Billy Donovan is hurting, but he will do everything possible to avoid back surgery.
Donovan, Florida's back-to-back national championship coach, is going through a rough spell with his nagging back injury.
Donovan had to lie face down with ice on his back, sprawled over three seats, on a team chartered flight to go to SEC media day in Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday. But he was back at practice Wednesday night, standing up and instructing his rebuilding Gators.
Donovan said Thursday he has dealt with lower back pain for years. He said his second-to-last vertebrae has two fractures in it from his basketball career at Providence and the NBA in the late 1980s.
Donovan said in the past, he would get fatigued after working out and have trouble bending over. But he would get through the rough patch after a few days and move around.
This past Sunday, it went from bad to worse.
He went for a run on Sunday after practice, and then the Gators had their fan appreciation day. He said he was on the bench when "boom, my whole back tightened and I nearly saw stars. I went down. I couldn't walk."
Donovan said on Tuesday, he awoke in his Gainesville home, tried to get out of bed and couldn't. He said he has been receiving treatment with the help of trainer Duke Werner, who also accompanied him on the trip. Donovan said he has been taking anti-inflammatory shots to relieve the pain.
Donovan said he has had five MRIs on his back throughout the past 20 years. He said he had one in June after complaining of kidney pain. It turned out that the pain was radiating from his back.
Donovan has an appointment with a back specialist next week, but he neither wants nor anticipates surgery.
"Maybe later in life I may need a fusion," Donovan said of his vertebrae issue. "I feel much better [Thursday]. I'm walking around more."
Donovan said he hasn't missed a practice yet. But there have been some issues, like needing his wife, Christine, to put on his socks and shoes during the worst pain on Monday and Tuesday. It also means Donovan will likely reassess his workout regimen. He said the pounding his back takes when he runs will likely need to change. He said he'll need to walk more and may look at other exercise routines (maybe swimming or biking) that will cause less stress on his back.
While Donovan has back pain, he's trying not to be pained by what he sees in practice -- a wildly inconsistent team.
"I'm disappointed where we're at right now," Donovan said.
Part of the problem is that the Gators have only nine scholarship players, so when one or two are hurt, the practices lose their intensity. That has been the case lately when Adam Allen and Walter Hodge were both out for a few days.
The other problem is that only Hodge, a junior, has played meaningful minutes. Sophomores Marreese Speights, Dan Werner and Jonathan Mitchell weren't pushed last season in practice because the practices weren't as intense. Last season, Donovan didn't want to wear down the seasoned Gators in practice, knowing that every game would be a mental grind for the '04s Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Al Horford and Taurean Green, as well as then seniors Chris Richard and Lee Humphrey.
This season, the bright spots have been two of the freshmen. Nick Calathes, the 6-6 combo guard, has been "really, really good" at making everyone on the court better. Alex Tyus, a 6-8 forward, has been one of those players diving on the floor for loose balls every day.
Donovan said the Gators are trying but gaining the proper mental toughness is going to take some time. That's why the perceived softer schedule was put in place for earlier in the season, although Donovan is already worried about North Dakota State in the opener Nov. 9 with seven of the top eight scorers back on a team that beat Wisconsin and Marquette the past two years.
"That team is good, and we've got a long, long way to go," Donovan said.
Final nuggets
• Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim would like to change the verbiage to describe how many teams get into the NCAA Tournament from a specific conference. He wants to change the word usage by the media, coaches and fans.
So, instead of saying the Big East received eight bids to the NCAAs, he would like everyone to say the Big East placed 50 percent of its teams in the NCAA Tournament. That way, the general public can see that the 16-team Big East isn't apparently being treated with the same respect as another conference, like the Pac-10 if it were to get seven teams (or 70 percent) in the Dance. If the Big East were to get only six teams in the Dance (37.5 percent), then the Pac-10 would need to get three or four teams to be equal.
"If we get eight in and the Pac-10 gets eight in I won't be upset, but they would have gotten in 80 percent to our 50 percent," Boeheim said.
Boeheim said he believes teams are mainly getting into the Dance based on their league.
"We better educate," Boeheim said.
Boeheim's Orange was arguably snubbed last season. So, there is reason for his distaste for the process.
For what it's worth, I have been told on a number of occasions by selection committee members and the NCAA's resident savant, VP Greg Shaheen, that conference affiliation never comes up in the discussion.
Also, members of the selection committee are never voting on just one team. There are always a group of teams, usually eight or four, that are being voted on for spots. When it comes down to the last few spots, it may be four teams being voted on for the final two spots, or even one spot, with the highest vote total earning that team a spot in the dance. The voting is done at each person's work station and there isn't supposed to be any cheating or looking at another person's computer.
Still, I got the sense at Big East media day in New York Wednesday that coaches aren't buying this at all and may need more transparency of the process to understand that league affiliation has no bearing on the number of teams that get in from a specific conference. Sophomores Marreese Speights, Dan Werner and Jonathan Mitchell weren't pushed last season in practice because the practices weren't as intense. Every team's schedule is put up on a team sheet, and certainly Syracuse would have better teams to compare against than a team from the Atlantic 10 when simply comparing wins and losses.
What's the only solution to this problem? Split apart. Maybe then if the Big East were only an eight- or nine-team league will the percentages ever match some of the other higher-profile leagues. But the likelihood of that happening is incredibly rare.
• Media days are filled with optimism and Wednesday's Big East was right on par with the rest of them.
Marquette coach Tom Crean said Lazar Hayward continues to impress as a potential frontcourt scoring option.
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon and his sports information director Greg Hotchkiss (more Greg than Jamie) continue to rave about freshman forward DeJuan Blair. The "better than we thought" tag continues to apply to Blair and his ability to score.
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said he was fine being picked to finish ninth with no players on the all-league team. That was the perfect motivation for his fellas, who clearly think they have unfinished business after losing to Winthrop in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Boeheim added that Paul Harris, a misplaced freshman guard last season, is finally playing his true position of small forward and will flourish there this season. Also, JC transfer forward Kristof Ongenaet is better than he thought. "Really, really, way better than I thought," Boeheim said. "He's 6-8, athletic and moves. He's tough, shoots and can understand how to play. He'd start on most teams in this league."
St. John's coach Norm Roberts said he thinks this is his best team in four years. That might seem odd since the Red Storm looked to be in a rebuilding mode this season. Still, Roberts was giddy about how much he thinks this squad will surprise.
• Brey is lying low with the football team in disarray from week to week. With only one win for the Irish, he said Monday-Thursday is a bit gloom and doom on campus before the weekend brings renewed hope. The football team has three straight home games with Navy, Air Force and Duke coming into South Bend. Football games are a huge recruiting tool for the basketball team. Still, Brey isn't feeling any shift in emphasis his way in October.
"I'm our biggest football supporter," Brey said. "We need them to be good. It's good PR and those weekends provide a lot of good energy as good recruiting weekends. Our brand is out there with the gold helmet. I can relate to what they're going through. Two years ago I had a tough year trying to keep a group together. I feel for them. We've all been in that seat just looking to get off it quickly."
Andy Katz
