College Basketball

Reward for Albany? No. 1 seed Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. — Fifteen minutes had passed following Albany’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win when coach Will Brown’s 11-year-old son approached his dad with the sobering reality — No. 1 Florida was next.

“He goes, ‘Are we going to get killed?’ ” Brown said with a smile.

Traveling overnight from Dayton to Florida after beating Mount St. Mary’s in the First Four, the 16th-seeded Great Danes (19-14) face a Gators squad with 26 straight wins, a core with three straight Elite Eight appearances and a fan base which has to travel less than two hours from the Gainesville campus.

Despite every advantage, including the fact a No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16 seed, the Gators (32-2) aren’t looking toward the next round just yet.

“I mean, they definitely can beat us,” senior Casey Prather said. “Coach [Billy Donovan] does a good job reminding us that no matter what the rankings are every year, there’s upsets. Anything can happen. Anybody can beat anybody. So, we’ve got to be on our toes no matter what.”


Favored to win its third national title under Donovan, Florida will begin its run in the building that nearly stole the coach from the school.

Following back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006-07, Donovan signed a five-year deal to coach the Orlando Magic, but almost immediately changed his mind. Donovan was granted a release from his contract less than a week later and signed a five-year non-compete clause which prevented him from coaching another NBA team.

“I mean, for me, obviously it seems like a long time ago,” Donovan said. “I think that’s over and done with and I’ve kind of moved on from it. I also understand sometimes those questions are going to come up now and then.”


Ninth-seeded Pittsburgh is in the tournament for the 12th time in 13 years, but the Panthers — facing eighth-seeded Colorado — are representing the ACC for the first time, after spending more than three decades in the Big East.

Though the Pittsburgh players felt little difference in the move, coach Jamie Dixon said it impacted many aspects of the program.

“It affected recruiting. … We’ve always recruited Northeast because of telling kids you’re going to be playing in your backyard,” Dixon said. “Learning different styles of play, they do things different. There’s no doubt about it. You go in there saying it’s just basketball, but it’s a different deal.”