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Champing at the bit
Behind sea of shooters, Gators primed for contention
Posted: Thursday January 16, 2003 11:42 AM
Updated: Thursday January 16, 2003 5:14 PM
Two of their top scorers are freshmen, their All-America senior is shooting 27 percent and there's nary a center on their roster.
But seriously, what's not to like about the Florida Gators?
In today’s topsy-turvy college basketball world, where the words senior leadership and team chemistry are quickly becoming relics, the Gators have both. In an age when the jump shot is becoming a lost art, they have four guys that can spot up from anywhere with a fifth just arriving.
And in a season largely lacking in dominating teams, Billy Donovan's squad -- 14-2 and ranked sixth in the country after knocking off Mississippi State and Georgia last week -- is primed to make its deepest postseason run since reaching the 2000 national title game.
"This team's just as talented as any I've played on since I've been here," said senior forward Matt Bonner, and that's saying a lot. Following the unexpected title-game run with a young, overachieving squad (seven of the top nine players were freshmen or sophomores), when budding dynasty talk began swirling in Gainesville, the Gators have been no stranger to the top 10.
But each of the past two seasons, circumstances weren't right to finish there. Two years ago, an injury-riddled team fell in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Temple, and last season ended with a first-round upset by Creighton.
"I think last year we had some deficiencies, we were probably a little overhyped as a basketball team," Donovan said.
That team's most notable deficiency is this one's greatest excess: players capable of hitting the big shot.
As a team, the Gators are shooting 38.9 percent from 3-point range. This despite taking a staggering 383 shots from beyond the arc -- 99 more than any other SEC team -- and despite the fact that former SEC player of the year Brett Nelson, saddled by injury and a horrid shooting slump, made just 17 of his first 70 3-point attempts (24.3 percent).
Enter Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson. The two freshman stars have exceeded any imaginable expectations, ranking second and third, respectively, on the team in scoring (Walsh at 14.8 points per game, Roberson at 14.4), shooting better than 40 percent from downtown (Walsh at 47.3, Roberson at 40.8) and hitting some of the biggest shots of the season, like Roberson's game-winner against Georgia last week.
But the shooting prowess doesn't stop there. Even at 6-foot-10, Bonner (the team's leading scorer at 15.1 ppg) can step back to the arc, hitting 46.5 percent of his 3-pointers, while point guard Justin Hamilton is at 41.9.
"Normally, we have four guys out there who can shoot the 3, and it really opens up the inside," said Walsh, who went 7-for-7 from beyond the arc against Bethune-Cookman in December. "It's almost like impossible to guard us because of it."
Throw in the low-post scoring and rebounding of sophomore power forward David Lee, Bonner's interior defense, Hamilton's distribution skills and Wednesday's debut of yet another perimeter threat, heretofore injured Danish freshman Christian Drejer, and you have an almost ideal inside-outside composition for a contender.
And none of it would be possible if the older guys -- Bonner, Nelson, Hamilton -- had been less receptive to the idea of a couple freshmen coming in and upstaging them in the glamour department.
"We’re being led in scoring by two freshmen [before Wednesday's 77-64 win over Tennessee] -- how many other teams in the top 10 have that?" said Donovan. "You have to have a unique group of seniors, they’re OK with that because they want to win."
Donovan's program has become one of the few capable of plucking its pick of McDonald's All-Americas, but he's also found out that can burn you. Of his most touted recent signees, Kwame Brown never made it to campus and became the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, while Donnell Harvey and James White both bolted after one season before they even had a chance to blossom.
Neither Walsh nor Roberson are anywhere near locks to stay the distance, like Nelson, Bonner and Udonis Haslem before them, but they're definitely more team-oriented than many of today's aspiring NBA prodigees.
"Several years ago, the perception was that at our level, you’ve got to have guys who are potential pros," Donovan said. "I don’t know if that’s the case anymore."
With that caveat in mind, Donovan has crafted a squad that has about as ideal a composition as possible in today's climate.
Few teams can say they have both solid senior leadership and high-impact youngsters. A couple that can are the nation's top two teams, Duke and Arizona.
