University of Florida Gators Men's Basketball at the O'Dome
The University of Florida Gators have a storied history of ups and downs, including 16 NCAA conference appearances in the last 20 years. Coached since 2015 by Mike White, the Gators have won 2 NCAA tournaments, 4 conference titles and 7 SEC regular-season championships. Florida plays in the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center (nicknamed the "O'Dome" by students), which opened in 1980 and was most recently renovated in 2016. The arena currently seats 10,000 and hosts Florida's other sports, including women's basketball, gymnastics and volleyball, as well as being the largest concert venue in North Central Florida.
Florida Gators Men's Basketball History
The first tip-off for the Gators was in 1905, when C.J. McCoy was head coach for both men's basketball and football. Following some fallow years due to national disruptions like WWI and the Great Depression, the University of Florida was a founding member of the Southeastern Conference in 1932. It wasn't until Florida built their current indoor sports facility, the O'Connell Center, in 1980, that the Gators played their first NCAA tournament, in 1987.
Norm Sloan became the Gators' first full-time basketball coach in 1960 and made the team competitive for the first time since its founding, elevating the team to beyond the intramural level. After six years, Sloan took a turn at his alma mater, North Carolina State, and returned in 1980 when the O'Dome was completed, building Gators teams by convincing local talent to stay in-state. Current head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Billy Donovan, coached the Gators from 1996 to 2015, guiding them to four Final Four appearances and two NCAA championships, in 2006 and 2007. From 1999 to 2007, the Gators went on a nine-year streak under Donovan, making the NCAA tournament every year.
More than two dozen Florida Gators — seven currently in the NBA — have gone on to become professional basketball players, including several NBA champions. These include three-time champion Udonis Haslem, Matt Bonner, Corey Brewer, David Lee, Marreese Speights and five-time All-Star Al Horford. The Gators have a long-running in-state rivalry with the Florida State Seminoles, and their annual contest is the only out-of-conference game for both of the two oldest college teams in the state.