Many Similarities for Donovan and Altman

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The spring of 2007 followed a strangely similar path for Florida coach Billy Donovan and Creighton coach Dana Altman. After 11 years on the job at Florida, Donovan left the Gators for the challenge of the NBA, but a day after he was announced as the new head coach of the Orlando Magic Donovan had second thoughts. Over the next week he opted out of that five-year deal and returned to Florida. After 12 years at Creighton, Altman accepted the Arkansas job but one day in Fayetteville was enough. The next day he was back in Omaha, negotiating his way out of the Arkansas job and back into the good graces of the folks at Creighton.

Not only did Donovan and Altman have similar springs in 2007, but they also share the common denominator of Marshall University. Marshall was Altman’s first head coaching job in 1989. Donovan was the head coach at Marshall from 1995-96.

The two coaches have met head-to-head twice and Altman holds a 2-0 record against Donovan and the Gators. Donovan will try to get his first win over Altman Friday night when the Gators square off with Creighton in round two of the National Invitation Tournament Friday evening (9:30 p.m., Stephen C. O’Connell Center, ESPNU).

The Altman-coached Blue Jays beat Florida in the San Juan Shootout in Donovan’s first year at Florida in 1996 and they got the Gators again in 2002, a double-overtime thriller in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Gators come (22-11) into the game on the heels of a 73-49 win over San Diego State in the first round of the NIT, while Creighton (22-10) advanced with a 74-73 win over Rhode Island when Cavel Witter knocked down a three-pointer with 2.3 seconds remaining in the game.

By holding San Diego State to 49 points, the Gators matched their best defensive effort of the season. Florida played the Aztecs straight up about 90 percent of the game and rarely resorted to a zone. The Gators will need to play tight man-to-man against Creighton because the Blue Jays love to shoot opponents out of a zone and they would like nothing more for this game to evolve into a three-point shooting contest.

Creighton has launched 728 threes this season and the Blue Jays have six players who have fired up at least 75 three-point shots, led by 6-1 Booker Woodfox, who has hit 56-127 (44.1 percent) from beyond the arc. The Blue Jays regularly play 12 players and nine of the 12 have no qualms about firing up a three. Only 6-9 center Kenny Lawson, who is averaging 6.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, isn’t a threat. He hasn’t attempted a three-pointer all season.

Power forward Dane Watts, a 6-8, 225-pound senior, is effective at luring taller opponents out from under the basket. He is 33-77 on three-pointers (42.9 percent) and he averages 11.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

The other Creighton starters are Witter, a 5-11 sophomore who averages 9.0 per game; Woodfox, who averages 9.8; and leading scorer P’Allen Stinnett, a 6-3 freshman who is averaging 12.7 points per game.

The Blue Jays get 37.2 points per game off the bench, which is the second best bench production in the country. The top three players off the bench are 6-8 Chad Millard, a sophomore transfer from Louisville who averages 4.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game; 6-2 Nick Bahe, a senior who has hit 41-105 (39 percent) on three pointers and who averages 5.9 points per game; and 6-1 junior Josh Dotzler, who leads the team with 117 assists.

In one respect, Creighton and the Gators are remarkably similar. Both teams shoot much, much better at home than on the road. For example, Creighton shot 15-50 on three-pointers in its last two road games before going 12-30 (40 percent) Wednesday night on three-balls at the Qwest Center in Omama against Rhode Island. The Gators were 13-43 on three-pointers in their previous two games away from the O-Dome, but against San Diego State, they were 7-16 on three-pointers, 53.4 percent from the field overall.

The Gators will have an advantage on the inside with 6-11 sophomore Marreese Speights, averaging 14.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He led the Gators with 18 points against San Diego State, scoring 14 in the second half. Speights will need to take advantage of his size because the Blue Jays have no one on the inside physically capable of challenging him. Because Lawson isn’t much of a scoring threat, Speights should be able to stay out of foul trouble.

The toughest defensive assignment will probably go to Werner, who will have to defend Watts both inside and out. Werner had an outstanding defensive game against San Diego State’s Lorrenzo Wade Wednesday night. Wade scored 11 points, four below his average, and Werner blocked two of his shots. Werner averages 9.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

While handling Speights on the inside will be the toughest task for the Blue Jays, they will also have their hands full with Florida freshman Nick Calathes, who at 6-6 has a distinct size advantage over the Creighton guards. If Calathes can beat the Creighton guards on the dribble and get into the paint, he can cause some serious problems either as a scorer or as a distributor down low to Speights. Against San Diego State, he took only three shots from the three-point line and knocked down two. Calathes had what has become his typical game against San Diego State when he scored 16 points, pulled down five rebounds and handed out five assists. For the season, he’s averaging 15.7 points, 6.0 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game.

For the Gators, the keys to victory will be shutting down Creighton from the three-point line, limiting turnovers (Creighton forces 15.5 per game) and working the offense from the inside out. If the Gators establish Speights down low, that will create the necessary spacing for shooters to get good looks from the three-point line.