If you so desire, you could sit in one arena and see three of the four Florida-based NCAA tournament teams. Florida, Florida State, and Florida Gulf Coast each play subregionals staged in Orlando’s Amway Center, with the Eagles and Noles playing each other.
Want to watch 75% of the Florida schools in the NCAA tournament? Head to Orlando on Thursday.
It’s a scheduling oddity that works out for fans.
Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Florida Gulf Coast is about three hours away, while Florida State’s campus is about a four hour drive from Orlando. Florida’s campus is merely two hours away, so nobody’s got too far to drive for a fun day of games. The Gators play in the afternoon session against East Tennessee State, while FGCU and FSU square off in the night session.
The last time NCAA tournament games were played here, Florida started its 2014 Final Four run by dispatching Albany and Pitt in Orlando.
You may remember Florida Gulf Coast’s story — the Dunk City outfit pulled a 15-2 upset of Georgetown in 2013 with a high-flying squad that captured the nation’s attention. Incidentally, the tournament run came to an end by losing to Florida in the Sweet 16 that year.
This is a big Selection Sunday for Florida’s big three football schools, although Miami won’t be joining the party in Amway Center.
Florida has been a team that’s experienced a fair amount of basketball success since Billy Donovan arrived on campus in the mid-’90s, winning two national titles and going to four Final Fours, but Florida State and Miami have floundered largely throughout their hooping histories. Miami dropped the sport between 1971 and 1985. Florida State has only been to the tournament’s second weekend four times. For all three of the teams in the state to be in the tournament at the same time is pretty sweet.
The coincidental nature of UF, FSU, and FGCU playing on the same day in the same arena is pretty cool too.
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