When Billy Donovan first came to Florida in 1996, athletics director Jeremy Foley asked the 30-year-old coach how many 20-win seasons the Gators had in school history.
He guessed 20.
The answer? Five.
“I felt like when I first came here, just trying to build a tradition, I was really surprised,” Donovan said Saturday after Florida’s 61-60 win over Tennessee in the O’Connell Center. “I was like shocked.”
The victory over the Volunteers gave the Gators 20 on the season for the 13th straight year.
It’s easy to overlook that number, question its significance or chalk it up to weak in-state opponents during the nonconference schedule.
But consider these numbers:
n Florida had previously put together 20-win seasons just five times (1966-67, 1986-89 and 1993-94) in more than 80 years of basketball before Donovan came to Gainesville:
n The span of 20-win seasons is the longest active streak in the Southeastern Conference and puts Florida behind only Kansas, Duke, Syracuse and Gonzaga for the nation’s longest stretch.
n UF had one regular-season conference title in the 77 seasons before the Donovan Era and no SEC Tournament championships. He has three of the former since 2000 and won three straight tournament titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
And with a 9-2 record in conference play this season, the Gators have the inside track to another regular-season title.
Unlike their 21 wins last year, 25 in 2008-09 and 24 in 2007-08, this accomplishment is particularly impressive given the team’s challenging schedule.
Sure, the Gators took advantage of terrible teams early on (looking at you, North Carolina A&T) and recently (Auburn), but they have reeled off a 20-5 record with the nation’s sixth-hardest schedule.
That isn’t lost on Donovan.
“This is a great 20 wins for our team this year because of our strength of schedule,” Donovan said. “We didn’t have 11 wins in the nonconference against teams that were struggling. We really played people all the way through. And then the Eastern Division of the SEC is so hard.”
While Donovan is overrating an SEC East that has proven to be anywhere from muddled to mediocre, he isn’t overselling his team’s body of work.
The Gators are ranked No. 14 in the newest Associated Press Top 25 and have the nation’s 12th-highest RPI, according to realtimerpi.com.
They have won close games, blown out teams, beaten more talented opposition, shown a little bit of depth and checked off nearly every item on the list of what was wrong with this same core group of players a year ago.
But it doesn’t end with seniors Chandler Parsons, Vernon Macklin and Alex Tyus.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign for Donovan — something often missing in recent years — is the group of talented reserves sitting alongside him every game.
With Donovan at the helm and an influx of young talent waiting to take over, it appears Donovan’s streak of 20-win seasons isn’t ending any time soon.
“Just trying to build that, I give more credit to the players and Jeremy Foley than my coaching staff,” Donovan said. “You have to have good people for that to happen.”
