The UF basketball team has faced more than its fair share of criticism this season.
The team has been labeled undersized, called out for its lack of toughness and chastised for its failure to finish late in close games.
Monday, UF coach Billy Donovan threw out a new adjective: overachieving.
"He feels like we overachieved? Really?" center Alex Tyus said.
Apparently UF, the same team that missed out on the NCAA Tournament and found itself in the National Invitation Tournament for the second time in two seasons, has done more than Donovan expected it to do this year.
"Our guys in a lot of respects have overachieved," Donovan said. "Those guys have won 25 games and done a pretty good job. Twenty-five games at this point in time in the season is a lot of basketball games."
UF, which will host Penn State (24-11) tonight at 9 in the NIT quarterfinals, is just two years removed from winning back-to-back national titles. Donovan has coached in the NIT just three times in his 13 years in Gainesville, the first coming in 1998.
"But you also have to look at this group and what they've been able to do as a team, and although it may not be at the expectation level of some teams, they are trying to get to that point," Donovan said.
The Gators (25-10) have lost five games this season by 3 points or fewer, and winning any one of those games would probably have been enough for UF to slide into the NCAA Tournament field.
"I understand the measuring stick," Donovan said. "You're always looking to the NCAA Tournament and getting in and having a chance to move on and advance."
Donovan has tried his best to shelter his young team from the expectations set by two national titles, and the coach may be pleased with his team's effort this season, but his players are far from happy with the result of their work.
"I feel like not making the tournament is a disappointment. That's where we all wanted to be," Tyus said. "I guess there was something good that he thought that we did. He mainly felt we were a hard-working team this year, things just didn't play out like we wanted to. … We just let some games slip."
UF lost seven of its last 12 games this season and became the first team since Michigan State in 1980 to miss out on the NCAA Tournament for two consecutive years after winning a national championship.
"We did win 10 (conference games) this year, but we didn't make our goal," guard Nick Calathes said.
TYUS SAYS CALATHES IS NBA-READY: While the sophomore point guard has been careful to avoid any talk of an early exit from Gainesville, Tyus said Monday that, in his opinion, Calathes is ready for the next level.
"Yeah, definitely," Tyus said. "I see him every day in practice, and his court vision is there. He's a good shooter, ball handler and one of the most important things is that he's a great competitor, and he always wants to get better."
