Billy Donovan was emperor of Gator Country in 2006-07 when he coached Florida to back-to-back national championships.
He is getting second-guessed by Gator Country today.
When center Vernon Macklin had 21 points and power forward Alex Tyus had 12 while Florida built an 11-point lead against Butler in the Southeast Regional championship in New Orleans with 9:23 left in the game and then all but disappeared from there, the Gator coach will receive scrutiny.
“I feel like our players just weren’t looking for us,” Tyus said.
So maybe the players will get second-guessed too.
But it was Florida point guard Erving Walker taking the last shot in regulation that was most baffling. Walker was 0-for-7 from the field when Florida had the ball with 30 seconds left and the game was tied 60-60.
Walker dribbled until he took a 3-pointer. And missed at the buzzer.
Macklin was on the bench.
Marked improvement.
Arizona went just 16-15 last season “and keep in mind we were closer to 13-18 than getting 20 wins,” Wildcats coach Sean Miller said. “We think this will be a springboard for us to make many runs in the NCAA Tournament.
“That’s hard to do, but that’s what we aim to do. We’ll probably feel better in a few weeks than how it does now.”
A star is born.
If UConn freshman swingman Jeremy Lamb wasn’t a household name nationally, he is now.
Lamb made the all-regional team after scoring 19 points Saturday. On Thursday, he tied his career high with 24 points in a victory over San Diego State, going 9-for-11 from the field.
“It seemed like he was making a great play every minute,” Arizona’s Lamont “MoMo” Jones said Saturday.
Lamb, a terrific signee from Georgia, said he didn’t feel nervous. It showed.
“He did everything,” teammate Kemba Walker said of Lamb. “He grew up today.”
