The Day After: Billy D philosophically talks life after Will Yeguete
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Cross Country, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida Gators had Wednesday off after beating Auburn 63-47 for a third straight win the night before, but unfortunately for sophomore forward Will Yeguete his time away from the basketball court will extend for the rest of the season.
Yeguete, the sophomore forward and valuable defensive specialist, broke a bone in his left foot in the second half against the Tigers. Whether he opts to undergo surgery, a cracked fifth metatarsal (the bone in the foot leading to the smallest toe) needs six weeks to heal, and the finality of it all crashing to a cruel end put Yeguete in the proverbial emotional jar.
“And lid is screwed on really tight,” Gators coach Billy Donovan said of one of the team's most popular players. “Yeah, he was pretty crushed.”
Donovan and Yeguete met privately Wednesday, but in the bigger picture a more pivotal meeting is the one the coach will have with his healthy players when the No. 12 Gators (22-6, 10-3) reconvene before practice Thursday and begin looking to Saturday night's road trip to face Georgia (12-14, 3-9). And beyond.
As tough an emotional state as Yeguete is in, it's up to Donovan to prevent the morale of this season-ending injury -- and its ramifications -- to prevent the Gators from finishing the Southeastern Conference slate strong and carry that into the postseason.
“We're down a man and people are questioning how good we can be. Can we live without this guy?” Donovan said. “Well, now everybody has a chance to step up. It's got to be, 'We can do this.' And that kind of thinking becomes really important going forward right now.”
Admittedly, Donovan is not a big “Us Against the World” guy, but sometimes those kinds of cliched comparisons -- and the opportunities that accompany them -- present themselves. The UF coach was part of something like that when as a point guard at tiny Providence College he led the underdog Friars to the Final Four. 
As he put it, unfortunate circumstances had to happen for Tom Brady to become one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history; they had to happen for Lou Gehrig to become the “Iron Horse.”
“I think with a great belief and a great commitment and an incredible focus, with guys wanting to step up, a lot of those special things can happen in the midst of people not thinking they can happen,” Donovan said. “Now, I'm not saying they're going to happen. I'm saying we need to try to make them happen.”
When these talking points are presented Thursday, they needs to resonate especially for forward Casey Prather and center Cody Larson, two frontcourt backups who combined to average barely five minutes per game in SEC play before inheriting much larger roles by necessity when Yeguete went down Tuesday.
“We need them now,” Donovan said.
Ditto guard Mike Rosario, who has bounced in out of the trainers room with a trio of nagging aches and pains (back, ankle, hip) that kept him out of six games over the last six weeks.
“I think the biggest thing sometimes is how you view something like this when it happens,” Donovan said. “They've got to understand that Will made a huge investment in this season -- but all those other guys have, too.”
So now what?
