Gators Didn't Have Enough

TAMPA - "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 next Tuesday. OK, maybe it was more like an NCAA elimination game, loser is out, winner moves on. Yeah, that was it.

Florida moves not.

It ended in the SEC quarterfinals with a 61-58 loss. No NCAA Tournament, barring a surprise the Gators don't deserve. They fought Friday, but didn't earn it.

At 23 wins, they had a chance.

They didn't earn it.

Forget that they'd been ugly down the stretch this season, at times unwatchable. What's been pretty about the Gators since the Oh-Fours walked off the floor with their second NCAA title?

"That's a tough act to follow," Florida guard Walter Hodge said Thursday. He was a member of the title teams. "Those teams are forever."

This group just didn't quite have enough. It showed a good deal of heart on Friday, but there wasn't enough talent. For the second consecutive dance-less season, there just wasn't enough.

A win over Auburn would have meant daylight. These Gators, laughably less athletic and less talented than the amazing back-to-backers (who isn't?) were simply trying to swing the axe one more day, chop some more wood, find their way to a Saturday semifinal against Tennessee.

They lost their way.

This SEC Tournament hasn't exactly sizzled. Everywhere you looked around the country, amazing things were happening. In Tampa, all was quiet for seven games, especially when NIT bilge Kentucky, an awful club, was dismissed with its crazy fans. With Florida gone, look for the Forum to be a ghost town this weekend.

But Florida and Auburn came to play for their real live NCAA lives.

The Gators rest in pieces.

Not even big baskets by Gators forward Alex Tyus and the smallest man on the court, 5-8 fearless Florida freshman guard Erving Walker, could make a difference.

Florida's best player, Nick Calathes, looked tired. He missed 10 of his 13 shots. Most Gators looked worn out. Maybe they just didn't have enough in the first place. Auburn grabbed the lead late and held on.

The Gators had one last chance, down three as the clock ticked on out. Upperclassmen Hodge and Dan Werner didn't factor in. Calathes wasn't there, either. Don't understand that. So Walker went up on the left wing. The shot was blocked. The horn blew.

Florida didn't have enough.

If only ...

Donovan has hinted about some recruiting glitches the last few years. Hey, even he slips up, though not often. But how can you predict? It happens everywhere. It just happens. But it's easy to think about what could have been.

We wonder how much better these Gators would be if Marreese Speights hadn't left for the NBA after last season, or if Donovan had won the recruiting war with Kentucky for big man Patrick Patterson, who is now a sophomore in Lexington. Or if David Huertas hadn't transferred from UF to Ole Miss, where he's a scoring star.

Or what if two earlier Donovan recruits hadn't been academically ineligible? Derwin Kitchen went to play junior college ball before moving to FSU, where he's a starter on an NCAA Tournament lock. And there was Doneal Mack, who has emerged at Memphis.

Who knows, under different circumstances, we could have talking about a Sweet 16 team.

We're not.

Sure, a lot of schools can tell you stories like that.

And a lot of schools aren't dancing. Florida isn't.

The Gators can expect help next season. 2009 signee Kenny Boynton should give them scoring punch at shooting guard. Vernon Macklin, a transfer from Georgetown, should give the Gators much-needed muscle underneath. But there's no telling what will happen, what will work out, who will work out. We only know what happened Friday.

These Gators didn't have enough.

Not against Auburn. Not against the last two seasons, really.