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Florida's Focus Is On Surviving

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 13, 2009

Updated:

TAMPA - Does it matter if they do it ugly? Does it matter if the NCAA Tournament selection committee wants to call Florida to say, "Look, we'll make you a deal - we'll let you in so long as we don't have to watch any more of your games"?

It doesn't matter.

"We're just trying to do it any way we can," Florida senior guard Walter Hodge said.

"Survive and move on ..." Florida coach Billy Donovan said after the Gators outlasted Arkansas in the opening round of the SEC Tournament at the Forum. "Sometimes at this time of year, it's not the team that looks the prettiest, but it's the team that can make more winning plays."

Friday night brought Auburn, another nightcap, and the closest thing to an NCAA play-in game this side of the one in Dayton on Tuesday. The winner of this game is probably dancing, the loser is definitely out.

Survive and move on.

Florida has been ugly down the stretch, at times unwatchable. But what's been pretty since the fabulous Oh-Fours walked off the floor with their second NCAA title?

"That's a tough act to follow," said Hodge, a member of the title teams. "Those teams are forever."

These Gators, laughably less athletic and less talented, are simply trying to swing the axe one more day, chop some more wood, find their way.

They have an RPI of 48 and their strength of schedule ranks 85th. They have 23 wins, and no SEC team with that many victories has ever been left out of the tournament since it expanded to 64 teams in 1985. But other than beating Washington early this season, not a lot of Florida's 23 wins jump out at you. Not a lot of style jumps out at you, either. Forget style at this point.

"Getting in is the thing," Florida guard Nick Calathes said.

Calathes, Florida's best player, looks tired. The Gators as a team looked worn down against Arkansas. But they live.

They sat around Thursday and Friday waiting to play. How do you not keep an eye on all the other tournaments for news on other bubble teams?

Bubble boys Virginia Tech, and our man Seth Greenberg, lost to No. 1 North Carolina in the ACC Tournament. Frankly, Tech got killed by a horrible call. No matter. It helped Florida.

Bubble boys Maryland beat N.C. State and Wake Forest. It hurt Florida. Earlier this week, Cleveland State beat tourney-bound Butler for the Horizon championship. Baylor is suddenly going to play for the Big 12 title. That didn't help Florida.

Then again, bubble boys South Carolina lost to Mississippi State here Friday. That helped the Gators. Unless, of course, Mississippi State goes on to win the SEC tourney.

"Me and Walt Hodge watched the games," Calathes said after Thursday's win. "But it's not like we go oh, my God, there goes a spot. We can't look at it that way. Basically, we control our own destiny."

Donovan wouldn't play the play-in card for Friday's game.

"I've seen plenty of times where teams are sitting there and they're flabbergasted they didn't get in. ... Then you see guys are so shocked they got in, so appreciative and happy. You're always going to have that. It's part of the allure of the NCAA Tournament. That's why people watch. The adulation, the excitement, also the disappointment."

This SEC Tournament hasn't exactly sizzled. Everywhere you look around the country, amazing things are happening. In Tampa, all's quiet, especially now that NIT bilge Kentucky has been dismissed with its pathological fans. If Florida loses to Auburn, the Forum will be a ghost town this weekend. It'll be as if a USF game broke out.

As if Florida is thinking about that. There will be time to break down what this team lacks or any recruiting holes for Donovan. That's for later. This is here and now.

"I don't know how we're viewed," Donovan said. "I haven't been told by anybody we're in or we're not in. The reality is to forget about Selection Sunday. We're playing for the opportunity to play again today. Sunday will get here soon enough. Right now, it's just getting to today."

"That's the only idea this time of year," Hodge said.

Not a bad one at that.

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