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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Dorian Finney-Smith looks to pass the ball during Florida's win against Texas A&amp;M on March 3.</p>

Dorian Finney-Smith looks to pass the ball during Florida's win against Texas A&M on March 3.

The last time Florida played Alabama could have been a turning point for the Gators.

Dorian Finney-Smith had emerged from 28 minutes of offensive ineptness with a thunderous dunk to give Florida a late lead and score his only points of the game, then he saved the game with a block on the other end.

It snapped a three-game losing streak and gave Florida some momentum heading into a matchup days later with nationally ranked Arkansas.

“He obviously made a great shot fake. He had a pretty clear path to the basket and the guy at the rim was kind of in a bad situation because you’re inside the halo, so you can’t really take a charge and you can’t really jump,” coach Billy Donovan said. “He did a great job in terms of shot faking and driving it where, there was a game I think a couple games before that against Ole Miss I got disappointed with him.”

Things were looking up for Florida and then the floor dropped out from under UF.

An injury to leading scorer Michael Frazier II and a suspension to Finney-Smith left Florida’s already limited offense with nothing to stand on and after a last-second victory over the Razorbacks the Gators lost four in a row, and seven of their last 10 Southeastern Conference games.

Now, UF enters the SEC tournament as the No. 9 seed, but are still the defending champion — albeit a weak one — and face an opening-round rematch against the Crimson Tide.

The contrast is startling from where they were last year heading into March Madness.

Last year the team that went 18-0 in conference play was a lock for a No. 1 seed in the tournament.

This year’s squad has endured one of the worst regular seasons in the Billy Donovan era, but the experience might benefit them in the long run.

“I think it will help us in certain situations. Expectations. We came into this season expecting that we would do a lot better and win a lot more games. I think things like that will help us out when we get in close games and help figure out how to try to win,” guard Kasey Hill said. “I think that will help us out. We’ll have a lot more players with a little bit more experience — not a lot of experience but a little bit more — so that will help us in tough games down the stretch.”

Florida’s 15-16 record on the season may keep them out of the National Invitation Tournament. While it is no longer a rule that sub-.500 teams aren’t allowed into the NIT, no team without a winning record has made the tournament since the rule was changed in 2006.

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If the Gators miss out on the NIT, Florida will not accept a bid to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) if invited.

So, in all likelihood, the SEC tournament may be the final chance Florida gets to play basketball this season, an unceremonious end to a tough season.

"I think hopefully they're excited to play,” Donovan said. “You're getting a chance to go somewhere and play at a neutral site. It's an opportunity to play again,” Donovan said. “I think our guys, over the last couple of weeks, we've gotten better as a team. I think the one thing, and I'm not saying as an excuses at all to our team, it's just reality: this team probably, in my opinion, this year was way over scheduled in terms of where we're at and where these guys are at."

Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF

Dorian Finney-Smith looks to pass the ball during Florida's win against Texas A&M on March 3.

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