Carter's Corner: UF women's basketball begins to garner attention

The UF women's basketball team has 14 wins in 16 games to start the season. (Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics)

Carter's Corner: UF women's basketball begins to garner attention

Monday, January 11, 2016 | Women's Basketball, Scott Carter

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The UF women's basketball team has quietly gone about its business without much attention until the past few days.

However, when a team steps onto Summitt Court and beats Tennessee, people notice. Follow that victory with a win at Ole Miss on Sunday to surpass your win total from a season ago - and only 16 games into the season - more people start to notice.

As a result, the 14-2 Gators returned to the AP Top 25 on Monday for the first time in nearly seven years, a sign of respect for what head coach Amanda Butler's team has done coming off a disappointing 13-17 season.

"Just a tremendous week for our team,'' Butler said Monday. "Whenever you can win games on the road in the SEC, that's a great day for your program."

The Gators haven't had many great days of late. They missed the postseason for only the third time in 23 seasons last season, prompting Butler to make changes to her coaching staff.

26964 — Center Tyshara Fleming shoots at Ole Miss. (Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics

She also added talented freshman Eleanna Christinaki from Greece, and a pair of transfers from Northwest Florida State College, center Tyshara Fleming and forward Simone Westbrook.

Butler said the new coaches, assistants Shimmy Gray-Miller and Bill Ferrara, and the new players have contributed to the team's new identity.

"Everybody on this team has played a role in the position we are in currently in different ways," she said. "It can't be underestimated, their impact."

The Gators are one of seven SEC teams currently ranked in the Top 25, and one of four state schools, joining No. 16 Florida State (Florida beat the Seminoles earlier this season), No. 19 South Florida and No. 21 Miami.

They are clearly headed in the right direction as Butler tries to steer the program back to the NCAA Tournament.

Butler missed the victory at Tennessee due to a family emergency, turning the team over to Gray-Miller, a former Michigan standout and head coach at St. Louis University.

The Gators responded with just the program's fourth victory over Tennessee in 52 all-time meetings.

After the win over the Lady Vols, Butler used her smartphone to FaceTime with her team.

"I couldn't even talk,'' she said. "I was so emotional."

The calm had returned by Monday when talk of the Gators back in the national polls surfaced. Butler was already focused on facing Georgia at home on Thursday.

As for the heightened attention that comes with being ranked, the Gators plan to continue to quietly go about their business and see where it leads.

"I don't think there is any question we deserve to be ranked,'' Butler said. "What that means is what I really don't care about. It's great recognition but it's not going to help us prepare for Georgia. If there's five people or 500,000 people that are paying attention to what we're doing, that is not going to change the way we play, the way we prepare and the way we compete."

Maybe not. But at least more people are starting to notice, and that's a good thing.