Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
A Florida first
A Times Editorial
Published April 5, 2006
Congratulations to the University of Florida basketball team and coach Billy Donovan. Their remarkable championship run and the NCAA title they brought back to Gainesville Tuesday will be remembered long after the cheering fades and the banner is raised in the O'Connell Center.
For historians, it is a milestone that will add to the university's national profile. This is the first national basketball championship won not just by UF but by any Florida university. A school with little basketball tradition defeated UCLA, a school loaded with it. If football fans needed any further convincing this is a big deal, the UF football coach canceled Monday's spring practice so he could attend the title game in Indianapolis.
For basketball fans, and there probably are many more today in Florida than there were a month ago, the Gators were a joy to watch. A team that lost its top scorers from the previous year and started no seniors and four sophomores played together marvelously. In an era of individual showmanship, they passed the ball and played defense. Along the way in the tournament, they defeated highly regarded Villanova and Cinderella George Mason before Monday night's dazzling performance.
The celebrations will go on for days in Gainesville. For UF students and Gator fans, the memories of that first basketball title will last a lifetime.
[Last modified April 5, 2006, 00:37:15]
Share your thoughts on this story
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor