ESPN Men's Basketball

OMAHA -- Quick thoughts from Florida's 71-45 victory over Virginia Friday at the CenturyLink Center.

Overview: Florida advanced to the round of 32 of the NCAA tournament, but the Gators probably didn't throw much of a scare into their future opponent. At least not in the first half.

With the Missouri Tigers watching from the crowd, the Gators missed their first 15 3-point attempts before finding their groove in a 26-point dismantling of Virginia. As lackluster as Billy Donovan's squad was in the first half, Florida caught fire in the second. The Gators shot 69.6 percent after intermission in what turned out to be one of the more lopsided games in the NCAA tournament thus far.

Florida's performance was good enough to get past an injury-riddled, overmatched Cavaliers squad that hadn't defeated a high-quality team since beating Michigan on Nov. 29. But Donovan knows it will take a much better effort to get past No. 2 seed Missouri if the Tigers advance as expected by beating No. 15 Norfolk State.

Casey Prather and Bradley Beal had 14 points each for No. 7 Florida while Patric Young added 13. Virginia senior forward Mike Scott, an All-ACC performer, had 15 points in his final game as a collegian.

Turning point: Virginia opened the game on 10-2 scoring run, but not much went right for Cavaliers after that. Florida went on a 28-12 tear that resulted in a 30-22 halftime lead. It was never close in the second half.

Key player: Beal chipped in 11 rebounds to go along with his 14 points -- an impressive total for a guard.

Key stat: Florida and Virginia combined to miss their first 20 3-point attempts before Gators guard Scottie Wilbekin finally connected from beyond the arc late in the opening half. The teams were a collective 1-for-22 on 3-pointers before intermission.

Miscellaneous: Virginia was making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2007. ... Tony Bennett's father, Dick Bennett -- the former Wisconsin head coach -- was in the stands Friday to support his son. ... Florida is now 26-9 in NCAA tournament games under Billy Donovan. ... The Gators advanced to the Elite Eight last season. ... Florida had lost four of its past five games before Friday.

What's next: Florida improves to 24-10 and advances to play either Missouri or Norfolk State on Sunday. Virginia ends its season 22-9.

For the next month or so, our friends at The Mag are previewing one high-profile school per day for their Summer Buzz series. For the sake of all that is synergistic, yours truly will be attempting the same, complementing each comprehensive Insider preview with some adjusted efficiency fun. Today's subject? Florida. Up next? UCLA.

The 2010-11 Florida Gators are an interesting proposition.

In many ways, this is the same team that had an improved 2009-10 season. Last year's Gators were better than recent incarnations, and their season culminated with the program's first appearance in the NCAA tournament since the Joakim Noah-led glory years.

But that improvement, while real, was merely marginal. The Gators were a bubble team for most of the season, and they weren't especially impressive on either side of the ball. Florida ranked No. 32 in adjusted offensive efficiency (112.6 points per 100 possessions) and No. 67 in adjusted defensive efficiency (94.9 allowed).

Nor were the Gators at all deep. Four players -- Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Chandler Parsons, and Alex Tyus -- played more than 70 percent of the Gators' available minutes last season, and all four used more than 21 percent of their team's possessions. All four are back in 2010-11.

In other words, if you're trying to project the 2010-11 Florida Gators' season, you'd do well to start in 2009-10. This year's Gators are going to look a lot like last year's.

That doesn't mean fans should necessarily expect the same season, however. For one, Boynton is taking the freshman-to-sophomore leap that can oftentimes yield a player's greatest stretch of improvement. Boynton is a skilled scorer who can get his shot against anybody; if his jumper becomes more efficient, he could have a big-time sophomore season.

It's also worth noting that, you know, sometimes veteran cores with years of experience playing together just ... get better. It's much harder to quantify than pace or adjusted efficiency, of course. But it is something.

Also, Chandler Parsons is (somehow) getting taller. So there's that, too.

More than anything, though, the Gators' chances of improving will rest largely on the contributions they get from yet another talented Billy Donovan recruiting class -- on the defensive end, specifically. The Gators will welcome 6-foot-9 forward Patric Young, the No. 13-ranked player in the 2010 class, as well as the No. 35-ranked Casey Prather, a 6-foot-6 small forward. ESPNU's recruiting analysts have raved about both players' defensive abilities, calling Young "the best all-around post defender" in the 2010 class. Prather, meanwhile, is "one of the top on-ball defenders in this class nationally."

That qualifies as very good news for the Gators. Florida was efficient enough on offense last season, but it was merely mediocre on defense. In fact, were it not for a very impressive ability to keep its opponents away from the free throw line -- Florida was the No. 13-ranked team in opponents' free throw rate -- the Gators would have been downright bad.

Adding two players of Young and Prather's skills -- especially Prather, who can add defensive skill and depth to Florida's backcourt in one fell swoop -- is exactly what the Gators need.

If those recruits can blend into what is already a well-defined Florida core, and that core improves as it should, Florida could have its first legitimate postseason run since the title years. Last year was nice, but the 2010-11 Gators -- much the same, but, as Florida fans will hope, a little different, too -- ought to be worth the watch.