DESTIN, Fla. - The mass early exodus of Kentucky basketball players makes Florida coach Billy Donovan even more appreciative of his back-to-back national championship teams.
After winning the 2005-06 Final Four, all the key Florida players eschewed the NBA draft. They returned to win another national title.
The SEC's most talented team since then has followed a different course.
Five underclassmen from Kentucky's 35-win team already have declared for the NBA draft. Talent aside, they will depart without making the Final Four.
"I don't know all the situations in terms of (Kentucky players) with their families," Donovan said at the SEC spring meetings. "My situation was very, very unique. There was an incredible chemistry and bond. And coming off a championship, they also wanted to try and do it again.
"Three of the (fathers of Florida starters) were professional athletes. I think the one thing their parents talked to (the players) about was that they would never, ever play on a team like that, and that the NBA would always be there."
Their delayed entry into the pros hasn't hurt the development of Florida's most acclaimed players. Three of the starters from the back-to-back national championship teams have established themselves in the NBA.
Joakim Noah averaged 14.8 points and 13 rebounds per game this season with the Chicago Bulls. Al Horford averaged 14.2 points and 9.9 rebounds for the Atlanta Hawks.
Corey Brewer averaged 13 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey, two other prominent players on those championship teams, didn't make the NBA but are playing in Europe.
Meanwhile, Florida is still trying to recover from all that success. After winning back-to-back national titles, the Gators went consecutive years without making the NCAA tournament.
"We got hurt really badly in recruiting because of Noah, Brewer, Horford and those guys," Donovan said. "Because even though I knew they were going to leave after their junior year, there was still this feeling out there - that after we won a second one, they were going to come back again."
Now, the Gators are on the upswing again. They will return five starters - all of whom averaged at least 10 points a game - from an NCAA tournament team.
They key returnee is power forward Alex Tyus, who considered the NBA but opted to remain at Florida. The Gators also will add freshman forward Patric Young, a McDonald's All-American.
Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has proclaimed them as the favorite to unseat Kentucky as the SEC champion. And two early, early polls have them in the top 10.
Donovan understands the rankings and the billing. He also appreciates the challenge.
"You get that when you have five starters returning from an NCAA tournament team," he said. "But these players haven't had any expectations on them before."
The coach should be able to educate them. After successfully defending a national championship, he knows all about handling expectations.
John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284.
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Comments » 10
crimsonviper writes:
Well here it is, the daily gratuitous Florida article...yay..Go John Go.
Wheatgerm writes:
Billy, there's no such thing as "very, very unique." It's either unique or it's not. There are no degrees of unique.
I wouldn't throw Patterson into the mix here. He was a junior who already earned his degree. He could have left after two years but returned to play with a new coach and a bunch of new players. He gave a lot. And no one can begrudge Wall or Cousins for going early. It's Orton and Bledsoe who surprised everyone and turned this into a "mass early exodus." Add three seniors lost to graduation and 3/4 of the team is gone. That's unique. Look for UK to start returning more core players.
Lizardgrad89 writes:
Actually, I agree with this sentiment. I come here to get Vol news, not a rehash of the same thing I see on the Gainesville Sun site.
volboy81 writes:
Ive been waiting with bated-breath to read more about gators basketball and billy-boy! SOOOO glad its on govolsxtra.com. Im sure ALL of us Vol fans really appreciate the timely, quality, interesting items John Adams blesses us with almost daily!
Raynoch writes:
Adams is reporting from the spring meetings, people. Why on earth would he go down there to write yet another story about our Vols. He can do that any day of the week when he's here in Knoxville. Some of these posters are ridiculous.
chrisw2967 writes:
If people wanted to read an article on fla or any other SEC team they would go to that teams web site. In case you havent been paying attention this is a Vol web site.I could careless about any news on Fla or any other SEC school.Most people besides the trolls come on a vol site to read about the vols.
196SVol writes:
Actually, this is a PRIVATE website owned and operated by KNS. THEY determine what is posted, not YOU or ME. Some of us like to read about GOOD programs, hence, articles about the Gators should abound.
Raynoch writes:
I'm fully aware that govolsxtra.com is a Tennessee website, chrisw2967.
What do you mean? So are you saying UT news publications shouldn't send reporters to conference meetings? Or if UT news publications send reporters to conference meetings, those reporters should only report on UT stories? And every UT fan is like you and has absolutely no interest in news from our rivals or from around our conference?
VolunteerLifer writes:
I'm certainly not one to go around praising the florida programs, but what Donovan and his players did those two years was not only remarkable, but significant to Tennessee. And that's because they showed it could be done - that an SEC team other than Kentucky can compete for and win a national basketball championship. Think about it - what other teams besides Kentucky have won a NC before or since florida did it? Arkansas - were they in the SEC when they did that? And what's happened to them since? LSU made some final fours in Dale Brown's time, but nothing since. I think Georgia made a final four once, and maybe Miss St. Other than that, the league has had bupkus. But if florida can do it, then why can't Tennessee do it? Why not us? Studying how Donovan did it could be the key to understanding how we can do it, too.
V_O_L_S_GO_VOLS_GO writes:
According to Jack Fail, I mean, Lail, they only keep writing these articles because we view them and post on them. I think the staff of KNS just got too upset when they had to quit charging for the site, so to retaliate, they just write cr@p-piece articles and "report" on stuff we don't care about just to piss us off.
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