12-16 season.
Donovan recalled that this time a year ago the Gators were picked to finish fifth in the SEC East. Now they're picked to finish fifth in the country.
"Last year we were probably underrated," Donovan said. "This year we could very easily be overrated.
"I don't know how good we'll be. We're young right now, but I like our potential and I like where we can go.
"Talent-wise and depth-wise, are we talented enough to make the NCAA Tournament and advance? Yeah.
"But a lot depends on how well we sacrifice, how well we jell as a team and how well they play. Talent doesn't always win. Teams win."
Right now, Florida looks like a team that could win a lot of games.
Tomorrow: Arkansas

FLORIDA AT A GLANCE
COACH Billy Donovan (49-41 in three season at Florida, 84-61 overall in five seasons)
LAST SEASON 22-9 (NCAA Tournament Sweet 16)
KEY RETURNEES F Mike Miller, G Kenyan Weaks, G Teddy Dupay, C Udonis Haslem, F Brent Wright
KEY LOSSES G Eddie Shannon
KEY NEWCOMERS G Brett Nelson, F Donnell Harvey, F Matt Bonner, G Justin Hamilton
PROJECTED FINISH THIS SEASON First SEC East

This article was published on Thursday, November 4, 1999

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