Team preview: Florida

Blue Ribbon Illustrated previews the 2004-05 college basketball season, exclusively on Insider.

Updated: October 20, 2004, 4:53 PM ET
Blue Ribbon Yearbook
Editor's Note: Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, long known as the Bible of college basketball, to provide a comprehensive look at all 326 Division I teams.

COACH AND PROGRAM

He's still one of the youngest coaches in Division I, but Florida coach Billy Donovan has been around long enough to know how the public perceives his program. And right now, the public's perception of the Gators is that they can't win the big one.

Those fans with short memories who don't recall Florida's run to the 2000 national championship game have gotten hung up on the last three seasons, when the Gators have been unceremoniously bounced from the NCAA Tournament in either the first or second round. Last year, in an upset special that was a popular pick in office pools everywhere, the Gators lost to Manhattan in the first round. That loss followed an embarrassing second-round loss to Michigan State in 2003 and a stunning first-round upset at the hands of Creighton in 2002.


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