These are not the Gator Boyz

[IHateUGAlyDawgs]

Memo to SEC teams who beat Florida: Don’t confuse the “Baby Gators” as being the “Gator Boyz.”

Enough of this “we beat the defending national champions” talk already. Billy Donovan’s “Baby Gators” are no more that than George Bush Sr. is still president of the United States.

Donovan understands why players say after winning in the O-Dome that they felt good beating “the defending national champions” on their home court, as did Mississippi State Saturday. And he understands why coach Rick Stansbury would use that as a motivational tool when his 19-8 Bulldogs took the floor.

Naturally, players like Jarvis Varnado would chirp about after beating Florida, 68-59, for their 20th win.

But hold on, said Donovan.

“If they really want to play the defending national champions,” said Donovan, “then let’s go get (Al) Horford, (Joakim) Noah, (Corey) Brewer and (Taurean) Green and then see what happens.”

Please, don’t confuse Nick Calathes, Walter Hodge, Marreese Speights, Dan Werner and Jai Lucas as being the “Gator Boyz.” The real defending champions were on the 2005-2006 team that stayed in school another year to win it back-to-back.

They are young, talented and committed, but these “Baby Gators” are fighting for their lives just to make it to the NCAA tournament this year --- let alone win it.

“I just hope we can get into a stance to defend something,” said Donovan, who knows full well his team is on the bubble with regular season games to go against Tennessee and Kentucky, plus the SEC tournament.

The best bet is that Florida will need to win both of its final games, or at least split them and win one round in the SEC to make it back to The Dance.

Funny how the goal posts for success can be moved. Donovan recently notched his 21st win of the season, his 10th 20-win season and is bidding for this 10th straight NCAA appearance. Yet some will consider that unsuccessful if Florida doesn’t get past the first round of the SEC and make it back to the NCAA. And his “Baby Gator” roster is made up of seven freshmen and not a single senior.

They’re soft in the middle. They don’t rebound well. They take ill-advised shots. They turn the ball over. And they forget and try and run with the big dogs when they shouldn’t.

Like Saturday, they kept taking the ball inside against the best shot-block team in America and they ate it seven times.

“We made the game about athleticism, length and physicality,” said Donovan. “And that’s definitely not what we’re about.”

Donovan isn’t mad at his young team or discouraged, just disappointed he can’t coach them to do the things they need to do. On the other hand, maybe this is all they’ve got in their tank at this young age.

“There’s a part of me that is surprised that these guys have won as many games as they have,” he said.

So don’t look for any banner to be hung in the O-Dome this year. On the other hand, don’t rule out the possibility of more being hung over the next few years. And without the help of Horford, Noah, Brewer and Green.

After all, someday these “Baby Gators” are going to grow up.

Quick Jump Start

1. This just in: Nobody got caught cheating in sports today --- which is not to say they didn’t cheat, of course.

2. Bobby Knight has gone to work as an ESPN basketball analyst and I think he ought to throw a chair out on center court in his debut.

3. Welcome to Ann Arbor, Rich Rodriguez: According to a poll in the Indianapolis Star, your Michigan team is picked to win the Big Ten.

4. Riddle me this: How could Rhodes Scholar Garrett Johnson make so many critical comments about his alma mater’s lack of institutional control in the FSU cheating scandal, have those comments read back to him on the phone by Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel and then say later his words were “misrepresented?”

5. Just in case something comes up in this column that you might not like, or that you feel is wrong, consider it was as misrepresented the way you read it.

Bumper sticker, T-Shirt or Sign

1. I don’t approve of political jokes. I’ve seen too many of them get elected.
2. Stable relationships are for horses.

3. Churches only worship the prophet margin.

Today’s Proverb

The trouble with being punctual is that nobody’s there to appreciate it.

Today’s Joke
“Those are my principles. If you don’t like them I have others.” --- Groucho Marx.

And good morning...

...And get well soon to 97-year-old John Wooden, possibly the greatest college coach in any sport, who has been hospitalized in Los Angles after breaking two bones on a fall at his home.

[radbag]

they ARE the defending champs though....unless we're saying that they it's not a three-peat if they win the whole thing again...it's repeat plus one? besides, speights and werner and hodge would probably beg to differ.

[RickySlade]

Meh...it's not right to refer to anyone else as the Gator Boyz...that should be reserved for the 2006 and 2007 champs.

[annarborgator]

Hodge, Werner, Speights and Mitchell accounted for 17.8% of the team's minutes played last season.