Nick Calathes leaves for Greece on Saturday.

The talented Florida guard, who had a terrific freshman campaign, has never been before – but will make the trip in an effort to make the Greek Olympic team.

Calathes’ grandfather, John, was born and raised in the country.

``He passed away last year and he’d be very happy about me going,” Calathes said. “It’s also a great opportunity for me to go, represent my family and Florida.”

Calathes, who doesn’t know a single player trying out, said he is hoping to make the Olympic team and would stay in Greece until late August. If not, he’ll likely be on the under-21 national team and would return in the middle of August.

``I’m a little nervous,” Calathes said.

Calathes said that he’s already noticed a difference in the Florida program – and the increase in work ethic. The team has been playing pickup against ex-Gators Al Horford, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey daily while the trio is in Gainesville for summer school classes.

Calathes said that Horford, Green, Humphrey and former walk-on Brett Swanson play together and pick up one of the current players each day.

He also said that the loss of big man Marreese Speights to the NBA Draft hurts, especially in the pick and roll.

``He caught everything,” Calathes said. “But we’ve got some freshman coming in with size and they know they’ll have roles since we’ve only got seven guys back. I think we’ll be able to play small or big – but we’ll be a more up and down team next year.”

The two-time defending national champion Florida Gators are back in the Top 25.

The young Gators checked in at No. 20 after a 5-1 conference start that has included road wins at Alabama and South Carolina – and home victories over Auburn, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

Florida coach Billy Donovan won’t take the bait on whether this year’s team has surprised him.

"I want us to be the beat team we can be, but I don’t know where that can lead us,” Donovan said. "I feel like we’re leaning and we’ve gotten a lot better.”

Donovan and his staff love the players – the character of the kids and also the even-keel attitude they’ve displayed since the first preseason game. Donovan said this year’s group is completely different than the emotional team led by Joakim Noah, Taurean Green and Corey Brewer.

"I don’t see a lot of ups and downs,” he said. “I don’t see the emotional swings.”

He has also been impressed with their resiliency, coming back from deficits against Alabama, Auburn and even challenging at Ole Miss after trailing by 16 at one point.

"Usually, when things are going well for young guys, they don’t know to fight through it,” he said.

The Gators were realistically a coin-flip on whether they’d make the NCAA tournament this season. Now they’ve put themselves in a position to where they would need a major nose-dive in the second half of the SEC campaign.

The next few games will be pivotal: Donovan’s team will head to Arkansas, where he will face one of his best friends, first-year Razorbacks head coach John Pelphrey. Then it’s off to Tennessee.

Donovan has taken a page from his buddy, New England Patriots head man Bill Belichick, in that he does a nice job of not giving a whole lot of information and building up his team.

That’s why we turned to Gators assistant Larry Shyatt for more insight.

"If there was a team that people would have expected to be upset in November or December by anybody, people probably would have picked us because we’re so young and inexperienced,” Shyatt said.

"But our guys have been eager to listen to Billy and eager to please him. When he speaks, they’re on pins and needles,” Shyatt added. “Am I surprised?  Absolutely. I don’t think anyone planned on us being at the point where we’re at.”

ACC MEDIOCRITY

I’m not sure I’ve seen the ACC this jumbled after North Carolina and Duke.

You’ve got seven teams within a 1 ½-games of each other. You can’t count out Miami (2-4), Florida State (2-5) or even Virginia (1-4) from making a run to third place in the league.

The bottom line is it’s difficult to imagine a situation where the ACC gets more than four teams this season.

Boston College currently sits in third place with a 3-2 mark, but the Eagles face North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Thursday and still have Duke on the road and UNC at home left on the slate.

Virginia Tech has the most favorable schedule left and the Hokies are 4-3 in conference play. Seth Greenberg’s team has already played Duke and has North Carolina left on the road.

TIN MAN CHANGING TECH’S FORTUNES

How about the fact that Georgia Tech’s former walk-on guard Matt Causey has been the major reason why the Yellow Jackets are back in the ACC race.

Causey, who spent one season at Georgetown before playing a pair with his brother at D-2 North Georgia, has turned in consecutive 18-point performances after a 30-point output against Virginia Tech to put Georgia Tech at 3-3 in league play.

Causey’s nickname is the Tin Man because the joke is that he needs to be oiled up prior to each game because he’s basically playing on one leg. ``The other basically doesn’t have any cartilage left,” Hewitt said.

The bottom line is that Casuey’s fearless approach and willingness to take the big shot (he had 12 points in overtime against Virginia on Sunday) has rubbed off on his teammates.

"He’s making big plays and that’s one of the things this team was lacking,” Hewitt said.

