'It's crazy that it's been 10 years.' Florida basketball players reflect on Final Four run
Kevin Brockway
The memories for four former Florida basketball players remain fresh, 10 years later.
Free time in the hotel rooms before NCAA Tournament games playing Call of Duty or FIFA 14.
A run of 30 straight wins, including 21 straight SEC games, that remains a school record.
A breakthrough Elite Eight win after three straight years falling a game short of reaching college basketball’s biggest stage.
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Ten years ago this week, the Florida Gators appeared in their last Final Four. It’s still hard to believe a decade has passed for the four senior starters who drove the 2013-14 team to a high mark for consistency. Center Patric Young, forward Will Yeguete, forward Casey Prather and point guard Scottie Wilbekin stayed locked in, especially on defense, where the Gators ranked third nationally in fewest points allowed, holding opponents to an average of 57.8 points per game.
“All the details and the rotations and the things we worked on, we were synchronized swimmers,” said Young, now an SEC Network college basketball analyst. “We all moved at the same time where the ball was at, getting back to our position.”
UF’s 30-game win streak spanned for more than four months before ending with a 63-53 loss to eventual national champion UConn in the national semifinals in Arlington, Texas. It was the last of the four Final Four teams led by former UF head coach Billy Donovan, who left a year later to start his NBA coaching career with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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“It’s crazy to think that it’s been 10 years,” said Yeguete, who is still playing pro basketball overseas in France. “Talking to some of the guys that graduated before us, they used to tell us after college, time goes by really fast so make sure you really enjoy it. You don’t understand that until after college.”
In the pre-transfer portal era, where player movement involved sitting out a year in most cases, UF’s four seniors grew together on and off the court through failures to find success. UF's 36 wins remains a record for most wins in a season in school history and its win percentage (36-3, .923) also remains a school record.
“I could have gone somewhere else and been the guy,” Young said. “Casey Prather could have gone somewhere else and been the guy. But I don’t think any one of us would have had the level of success as we did at Florida, nor do I think we would have enjoyed it as much or learned as much about the game and sacrificing for the greater good.”
Florida basketball 2014 Final Four seeds planted in 2010
The seeds of UF’s 2014 Final Four team were planted in 2010, when Wilbekin, Young, Prather and Yeguete first arrived on campus. Young was the highest touted recruit of the class, a 6-foot-10 McDonald’s All-American center from Jacksonville who committed as a high school sophomore. Born in Pessac, France, the 6-7 Yeguete played high school basketball at Florida Air Academy in Melbourne before enrolling at UF.
A wiry, 6-6 athletic forward from Jackson, Tenn., Prather brought to mind another former prep standout UF plucked from the same state — Corey Brewer. Wilbekin enrolled at UF early as a 17-year-old because Florida needed to find depth at point guard after Nick Calathes left unexpectedly the year before to start a pro basketball career in Greece.
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Young cracked UF’s starting lineup first as a sophomore, followed by Wilbekin and Yeguete starting as juniors. Prather didn’t start until his senior season.
Florida went to three straight Elite Eights from 2010-13, falling to Butler (74-71 in OT in 2011), Louisville (72-68 in 2012) and Michigan (79-59 in 2013).
“The older guys, they did have some success, but we saw some things that we would want to do differently,” Wilbekin said. “I think that’s kind of what shaped us, kind of made us who we were.”
UF basketball faced offseason adversity heading into 2013-14
Questions loomed before the start of the 2013-14 season. Yeguete, coming off a broken leg suffered in February in 2013 that prematurely ended his junior season, didn’t know whether he would play the following season or redshirt. Wilbekin was suspended from the team indefinitely for violating team rules for the second time in the span of the year. Donovan put him through extra offseason workouts to regain standing with the team. The suspension bled into the start of the 2013-14 season, when Wilbekin sat for UF’s first five games.
