The men's basketball team's season is already off to a better start than last year.
The Gators don't open their season until a Nov. 2 exhibition game against Saint Leo, but the non-conference schedule released earlier this week is an encouraging sign of coach Billy Donovan's commitment to turning the program around.
UF will play national runner-up Michigan State at the end of November in Atlantic City, N.J., where it will also face either Rutgers or UMass in the conclusion of the Legend's Classic.
Last year, the Gators played in an early season tournament against Washington and Syracuse, beating the former and losing to the latter. Had UF not collapsed down the stretch, the victory against Washington would have been one of the team's strongest justifications for making the NCAA Tournament.
Playing quality out-of-conference opponents in the fall has no downside for the Gators.
Win, and they have a respectable line on their NCAA Tournament resumè.
Lose, and they strengthen their team with a defeat that won't hurt them as bad as a poor strength of schedule would.
If I were Donovan, I'd rather see my team lose to UMass than watch it trample Florida Gulf Coast.
And if the schedule is any indication, Donovan and I view this subject the same way.
"This is as challenging a non-conference schedule as I can remember us having," Donovan said in a statement. "This schedule will definitely challenge us and prepare us for our conference season."
And the Gators' schedule will only get more challenging when they take on Syracuse in the SEC/Big East Challenge in Tampa on Dec. 10.
UF will also host FSU, which has won the matchup the last three years, and face another ACC opponent on the road (North Carolina State).
Possibly the most interesting bit of scheduling is the Feb. 13 game against Xavier. It will mark the Gators' first non-conference game during league play since 2003, and it will come against a team that went 27-8 last season.
After missing the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, the out-of-conference slate is a step in the right direction for Donovan and his team. It's not a sign that the program is back to its glory days by any means, but it displays a new way of thinking UF has needed in the post-'04s era.
With an inexperienced team and an unknown level of talent the last two years, Donovan was likely afraid to throw his team into the fire before the conference season began.
But why shy away from real competition to keep his players' confidence high early in the season if it didn't pay off when it mattered? Isn't it better for them to learn their mistakes and know their weaknesses before SEC play kicks off?
Of course it is. The Gators were 13-2 with one meaningful victory (Washington) before conference season last year and finished 9-7 against a mediocre-at-best SEC.
Even if the Gators lose every single one of their matchups against competitive teams, they will be better prepared to work their way through the SEC. Not to say they'll waltz on by Kentucky or anything, but at least the Wildcats won't be the first top-25 team UF sees.
The Gators may not make it back to the NCAA Tournament with this schedule, but who's to say they would do so by playing easy in-state games? Even if Donovan's team loses the tough games, his team will be better off for having played them.
