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Aiming to get out of Vanderbilt alive

By JOANNE KORTH

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 28, 2001

GAINESVILLE -- If guard Teddy Dupay could pick any arena in the Southeastern Conference to play a must-win game, first, of course, would be the Gators' home court.

Last would be Vanderbilt's.

No. 6 Florida needs a victory tonight at Vanderbilt to set up an SEC-title showdown with Kentucky at the O'Connell Center on Sunday. Though the Commodores, losers of five straight and eight of 10, may not seem daunting, Memorial Gymnasium always is.

"It's just weird," Dupay said. "I don't care if Vandy is 0-20 when you go in there, it's going to be the toughest game you have to play."

Florida is 9-39 at Memorial Coliseum, a dark arena where the benches are on the end lines rather than courtside. The configuration makes it easier for coaches to see, harder to communicate.

"It is a little bit different as far as getting stuff to your guys," said fifth-year coach Billy Donovan, who has won in every SEC arena but Memorial Coliseum. "Once they're at the other end of the floor playing, no matter how much you scream, they're not going to hear you."

Though Florida won just once at Memorial Coliseum in the 1990s, the Gators are the league's best road team this season at 5-2. Both losses were heartbreakers, at the buzzer at South Carolina and in the final 3.3 seconds at Kentucky.

"The hardest thing is getting your team to understand how hard it is to win on the road and the type of mind-set you have to have," Donovan said. "I'm not going to tell you it's some secret formula we have, but our guys have been focused. Once you get them to have that focus, you have a chance to win on the road."

HONOREES: Men's basketball signees Kwame Brown and David Lee are among 10 finalists for the Naismith Player of the Year Award. Former UF forward Donnell Harvey, who left for the NBA after one season, won in 1999.

Brown, a 6-foot-11 center from Glynn (Ga.) Academy, and Lee, a 6-foot-9 forward from Chaminade (Mo.) High, join James White, a 6-foot-6 forward from Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy, in giving UF the nation's top-rated recruiting class. SWIMMING AND DIVING: The men's and women's teams will spend the next three weeks focusing on the NCAA Championships March 22-24 in Austin, Texas, after finishing third in their SEC championship meets Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

TRACK AND FIELD: The women, ranked No. 6 by Trackwire magazine, claimed the SEC's 800-meter indoor title for the sixth consecutive season as Kamille Bratton won in 2 minutes, 9.35 seconds Sunday in Lexington, Ky.

Olympian Hazel Clark won the event from 1996-99 and Tamika Grizzle won in 2000.

"I knew it was going to be a Gator who won," said Bratton, who nipped her sister, Kristina, at the line by .08 seconds. Four UF runners reached the final.

- Contact Gators beat writer Joanne Korth at (800) 333-7505, ext.7306, or by e-mail at Korth@sptimes.com.

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