Since we had the thread in the 86-87 team, and so fun to relive some of the stories…… One of my greatest UF memories was Lon Krugers 1994 squad. We knew early on we had a strong team…..I remember early beating a good Texas team and Villanova team handily. I can’t recall our SEC finish, but it was high. The team just did everything well, from shooters (Cross and Brown), rebounder/rim protector in Declerq, an insanely effective Dmitri Hill, with the softest touch, and superb post moves despite his size……and incredible defensive athleticism from both Brian Thompson and Jason Alexander. Cut to March, similar to 00 (Miller vs Butler), we escape round 1 vs James Madison than an to a HUGE late 3 by freshman Greg Williams. We handle some Ivy League school handily, setting up for me what was one of the greatest weekends in UF bball history. Sweet Sixteen vs UConn,,who at the time was a premier program in the country. A tight game all the way, finishing with a tie score, 2 seconds remaining, and their all American Donyell Marshall at the line. A strong shooter, it looked like the end of a phenomenal season. Donyell somehow misses the first. Could it be? Donyell misses the second. UNBELIEVABLE. We get the board, head to OT, and proceed to blow them out. Craig Brown hits 3 3’s, all assisted perfectly by Dan Cross, and I recall Declerq had one of those crazy full court sprint blocks to prevent an easy dunk. We dominate BC (and Bill Curley) in the next game to advance to Final Four. In a super close match, Duke and Grant Hill take us out…..but what a run.
I was out at breakfast the morning of the Regional final. Some pompous ass at the table next to me was going on and on, saying that Florida was lucky and was going to get destroyed by Boston College that day. I was thinking, "We'll just see about that." I'd been watching the Gators play at an extremely high level and win tough games all season. Everyone acted like the Gators were trash because they had opening-round jitters and couldn't make open shots in the tournament opener vs. James Madison. That was one of our worst performances of the season and very uncharacteristic. We eked that one out then dominated Penn, who had just dominated heavily favored Nebraska. Like Rodney Dangerfield, we couldn't get no respect, but that was a great team. Rick Pitino said as much on TV during the tournament, that UF had the best foul line to base line defense in the country.
We were within one basket of Duke in the final minute in the Final Four. It took that before people started saying, wow, Florida is really good.
FLORIDA only had 2 losses when a top 10 Kentucky rolled into town; great game...better result! Reed's dad (Jeff) was just a freshman on that Kentucky team. And I remember the cheerleading coach wanted us to chant "Trav-miss" at Travis Ford. FLORIDA was a top 20 team going into the SEC Tournament. Avenged the Bama road loss earlier that year, but Kentucky got us in the finals. Arkansas was just ridiculous that year, though. The Sweet 16 atmosphere was intense, as fans we were excited when #9 BC knocked off #5 Indiana in the early game. And the stout FT defense that was imposed upon Donyell Marshall with 3.4(?) seconds left. That place got loud after the first miss, the hope of him possibly missing a second one and then being realized, it was nuts. Coincidentally, 30 years ago today, we were getting ready to travel to Athens for our next basketball game. Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
I was at those games… such an awesome weekend. People forget… if not for a huge 3 from Tiny Williams, we likely don’t get past James Madison Find a way!
I was at the game and was thinking "It doesn't matter if he hits one or two. It will be a three point heave at the end." My wife turned to me and said "He is going to miss both." I had no idea that she knew that much about basketball. The foul call was correct and made by Ted Hillary. AD hit Donyell's elbow on the shot. And man did we kick butt in the OT. We were staying on South Beach and I really enjoyed a very dry martini after the game. That was a very fun weekend. We actually had two extra tickets and I couldn't convince any of my friends to make the trip down. They all thought we were going to lose. I ended up selling them to a couple of middle aged Gator fans that lived down there that were friends of a friend. We had dinner together on South Beach to make the ticket exchange. We didn't make a dime on the sale. Gators take care of other Gators.
It was a great season. Sports are at their most fun when a team that is supposed to be bad makes a great run. One publication picked that Florida team to win 8 games that year. Not in conference... the whole season. 8 ended up being the number of games we lost; we won 29. We finished tied for 2nd in the SEC with Kentucky. Arkansas won the league and were pretty clearly the best team in the country. We lost to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament Championship Game. That game against Duke was a heartbreaker. We were up 13 in the 2nd half, but then Grant Hill basically took over the game.
I was at the game. When Hightower blew the whistle I thought that was really smart of Duke to foul as we were not in the bonus. Then I was shocked that it was a charge on Cross and effectively game over. Added in edit: During the first game (Razorbacks vs Arizona) Gator fans were chanting "SEC SEC SEC". During our game Hog fans were chanting "We want Duke".
Yeah that Tiny shot might be the most under appreciated shot in UF history. I don’t remember the name of that kid for JMU, but he dominated us. I was sure that his full court heave to win it was going in, he had made everything else that day. And he did get backboard on it.
Agreed! Hill was definitely the difference in that game. Got to hand it to him, he was a great player. I think he would have been one of the all-time NBA greats if injuries hadn't intervened.
