The players had to wait until almost the very end of the Selection Show, but the Florida basketball team found out Sunday evening that it’s going to Des Moines, Iowa.
The Gators were the third to last team to be revealed as being in the tournament and it turned out they were in comfortably as a 10 seed.
“I think our guys were on edge there especially with it coming down to the end,” Florida coach Mike White told Floridagators.com. “It’s exciting. It’s where you want to be.”
Florida will face seven seed Nevada (29-4) in the opener Thursday at 6:50 p.m. (TNT) with the winner of that game playing the winner of the No. 2 Michigan and No. 15 Montana in the Round of 32 on Saturday. Gonzaga is the region’s top seed.
The Wolf Pack were No. 23 in the final NET Rankings.
Despite being the lower seed, Florida is an early two-point favorite.
This is the 21st appearance for Florida in the NCAA Tournament where the Gators have a 45-18 record all-time in the Big Dance. Of those 20 appearances, 15 have come in the last 20 years.
Florida has appeared in five Final Fours and has won the whole thing twice.
It’s a third straight bid to the NCAAs for White, in his fourth season at UF. White is 4-2 in those games. He will receive a $37,500 bonus for making the tournament.
Florida (19-15) was ranked No. 31 in the NET Rankings in the first season that those rankings were used by the NCAA Selection Committee.
“We’ve been as competitive and as consistent here over the past seven or 10 games, although we’ve lost a couple very close ones,” White said. “In the NCAA Tournament, these games are all so competitive. We’ve got to figure out how to close these close ones.
“(KeVaughn) Allen and (Jalen) Hudson have got to be really good for us. Senior guards have got to play like senior guards in the NCAA Tournament.”
The ACC landed three No. 1 seeds with Virginia, Duke and North Carolina. Seven SEC teams made the tournament: Kentucky, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Florida.
Both ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm had Florida as a 10 seed in their final brackets.
Ticket Information
The Gator Ticket Office will begin accepting orders from all Men’s Basketball Season Ticket Holders for the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament beginning Monday at 8:30 a.m. Season Ticket Holders will have until 1 p.m. Monday to place their order.
Any tickets that remain after 1 p.m. will be sold to the general public first come, first serve.
Seat Assignments
All seating for the NCAA Tournament will be fulfilled using the Gator Boosters Loyalty Point system. In the event that the Gators allotment is oversold, accounts that cannot be fulfilled will be notified late Monday afternoon of any refunds or reductions in orders.
Pick Up Information
All ticket purchases can be picked up at the event through Gator Ticket Office staff on location. Pick up information for those that purchase will be released once it is known.
To order, please visit floridagators.com/tickets or call the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683 between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday.
There is a small number of tickets for UF Students. Currently enrolled students taking at least 1 credit hour may purchase seats as well using the above methods.
Gator Bait
One more chance.
The final chance.
The best chance to win it all.
We beat LSU in football and basketball.
We need to beat Michigan in Football and basketball.
How far the Gators go depends on which team shows up. Jekyll or Hyde. The team that played with LSU and Kentucky or the team that blew multiple late game leads. I’m not betting on them either way.
Florida should go to Idaho (what the heck’s up with that, Idaho, really?) with a Han Solo mindset, ”Never tell me the odds!” Go upset 7th seed Nevada, then thump Michigan, like U.F. Football did at the end of the college football season. Congrats for making the tournament fellas, and Go Gators! Chomp-on!
Iowa.. Idaho… all I know about those states is summed up with… corn fields! So no worries about the ”night life” getting in the way of a Gator run in March. Chomp-chomp!
Idaho=potatoes:)
I HAvE SEEN NEVADA PLAY IN THE MOUNTain west. Simply put, that conference is nowhere near SEC caliber.
