Florida= Painfully Average

Don't get me wrong here: I love Florida basketball. I think Nick Calathes might be the best point guard in the league (and no, I don't think Stephen Curry is a real PG; he's a 2 guard being forced to play the point). However, the Gators are an average basketball team. This team has four and five star players all over the place, and a coach that won two straight NCAA tournaments. They've got two upperclassmen on the team for leadership.

So where's the sense of urgency for this team?

Where's the leadership?

Apparently, they're both MIA. Florida is currently 19-6, and 6-4 in the SEC East; they're still projected to make the NCAA tournament, but really, does that mean anything when you consider that Florida's playing in a pathetically weak conference and currently has an SOS ranked 107th in the country? Hell, if they lose enough games down the stretch, they still won't make the tournament. They've got LSU, Tennessee, and Kentucky left on the schedule, along with games against Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Alabama. They should be able to beat the latter two, but they'd probably need at least two more wins after that to ensure a tourney bid. The question is, can they do it?

I'm not sure.

Looking at this team, I just don't see enough players who consistently compete outside of Nick Calathes and Erving Walker. I'd throw Alex Tyus in that mix, too, since he's done an admirable job of playing center despite being pitifully overmatched on most nights. However, guys like Chandler Parsons, Walter Hodge, and Dan Werner are either too inconsistent or just plain stink up the joint with bad performances. Parsons has good stretches of games, but disappears during others. Werner and Hodge--the two most experienced players on the team--rarely if ever give the team anything in the way of positive play. Werner is a junior and Hodge is a senior, so where's the on-court leadership? The only memorable things Hodge has done are:

- Elbow a Tennessee player in the face
- Step on Perry Stevenson's arm
- Score 22 points against Georgia.........in a loss

Other than those three, what's he done to make Florida better? I haven't seen anything. Werner is--well, he's Dan Werner: a guy who's playing starter minutes but only giving the team bench warmer production. He had 4 points against Kentucky, and went a woeful 3-11 against a bad Georgia team. Do I really need to repeat that he needs to grab some pine?

My point is this: this team can't rely on Calathes to constantly carry them. He's a great player, and he's gotten a lot better this year, but it's unfair to expect him to be a one man show. Seriously, how many guys have recorded triple doubles, only to have their team actually lose? This team needs to get tough, but more importantly, they need to play like they care. For the past few weeks, I've heard about teams playing like "wounded animals" when they've got nothing else to lose.

So where's Florida's wounded animal mentality? The Gators need to win, and they need to win now; they can't afford to keep losing. This isn't the 2006 Gators team that lost 3 of 4 games down the stretch before turning the light switch back on and repeating as national champions. That team was tough on both the perimeter and in the paint, and played with urgency when they had to. This year's team--and last year's--doesn't have nearly the same mental toughness. And note to Billy Donovan: you're a damn good coach, but saying that Mareese Speights' leaving early for the NBA has something to do with the team's struggles this year is weak. Beyond the fact that you recruited three big men to replace him (Eloy Vargas, Kenny Kadji, and Allen Chaney), it's not like last year's team was tough with Speights in the middle either. This is essentially the same team, minus a bigger, but still soft, guy in the paint. The fact that the three guys you recruited aren't seeing increased playing time doesn't help, either. Those guys aren't going to get better on the bench, and playing them would help with your other complaint, which was that Speights' leaving forced you to give Werner a bigger role in the offense (which is also weak sauce). Also, Donovan has to get some of the blame for not having his team inspired to play against UGA. Seriously, they're the worst team in the SEC; how can you not have your guys ready to tear them apart, especially considering how Florida lost to Kentucky? If Werner and Hodge deserve blame for not providing leadership on the court, then Donovan has to get blame for not providing it from off the court. Again, he's a great coach, but he hasn't done his best coaching job this year.

Is there still hope for Florida? Of course. This is college basketball, and anything can happen if everything falls into place.

But it all starts with desire and a willingness to compete, and unfortunately, I just don't think enough Gators have the desire of the willingness to push this team to anything but slightly above average.

At least for this year. There's always next year, I guess.