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Florida Gators
The school's sports teams are called the
Florida Gators and compete in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern
Conference of the NCAA's Division I-A. Florida dedicates about $44
million per year to its sports teams and facilities. For the sixth time,
UF swept the overall men's and women's Southeastern Conference
All-Sports Trophy in 2002. With its third-place finish in the 2001-02
Sears Directors' Cup rankings, Florida has ranked among the nation's top
10 athletic departments for 19 straight years.
The UF men's basketball squad has also come to prominence in recent
years. They went to the Final Four in 1994 under coach Lon Kruger. Since
1996, they have been coached by Billy Donovan, who is credited with
bringing national acclaim to the program. Donovan returned the Gators to
the Final Four in 2000, and into the NCAA Championship game, where they
lost to Michigan State. They won their first Southeastern Conference
Tournament title in 2005, beating the University of Kentucky, their
primary basketball rival. After repeating as SEC tournament champs in
2006, the Gators went on to win the first basketball National
Championship in the history of the state of Florida, defeating the UCLA
Bruins on April 3, 73-57, at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Florida Gators Tickets
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