COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S FINAL FOUR : Obscure Gators Feasting : Florida Storms Final Four Party Without Requisite Big-Name Players, Glitzy Reputation

And now, how to build a Final Four team the Florida Way:

--Miss out on every top 50 high school player in the country.

--Sign only one fewer recruit from Scandinavia than you do from your own state.

--Feature a head coach whose press conferences are duller than an Agriculture Department briefing on turnip harvests.

After that, just sit back and watch the magic.

Somehow--and even Florida Coach Lon Kruger isn’t entirely sure what happened--the Gators have advanced to the NCAA national semifinals at Charlotte, N.C., where they’ll play Duke on Saturday. Duke and Coach Mike Krzyzewski seemingly have a lifetime pass to these things. Meanwhile, Florida needed net-cutting instructions after winning the East Regional.

Yet, here they are. The Gators. Coach K vs. Coach K Jr. Can you believe it?

“We felt fortunate that everybody plays poorly against us,” said Kruger, letting the sarcasm sink in.

OK, Florida has won 29 games this season, the most in the school’s 75-year basketball history. But if Kruger is suggesting that he predicted Florida’s first Final Four appearance this fast, then he’s in the wrong business. A better career choice: “Hi, I’m Lon, and you’ve reached the psychic hotline . . . .”

Nobody figured the Gators to go this far. Not the NCAA selection committee, which seeded them third in the regional. Not Lefty Driesell’s James Madison team, which lost to Florida by two points in the first round of the tournament. Not Pennsylvania, the next victim. Or No. 2-seeded Connecticut, which lost in overtime after Huskies All-American Donyell Marshall clanked a pair of last-second and likely game-winning free throws in regulation. Not ninth-seeded Boston College, which figured it had as good a chance as anyone.

“We just did the things that we’re capable of doing and that’s the key reason we’re going to the Final Four,” said Gator sophomore forward Dametri Hill.

Florida isn’t a stylish team to watch. The most fluid thing about the Gators is their sweat, which is fine with Kruger, who played that way during his days at Kansas State. It shows, too.

Perhaps you saw center Andrew DeClercq sprint desperately downcourt as Boston College guard Howard Eisley pranced in for a sure breakaway layup in Sunday’s regional final. Instead, DeCler blocked the shot from behind, keeping Florida’s lead at a precious five points with 2:20 left. Typical.

Afterward, Kruger did what he could to dispel the image of Gator overachievers.

“I think today we won a ballgame,” he said.

True enough. In fact, the Gators provide glimmers of hope to coaches everywhere. After all, if blue-collar Florida can do it, anyone can.

Of course, it helps to hit the no-name recruiting jackpot of all time. Florida assistant coach Ron Stewart and recruiting guru Bob Gibbons were talking about that very topic a few days ago. Gibbons, like most talent evaluators, didn’t have a single Gator signee included in his list of prime names. At the time, Stewart couldn’t have blamed him.

“They’ve got nice players who have developed,” Gibbons said.

The starting five:

--Senior guard Craig Brown, who buried Boston College with nine points in 81 seconds, was hardly noticeable four years ago. Gibbons didn’t even list him among his top 250 recruits.

Maryland, which was knee-deep in NCAA probation, was looking at him, as were St. Bonaventure and Temple. Florida, fresh from a 7-21 season that saw Don DeVoe fired and Kruger and his staff hired, also was interested.

On the last day of the April signing period, Stewart came to watch Brown play in a pickup game. The rim was broken, but Brown’s jump shot wasn’t. Stewart offered him a scholarship, figuring, if nothing else, Brown was a good kid from a solid family.

--Junior point guard Dan Cross, from Carbondale, Ill., was considered nothing more than a mid-to-high Division I player. Southern Illinois wanted him, so did Illinois State and maybe Mississippi State. Instead, he signed with Florida.

“I didn’t know a thing about Florida basketball until my senior year of high school,” Cross said.

