Florida Basketball History: NCAA Tournament Champions, Best Players and Coaches

Florida is a football state, but the University of Florida absolutely is a men’s basketball school.

The Gators have won the NCAA Tournament three times — matching the football team’s total — and have been a powerhouse in the SEC for decades. Under coach Todd Golden, the Gators won the 2025 SEC Tournament — their fifth title in program history — and then survived multiple scares to win the 2025 NCAA Tournament for the third time.

In the 2000s, Florida’s surge toward the top of the conference has been steady and remarkable.

Let’s take a deeper look at the Gators’ rich basketball history.

How Many Times Has Florida Won The NCAA Tournament?

Florida has won the NCAA Tournament three times — in back-to-back years in 2006 and 2007 and then again in 2025. The Gators reached the national championship game in 2000 but lost to Michigan State.

How Many Times Has Florida Been to The Final Four?

Florida has reached the Final Four six times (1994, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2014 and 2025).

How Many Times Has Florida Won The SEC Tournament?

Florida has won the SEC Tournament five times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2014, 2025). The Gators are 1 of 3 teams to win the SEC Tournament in 3 consecutive years.

Florida’s National Championship Teams

Here’s a closer look at the Gators’ two national championship teams.

2006: 33-6, SEC Tournament champion, NCAA Tournament champion

NCAA Tournament path: Florida was the No. 3 seed in the Midwest.

• First round: defeated No. 14 seed South Alabama 76-50
• Second round: defeated No. 11 seed Milwaukee 82-60
• Sweet 16: defeated No. 7 seed Georgetown 57-53
• Elite Eight: defeated No. 1 seed Villanova 75-62
• Final Four: defeated No. 11 seed George Mason 73-58
• Championship: defeated No. 2 seed UCLA 73-57

Season in review: Led by a core of young, future NBA players (Joakim Noah, Al Horford Corey Brewer and Taurean Green), the Gators stormed to a 17-0 start and rose to No. 2 in the country before hitting a rough patch in the middle of the SEC grind. All 6 of their losses came against SEC teams, but they rebounded to win the SEC Tournament for the second consecutive year under Billy Donovan. From there, the Gators took off. They escaped Georgetown in the Sweet 16 but won every other NCAA Tournament game by at least 13 points and overwhelmed UCLA in the title game to capture the program’s first NCAA Tournament title. Noah was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

2007: 35-5, SEC regular-season champion, SEC Tournament champion, NCAA Tournament champion

NCAA Tournament path: Florida was the No. 1 seed in the Midwest.

• First round: defeated No. 16 seed Jackson State 112-69
• Second round: defeated No. 9 seed Purdue 74-67
• Sweet 16: defeated No. 5 seed Butler 65-57
• Elite Eight: defeated No. 3 seed Oregon 85-77
• Final Four: defeated No. 2 seed UCLA 76-66
• Championship: defeated No. 1 seed Ohio State 84-75

Season in review: The Gators entered the 2006-07 season with all of the key pieces to the 2006 title run intact and huge expectations to repeat. They were chasing history. No team had won back-to-back NCAA Tournaments since Duke in 1991-92. Florida began the year ranked No. 1 and only spent 2 weeks outside of the Top 5. Interestingly, they dropped 3 of 4 games near the end of the regular season before finding their footing. They won their final 10 games, capturing their third SEC Tournament title and then repeating as NCAA Tournament champion in the process. Billy Donovan joined a Who’s Who list of coaches who had won multiple NCAA Tournaments, a list that included John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Calhoun, Bob Knight (and later Roy Williams, Jay Wright, Bill Self and Dan Hurley), and others.

Donovan joined that exclusive list by putting on an masterful coaching performance in the championship game against Ohio State, a dominant team led by freshmen Greg Oden and Mike Conley — who were picked No. 1 and No. 4 overall in the NBA Draft just months later. All season, Ohio State had fed Oden inside to set up their prolific 3-point shooters. Donovan changed Florida’s defense and put 6-7 Corey Brewer at the top of the key. Instead of double- and triple-teaming Oden in the post — a tactic most teams used against Ohio State — Donovan put more emphasis on shutting down OSU’s outside shooters. Oden was terrific. He scored 25 on 10-of-15 shooting, but Brewer’s length bothered the Buckeyes’ shooters. Ohio State made just 4-of-23 3-point shots, allowing the Gators to cruise to a 84-75 title and second consecutive national championship. Brewer was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

2025: 36-4, SEC Tournament champion, NCAA Tournament champion

NCAA Tournament path: Florida was the No. 1 seed in the West.

