GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Kwame Brown is playing with MJ on the Wizards. Teddy Dupay is walking around campus, instead of practicing with Florida, anticipating that he'll be playing somewhere else on the globe within the next few months. Mike Miller, remember him? Well, he's entering his second NBA campaign down the road in Orlando as the reigning rookie of the year.

But it doesn't matter. Florida is still one of the five best teams in the nation.

Watch practice and it's clear that the Gators can still play their uptempo, pressure defense with the 10 remaining players.

There are no scrubs. This team has 10 players who are all legitimate high-major Division I players.

	Brett Nelson appears ready to assume a leadership role this season for the Gators.

"All those players would have been great to have," Florida freshman James White said. "But we've still got it all and have a great nucleus."

He's right.

Somehow, Florida is still standing, rising above every other program in the SEC, save Kentucky.

The Gators may have lost Miller, Donnell Harvey, and most recently, Brown to the NBA. The school's administration may have tossed Dupay out of the program for his role in a gambling investigation with a season of eligibility remaining. Yet, still remaining is arguably one of the best core of players in the country.

Brett Nelson ranks among the nation's best point guards, while Udonis Haslem is one of the best finishers, albeit undersized in the middle. Matt Bonner, at 6-foot-10, will once again be among the SEC's toughest matchups as a shooting forward, and may just emerge as Florida's best weapon on offense. And, while Brown didn't make it to Gainesville, arriving this summer was still one of the nation's best recruiting classes, led by inside-out scorer David Lee and one of the best athletes in the freshman class in White.

Also back from an ACL injury is the team's best on-the-ball defender, Justin Hamilton. Then come the role players -- guards Orien Greene and LaDarius Halton, and forwards Bonell Colas and Adrian Moss -- each of whom could end up mimicking former Gators like Brent Wright and Major Parker as consummate hard workers.

That's it, however. Still, those 10 should be enough to keep Florida fans happy well into March.

"I don't know if we're as talented without those two guys (Brown and Dupay), but we've still got two of the best players at their positions in Nelson and Haslem," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "We can still play our style of play with these 10."

"I don't think we've arrived as a program like Duke or Michigan State, but I don't think another program has had as much success while having to deal with as many players leaving early for the NBA," added Donovan, who is including Jason Williams in that bunch after he left for the NBA following his abbreviated junior season.

Donovan is also referring to Brown never getting to Gainesville. At least not to the Florida campus (Brown now lives in Gainesville). But the credit to keeping Florida afloat has to go to the role players, the former four-year guys, like Parker, Wright, Greg Stoltz and Eddie Shannon. Donovan has been able to work in four-year players with the stars who make his aggressive recruiting the most successful in the game.

	“	We'll be just as good. We had a chance to win a national title my first year, dealt with a lot of injuries last year. But we've got the core back this year and we're right there to win a national title. ”
		— Brett Nelson, Florida junior point guard

"We've been fortunate to have the four-year guys who have emerged to be good basketball players, maybe not pros, but good college basketball players," Donovan said. "If I had Teddy and Kwame here, then the obvious question is how would I have had enough playing time. I think we could have done that from a chemistry and talent standpoint."

Haslem said he would have had more one-on-one possessions in the post because of likely double teams on Brown. Instead, Bonner and Lee will play more inside next to Haslem in hope of freeing him up in the post.

Nelson will have to be more of a shooter and Hamilton more of the playmaker in Dupay's absence. Perimeter shooting was off a bit during the first week of practices, but the Gators still have no shortage of deep threats. Having Hamilton, who does bring instant energy to the court, is a must. He plays with a serious face that rarely changes. He's strong, and can defend a driving playmaker or a standup shooter.

Nelson's decisions have improved, too. Haslem said Nelson is playing more like himself rather than trying to be former Gator and current Memphis Grizzlies point Jason Williams. Although in practice this week, Nelson still drove to the hoop, cupped the ball behind his back to fake a defender before wheeling it back around for the layup on the drive to the basket.

"He has to draw a lot of people to him, find the open players and make the game easier," Donovan said. "He'll get the attention and he'll make better decisions."

Donovan is still deciding how to use White and the four role players who'll start the game on the bench. He doesn't have a lot of time with the Gators opening the season in New York at the IKON Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer (Nov. 8) with games against Temple and then either Maryland or Arizona. But expect the Final Four potential that Florida boasts to look the same, playing a fast-paced tempo that just won't include Brown or Dupay.

"We'll be just as good," Nelson said. "We had a chance to win a national title my first year (losing to Michigan State in the final), dealt with a lot of injuries last year (to Hamilton, Dupay and Wright). But we've got the core back this year and we're right there to win a national title."

Something Brown, Miller or Dupay will never do.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.