Donovan has Florida ready for whatever is next

PHOENIX — By Florida standards, the 2011-12 regular
season was
nothing to write home about.

The Gators tallied a 23-10 record (10-6 in the SEC),
finishing behind Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt in the
conference.

And, losers of four of their last five heading into the
NCAA
Tournament, the seventh-seeded team did not necessarily
have
the look of a squad that was about to make a deep run.

But, as they say, that’s why they play the games, and
Florida coach Billy Donovan thinks the late-season
struggles
were a necessary precursor for what is now a run to the
Elite 8.

I was able to see that our team was making some positive
strides and we were getting better,” the coach said after
his team beat Marquette 68-58 at the US Airways Center.
“But
sometimes — and I say this all the time– when you win, a
lot of times guys never look at their faults or mistakes.”

Whatever mistakes the Gators were making a few weeks ago
are a thing of the past, as the team looked sharp Thursday
in a game they comfortably led for most of the way.

That’s not to say it was easy, though, as Marquette would
just not go away. The thought of losing a late lead was
fresh in the Gators’ minds, especially after last season
when then-No. 2 seeded Florida collapsed late and fell to
Butler in overtime.

“We knew that they could be back in the game, easily,”
junior guard Kenny Boynton said of the Golden Eagles. “I
think we buckled down and we were just telling
each other, whoever is at the free throw line just
has to knock down the free throws.”

They did just that — hitting on 13 of 15 foul shots– and
closed out a team that wasn’t going to go away quietly.

After all, that’s not who they’ve been all season, and
it’s not how they are coached.

But no matter how much a team tries, as Michigan State
found out in the earlier game, it’s tough to win without
making shots.

Marquette hit on just 20 of 65 attempts — good enough for
30.8 percent– succumbing to a suffocating effort by the
talented Gators.

“If you don’t make shots, the easiest thing to say is,
well, we just missed shots that we typically take,”
Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. “That wasn’t what
happened. They were really good. They were outstanding.
And credit goes to their defensive game plan relative to
what we were trying to do offensively.”

So now the Gators are back in the Elite 8, with a chance
to go to the Final Four for the first time since 2007.

They were in the same spot last year before falling to
Butler.

“We’re a lot younger and a lot different and play a lot
different than we did a year ago,” Donovan said. “I think
it’s a great compliment to those guys and how hard they’ve
worked, the schedule that we’ve played, them wanting to
learn and grow and get better.

“I’m very proud and very happy that we’ve been able to
move on this far in the tournament.”

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