Notes: Mum's the word for Miller

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- They say these players leaving college early will ruin the game. They say that only Drew Barrymore will be shallower than the shrinking talent pool. They plug in their mikes, look at the camera earnestly, purse their lips and make like Chicken Little.

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They say college basketball is going to hell or, in this case, Syracuse.

What central New York lacked in stimulation to the cerebral cortex this weekend was made up for by Florida. That's the basketball-bouncing Florida or, if you prefer, the Gators not coached by Steve Spurrier. That differentiation must be made because these fast, flashy, fifth-seeded Gators shot to the East Regional championship Sunday with a flair that should force the experts to lay down and take a nice, long television timeout.

When they wake up, maybe sometime next weekend in Indianapolis, the game will have passed them by because of the likes of Florida. The Gators' 77-65 victory over Oklahoma State came not despite its youth but because of it.

With 11 on the roster, a combined seven freshmen and sophomores led the charge against third-seeded Oklahoma State. The favored Cowboys had seven seniors and a 64-year old coach Eddie Sutton who is the only one of his kind in the history of the game, leading four different teams to the NCAA Tournament.

"I've been coaching," the New York Times quoted Sutton as telling Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker Friday night, "longer than you've been alive."

The same went for 34-year-old Florida coach Billy Donovan. But intimidation has a new look these days. It is mostly teenaged, crisply pressed and rabid. It is Florida. Size still matters in basketball, but age sure doesn't.

"I don't think it does matter, to be honest with you," said Mike Miller, Florida's 20-year-old sophomore leading scorer. "We've all played basketball our whole lives just like they've played basketball their whole lives. I could see if it was my second year touching a basketball but I've been playing basketball 20 years.

"They might be seniors but they've only been playing basketball for 22 years. They've got two years on us."

Two years that made the older Cowboys look like senior citizens instead of seniors. The Florida Chomp has a whole new meaning when facing Billy Donovan's 94-foot game. Oklahoma State (27-7) averaged 14 turnovers coming into Sunday. It committed 22 against the Florida press.

The Cowboys built their reputation on defense. Only one opponent, Big 12 champ Iowa State, shot better than 50 percent this season against them. Florida became No. 2, shooting 51 percent. After watching his team taken apart by this new wave band, Sutton turned philosopher.

"College basketball is the greatest," he said. "This is the greatest time of the year and the NCAA Tournament is the greatest sporting spectacle. The quality of play is not down."

The game was over four minutes into the second half, when Florida grew a 12-point halftime lead to 50-33. Oklahoma State made one, final desperate spurt to cut the lead to three with eight minutes left, but it was obvious the Cowboys had no legs. They had little trouble breaking the Florida press, but the effort left them erratic when they got near the basket.

"It's just a different style than we're used to seeing," Oklahoma State guard Doug Gottlieb said. " ... They don't mind so much that you get a layup or an open 3 and hit because it allows the ball to go through the basket. They can get in and run back and play some more offense."

Billy Tubbs' old Oklahoma teams would be proud. Rick Pitino is prouder. Donovan's system is the spawn of Pitino's run-and-gun Kentucky teams that brought the Wildcats back to greatness in the 1990s. By now, you've heard more than once that Donovan was an assistant on those teams.

Let's just say that a little something rubbed off.

When Florida AD Jeremy Foley called Pitino for a reference he got this in return: "Rick told me that nobody knew it (the style) better than Billy," Foley said.

What Donovan is building at Florida (28-7) might be more lasting because the Gators are so young. Two consecutive top recruiting classes have netted a load of McDonald's All-Americans. Somehow they've been lured to a system that is so egalitarian that the Florida freshmen scored 30 points Sunday, the sophomores had 29.

They were led by Miller who was close to his average with 14 points in 30 minutes. It was Miller who was one of the first big-name recruits to commit to Donovan two years ago when all the young coach had to offer was a vision.

"It might have been a gamble," said Miller who came from South Dakota to believe in the dream. "It's an obvious question why I went there because you have Kansas, Kentucky and Florida recruiting me. Who's Florida? I believed in everything coach is saying."

It all came true Sunday, but not before Donovan offered a couple of more talismans from his bag of motivational tricks. In the moments before they took the floor, the Gators were asked to dedicate the game to someone they loved. That name, then, was scrawled with magic marker on the Gators' taped ankles.

Guard Ted Dupay picked his high school coach Frank Morris. Miller and senior Kenyan Weaks simply wrote "My Family."

Sophomore Mike Miller leads Florida's youthful charge into the Final Four.(AP)

"I could tell today even at shootaround that guys like Mike Miller were winded," Donovan said. "I just thought we needed something to do. When you're tired like that and you're playing for somebody that's a loved one, I think what happens (is) you tend to reach down and dig in a little bit deeper than you do for yourself."

One of the brilliant freshmen, guard Brett Nelson, pointed to a black dot scribbled on each of his shoes by Donovan.

"He got down on his hands and knees and put a dot on each one of our shoes and said, 'Anytime you forget about it look down at your shoes. It will remind you to focus. Don't lose your focus,' Nelson said. "I looked down at it a few times."

They are nothing more than hackneyed coaching tricks, hardwood superstitions. If you looked close enough, you probably saw Gene Hackman try one or two in Hoosiers. But like that Hickory, Ind. team, Florida is mostly impressionable kids who believe.

Donovan has done something with his Generation X that MTV couldn't: He got them motivated. They care more about Kobe than Cobain.

"I respect people I'm going against, but I don't fear them," said Nelson who was the toast of St. Albans, W. Va. a year ago. "I'm not intimidated by them. If you go in there scared of them, he's already beat you."

Each game, they play for a cause. Dupay reminded reporters Sunday that Duke beat Florida by 30 at Cameron Indoor Stadium last season. He also reminded them that Duke wouldn't return the game. Duke paid with a loss in Friday's regional semifinal.

Miller and others were indignant that the Gators were a fifth seed. Ranked 13th and with a share of the SEC title, they figured they deserved better. They then went out and proved it, beating No. 12 Butler, a No. 1 (Duke), a No. 3 (Oklahoma State) and a No. 4 (Illinois) on the way to the Final Four.

"Everybody," Miller said, "was picking us to lose to Butler (in the first round). You know, a 12 seed always beats a five.

It turned out Miller's buzzer-beating shot to win that game propelled the Gators but not the experts. They were underdogs against Illinois and Duke and were only a two-point favorite Sunday.

"The thing with Butler, it drew us closer," Miller said. "We had to battle the whole game, we got lucky they missed a couple of free throws and we had a shot that went in. That drew us closer as a team. Even if we were the underdogs, we can still win."

Let the Erick Barkleys and Stephon Marburys come and go. Florida is built to last a lunchtime, if not a lifetime. Sometimes that's all the notice a modern coach gets that his roster is changing. Even if Miller leaves after this season for the NBA, as has been speculated, Donovan will be way ahead of the curve.

He'll sub in another recruiting class like he subs in current players.

"You can understand the criticism (of college basketball) a little bit because a lot of kids are leaving early," Miller said. "We've got a team full of young players who I think will stick together."

At least through next weekend.