Billy D talks Finney-Smith suspension
Thursday, February 19, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Football, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Billy Donovan prefaced his post-game remarks about the suspension of Dorian Finney-Smith by praising the affable “Doe-Doe” as a kid and for his willingness to be coached. Donovan then used the moment to brushstroke yet another snapshot of the bigger-picture issues within this struggling 2014-15 Florida basketball team.
“It's a microcosm of this season within our team of what I would say is a lack of commitment and consistency with what really goes into winning,” Donovan said Wednesday night after the Gators, sans Finney-Smith, defeated Vanderbilt 50-47 to halt a four-game losing streak. “This, maybe, is something I have been battling all year long.”
The season began with sophomore center Chris Walker suspended for a couple games for rules violations. On the eve of the Southeastern Conference opener at South Carolina, senior center Jon Horford and walk-on guard Zach Hodskins were suspended and left behind, as Donovan cited conduct detrimental to the team. Now, Finney-Smith gets temporarily jettisoned in the home stretch as the Gators -- already with leading scorer Michael Frazier II out with an ankle injury -- try to avoid the program's first losing season in 17 years. 
Donovan's words weren't just meant to address his individual players' poor decisions, but rather a team-wide approach with making sacrifices and doing the things that forge great chemistry and make a team, well, a team.
A good team.
The Gators, with five regular-season games left, are a 13-13 team heading to LSU this weekend. Finney-Smith will not make the trip. When he'll be reinstated is something Donovan said he would revisit next week.
“I've always loved the game and been committed to the game. It's been easy,” Donovan said. “One of the questions that has gone through my mind this year is, 'Can you force someone to be committed?' Think about that. Commitment is one of the most difficult things in life; to commit your heart, soul, mind, body, everything into something, that is a really, really difficult thing to do. I believe that's the only way you can be successful. Dorian's decision represents a lack of commitment.”
Finney-Smith, banned from the team during his suspension, is paying for that lack of commitment. How much his teammates pay for his decision-making, that's something that will play out soon enough.
For what it's worth, they're 1-0 since that decision.
