UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Since the return-to-campus plan commenced in late-July, the Florida basketball team has faced strict COVID-19 protocols that were ramped up a notch once preseason practice began, then increased as the regular season drew closer. The results, of course, were some positive tests, both in Gainesville and elsewhere, that not only canceled the start of the 2020-21 season, but cost the Gators marquee games against Virginia, Oklahoma and Connecticut.
Keyontae Johnson
Through it all, the UF coaches, trainers and conditioning staff hammered home a message of persevering through adversity. They would have loved to promise the players a guaranteed tip-off, but that's not the way of the pandemic world. All they could do was prepare, then see where that preparation got them, with really no control over the outcome.
As Coach
Mike White put it during a Zoom call Tuesday: "This season is what it is. We've got to be adaptable."
The Gators have had a number of positive tests throughout their program and have done their due diligence with regard to shutdowns, separations and quarantines, while getting work done when and where allowed. It's a path that's seen the cancellation of, count 'em, four different season openers, but has not stopped the process of preparing for when that first jump ball comes.
"I feel like we've handled it well and the coaching staff did a great job with us," junior and 2020 All-Southeastern Conference forward
Keyontae Johnson said. "I mean, we're leaving for a game, so everything is paying off."
Hopefully.
Cross your fingers, rub a rabbit's foot, throw salt over your shoulder, look for dimes on the pavement, four-leaf clovers, rainbows, lady bugs, whatever your preferred good-luck charm might be. On Tuesday, the Gators did indeed board a chartered flight to southern Connecticut, where COVID-willing, Florida will open its season Wednesday against Army (3-0) in the ESPN-controlled "Bubbleville" environment at Mohegan Sun. A second game is scheduled to follow Thursday night against Boston College (1-2).
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
On Sunday, the Gators, themselves just three days removed from a program shutdown, were practicing and preparing for a road opener Tuesday night at Oklahoma when word came down of a virus spike with the Sooners. That left the staff — take a bow, assistant to the head coach
Jonathan Blake — scrambling to find someone to play. Whoever. Wherever. With several teams bailing on "Bubbleville," some game slots opened up and UF scrapped together a couple dates against two teams, the Blacks Knights and Golden Eagles, who already have played a combined five games at Mohegan Sun and thus are acclimated to the control environment and daily COVID protocols.
Upon arrival Tuesday night, the Gators had to be tested and won't know until Wednesday morning if they'll have their full complement of traveling players available. They already had to leave junior-college transfer
Osayi Osifo, who figured in the rotation, back home due to contract tracing.
As for the actually basketball part, it wasn't that long ago White and his staff were installing a game plan for an opener against UMass Lowell on Day 1 of "Bubbleville." That trip got whacked (along with a date with the reigning NCAA champion Cavaliers), with the trip to OU — and an entirely different game prep — the new marker. When that one got scratched, the Gators weren't certain who was next.
"With this past one — 'Hey, we're not going to Oklahoma' — we were crushed initially. Then it's, 'Well, we got an opportunity to play up in Mohegan Sun again,' " White said. "It's like the roller-coaster, 'Hey let's go! Let's get to practice! Let's get to work!' and we've actually been decently sharp the last couple days, but we'll see how that translates."
Florida, which will debut its new, 94-foot, uptempo system, will have a significant athletic advantage on Army, but the Knights have played at a surprisingly speedy pace than their past teams, yet with the kind of discipline and conditioning expected from a service academy opponent. Boston College, meanwhile, already has played a trio of solid programs in powerhouse Villanova (loss), Rhode Island (win) and St. John's (loss).
The Gators just want to play. One. Anyone.
"Coach is always saying to fight the adversity and try to and use that for our fuel for the next game," Johnson said.
Or, in this case, the first one.
Once again: Hopefully.
