Florida Basketball: A Blueprint for Success

Florida is a football school, but the general perception is that Florida is a basketball school too.  Right now it is not far-fetched to think that Florida has a brighter future in basketball than they do in football.

The stage is set for Florida to have dynasties in both sports for a long time, so Florida fans need to jump on the bandwagon for basketball and be Florida basketball fans for life.  Florida is going to be loaded for years to come with the talent that Billy Donovan is bringing in.  Donovan is proving that he can recruit with the best of them.

Billy Donovan was obviously going to have to rebuild after the Gators won their second straight national championship.  Florida had a down year last season, but do not be fooled.  Billy Donovan is building a juggernaut down in Florida, and it is something that people should take notice of.

With back to back national championships under their belts and the addition of Shaka Smart to the staff, Billy Donovan and his staff are hitting the recruiting trail as hard as ever, and now he is able to bring in more talent than ever before.

Billy Donovan has the perfect blueprint for what he wants to build, and now it is easier than ever for him to get the pieces that he needs to do it.  That blueprint created the team that took him to two national championships.

Here are some important parts of that blueprint.

1. Having the best frontcourt in America

This is something that stands out about Billy Donovan's two national championship teams.  Some might even say that Billy Donovan had the best big man tandem in the history of college basketball with Al Horford and Joakim Noah.  He also had arguably the best sixth man in the country in the 2006-2007 season with Chris Richards.

One thing you will notice about every big man that has ever played for Billy Donovan is that he can run the floor.  I have personally heard Billy Donovan say that he will not recruit a big man that cannot run the floor.  Billy Donovan will not recruit slow post men because they are a defensive liability if Florida faces a team that likes to push the ball like North Carolina or UConn.

Billy Donovan likes big athletic post players.  This also has something to do with the pick and roll offense that Florida runs.  It makes no sense to send a big slow post player to set a pick for a pick and roll because they will not really be a threat to beat their defender on the roll.

It is good news for Gator fans that Billy Donovan may have the most loaded frontcourt in the country a few years down the road.  It looks like Donovan has made this recruiting priority number one.  Florida is set down low for a very long time.  Billy has two sophomores, three freshmen, and three other big men slated to start playing in the 2009-2010 season.

Returning Players

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