|
|
 |
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
Staying positive As practice begins, Gators ready to move past offseason
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Midnight Madness will seem calm compared to the offseason the Florida basketball program has been through. First, there was the Kwame Brown watch. Brown committed to Florida, but then left coach Billy Donovan hanging for months before deciding to go pro. Then, there was the Teddy Dupay gambling probe. Lingering for nearly three months, that drama finally ended with the shooting guard being declared ineligible after he was listed as an uncharged co-defendant in a gambling investigation by school police. Despite those losses, Donovan will trot one of the most talented teams in the country onto the floor at midnight Saturday for the first practice of the season. All-American candidates Brett Nelson and Udonis Haslem return for their senior seasons. Matt Bonner, a 6-foot-10 forward, is back after averaging 13 points and eight rebounds last season. The Gators also have another of their stellar recruiting classes, even without Brown. Forwards Adrian Moss and David Lee and guard James White are all players who should step in and play immediately. "They've got a good feel about how to play," Donovan said. "By next Friday, we'll have zone defenses in, presses in, sets in, our whole entire system will be in. Those guys are going to have to absorb a lot." Last season was a rambling soap opera for the Gators, filled with suspensions, injuries and the personal trials of Donovan, whose wife, Christine, gave birth to a stillborn child before the season began. Picked to make a run at the title, the Gators won a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season crown, but fell out of the NCAA tournament with a second-round loss to Temple. The expected arrival of Brown was expected to put Florida over the top this season. His decision to go pro would have hurt most programs, but not the Gators, who have plenty of talent. Also returning is defensive specialist Justin Hamilton, who succumbed to a knee injury 14 games into last season. "He feels like his legs are stronger than they were a year ago," Donovan said. "His body has completely changed. He's playing with a lot of confidence." Sophomores Orien Greene (guard) and Bonell Colas (forward) struggled last year, but both have had a summer to increase strength and improve confidence. "Those two guys, especially Orien, need to perform for us," Donovan said. Nobody needs to perform more than Nelson and Haslem. Nelson, a junior, and Haslem, a senior, would have been viable candidates to leave after last season, but both chose to stay, hoping to make another Final Four. Donovan says he likes their attitude as much as the way they play. "Udonis could totally have a prima donna attitude right now with the success he's had individually and the success our team has had since he's been here," Donovan said. "But he wants to close his career out, not with numbers, but with winning."
| |||||||||||||||||||
