Can Gator heartbreak lay future foundation?

Florida Times-Union sports columnist Gene Frenette offers his perspective on a variety of topics for jacksonville.com This is his entry for Thursday March 6.


An hour into the post-mortem of Florida's devastating 89-86 loss Wednesday night to Tennessee, coach Billy Donovan kept talking about what the fallout would be for his Gators in the wake of such crushing disappointment.

He wasn't referring to the "who's in, who's out" rammifications for the NCAA tournament -- which now seems more of a long-shot than 50-50 -- but his team's personal growth from an experience that left several players teary-eyed in the locker room.

"To me, it was a great growing experience," said Donovan. "They could really grow from this. When you have pain and hurt in that locker room, there's a chance to bond from that. Sometimes, pain and heartache brings you closer together than the wins. You cannot become a team until you go through some of these experiences."

No doubt, a large segment of Gator nation is feeling downcast about losing a game that could have put Florida (21-9 overall, 8-7 in Southeastern Conference)in good position for an NCAA at-large bid had they finished off the No. 4-ranked Volunteers. The Gators just didn't have the experience to put the clamps on UT guards JaJuan Smith and Chris Lofton, who hit critical shots during a 14-0 second half run that enabled the Vols to overcome a 55-42 halftime deficit.

But there's a potentially huge consolation for the Gators, providing that this bitter loss helps them become a team in the true sense of the word. After the game, Donovan rattled off some disappointing losses that his previous UF squad went through before it blossomed into a back-to-back NCAA champion.

It was clearly Donovan's way of sending a message to his current players, hoping they might take an emotional defeat and allow it to speed up their growth process.

"You're trying to strive to be the best possible team," said Donovan. "We were a team tonight. There was no team passion against Mississippi State [in last Saturday's loss]."

Given that over 85 percent of Florida's production is coming from freshmen or sophomores, taking the outright SEC champion right to the wire is a positive step. And with all the beef in UF's next incoming class -- 6-foot-9 Kenny Kadji, 6-9 Eloy Vargas and 6-8 Allan Chaney -- the Gators should be able to win playing more of a halfcourt game in the future than relying so heavily on three-point shots and transition basketball.

Providing, of course, that these Gators find a way to use their greatest disappointment of the season as motivation to become a team to be reckoned with.


With NCAA Selection Sunday just 10 days away, there's still considerable speculation about Florida's chances of extending their NCAA tournament streak to 10 consecutive years.

Right now, the chances are probably somewhere in the 10-20 percent range because there's simply too many teams on the bubble with better overall resumes than the Gators. They can help their cause immensely by beating Kentucky on the road Sunday, which would give UF a sweep over another bubble team.

The problem is, Florida has only one quality win (Vanderbilt) and even a win over Kentucky, which is three games ahead of UF in the SEC East standings, wouldn't be enough to put Donovan's team in the tournament.

Here's the numerical logjam that makes it hard to imagine Florida getting an NCAA bid without going to the SEC tournament finals, or maybe the semifinals -- there are currently 19 leagues that will send just one team to the Big Dance, 30 teams that are considered locks no matter what happens and another 8 schools (Oklahoma, Miami, Baylor, etc.) that look pretty safe as long as they don't collapse.

That's 57 out of 65 spots already reserved. For the last eight berths, there's about 20-25 schools with a chance to secure them, and a lot of them currently have better credentials than Florida, which is 1-7 against teams in the RPI Top 50.

And another factor to consider when you're looking at all these mock brackets from ESPN's Joe Lunardi and everyone else: none of these projections include conference tournament upsets that, every year, take away another two or three of those at-large bids.

So in addition to Florida needing to beat Kentucky and make an SEC tournament run, they have to root for teams like Memphis, Butler, Drake and Davidson -- all with solid at-large credentials -- to win their league tournaments and gain the automatic bid.

It comes down to a numbers game, specifically who you played, who you beat and how well your team performed in the last 10-12 games. Right now, none of those factors are in Florida's favor.


So far, NFL free agency from the Jaguars' perspective has shown that coach Jack Del Rio and the front office isn't afraid to spend money or shake up the roster.

The addition of wide receiver Jerry Porter from the Oakland Raiders and cornerback Drayton Florence from the San Diego Chargers are the most significant additions, but it's clear the Jaguars aren't shy about severing ties with major contributors.

Who would have thought midway through the 2007 season that three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Marcus Stroud would be traded or veteran guard Chris Naeole cut? The team also let popular receiver Ernest Wilford become a free agent (he signed with the Miami Dolphins), as well as backup quarterback Quinn Gray and productive safety Sammy Knight.

So what's the message? It's that the Jaguars feel this is their time to be a Super Bowl contender and with $35 million in salary cap room, they were going to do everything possible to close the gap on the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots.

Time will tell if they succeeded. Porter is a talented receiver who had mixed results in Oakland. Florence should definitely upgrade the secondary either as a nickel back or possibly a starter if the Jags move Brian Williams to safety. Either way, his presence gives the defense greater flexibility.

Now it's time for the Jaguars to go back into the film room and see if the April draft can bring them the player they'll need to beef up the pass rush. With the third and fifth-round picks they received from the Buffalo Bills for Stroud, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see the Jaguars trade up from the No. 26 spot in the first round to land a coveted pass-rusher.