“We struggled so much that summer and also as the year went on grew and learned different things with different groups we had,” Yeguete said. “I think it was our time to be the leaders of this team, to want to be able to do it the right way. We wanted to be able to take this team to the next level because we always came up short.”
Florida integrated a new cast which included a pair of McDonald’s All-American incoming freshmen — point guard Kasey Hill and forward Chris Walker, and a talented sophomore transfer from Virginia Tech, forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who sat out the prior year due to NCAA transfer rules at the time. Returning sophomore guard Michael Frazier II, who shot 46.8 percent from 3-point range as a freshman, became UF’s starting shooting guard. Sophomore swingman DeVon Walker contributed off the bench.
Donovan empowered UF’s seniors to lead, even with the status of Yeguete and Wilbekin in limbo.
“It was just the feeling collectively that we still had unfinished business, we didn’t want to be the team with that label, even if it wasn’t articulated,” Young said, “You know how the storylines come up because you see a pattern, you can look at the Buffalo Bills and they went to four straight Super Bowls, good enough to make it there they just couldn’t get it done. You know and we didn’t want that to be the storyline about us.”
From non-conference struggles to conference success
Without Wilbekin, Florida dropped a 59-53 game at Wisconsin, a team that ended up reaching the Final Four. Wilbekin returned in time for Florida to edge Florida State 67-66 at the O’Connell Center, a game won on a free throw by Finney-Smith with one second remaining.
After losing 65-64 at UConn on a last-second shot by Shabazz Napier, Florida began its 30-game win streak with a 67-61 over a Kansas team that included future NBA standouts Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid. Florida then beat Memphis 77-75 in Madison Square Garden in New York City behind 22 points from Prather. In its second SEC game, Florida needed overtime to outlast Arkansas 84-82 behind 22 points and 15 rebounds from Finney-Smith.
A key stretch of the season came in mid-February, when Florida first beat Tennessee 67-58 in Knoxville. Young came up with a big hustle play to help the Gators retain possession in the closing minutes and close out the game. Off a missed elbow jumper, Young dove to the floor between Tennessee players Jarnell Stokes and Josh Richardson and turned counterclockwise before sliding out of bounds, passing the ball back to Hill.
“When I do book signings and whatever it may be so many people bring that play up,” Young said. “I’ve had plenty of hustle plays in my life, in my career, chased down blocks … but that is by far the number one hustle play that I have ever done in my life and it was all instinctual.”
Florida then picked up its first win at Rupp Arena since 2007, beating Julius Randle-led Kentucky 69-59 behind 24 points from Prather and 23 points from Wilbekin. The Gators nearly let down the following game at home against SEC bottom-dweller Auburn, needed to force a late turnover on an Auburn in-bounds pass to escape with a 71-66 win.
“That was a game where the Rowdy Reptiles, oh my goodness that place was so loud,” Young said. “I don’t know how you measure decibels; you couldn’t hear a thing. They try to inbound the ball to one of the guards and he’s not even looking, and they throw it straight out of bounds.”
Florida completed the undefeated SEC season with an 84-65 rout of Kentucky on Senior Day at the O’Dome. Then, UF swept through three games to win the SEC Tournament, edging Kentucky 61-60 in the tournament finals on a final defensive stand when Kentucky guard James Young turned the ball over on a dribble handoff play in the closing seconds.
Young said dribble handoff defense was something the Florida assistant coach John Pelphrey drilled extensively each practice.
“That set the tone for us communicating on a dribble handoff, switching,” Young said. “Where’s the help, the help side being in the right spot, it was one of those things where it did get kind of mundane, we’ve got this why do we keep doing this in practice and Coach Pelphrey was like, we’re not doing this until you get it right, we’re trying to make this unconscious like you don’t have to think.”
