TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Donovan Cautious Despite UF's Favorable Schedule

ADVERTISEMENT

By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 23, 2009

Updated: 02/23/2009 11:46 pm

GAINESVILLE - The Florida Gators could hardly ask for more.

With four games left in the regular season, the Gators (21-6, 8-4) are tied with Kentucky and South Carolina for the SEC Eastern Division lead. They are one game in front of Tennessee. Along with road games at LSU (tonight) and Mississippi State remaining, the Gators get Tennessee and Kentucky at home, where they are undefeated this year.

Florida coach Billy Donovan, however, does not speak with great confidence.

"They are playing hard and giving good effort," Donovan said. "Much better than a year ago."

The Florida coach then spends the next five minutes explaining why that's not good enough. He replays Saturday's win against Vanderbilt, lamenting 14 turnovers, a 22-point second half lead that was cut to 12, and poor decisions on fast breaks.

"It's understanding that sometimes the highlight pass isn't a good idea," Donovan said. "It's grabbing key rebounds. Understanding we have to make winning plays. How do you change momentum and give momentum away? I think there still is a level of winning-ness that sometimes we don't see."

It's not easy being a team of 11 freshmen or sophomores living in the shadow of a squad that two years ago was on the way to winning a second straight NCAA championship.

That team may have been one of the best in years. This edition has shown glimpses of quality, but also shows its flaws every bit as often.

Which end of that spectrum prevails the next three weeks will decide Florida's season. The top two finishers in each division earn first-round byes in the SEC Tournament.

"We might have been unsure earlier," sophomore forward Alex Tyus said. "But now we know we can do it. We feel like we are coming along. Toward peaking, I'd say we are probably a six, maybe a seven, right now.

"Coach Donovan said he doesn't think we are close to peaking. So when we play our A-game a team is going to be in trouble."

Whenever that happens.

BOOSTER SHOT

A big boost to Florida's chances could be the continued improvement of 6-foot-10, 245-pound freshman Kenny Kadji.

He came off the bench Saturday against Vanderbilt to score seven points, grab three rebounds and block four shots in 16 minutes.

"You saw some glimpse of what we see in him," Donovan said. "But his biggest challenge is fatigue. Fatigue really brings him down. When he gets tired everything kind of falls by the wayside. The question is can he play for longer stretches? Can we keep putting him in and use him on a regular basis in rotation?"

BLIND LUCK

Florida went into the Vanderbilt game last in the SEC in blocked shots, averaging less than one per game. Led by Kadji with four, the Gators had seven blocks against the Commodores.

What happened?

"I think it was probably Kadji's blocks were legitimate," Donovan said. "The others, they probably just tripped and fell into our guys who happened to have their hands up. I don't think anybody on our team is a shot blocker."

GATOR BITES

•Senior right-hander Patrick Keating was named SEC Pitcher of the Week after seven strikeouts in seven innings in a 6-3 season-opening win against No. 8 Louisville. After sweeping the three-game series with Louisville, the Gators vaulted to No. 12 in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll. Florida begins a two-game series today against Eastern Michigan before hosting No. 14 Miami in a weekend series that begins Friday.

• The women's basketball team goes into its regular-season finale Sunday at Georgia with a 23-5 record, needing a victory to match its all-time single-season win total.

•The No. 5 women's swim team won its 17th SEC title, the first since 2002, after edging second-place finisher Auburn and third-place Georgia. On the men's side, the No. 8 Gators claimed second place for the eighth consecutive year to Auburn.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT