MEMPHIS, Tenn.
The Dayton Flyers are feeling very confident and loose with the upsets they’ve already pulled this NCAA Tournament. They’re also ready to wreck what’s left of anyone’s bracket with their greatest challenge ahead and a trip to the Final Four on the line.
Enter the Florida Gators, the overall top seed.
While the 11th-seeded Flyers already have exceeded expectations going into Saturday’s South Regional final, the Gators are driven too. They talk of chasing greatness, trying to add to a 29-game winning streak that’s the best in school history. Florida also is back in the Elite Eight having lost here the past three years.
“We’re just very blessed and fortunate to be a team that can put themselves in this opportunity to play for a Final Four again,” Florida senior Patric Young said Friday. “Going to prepare and do the best we can, especially as a senior class, because it’s our last go-round to make it to that next step.”
The Gators ended their past three seasons ended by Butler in overtime, Louisville and Michigan. Young said the Gators have learned lessons from each of those regional final losses from not finishing a game when they had a lead or not coming out ready like a year ago when Michigan routed them 79-59.
“We’re going to do the best we can and make sure we go out there leaving no regrets,” Young said.
Coach Billy Donovan, who won his 450th career game at Florida when the Gators downed UCLA on Thursday night, said this team is so very different from each of the past three.
But every loss to end a season hurts, and Donovan isn’t ready to separate one from another.
“I can tell you it was just as painful in 2000 walking off the court losing the national championship game as it was losing last year in the Elite Eight,” Donovan said. “So I don’t know if there’s any easy way because I think everybody this time of year is putting their heart and soul.”
Florida (35-2) hasn’t lost since Dec. 2 at UConn, and the Gators’ win over UCLA matched the school record for most wins in a season set by the 2007 national championship squad. Their string of Elite Eights is even more impressive considering no other team has even made four consecutive Sweet 16s in the same span.
Dayton coach Archie Miller will counter Florida’s experience and winning tradition with his very deep bench. Dayton (26-10) played 12 Flyers in beating Stanford 82-72 in the semifinal, and they aren’t worried about seeding at this point of a tournament where they’ve already knocked off Ohio State followed by Syracuse in the opening weekend.
“It made us think we can play against anybody in the country,” Dayton guard Jordan Sibert said. “It’s just our nature to know we can go out there and compete for 40 minutes. At the end of the game, we’ll be right there to win it.”
