Florida sophomore Niels Lane rejoices after the Gators' win Wednesday night over Iona in opening-round play of the NCAA Tournament.
Amid Uncertainty, Gators Play On
Saturday, March 19, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The team had just wrapped its game-day shoot-around and, per routine, filed into a room on the lower level of Exactech Arena for a quick film review and pregame meal. Florida's date Wednesday night with Iona in the National Invitational Tournament was still a little more than three hours away.
After going over the Gaels' personnel one last time, UF assistant Erik Pastrana, assigned the opposing scout for the game, closed his laptop and took a moment to address not only the players scattered about, but also the unusual circumstances. This game, he told them, was not about the head coach (Mike White), who three days earlier had bolted for the vacant job at Georgia. It was not about the Gators' "interim" head coach (Al Pinkins) or his fellow assistants (Pastrana and Akeem Miskdeen), and it sure as hell wasn't about the guy who would be pacing the bench other side of the sidelines (Hall-of-Famer Rick Pitino). UF assistant Erik Pastrana
"No," Pastrana told them. "This is about you guys, each one of you, and a chance to keep playing together."
The Gators came back to the O'Dome later that night and defeated Iona and extended their season for at least one more game.
By Saturday, the circumstances had changed quite a bit, yet were no less surreal. Less than 24 hours earlier, UF announced the hiring of Todd Golden, by way of the University of San Francisco, as the program's next head coach, but the still-alive 2021-22 season played on. There the Gators (20-13) were, going hard during a 90-minute practice before hopping a bus to the airport and flying to Cincinnati for Sunday's second-round NIT matchup against Xavier (19-13), set for 1 p.m. at Cintas Center.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
Sitting at his desk in the UF basketball office after practice Saturday, Pastrana was snacking on some chicken wings as he thought back to his talk with the team a few days earlier and how impressed he was with the business-like manner the players had dealt with a development that, obviously, had rocked each of their basketball worlds.
"I've been blown away by the resiliency and character that a bunch of young kids have shown through this situation, when it would have been just as easy for them to shut it down," Pastrana said. "There are so many adults in situations like this that wouldn't have handled it this well. We're all in it together. I'm just amazed at the energy and focus these dudes have given because it's hard."
On everybody. On the players, who are wondering if a transfer portal is in their future. On the assistants, who don't if or where they'll be working a few weeks from now. And o the support staff and whatever comfort zone each of them may have enjoyed.
Freshman wing Kowacie Reeves (14), who has averaged 17.5 points the last two games, was recruited to UF by Mike White, but says he'll keep an open mind regarding his future with the program and incoming Coach Todd Golden.
To everyone in the building, Golden is a virtual unknown, which was why UF athletic director Scott Stricklin and executive associate AD Lynda Tealer, the senior administrator who oversees men's basketball, called a meeting Friday to address the uncertainty of the moment and what lies ahead.
They asked the players to give Golden, who is expected to arrive early next week, a chance before making any long-term decisions.
"I'm excited to meet him and hear about his plans for the future," sophomore guard Niels Lane said. "I've heard a lot of good things about him."
Added freshman guard Kowacie Reeves: "I'm really just trying to focus on basketball, but I'm definitely going to keep an open mind."
On a roster top-heavy with seniors and graduates (seven of them), Lane and Reeves are two players a new coach can build around. Lane is a high-energy defensive menace who has figured some things out in his second season, while Reeves has broken out big time the last two games while combining for 37 points, six 3-pointers and 12 rebounds.
And then there's junior 6-foot-11 center Jason Jitoboh, who was coming into his own midseason, while stepping in for injured scoring and rebounding leader Colin Castleton, and playing the best basketball of his career before suffering a season-ending eye injury.
"Scott and Lynda, they just told us to give him a chance. They wanted us to look for clarity here before we look for it somewhere else," Jitoboh said. "I think most of us are going to take it all into consideration. For me, I'll listen to what he has to say and see where we go from there."
For now, though, the team goes to Ohio to play another game. Together. There are bunch of teams — some great ones, in fact — that went to that other, more prestigious tournament that won't be doing that this weekend.
Meanwhile, neither Pastrana, Miskdeen or even Pinkins, a 19-year veteran assistant, can say where they'll be coaching next season. For now, they'll try to make the best of the current situation, with these current players. And that's OK.
As Pastrana put, this is the life they signed up for when they entered the profession.
"When I got into this, whether I was going to coach high school or college, I was here for the relationships. For us, this team, that's all we have right now, that is only certainty," Pastrana said. "The strange dynamic to it all is that we're still playing, still trying to have effective practices and meetings. It's hard to say they 100-percent understand because they've never been through something like this, but I think they're trying. They're not lashing out and their behavior hasn't changed. Honestly, I think it's made us all closer."
Maybe the UF players and coaches can swap war stories with their Xavier counterparts Sunday. On Tuesday, the morning after the Musketeers defeated Cleveland State in their NIT opener, Xavier fired Coach Travis Steele after four seasons. At the same time, the school tabbed assistant Jonas Hayes to finish the tournament as "interim" coach. Then, Saturday, Xavier announced it had hired Sean Miller, the former Arizona coach fired last year for his role in the infamous FBI recruiting scandal. Miller was at Xavier before going to Arizona.
Any of these game-day circumstances sound familiar?