RANDOM NOTES: Stopped by to see Hartford coach Dan Leibovitz the other day prior to the UConn-Louisville game and you’d never know that the even-keeled second-year head coach has arguably the biggest week of his season on tap. Hartford (4-3) takes on first-place Binghamton (6-2) next week after a matchup with Vermont (5-2) tonight. … According to Scout.com’s Evan Daniels, one of the nation’s top shooters, Oregon native Brad Tinsley, was released from his letter-of-intent by Pepperdine in the wake of Vance Walberg’s departure. Tinsley considered Utah and Cal the first time around and landed at Pepperdine largely because of his relationship with Waves assistant Mark Campbell.

Since seemingly every team around these parts continues to win, I’m spending the day today with Team Perfect – the 16-0 New England Patriots. I’m off to Gillette Stadium to hear the always entertaining (that’s sarcasm, people) Bill Belichick and the rest of the Patriots talk about their AFC playoff matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

One of Belichick’s biggest fans is Florida coach Billy Donovan, whose young group of Florida Gators passed their first test with an SEC road win at Alabama last night.

"It was a huge win for us," Gators freshman guard Nick Calathes told FOXSports.com following the 90-83 victory. "It gives us a lot of confidence, but now we’re focused on Auburn."

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. If this Florida team, comprised primarily of freshmen and sophomores who barely played last season, can go to Tuscaloosa and knock off a talented Alabama team (I realize they are without Ron Steele), who's to say they can’t finish in the top half of the SEC East?

"I think our team can beat any team in the country if we come to play,” added Calathes, who scored a game-high 21 points, dished out nine assists and grabbed seven boards against the Crimson Tide. "It didn’t surprise me we won.”

I’ve got to admit. It shocked me a little bit – and I saw nearly all of Donovan’s players while they were coming up through the high school and AAU ranks. I figured that a veteran Alabama team with Richard Hendrix, Alonzo Gee and Mykal Riley would hold its home court.

Instead, it was the Baby Gators that displayed poise down the stretch. And just like in the last couple years, it was far from a one-man show. Freshman Jai Lucas scored a career-high 19 points, Dan Werner finished with a dozen points and seven rebounds and Walter Hodge sank all three of his attempts from long range en route to 17 points.

It took Donovan’s new group just one game to earn a conference road win.

ZOUBEK’S INJURY NOT AS SERIOUS

Word out of the Duke camp is that sophomore 7-footer Brian Zoubek may only be out of action for a couple weeks after suffering a fractured left foot for the second time in about six months.

When Zoubek broke his foot in a pickup game back in July, a screw was inserted and he took 10 weeks to get back on the court. This time, it was a slight crack – so he could be back by the end of January.

Even though he hasn’t been a major factor, Zoubek’s injury hurts Duke’s depth up front. Remember, it was Kyle Singler who had to defend Pittsburgh’s 265-pound big man DeJuan Blair last month. I’m guessing that Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski wouldn’t mind having Zoubek for the matchup with North Carolina and the Tar Heels' physical big man Tyler Hansbrough.

VALLEY LEADER

Southern Illinois is .500 in league play. Creighton is 1-2 and Wichita State has won just one of its first four Missouri Valley Conference games.

Believe it or not, Illinois State leads the MVC with a perfect 4-0 mark after last night’s victory against Northern Iowa.

New Redbirds coach Tim Jankovich is as shocked as anyone.

"How do you know when you take over?” Jankovich said. "I looked at what they did last year and we lost our two best defenders.”

But Jankovich said his team plays like a group that has won before – even though they won just 24 games over the past two years.

"We have great kids who are very hungry and very willing,” said the former Kansas assistant coach.

How about this for the first three conference games: at Creighton, on the road against Wichita State and then at home against Southern Illinois.

"What looked like a potential disaster really ended up being the best thing that could’ve happened to us,” Jankovich said.

RANDOM NOTES: Arizona coach Kevin O’Neill said that standout freshman Jerryd Bayless, who has missed the last three games with a knee injury, is questionable for tonight’s game against Arizona State. Bayless practiced half-speed on Tuesday. … Kansas coach Bill Self said that Mario Chalmers tweaked his groin, but he should be ready for Saturday’s game at Nebraska. … Florida State freshman big man Julian Vaughn will be evaluated at the Cleveland Clinic today. … Look for Maryland coach Gary Williams to stick with a starting lineup that includes Landon Milbourne instead of freshman center Braxton Dupree. … Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie isn’t into making excuses, even though his team has suffered numerous injuries. "We definitely do not have a complete roster, but we should have played much better than we have." … Dayton Dunbar (Ohio) coach Albert Powell, who coached Daequan Cook not all that long ago, is raving about 6-foot-10 skilled and athletic big man Josh Benson – who has signed with Dayton. "They got a steal,” Powell said. “He runs like a deer and will be terrific with Chris Wright.”