The Gator problem is actually quite simple. We never know which Gator team is going to show up. Nevada would be like 18-14 if it played an SEC schedule, so these teams, on paper,are about even. Too bad the games aren’t played on paper. GaME will come down to who is hitting the 3s. If the GATOR team that beat LSU twice shows up–and hit 60% FG vs. Auburn–they will win handily. If not, anybody’s guess. Nevada is overrated from their record and look who they played: Utah State, Boise St., fresno st., Air force. Some real powerhouse teams there. They did not play a single top 20 team.
Nevada is a good team, but they did lose to New Mexico, which was having a down year. Nevada plays in a conference, hence the sked you cite as if it were a choice. I like the Gators’ chances but Mountain West has a scrappy style of play, too.
Utah State aint bad…but I get your point. The SEC was top to bottom, pretty solid. Some other confs were top heavy whereas the SEC was challenging especially on the road.
Not sure which Final Four Pat is forgetting, ’94, ’00, ’06, ’07, or ’14. I know the ’87 and ’88 tournament appearances and wins were vacated due to violations involving Mad Max, but I think all five Final Fours are still valid.
Go Gators!
I guess maybe he’s referring to the last 20 years.
Dang it! Now he edits it and leaves me hanging!
You never know, Montana might upset Michigan.
Somebody needs to take out the Wolverines. I may be the only Gator fan that cares, but if Michigan wins another basketball NC before UF wins another CWS, they’ll become the first school with multiple NC’s in all 3 major sports. Would be nice if the basketball team could upset Michigan and give the baseball team another shot to make UF the first.
This selection makes the overall season a B-, thus far. If they happen to make it to the sweet 16, then a B+. White has built a solid foundation with this freshman class. Just needs the big(s) back to full strength to go to the next level. That no call was as stupid as the Saints no call….duh! Would like to know if the refs get a bad mark in the private world of league reviews?
If THIS team makes it to the Sweet 16, we all need to tip our hat to them in raging fashion and give them an A+. They have limited offensive skill, size, and depth. And I have said before and will say again, they have not been inconsistent at all in the one thing they have complete control over – defensive effort. They are a team that will always being fighting uphill against bigger, more talented teams, but they fighting.
The Gators will only go as far as their offensive will take them. If KA and NL are on and hitting 3’s they will move on. If not, they go home.
Let’s hope they don’t really need Locke to hit 3’s, since he’s only shooting 23.5% over the last 11 games. Maybe Hudson and KJ can hit a few.
So looks like UF and LSU rematch in the Final Four. No problem. Then we get revenge against Auburn in the final. My money’s down. Go Gators
The Moountain West has a bunch of scrappy teams. However, when I compare them to sec teams, they fall short. That’s not to say Nevada is a bad team. Gators need their B+ game at a MINIMUM to take this one. I can see them beating Michigan, which is similar to Mich. State (Gators lost by 5, I think). Against Michigan, the seniors have to play like it”s their final game in the orange and blue–AND BRING YOUR ‘A’ GAME.
RENO TO DE Moines is 1,577 miles. Gainesville to Des Moines is 1,240 miles. Gators should have home crowd except EVERYBODY HATES SUCCESS AND YOU CAN;T ARGUE WITH 2 NCSs in Bball, 3 in football, 1 in baseball and 2 in softball.
A big factor is post play and rebounding. Hayes? I hate to put this on his shoulders but he HAS got to rebound an provide 8-10 points. Turnovers should go gators way (the auburn game was lost because of 20 turnovers and that;s abnormal for Gators.) There’s my scouting report, which doesn’t mean squat if you don’t get more points than the other team.
I agree with scrud , for THIS flawed team to make the dance at all is quite an accomplishment, a month or so ago I would have rated their chances somewhere between slim an none. Credit to both them and Coach White. It’s hard to run an offensive system with no bigs, but they have scrapped and fought their way in now and might as well show up and show out. No matter what happens , the experience for the frosh is invaluable and should pay big dividends later. GO GATORS !
Exactly my feelings, if it werent for them matching up so well against LSU and beating them twice they never would have made it. I have noticed that down the stretch they have been better on offense. They were up over 70% for shooting for awhile late against Auburn. Im glad for them, especially the seniors.