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By JOANNE KORTH
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 7, 2000
GAINESVILLE -- Despite returning four starters from last season's national runner-up team, Florida will have to prove itself again.
The Gators are ranked 11th in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 released Monday. Arizona edged Duke for the No. 1 spot in the poll, which featured four teams from the SEC.
"It's a new season and our guys have to go out and prove themselves, just like we had to prove ourselves last year," UF coach Billy Donovan said. "Every year that has to be the mentality of your team."
When Florida walked off the court in April, an 85-76 loser to senior-laden Michigan State in the national title game, many considered the Gators a top-three preseason team for 2000-01. All but one player was to return.
But in a span of two weeks Florida lost sophomore swingman Mike Miller, the team's leading scorer (14.1) and second-leading rebounder (6.6), and freshman Donnell Harvey, the top rebounder (7.0), to the NBA.
But Donovan likes his team, which returns seven players from last season's 10-player rotation and adds freshman swingman Orien Greene, Florida's Mr. Basketball last season at Gainesville High.
The ranking, he said, seems fair.
"Last year was a great, great year, but we're still trying to move forward," he said. "Part of building the program is being able to do it over time."
Arizona returns all five starters from a team that was a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats had a sizable lead in first-place votes but finished with four more points than the Blue Devils.
"This one has fewer question marks than probably any team that we've had," Arizona coach Lute Olson said of the group that features the sophomore backcourt of Jason Gardner and Gilbert Arenas and junior forwards Richard Jefferson and Michael Wright.
Senior center Loren Woods, who missed the end of last season with a back injury, has been impressive in his return.
Arizona, which finished 25-7 last season and lost to Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, had 37 first-place votes and 1,753 points.
Duke, which has four starters back from the team that was No. 1 in the final poll and lost in the round of 16, was first on 29 ballots, and its 1,749 points were 260 more than defending national champion Michigan State.
The Spartans, who lost three starters from the team that won it all, received five first-place votes and were two points in front of Stanford.
Florida was joined in the Top 25 by conference mates Tennessee (No. 9), Kentucky (No. 12) and Arkansas (tied for No. 15).
Maryland received the other first-place vote and was followed in the Top 10 by North Carolina, Kansas, Illinois, Tennessee and Seton Hall.
After the Gators and Kentucky comes No. 13 Utah, No. 14 Connecticut, and Arkansas and Notre Dame, which tied for 15th.
UCLA was 17th, followed by Cincinnati, Wisconsin, Wake Forest, DePaul, Oklahoma, Southern California, Virginia and Iowa State.
The big conferences dominated the voting with eight leagues supplying all 25 teams. The ACC's five -- Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Virginia -- led the way.
GAINESVILLE -- Florida's coach returned to the team Monday for the first time in five days, and the Gators beat the London Leopards 118-95 in their exhibition opener at the O'Connell Center. Donovan rejoined his team for the first time since his wife, Christine, delivered a stillborn child on Thursday. A funeral service was held Saturday, and Donovan did not attend practices Thursday, Friday or Sunday.
"When you go through a very difficult time you need some time to reflect and take care of your family," said Donovan, who has two sons and a daughter, ages 3-8. "Was I all there mentally? Probably not. But I thought it was important for our basketball team that I come back to let these guys know I'm okay because they have been very supportive."
Sophomore forward Matt Bonner led all scorers with 35, a UF exhibition game record. The previous high was 32 by Eugene McDowell against Marathon Oil in 1982.
Senior forward Brent Wright added 21, junior guard Teddy Dupay had 15 and sophomore guard Justin Hamilton added 11 as the Gators used their trademark full-court pressure to take a 57-40 halftime led. UF took its biggest lead, 90-56, midway through a rag-tag second half.
Donovan looks forward to reviewing the film from the game and returning to practice today to correct the mistakes. Florida plays its final exhibition against the California All-Stars on Monday before opening the season at Florida State on Nov. 17.
"Personally, the last four or five days have been very, very difficult," Donovan said. "I'm not going to say that when I left home to come here I was as mentally prepared as I needed to be. But I'm going to be okay. I'll get ready from this point on."
- Information from Times wires was used in this report.