bball - a learning experience?

[radbag]

Sleepwalking through the first 3:40, four Florida starters got yanked by coach Billy Donovan, leaving freshman guard Jai Lucas as the only starter left on the floor. Stetson led 6-1 when Donovan substituted and the lead was extended to 10-1 with 15:21 left.

Sophomore forward Jonathan Mitchell scored on a putback of freshman forward Adam Allen's 3-point air-ball at 14:59 for Florida's first field goal. Soon after, the Gators went on a 14-0 run and continued to pile it on, comfortably beating Stetson, 71-48, Tuesday in front of 10,602 at the O'Connell Center. Still, Donovan said he was not pleased with the effort or enthusiasm – especially early in the game.

"This program is not like it's been North Carolina, Kentucky, or Kansas or UCLA where it's been like this for 60 years," Donovan said. "It wasn't too long ago, it's pretty fresh and clear in my mind what is was like back in '96 and '97. They have no clue of that. In their mind they think I'm going to sprinkle stardust all over them and we'll just win. It doesn't work like that. They've got to learn what goes in to this whole process and I have to tell you they have no clue or idea what it's about. None.

"The more I'm around them the more I realize how at an infantile stage we are in terms of we are starting completely over. There is absolutely zero carryover from the last two years. Zero. Just to get them to understand how hard they have to play and the passion, the enthusiasm and the excitement they have played with, that's where we're at right now. When you go back to '96 they don't have those reference points. If they were here with me from '96 they'd probably have a different intensity level but it's part of their growth and development as a team and I can't fault them for that or blame them for that."

Mitchell had Florida's first basket in its inauspicious start and he finished with a career-high 10 points and four rebounds. Sophomore forward/center Marreese Speights added a team-high 15 points, six rebounds and a career-high four blocks. Dan Werner, a sophomore forward, had nine points and a game-high eight rebounds. Freshman guard Jai Lucas' runner with nine seconds left put the Gators (6-1) ahead, 35-21, at the break.

"(Junior guard) Walter (Hodge) does get it but Dan Werner and Jonathan Mitchell and Marreese have no idea," Donovan said. "(Al) Horford, (Joakim) Noah and those guys carried them. I would hope they would take something from it but they carried them. There's no reference point for Jonathan Mitchell and those guys. They were part of the team. They weren't relied on to bring passion every day. If Jonathan Mitchell didn't bring passion I probably got upset at practice and probably got on him but it had no effect on the game.

"It had no effect on us winning. I may get upset with Mo because his effort wasn't great rebounding in practice. He didn't get in the game. Now it's different when they get in the game, so there's no reference point. They saw those things but their playing time wasn't affected by them and all of a sudden their playing time is affected. I have to start over teaching these guys what it's really all about and I probably would feel better with a 23-point win if I saw a team that was passionate and enthusiastic, competitive, fighting, scratching, clawing, getting after it."

Hodge's bucket in transition with 11:58 left in the first half gave Florida its first lead at 13-12 and the Gators never trailed again. Lucas scored nine. Freshman guard Nick Calathes finished with seven points, seven assists and three steals but turned it over six times.

Stetson junior guard Garfield Blair scored a game-high 16 points and he added seven rebounds (five turnovers) but the rest of the team hardly helped the cause. The Hatters (2-5) finished 19 of 57 from the field (33.3 percent) and made only 4 of 13 3-point attempts. Senior forward J.J. Hirst scored nine. Mitchell gave Florida its biggest lead, 71-44, on a 3-pointer from the wing with 2:31 left.

"Coach had some things he had to get off his chest just with our whole approach and our whole preparation," Mitchell said. "We're happy with the win. It's the little things coach looks at. His passion, his drive is unlike any other coach in the country. He brings that and he wears it on his sleeve."

Said Lucas: "It was a good message (after the game). He got his point across. He told us he was happy with the victory but that we need to play harder and there are things we need to work on. That's pretty obvious."

[a1bion]

I had the game on the radio and they were saying that our young guys are still at the stage where they're trying to think too much, instead of just going with instinct. One of the guys was saying that they just need to show more aggression and forget about worrying about making mistakes. I was glad, though, to see Mitchell get some time out there.

Once they grow up, Speights and Lucas are gonna be beasts!

[TheTodd]

Its going to be an up and down season for these guys. Should be interesting to watch them learn and grow.