Billy Donovan had his Florida coaching staff and their families over to the house Friday night for the annual Donovan-porch family photo for the media guide.

The evening was festive, as much as it could be. It was just hours after Donovan sat at a news conference hearing the announcement that his first recruit at Florida, the player who wanted to be like him, was like him and is still as tough as him, was dismissed from the team for alleged gambling activities.

Senior guard Teddy Dupay is gone from the team, a year earlier than expected and the Gators will deeply miss his toughness and emotional leadership.

	“	Everybody talks about how the loss of Teddy and Kwame (Brown) will hurt our chances, but if simply losing Teddy means we don't have a shot at being good, then we're not that good. ... We might not be as talented or as deep as Duke, Maryland or Kentucky, but I still like our team and the character of it. ”
		— Billy Donovan

"This is a senior who played on a Sweet 16 team and in a national championship game," Donovan said Friday night from his Gainesville, Fla., home. "He came back from shoulder surgery, back surgery. We'll miss his ability to take shots at the end of games, a player who wasn't afraid to make plays and not afraid to take big shots. A player who wanted the ball in his hands."

They'll miss the type of play that characterized Donovan at Providence, like the time on Jan. 30 when Dupay sat at a shootaround in advance of a critical game against Tennessee and demanded to play. He then went out with a recently surgically repaired back and scored 10 points in 15 minutes in an 81-67 victory -- his first action in six games. The Gators went on to win 10 of their next 11 games to claim a share of the SEC championship.

They'll miss his 3-point shooting, his voice in the locker room, his need to take the spotlight away from the rest of the players when the media came calling. They'll miss the 5-foot-11 (a push at that height) guard who played much bigger than his height would allow him. But the Gators will survive this blow, enough so that they can still compete for the Final Four. And, so will Donovan, who is as resilient as any coach in the country.

"Everybody talks about how the loss of Teddy and Kwame (Brown) will hurt our chances, but if simply losing Teddy means we don't have a shot at being good, then we're not that good," Donovan said. "When Duke lost Carlos Boozer during the season, they still had Shane Battier and Mike Dunleavy. We've got other guys in the program to rely on. We might not be as talented or as deep as Duke, Maryland or Kentucky, but I still like our team and the character of it."

Donovan and his family had to endure the terrible tragedy of losing a baby at full-term last November. The lesser, but still basketball-type problems, surfaced during the season when Dupay was suspended for a game and had back surgery. The Gators lost guard Justin Hamilton for the season with a torn ACL. Forward Brent Wright spent two stints being injured and out of the lineup.

And they still persevered. They will again.

This team, and this program, is too good to stand idle, even without Dupay. And it doesn't matter that they don't have Brown (the Wizards do) because they never had a chance to play him once he declared for the draft out of Glynn Academy (Ga.) last spring.

The Gators still have 10 players who can contribute, enough to play the pressing and trapping style they did when they went to the national title game against Michigan State in April of 2000. They don't have a scrub on the roster. Everyone can play, and will.

Junior point Brett Nelson is still one of the top playmakers in the nation and gets better at his decision-making with each game. He shares the same unconscious attitude as Dupay in taking the shots when no one else will. Donovan said Hamilton is fully recovered from his knee injury and has had no problems moving laterally during individual workouts the past two weeks. If that's the case, then the Gators have one of the top on-the-ball defenders back in the lineup.

The depth on the perimeter isn't a question with Orien Greene's ability to hawk on the ball, run the floor and finish. Donovan said LaDarius Halton, who wasn't the same player last season after knee surgery, is back in his comfort zone.

And newcomer James White is knocking down shots during workouts as a wing. Junior Matt Bonner is a consistent face-up small forward. The frontline has a go-to player in Udonis Haslam, an immovable force under the basket. Freshman David Lee showed in workouts that he can face the basket and hit the long-range shot. Donovan is also getting more comfortable looking at freshman Adrian Moss and sophomore Bonnell Colas in the lineup as possible reserves after individual instruction the past few weeks.

"David Lee and James White have shown a fabulous understanding of how to play all ready," Donovan said. "They can handle the ball, pass and step in and have an impact. Adrian Moss will be a good player. He's 6-9, who can shoot 3s and will get stronger throughout practice."

Donovan said he has got flexibility in this lineup. He said he could play Nelson and Hamilton together, or go with White or Halton at the other spot with Bonner and Haslam across the frontline. Or he can go with White at the two-guard with Nelson, and go bigger.

"We've got two guys -- Nelson and Haslam -- who are as good as anybody at their position in America," Donovan said. "Does that mean we're going to the Final Four? I don't know, but we can compete for it."

The Gators didn't have the depth to run and press last season without Hamilton, Wright and Dupay. They've got 10 scholarship players who can, but if the Gators lose one more to injury or an eligibility issue, it could be a problem.

Donovan didn't postpone the gathering at his Gainesville house Friday night. He didn't disrupt individual workouts Friday. He's not expecting the team to miss a beat, and actually is almost thankful that the case is closed before the season started.

"The big thing for us is getting over the emotional part of Teddy not being here," Donovan said. "We've become closer in the last day during workouts. We've realized that adversity hits. It's always tough to go through adversity while the season is going on. But we haven't played any games or had any team practices. The first practice (on Oct. 13) will be without Teddy and we will have had time without him."

But Donovan will likely keep close tabs on Dupay. He still does with former troubled guard Jason Williams, who was suspended during his tenure with the Gators before going to the NBA. He's tight with Brown, who just bought a house down the street from Donovan and still worked out with him this summer. Dupay's relationship will likely be as close, even if he's not literally in the neighborhood.

"This is very difficult for me because when I first got hired he was the first (recruit) I met and committed to us before anyone else did (as a sophomore)," Donovan said. "We had a tremendous bond. I hope he can always rely on me. He's part of the family and family members make mistakes. He owned up to the mistake and I'm not condoning what he did, but he took responsibility. Florida had no other choice and neither did he."

But this Gators team has plenty of options to either sit still or move forward. The Gators moved fast to dump Dupay, just like Fresno State didn't waste any time with dismissing starting point guard Tito Maddox a few weeks ago for accepting gifts from an agent.

"I hope in the end, the players at Florida can say Billy Donovan had an affect on their life," Donovan said. "That's the most important thing to me."

Donovan must have had an effect on Dupay by the proactive way his player handled the situation Friday, reading a statement and not shying away from the cameras. But Dupay is now done as a college basketball player, tossing away a chance to be held in high regard at Florida. Dupay will likely be remembered for the gambling allegations rather than his gutsy 3-pointers. But Donovan and the Gators shouldn't be scarred by his departure, not this season or beyond.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.