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Gators Quick To Grasp Concepts

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By ANDY STAPLES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 18, 2007

GAINESVILLE - To celebrate his 300th career victory, University of Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan planned to go home Saturday night and watch video of the Gators' 88-63 win against Rutgers. Here's a moment that will make him smile.

Freshman forward Chandler Parsons, a stick figure at 6-foot-9 and 200 pounds, knees bent, feet wide, butt out, boxing out 265-pound Rutgers center Byron Joynes during a defensive possession late in the first half. JR Inman's missed shot hung in the air, and Joynes didn't stand a chance. Parsons didn't even get the rebound - Florida guard Jai Lucas did - but that doesn't matter. The moment proved more than one digit in the box score can enumerate.

These young Gators can be taught.

"They're very coachable, and they listen," Donovan said.

"They really try to absorb what you're saying."

As Donovan reaches for win No. 301 and beyond, he knows he'll have to teach every step of the way with a group that has barely played a significant minute of college basketball. But while other teams have needed time to grasp concepts and have let some lessons whistle in one ear and out the other, this team soaks up every lesson.

For example, Donovan and his staff told Parsons during the week that because of his waif-like figure, he would have to use the perfect rebounding technique he used to box out Joynes in a possession book-ended by a pair of 3-pointers that allowed Florida (4-0) to go into the half up 15.

Donovan also badgered forward Dan Werner and center Marreese Speights during the week about playing tougher in the paint. He worried the Scarlet Knights' (3-1) bigger, more experienced post players would maul Werner and Speights if the duo took a lax attitude toward rebounding.

Werner finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Speights scored a game-high 18 and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Asked if he could discern why the Gators can absorb information so quickly, Werner - a Middletown, N.J., native who earned his first collegiate double-double against a home-state team - proved just how quickly he can think on his feet.

"Maybe guys are scared of Donovan," Werner joked.

On a more serious note, Werner said the Gators' high collective basketball I.Q. has allowed Donovan to bombard them with information. That has helped Donovan stay sane with a group that will require more teaching than any he has coached since his first team at Florida in 1996-97.

"They're eager to get better," Donovan said. "They're trying to get better and improve. ... But I still think we've got a lot of areas that we've got to get better in."

INSIDE THE GAME

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Florida's Marreese Speights scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

STAT OF THE GAME: The Gators outrebounded the much bigger Scarlet Knights 43-28.

TURNING POINT: Florida went on a 17-2 run to turn a 31-31 tie into a 48-33 lead.

UP NEXT: Florida hosts North Florida at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

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