Gators taking their lumps, but Peck remains optimistic

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When I picked up the phone to call a coach whose team had lost nine games in a row and whose job is rumored to be in peril, encountering some prickliness, an excuse or two and an air of despair wouldn't have been a surprise. But I didn't get any of that from Florida women's basketball coach Carolyn Peck, whose Gators are 6-16 and 0-7 in the SEC.

"I have several friends in the coaching business who call me or send me text messages telling me to keep my head up," says Peck, who is in her fifth year of a six-year contract that pays her more than $300,000 a year. "Well, my head's not down! If my head goes down, the team's head goes down. And that's not fair to them. If you know me, the glass is always half full. I don't have time for negativity. All my focus and energy goes to my nine players."

Nine players; that might be Florida's biggest problem this year. Before the season started, the Gators were the fourth least experienced team in the nation, in terms of returning starters. Then, in December, three reserve underclassmen transferred out, citing homesickness, leaving a team of two seniors, one junior and six underclassmen. Only eight of them can practice, because the team's leading scorer, sophomore guard Sha Brooks (15.4 ppg), has torn meniscus in her left knee and needs to rest.

On top of their lack of depth and experience, the Gators have one other serious shortcoming: They are, well, short. Their tallest starter, sophomore Marshae Dotson, is about five inches shorter than Peck, who is 6-foot-4. But they have shown a fight Peck says she will never forget. Indeed, if games were only 35 minutes long, this team might have a different story to tell. The final five minutes of games, when its three key players are often in foul trouble and everyone has run out of steam, are killing them. Against No. 15 Georgia on Sunday, the Gators were within four points with eight minutes to go but lost, 77-54. At No. 12 Vanderbilt two weeks earlier, they led at the half and were within six points with three minutes remaining before losing, 82-69. They lost to Auburn in the last five minutes, by five. Against Arkansas they led the whole way until, well, you get the picture... they lost, 67-57.

With a young team and challenging schedule that included three ranked teams before the grueling SEC season had even started, Peck knew this team was going to take its lumps. "Not that anyone goes into a game expecting to lose, but with an inexperienced team, they have a lot of things to learn, and it's a process," she says. "Four years ago, we were 9-19, and each year the freshmen from that team got a little bit tougher."