Florida wary of Butler's physicality

NEW ORLEANS -- Florida coach Billy Donovan made one thing perfectly clear to his team. The Butler squad the Gators will face Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Southeast Regional final isn't some Cinderella that is ready to be sent packing.

"Butler has proven they're as good as any program in the country," Donovan said Friday. "You don't get to a national championship game or the amount of Sweet 16s they've gotten to by just being a Cinderella story. That doesn't happen year after year."

Donovan had another label for the Bulldogs, although it might surprise some. "They're the most physical team in the country," Donovan said. "Other teams are maybe taller, maybe built bigger or stronger. It means absolutely nothing. They've got a tough, hard-nosed group of physical guys, and they do a great job of initiating physical confrontation."

One look at the Wisconsin team Butler defeated Thursday would confirm that. All-American forward candidate Jon Leuer was in tears after shooting 1-for- 12 and forward Keaton Nankivil was sporting a shiner. Not to mention the shorter Bulldogs outrebounded the Badgers 37-31.

Expect second-seeded Florida (29-7) and 2010 national runner-up Butler (26-9) to stage a physical battle as the two schools share some NCAA history. Florida defeated Butler in overtime of a first-round game in 2000 and the Gators knocked out Butler in a regional semifinal in 2007 on their way to a second straight national championship.

Bulldogs guard Ronald Nored said players from each of those teams have sent text messages encouraging payback. "Everyone here is aware of it," Nored said. "I don't think it's necessarily bad blood. But I think some opportunities a lot of people would like to have back slipped away. Now it's a new opportunity for those guys who were here before us, and we want to make those guys happy."

Containing Florida will be no easy task. The Gators can bomb from outside with guards Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker, let Chandler Parsons create on the wing or pound it inside to Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin. And Donovan has the Gators playing improved defense.

The biggest play of their overtime win over BYU was the offensive rebound the 5-8 Walker chased down at the end of regulation to deny Jimmer Fredette a chance for a last shot.

Butler doesn't have an offensive weapon as dangerous as Fredette. But the Bulldogs have forward Matt Howard, who has added three-point range to his energetic inside game, and they have one of the top guards in the country in Shelvin Mack and hard-nosed wing player Shawn Vanzant from Tampa.

Vanzant wasn't good enough to be recruited by the Gators in his home state, but he knows what it takes to return to the Final Four. "Most of the time, we're undersized, so we have to be scrappy," Vanzant said. "We can't rely on our athleticism because when you come to the tournament, everybody is athletic. A lot of teams know we're kind of physical, and we hang our hat on that."