Teammates Devin Robinson, left, and Canyon Barry, right, look toward senior Kasey Hill on Friday. Hill is the only member of the Gators to play in the NCAA Tournament. (Photo: Kelly Streeter/UAA Communications)
Short on Experience, Gators Hope to Make March Madness Memories
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
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The UF men's basketball team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years with a whole new DNA.
By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
ORLANDO – The newness of it all was not lost on Gators senior Justin Leon as he sat by his locker on Wednesday afternoon. The NCAA Tournament. March Madness. The most thrilling three weeks in sports to millions of fans coast to coast.
"The tournament atmosphere gives everybody a different vibe,'' Leon said.
Signs of that reality were everywhere at Amway Center as the Gators held an open practice and met with the media gathered here for Florida's first-round game against East Tennessee State on Thursday. Second-year Gators coach Mike White certainly noticed.
When White entered the interview room and took a seat in front of a large NCAA Tournament/March Madness backdrop, he tossed out a good line.
"I haven't sat at one of these tables with this logo since I was a player,'' White said. "I worked for some really great coaches and we accomplished some really neat things … but never did quite enough to get into this tournament."
No need for White to feel alone. This is new for nearly everyone in orange and blue on this trip.
Senior guard Kasey Hill is the only player on Florida's roster to appear in an NCAA Tournament – he played in five games during the Gators' run to the Final Four in 2014. As for the Gators' young coaching staff, assistant Darris Nichols was on Wofford's staff when the No. 15-seed Terriers made the Big Dance and lost to No. 2-seed Michigan, led by Nichols' college coach at West Virginia, John Beilein, in 2014.
Gators assistant coach Darris Nichols at Wednesday's practice. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/For UAA Communications)
What a difference three years can make. Compared to Florida's last NCAA Tournament team, this one is short on experience (see chart below) but here for the same reason – to win and advance.
As a player, Nichols was a regular in the NCAA Tournament, going three times while a guard for the Mountaineers. His most memorable March Madness experience happened his freshman season in 2005 when West Virginia upset No. 2-seed Wake Forest and point guard Chris Paul in double-overtime, 111-105.
Starting point guard J.D. Collins fouled out in the first overtime, leaving Nichols often matched up against Paul, who eventually fouled out in the second overtime. While Nichols knows what the Gators can expect on Thursday, he has no interest in telling old stories about his playing days and helping knock future NBA All-Star Paul from the tournament.
"I don't want to make it bigger than what it is because they haven't been on this stage,'' Nichols said. "I've just stayed away from talking about it. Once the ball goes up, it's all the same."
That's a common theme if you listen to what the Gators said Wednesday.
Hill was a freshman backup to senior Scottie Wilbekin three years ago when the Gators advanced to the Final Four before losing to UConn in the national semifinals. He may be the elder statesmen on the roster, but there is no mystery to winning during March Madness other than playing well.
"They've played basketball before,'' Hill said. "They've been playing basketball all their life. They've just got to keep doing that, and we'll be fine."
Assistant coach Jordan Mincy played in the tournament twice in his four seasons at Kent State. A lasting memory is one he can laugh about nine years later but was not so funny when No. 9-seed Kent State faced No. 8-seed UNLV in the first round of the 2008 tournament in Omaha.
The Golden Flashes scored the game's first points, but the Rebels scored the next 11. By the time the first half was over, UNLV led 31-10. The 10 first-half points marked the fewest scored in a half in the modern tournament's history.
"It might still stand,'' Mincy said. "All-time low."
Mincy's message is simple for the young Gators to make a run.
"We just try to tell them, especially our guards, don't let the stage get too big for you,'' he said. "Understand you are doing the same thing, you are playing the same game. Of course, you want guys who have been there, who understand the magnitude of the situation, but at the same time, it's not a bad thing [we don't have that].
"These guys want to play here. I think [Coach White] just wants to make sure they live in the moment and get ready for the challenge. We don't think it's a bad thing. We think it's a good thing. This is an experience that will make them want to come back."
No one with the Gators has a March Madness memory as iconic as White's in 1998. It's one he preferred never happened, but it did: The Bryce Drew Shot.
In White's junior season at Ole Miss, the No. 4-seed Rebels led with 2.5 seconds left when Valparaiso inbounded the ball the length of the court and found Drew, who hit a shot at the buzzer to lift 13-seed Valparaiso to a first-round upset.
Nineteen years later, in White's first NCAA Tournament appearance as a coach, the shot came up Wednesday.
"It was a big moment in the tournament's history,'' White said. "Obviously, I wish we weren't on that end of it. But it's all memories. We have an opportunity to make more memories, to make positive memories."
CHARTING THE GATORS When No. 1-ranked Florida came to Orlando as the No. 1 overall seed for the 2014 NCAA Tournament, the program was packed with previous tourney experience, on the court and on the sidelines. The 2017 Gators will be figuring some stuff out along the way, while laying a foundation for the future. -- Chris Harry
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