Future NBA coach helps Scottie Wilbekin’s development
Finney-Smith was named SEC sixth man of the year, while Young earned SEC defensive player of the year honors. Prather and Wilbekin made the All-SEC first team, with Wilbekin earning SEC Player of the year honors. Wilbekin, like Young, was an All-SEC defender but evolved offensively, crediting the offseason workouts and film sessions with Mark Daigneault, who started as a UF grad assistant and worked his way up to a key staff positon as assistant to the head coach. With Daigneault's help, Wilbekin's scoring average jumped from 9.1 points per game as a junior to 13.1 points per game as a senior.
Daigneault eft UF following the Final Four to take over as head coach of OKC’s G League team. Then, after working as an assistant with the Thunder under Donovan, Daigneault was promoted to head coach of the Thunder in 2020. This season, he’s guided Oklahoma City to a 54-24 record this season and is in the running for NBA Coach of the Year.
“We watched a lot of film together, we watched film on me, film on point guards from the NBA, other point guards from college, and just I think that was the biggest contribution to my development offensively,” Wilbekin said. “He was so young at the time and it seemed like he was 40 years old, how he knew the game, his maturity. It doesn’t surprise me at all, the success he’s having as a coach.”
UF basketball earns No. 1 seed, storms through Orlando and Memphis
At 32-2 and with 26 straight wins, Florida entered the 2014 NCAA Tournament as the number one overall seed.
“It wasn’t any pressure because we felt like we deserved it,” Yeguete said. “We knew that the one thing that Coach D was telling us was seeding means nothing, because you can lose a game and be out.”
Florida was sluggish in its opening game against 16-seed Albany but clamped down on defense to pull out a 67-55 win. In the Round of 32 game against Pittsburgh, Wilbekin carried UF to a 61-45 win, scoring a team-high 21 points, including 13 of UF’s final 19 points.
“I was playing my best basketball in that tournament,” Wilbekin said.
Players wound down in the hotel room by playing video games and going out to eat together. By that point, the four seniors were inseparable.
“We were really enjoying each day because we knew for us it was our last run,” Yeguete said.
On to Memphis, Florida beat UCLA 79-68 in the Sweet 16, setting up a fourth straight Elite Eight trip, and a meeting with 11-seed Dayton, who had upended higher seeds Ohio State, Syracuse and Stanford. Florida jumped to 14-point halftime lead and behind 23 points from Wilbekin held on for a 62-52 win.
“They just didn’t have a chance,” Young said. “We were too locked in. It could have been the Lakers, we were not going to lose in the Elite Eight again. That was not going to happen.”
Florida basketball endures Final Four heartbreak in Arlington
UF arrived in Arlington, Texas in a familiar setting facing a familiar team. The year before, the Gators had played at cavernous AT&T Stadium in Arlington in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, beating Florida Gulf Coast 62-50 before falling to Michigan in the Elite Eight. In both games, Florida struggled to shoot the ball from the perimeter, going a combined 6-for-25 from 3-point range.
The familiar opponent was UConn, the team that last beat Florida on Dec. 2 on the last-second Napier shot. The 7th-seeded Huskies upset 4th-seed Michigan State in the Elite Eight to reach the Final Four. Kentucky and Wisconsin also made the Final Four, ensuring the Gators of another rematch with a team if they made the finals.
Florida turned the attention of its scouting report to UConn’s talented backcourt – Napier and Ryan Boatright. The Gators jumped to an early 16-4 lead on a Wilbekin jumper. But UConn forward DeAndre Daniels got the Huskies back in the game with back-to-back 3-pointers, cutting UF's lead to 16-15.
The Huskies took a 25-22 lead into halftime and pulled away in the second half for a 63-53 win. Florida again struggled from the perimeter in the football stadium, going 1 of 10 from 3-point range.
“In the tournament, it’s not always the best team who wins but the team that is the best on that day,” Young said. “I still think we were better than that UConn team but they just outplayed us that day.”
Wilbekin, hobbled with leg cramps throughout the game, finished with just 4 points in 34 minutes.
