NEW YORK — Exactly one year ago today, the Florida Gators were in the nation's capital getting ready to face George Washington in the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Tournament. At stake was a trip to New York City and a chance to play at Madison Square Garden.
Let that one sink one.
Some of the Gators actually have.
"It's crazy," junior forward Devin Robinson said Thursday from his locker inside MSG. "Last year, we were in the NIT, but we weren't excited about that at all. We told ourselves we were not going to be in that situation again and that we had to become more connected as a group, become a better team. Now that we're here, we're not taking this for granted."
Here, of course, is the NCAA East Region semifinals, where the fourth-seeded Gators (26-8) will take on eighth-seeded Wisconsin (27-9) Friday night in the world's most famous sports arena. UF was thoroughly impressive in racing past East Tennessee State and Virginia by a combined 41 points in its regional last week in Orlando. Ditto the Badgers, who despite a last-season swoon of five losses in seven games, emerged from their pod in Buffalo, N.Y., by knocking off No. 9-seed Virginia Tech, then bagging one of the prized wins of the tourney in ousting top-seeded and defending national champion Villanova to reach the "Sweet 16" for a fourth straight year.
For Wisconsin, this is old hat.
For Florida, not so much.
"I mean, it's an honor to be here," junior point guard Chris Chiozza said. "It's hard to believe how far we've come from last season to this season, but to be honest, when I came to Florida, I thought I'd be in the tournament every year. Our team last year was good enough to be in the tournament, we just didn't play like it. But this year, we played like a team all year. We played for each other. That why we're where we are."
Others in the UF locker room weren't nearly as nostalgic about the 12-month journey back to college basketball relevance.
"I don't really like New York," forward Justin Leon said.
"I'm just looking forward to the basketball," said senior point guard Kasey Hill, whose next loss will be the end of his collegiate career. "I just want to keep leading these guys, keep trying to be better and, hopefully, keep winning."
And what of the actual basketball part of it?
In Wisconsin, the Gators face one of the most veteran and experienced foes left in the field, including four senior starters who have won 116 games over their careers and played for a national championship just two years ago. Guard Bronson Koenig is the key to their offense, with his ability to shoot from distance, stretch a defense and thus allow the UW two top forwards, 6-foot-8 Nigel Hayes and 6-10 Ethan Happ, to go to work in and around the basket.
It'll be Hill's charge to deal with Koenig on the outside. He's the Gators' best shutdown defender on the ball.
"I don't know about shutting him down," Hill said. "But I definitely can limit some of his touches and try to slow him down a little bit."
Junior guard Chris Chiozza enjoyed Thursday's open practice, especially when he sank half-court and three-quarter-court shots underhanded at the end.
In the bigger picture, the Gators would like to speed the Badgers up and, thus, out of their comfort level. Wisconsin is a disciplined, patient and intelligent team that will work to get a shot it likes; be it a 3-pointer (where the Badgers shoot 35.8 percent on the year) or something on the block for Hayes and Happ, both of whom are elite offensive rebounders.
Hayes and Koenig rank first and second among active players in NCAA Tournament scoring with 166 and 159 points, respectively.
"Obviously, Koenig can't get anything easy," UF coach Mike White said. "And those other guys, Happ and Hayes, we have got to limit their touches and give them nothing easy. … We have to be physical, we have to be smart, we have to be sound and we have to understand their actions."
That's the basketball. The object now is to play as much and as long as possible.
"We appreciate this and appreciate that it's something so many people watch and, as a basketball player, you think about being a part of their whole lives," senior reserve walk-on center Schyuler Rimmer said. "We know what it's like not to have it. Now that we have it, we don't want to lose it yet."
Like Chiozza said. It's an honor to be here.
"It's somewhere I've always wanted to be — and now, I want to go even further," he said. "This is like a dream in a lot of ways, but hopefully some more of my dreams can come true."