--Hill committed to Florida shortly after his junior season at Dixie Hollins High in St. Petersburg. He had feelers from Auburn, Alabama, Wake Forest and several Big East Conference schools, who liked his wide body and his soft shooting touch. But Hill was in no mood to head north.

“I don’t think I was made to do all that cold weather stuff,” he said.

On the recommendation of Stewart, Gibbons invited Hill to the prestigious Nike summer camp. Surprise.

“Once we got him there, we thought, ‘Oh, gawd, this kid can’t run up and down the court,’ ” Gibbons said.

Hill weighed nearly 350 pounds. He was fine in a half-court game, but useless when the pace required actual running. Gibbons dropped him from the top 250 after watching Hill struggle up and down the court.

--Sophomore forward Brian Thompson played at famous Oak Hill, Va., Academy and was the closest thing to an actual Florida blue-chip recruit. One problem: His SAT scores weren’t available yet.

The Gators gambled and signed him anyway. Soon thereafter, Thompson’s test scores came in. He qualified.

--DeCler, now a junior, used one of his official recruiting visits to go to Duke. Once there, Krzyzewski told him the Blue Devils were pursuing six other players: Cherokee Parks, Erik Meek, Glenn Robinson, Juwan Howard, Alan Henderson and Chris Webber.

“Right now, you’re No. 7,” Krzyzewski told DeClercq, “and we have two scholarships to give.”

DeCler saw the writing on the wall and it said, Virginia or Florida. He chose the Gators. Florida coaches couldn’t believe their luck.

“They told me early on that they got a steal on him,” said Gibbons of the Gator staff.

So here they are, the non-Fab Five. Cross, an honorable mention All-America, leads the team in scoring, assists and scowls per game. Thompson does the best postgame victory dance. DeCler is playing the best basketball of his career. Brown, a second-team all-Southeastern Conference selection, has become a team leader and the Gators’ best perimeter shooter. Hill, now down to 286 pounds, is proud owner of “DaMeat Hook,” which is his surprisingly accurate jump hook shot. Hill also sets the meanest blindside picks in the college game.

“Oh, my gosh,” DeCler said, “we heard Dan (Cross) crumble in practices last year. And last season at our place, we played Athletes in Action. They had this little point guard and he saw Dametri out of the corner of his eye. It’s probably the reason he’s alive today.

“The point guard ran a big circle around Dametri. The crowd started laughing, but I can understand why he did it. Sometimes you just hear (the guards) hit him on the picks. You hear, ‘Uhhhh.’ Then you hear the crowd go, ‘Ohhhh, oooohhhh.’ ”

These days at Florida, the sounds are more like, ooohs and aaahhs. Kruger has restored stability to a program that had none during the later days of Norm Sloan’s controversial regime or interim coach DeVoe’s doomed one-season stay.

Said Cross: “It’s been hard. The past couple of years people never thought of Florida basketball. But it was just a matter of time before Coach Kruger got the right players.”

Kruger might not be Mr. Glib, but Florida was more interested in victories and integrity than one-liners, anyway. With Kruger, you get heartland values, discipline and a no-nonsense offense and defense. He preaches family and he means it, which explains why his 10-year-old son Kevin sits on the bench during games. Or why Kruger comes to the operating room when one of his players undergoes surgery. Or why he has immersed himself in community charities and events.

In turn, the school and the city have embraced Kruger and his team. For the first time in years, Gator spring football isn’t more important than Gator basketball. Thank-you notes can be sent to Kruger.

“He just comes across as being a very open young man,” Cross said, lapsing into Kruger-speak. “But there are times when he cracks jokes and wants to be a comedian.”

Veteran Kruger-watchers, stunned at the revelation, ask for an example.

“Is he around?” Cross said, looking for his coach.

Brown finally broke the cone of silence. He said that during a timeout in the Gators’ victory over Connecticut, Kruger turned to Cross in the huddle. Moments earlier, Cross had just shot an airball from the baseline.

“Next time you take that shot,” Kruger said that night, “make sure you hit something . . . . like the backboard.”

Cross and Brown still laugh at the story. It seems to be going around--the smiles, that is. Final Fours can do that.