Fifth-seeded UF won't get much rest before opening Thursday vs. Manhattan, coached by friend of Billy Donovan's.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published March 15, 2004
[AP photo]
UF's Adrian Moss watches from his back as Chuck Hayes scores in Kentucky's SEC tournament championship win. The Gators still finished strong enough to earn a No. 5 NCAA Tournament seed. NCAA brackets John Romano: Donovan employs woe-is-us strategy
ATLANTA - In one of his rare spare moments last week, Florida coach Billy Donovan took time out to watch Manhattan College in the MAAC tournament championship game, trying to get a glimpse of the team coached by one of his good friends.
Little did he know he could have used it as a scouting report.
Despite its roller-coaster season, Florida rallied well enough in the final stretch to earn a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Gators play 12th-seeded Manhattan on Thursday in the first round in Raleigh, N.C. It is the Gators' sixth straight NCAA appearance.
Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez, a former New York City high school coach, and Donovan are close friends, and Donovan said he has great respect for the job he has done.
"Other than watching his team just out of interest last week, I'm going to obviously need to find out a lot more about his team, but I know they've had some very good teams the last couple of years," Donovan said. "This is their second year making the NCAA Tournament and they have a great, great scorer in Luis Flores."
Flores is the Jaspers' leading scorer, averaging 24.1 points. He was the MAAC tournament MVP (47 points in two games) and has scored 2,000 in three seasons.
Sunday's announcement was both exciting and troubling for Donovan. Though thrilled to be among the 65 teams selected, he had hoped to be chosen for a region that plays Friday.
Since their March 7 game at Kentucky, the Gators have practiced or played six consecutive days, including games Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
"I've often said for anybody playing a Sunday afternoon game for a conference tournament championship, they should be awarded the right to play on Friday and Sunday," Donovan said. "It will be tough to turn around and play on Thursday and Saturday, and that's exactly what's happened. We've got a lot of recovering to do. We have played basically three games in 39 hours. It's been a physically grueling weekend for our guys and they've given everything they have, their heart and soul to try and compete in the SEC tournament.
"But we've got an unbelievable challenge mentally, physically and emotionally to turn around and play on a Thursday, but we're going to try to do the best job we can." Although CBS commentators chose Florida as a prime "upset" candidate Thursday, ESPN analysts Dick Vitale and Digger Phelps said the Gators should survive the first round.
"Anthony Roberson can flat-out play, and I love Matt Walsh, but he can't go (1-for-15) the way he did against Alabama," Phelps said during a Sunday night telecast. "But I think the key has got to be David Lee inside. He's got to find a way to establish points in the paint and be a lot tougher than he is. He doesn't take it to the rim that much, but in this first game against Manhattan, they will not get challenged inside like they would against a (team like) Kentucky. The up and down game favors Florida."
Florida won't know until at least today whether Walsh can play. He has tendinitis and a bruised bone in his right foot and a torn callous that left a gaping hole in the foot after Sunday's game.
The Florida players said they know they're considered underdogs.
"We've got a battle ahead of us and we've got to stick together and fight it out," said Roberson, the team's leading scorer. "We'll be ready. We've beaten the odds to get as far as we got (Sunday). We were picked to lose in the first round of the SEC tournament. We're going to beat the odds again.
"A lot of people are going to say Florida is going to do the same thing we did last year (lose in the first round), and we know the odds are going to be against us. We all have that in our mind, I have it in my mind. We've got a lot to prove."
