billy-donovan-sec-2014-net.jpeg
Florida coach Billy Donovan cuts down the net after his Gators beat Kentucky to win the SEC Tournament on March 16, 2014, in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. (AP photo)
Do you realize how lucky we are? We're watching one of the greatest coaches in SEC history at work right before our eyes.
That's right. He just started practicing toward a run at another national championship.
Nick Saban?
Well, yes, him, too, but since the NCAA Tournament starts Tuesday, we were referring to Billy Donovan. He's as good as it gets at what he does at the moment, and he's one of the best there ever was.
Did you know that the Florida coach is one win away from matching LSU legend Dale Brown for second on the career list for victories at an SEC school?
Donovan will equal Brown with his 448th victory at Florida on Thursday against the Albany-Mount St. Mary's winner. He'll pass Brown on Saturday against the Colorado-Pitt winner.
Then Donovan will be only 426 victories away from catching Kentucky legend Adolph Rupp's record of 875 wins. Don't laugh. Donovan is still only 48 years old.
Did you know that Donovan is only one national championship away from moving into truly elite company in that category? If the Gators live up to their No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, they'll give their coach his third national title. That would equal Bob Knight and Jim Calhoun and put Donovan just one behind Rupp and Mike Krzyzewski, who each have four big rings.
John Wooden and his record 10 national titles are probably out of reach.
Did you know that by running the table during the SEC regular season, Florida became the first SEC team to go 18-0 and the first team from a power conference to post that record since Indiana in 1976? Knight and the Hoosiers won the national title that season.
Did you know that the last season Florida was ranked No. 1 in the nation, as it is now, the Gators won the 2007 national championship? That was the second of Donovan's back-to-back titles.
Did you know that the last time Florida swept the SEC regular-season and tournament titles, a double they completed again Sunday, the Gators won that 2007 national title? They did, and they're poised to do it again.
Combine one of the best coaches in the country, who also happens to be one of the best in SEC history, with a bunch of seniors who don't get rattled and know how to win, and what you get is a national championship team in the making.
After losing in the Elite Eight for three straight years, Scotty Wilbekin and company have all the motivation they need to go along with all those weapons and all that experience. They probably don't have a single first-round draft pick on the roster, but Donovan and the Gators are headed toward history.
It's not SEC bias to pick them to win it all. It's just common sense.