The Gators have a tough test ahead of them.
The long road to rebuild starts with Florida’s exhibition game against Barry University tonight.
The 7 p.m. tip-off marks the official start on how long it will take coach Billy Donovan to get his team to where it left off last year: a loss in the Final Four.
But Donovan faces a different challenge in coaching a young team as opposed to the four senior starters he relied on in the 2013-14 season.
Though he said the Gators have made strides physically, Donovan added they are not quite where he wants them to be in both cohesion and size.
"Us being undersized and that is going to have to be a challenge and a priority for us on Thursday night," Donovan said on Tuesday.
Florida’s projected starting lineup includes three guards in sophomore Kasey Hill, junior Michael Frazier II and redshirt junior Eli Carter. Redshirt junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith and center transfer Jon Horford will likely also make the cut.
"I’m almost trying to do some of these lineups, so to speak, because we’re going to be dealt with that hand there," Donovan said.
Horfod believes the team will manage while sophomore Chris Walker sits out the first three games of the season and transfer Alex Murphy sits out the fall for breaking team rules and awaiting NCAA eligibility, respectively.
"It’s something we have to deal with. I don’t think we think about too much, one way or another. We just have to play," Horford said. "We know what we have to do. We know we’re not where we want to be. We know we’re not where we’re going to be. It’s just something we have to handle."
If Carter plays tonight, it will be his first game since suffering a leg injury in February 2013 before transferring to Florida from Rutgers. The injury forced the transfer to miss most of last season while he rehabbed.
In the seven games that he was able to make an appearance, Carter totaled 53 minutes and made just one three-point shot against North Florida in his Florida debut. At the start of 2014-15 practices, Carter was recovering from an ankle injury, Donovan said.
"Eli is moving a lot better. I think he’s got to get better conditioning a little bit," Donovan said. "He is pushing, and we haven’t had to sit him out at all. That’s been good."
Barry’s projected starting lineup includes a large and experienced group of three guards and two forwards, whom are all upperclassmen.
The Louisville Cardinals defeated Division II Barry 91-71 in an exhibition game on Saturday.
"I watched a little bit of the first half yesterday," Donovan said on Tuesday.
"(Barry is) a very physical team. They’ve got five guys that all played Division I. They all transferred in there. They’ve got big strong physical guys around the basket. That’s going to be really, really important. I thought in the game, at least in the first half they did a tremendous job of coming down with those longer rebounds out of rotations, those kinds of things."
Donovan noted a weakness in his team’s size in the backcourt.
He listed Dillon Graham, Carter, Frazier, Hill and Chris Chiozza (who are all under 6-foot-4) as a part of the potential weakness.
Donovan said he will look to Frazier to makeup for that weakness by contributing rebounds.
"He provided a lot of help for us his freshman year rebounding the basketball, like he’s going to have to rebound the ball some," Donovan said. "And Michael is a good rebounder, but I think he’s got to do a better job of getting in there and rebounding for us and helping us in our frontcourt."
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Billy Donovan looks down the court during Florida's win against Missouri during the 2014 SEC Tournament in Atlanta.