If this season turns out different than the past two, Florida won't be far behind by the end.
Blanchard leads Wolverines' resurgence
As college careers go, Michigan LaVell Blanchard's has been nothing short of arduous. The former McDonald's All-America arrived at his hometown school three years ago with visions of restoring the Wolverines to glory.
Instead, the career 16-point scorer has endured consecutive losing seasons, the firing of the coach, Brian Ellerbe, who recruited him and, weeks before the start of his senior season, news that the school had banned itself from postseason play for decade-old violations involving rogue booster Ed Martin.
Blanchard, though, who never wavered on his commitment to his childhood team, is in the midst of a happy ending. After starting the year 0-6, the Wolverines have been one of the year's top surprises, rolling off 10 straight victories, including Wednesday's 61-50 win at Ohio State. While the key addition has been talented freshman point guard Daniel Horton, second-year coach Tommy Amaker cited Blanchard, who struggled early, as the catalyst.
"It wasn't any magic, it was about a senior taking control of things," Amaker said. "When LaVell is playing the way he's capable of playing, being our best player, things kind of fall in line."
While the Wolverines still lack size and depth, they appear to be more competitive than the past couple years, thanks to wingmen Blanchard, Horton and Bernard Robinson Jr.
"They have three guys who play away from the basket who are as good as any three players on any team in the league," said Ohio State's Jim O'Brien.
For Michigan to have a successful season, the key will be whether veterans Blanchard and Robinson can stay focused down the stretch knowing they have nothing to play for but pride.
"Playing in the Big Ten, this is our tournament," Blanchard said. "You always want to go out on top."
Big East coaches officially unhappy
Almost simultaneously last Saturday, four normally mild-mannered Big East coaches used their postgame news conferences as a pulpit to rail on league officiating, or, in one case, one of the other coaches.
Georgetown's Craig Esherick, fed up with what he saw as constant, uncalled hacking of his center, Mike Sweetney, delivered an angry tirade following his team's victory over West Virginia. "I will pay any referee to sit in the post and let somebody beat the crap out of him and see how he likes it," said Esherick.
Meanwhile, following a 74-64 loss to Notre Dame in which his team shot only nine free throws all game to the Irish's 29, Seton Hall head coach Louis Orr stopped just short of blaming the defeat on the officials. "Does it take [us] to win 20 games or to be a ranked team to get the same calls? It's just frustrating."
Refs were also involved in an incident that set off Pittsburgh coach Ben Howland, though Howland's ire was directed more at Rutgers counterpart Gary Waters. Howland called it "bush league" that officials allowed Waters to replace Kareem Wright, a 30-percent foul shooter, with 70-percent shooter Calvin Wooten after Wright fell hard on a foul late in the Panthers' 70-63 win.
"He's gotta grow up," replied Waters, who insisted Wright was in serious pain.
Ironically, Esherick and Orr's teams squared off three days later, and both expressed satisfaction with the officiating in Seton Hall's 68-54 win.
Howland and Waters reunite Feb. 22.
Worth noting
Indiana coach Mike Davis, whose team dropped three of six before into Wednesday's win over Northwestern, is fed up with his players getting manhandled in the paint. "I have no idea what's going on in the players' minds, but we're not playing with any toughness at all," he said. ... Up-and-down Stanford guard Matt Lotich regained his confidence in a big way last week, igniting a comeback from 14 down against Oregon State with five 3-pointers, then draining five more in the Cardinal's 81-57 rout of Oregon two days later. ... Following its 65-55 win over Temple on Tuesday, St. Joseph's is off to its best start in 38 years at 12-1. John Chaney's Owls, meanwhile, are a disappointing 3-11. ... Gonzaga felt it had something to prove with its 92-72 rout of rival Pepperdine, but it probably wasn't necessary. The 'Zags are 11-5, with their losses coming to Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Stanford and St. Joseph's. ... You couldn't have a much more dramatic week than that of the Ohio Bobcats, who won a four-overtime marathon over Akron on Wednesday, than lost on a half-court buzzer beater by Cental Michigan's J.R. Wallace on Saturday.
Stewart Mandel covers college sports for CNNSI.com.
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