“Maybe we were just so relieved to get past the Elite Eight that we kind of relaxed a little bit,” Wilbekin said, “I know that we all wanted to win really bad and go out with a championship, but I don’t know, maybe the moment was too big us, or we weren’t prepared enough.”
The scene in the postgame locker room was stunned silence. Frazier, who had another excellent season shooting the basketball (44.7% from 3-pont range, 118 3-pointers) was the most emotional. Young recalled the seniors and their families going back to Donovan’s hotel suite following the loss.
“Coach Donovan said my only regret is you guys didn’t get a chance to play for it all, that’s it, because I loved every part of being your coach,” Young said.
Bonds that remain from 2014 UF basketball team
Wilbekin is now a star player overseas in Turkey. Yeguete is winding down his pro career in France. Prather, who has dealt with a rash of injuries, is back healthy playing in Australia.
Young signed with the New Orleans Pelicans as a free agent in 2014 but never appeared in an NBA game. After a five-year pro career overseas, Young, the SEC basketball scholar athlete of the year in 2014, put his journalism degree from UF to use, joining the SEC Network as a college basketball analyst.
“We still try to stay in touch as best we can,” Yeguete said. “You know we all obviously have our lives, ultimately just try to hang out during the summer.”
Young and Yeguete remain best friends. Wilbekin and Prather lived together during the summer their first five years after college.
“Everyone is married now, and Casey was the last one to get married,” Young said. “Scottie was the first which is crazy, we didn’t see that coming.”
A quasi-team reunion occurred at Prather’s wedding last summer.
“Kasey Hill was there, Doe-Doe (Finney-Smith) was there, DeVon was there,” Wilbekin said. “It was just really nice connecting with everybody.”
Florida will honor the 10-year mark of the 2014 Final Four team at a football game this fall, which will mark another team gathering.
Lessons from UF’s coaching staff ring true 10 years later as the former Florida players prepare for new phase in their lives. For Young, adversity hit close to two years ago when he was paralyzed the waist down in a truck accident in Nebraska a week before his wedding. Young recently wrote a memoir chronicling his life journey “Sit To Rise” with the forward written by Donovan.
“There’s times for me where I might be a little distraught,” Young said. “I might be down, man, because ideally, I wanted to play basketball until I was 35, whether that was going to be in the NBA or overseas. I loved to ball, I loved competing, just the atmosphere. But life took a change, and you have to adapt to change and focus on the things that you can control.”
Yeguete said the lessons he took from his experience playing basketball at Florida where the relationships built through struggle.
“Those four years were a turning point for me personally because I was coming from France and having a chance to go to college, I really found a family in the U.S. away from a family in France,” Yeguete said. “Being able to have that really showed me that a lot of things are possible.”
Where are they now?
A look at what some of UF’s 2014 players, coaches and staff are doing 10 years later:
Head coach Billy Donovan: Head coach of Chicago Bulls
Assistant coach John Pelphrey: Head coach at Tennessee Tech
Assistant coach Matt McCall: College basketball analyst, NBC Sports
Assistant coach Rashon Burno: Head coach at Northern Illinois
Assistant to the head coach Mark Daigneault: Head coach Oklahoma City Thunder
Strength coach Preston Greene: Strength coach, Clemson
Center Patric Young: College basketball analyst, SEC Network
Forward Will Yeguete: Forward, LeMans, LNB Pro A League, France
Forward Casey Prather: Forward, Brisbane Bullets, NBL, Australia
Guard Scottie Wilbekin: Guard, Fenerbahce Istanbul, Turkish BSL
Guard Michael Frazier II: Guard, NBA G League Ingite
Forward Dorian Finney-Smith: Forward, Brooklyn Nets, NBA
Forward DeVon Walker: Director of Advance Scouting and Player Analyst, Oklahoma City Thunder.
Guard Kasey Hill: Guard, Science City Jena, German Pro A League
Forward Chris Walker: Forward, Osceola Magic, NBA G League