UF makes stronger case

<p>If Florida ends its two-season drought of not reaching the NCAA Tournament, it would have the league office to thank.</p><p> A Southeastern Conference mandate to toughen up non-conference schedules has put Gators in better position to reach the tournament than in its previous two years.</p><p> Florida (20-11) finished the regular season with more losses than it had in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Yet because Florida's strength of schedule ranks 32nd in the country, it may need just a win Thursday night in its opening-round SEC Tournament game against Auburn to earn a tournament at-large bid.</p><p> Last season, Florida's strength of schedule entering the SEC Tournament was 85.</p><p> "I don't know if there's any exact science, but certainly we've really, really loaded up on our schedule competitively," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "What kind of dividends that pays for us remains to be seen."</p><p> The SEC directed programs to make their non-conference schedules more difficult after the league finished sixth in the country in RPI and earned just three NCAA Tournament bids last March. It would have likely been two bids had Mississippi State not received an automatic bid for winning the SEC Tournament.</p><p> Florida is 3-8 against the RPI Top 50 this season. Two of those wins came in November, when the Gators knocked off Florida State and Michigan State in the same week.</p><p> "Probably a couple of years ago, we weren't even in position to beat a Michigan State or a Florida State or go on the road and win some of the games that we've won," Donovan said. "This team has certainly played a much, much more difficult schedule and probably as difficult a schedule as we've played in quite some time."</p><p> In past seasons, Donovan has been concerned about loading up tough non-conference games early because of the toll it can take on a team come February and March. Other coaches subscribe to the theory that getting tested in non-conference play prepares a team better for its conference games.</p><p> Florida finished 9-7 in the SEC, the same record it finished in the league last season. But with ranked teams Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt leading the way, the SEC ranks fourth in conference RPI behind the Big 12, Big East and ACC.</p><p> "Our league perception-wise is a lot better than it was last year, where probably going into the SEC Tournament there were only two teams that were a lock for the NCAA Tournament," Donovan said.</p><p> Of Florida's 11 losses, eight have come against the RPI top 50 and 10 have come against the RPI top 100. Florida's worst loss of the year came last Dec. 22 against South Alabama, a team with an RPI of 211.</p><p> Has the tough non-conference schedule worn the Gators down? The Gators enter SEC Tournament play on a three-game losing streak. But Florida went into SEC Tournament play on a three-game losing streak two seasons ago when it played a much weaker non-conference schedule. Last season, Florida lost three of its last four regular season games.</p><p> Donovan has gone with a rotation of eight players since SEC play began in January. The bench is shorter due to season-ending injuries sustained by center Kenny Kadji (back) and guard Adam Allen (knee).</p><p> The Gators will find out on Selection Sunday whether the benefit of playing tough non-conference games early outweighed the risks of fading down the stretch.</p><p> "That's what the SEC league office wanted from all of our schools," Donovan said. "That's what our administration wanted, that's what they thought was the best thing. I know there was a large talk about upgrading the schedule for our fans. I think we've done all that.</p><p> "Now what kind of toll it's taken on our team, I don't know. I think it's a long season for everybody and the teams that have depth are more suited to handle that. Certainly for us, we've been battling with depth issues all year."</p>