• First round: defeated No. 16 seed Norfolk State 95-69
• Second round: defeated No. 8 seed UConn 77-75
• Sweet 16: defeated No. 4 seed Maryland 87-71
• Elite Eight: defeated No. 3 seed Texas Tech 84-79
• Final Four: defeated No. 1 seed Auburn 79-73
• Championship: defeated No. 1 seed Houston 65-63

Season in review: It’s fair to say that few saw this title coming. Consider that Todd Golden’s Gators opened the season ranked No. 21, which is respectable but typically not a starting point for national champions.

It didn’t take Florida long to quiet the critics, even as controversy surrounded Golden, who was the subject of a since-dismissed Title IX investigation. The Gators stormed to a 13-0 start before falling at Kentucky. They quickly rebounded, and even though they finished 2nd in the SEC regular season, they stormed to the SEC Tournament and then embarked on a wild ride through March Madness.

First the Gators ended UConn’s bid at a three-peat in the second round. Then the Gators overcame large deficits to beat Texas Tech (Elite Eight), Auburn (Final Four) and ultimately Houston (down by 12 in the second half of the championship game) to win the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history.

Walter Clayton, Florida’s star guard all season, struggled with his shot in the title game but delivered the defensive play of the tournament, closing out to force a turnover on Houston’s final possession to seal the dramatic 65-63 victory.

Florida’s Best Coaches

The Gators have had 2 coaches win more than 200 games at Florida.

Billy Donovan

Record at Florida: 467-186 (.715)

Overall record: 502-206

NCAA Tournament titles: 2 (2006, 2007)

Notable: Donovan did more than deliver the only two NCAA Tournament titles in program history. He changed the way everybody thought about Florida as a basketball school. In 2025, Donovan was named a finalist to be enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Norm Sloan

Record at Florida: 235-194 (.548)

Overall record: 558-359

NCAA Tournament titles: Sloan didn’t lead Florida to an NCAA Tournament title, but he won one as NC State’s coach in 1974.

Notable: Sloan, whose successful tenure at NC State was marred by NCAA issues, was accused of repeating some of that at Florida. He won 20 games 3 times and helped the Gators win their first SEC regular-season title in 1988-89, but was forced to retire after allegations of NCAA violations.

Florida Gators’ All-Time Starting Five

Let the debate begin: A subjective look at the Gators’ all-time starting five, with a nod to Jason Williams, who might have been the most entertaining Gator to watch of all-time, but only spent 1 season with Florida.

Point guard: Scottie Wilbekin

Notable: Wilbekin gradually grew into a starring role, becoming an All-American as a senior, when he was also named SEC Player of the Year. He finished his career in the top 10 in program history in assists and steals, hallmarks of an elite point guard.

Shooting guard: Walter Clayton

Notable: Recency bias? Maybe, but that’s how good Clayton has been since transferring to Florida from Iona.

Clayton was named to the 2024-25 All-SEC first team after earning a second-team nod in 2023-24. He also was named a first-team All-American by The Sporting News. He’s the first Gator ever awarded with a first-team All-American nod.

Vernon Maxwell is the Gators’ all-time leading scorer with 2,450 points, but Clayton’s scoring average is nearly identical, and Clayton is doing it in the golden age of SEC basketball. Having Maxwell coming off the bench as a 6th man would make any coach smile.

Clayton added his name to the list of Final Four Most Outstanding Player Award winners while leading the Gators to the 2025 NCAA Tournament title.

Small forward: Mike Miller

Notable: Miller only spent 2 seasons at Florida, but he was a huge get for young coach Billy Donovan and a key piece for the 2000 team that reached the national championship game. Miller led the Gators in scoring both seasons. Had he stayed 3 or 4 years, his name would be much higher in Florida’s record books.

Power forward: Al Horford

Notable: Every possible description you could write about Horford as an NBA player held true at Florida, where he was the reliable rock for the back-to-back national championship teams. His numbers were modest by “all-time great” standards, but there’s a reason the Atlanta Hawks selected Horford with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. He was the first Gator off the board that year. He still ranks in the top 10 in program history in rebounds.

Center: Joakim Noah

Notable: Noah was a Consensus All-American, a 2-time All-SEC pick and the pulse of the back-to-back NCAA Tournament championship teams in 2006 and 2007. His numbers were always solid but never really spoke to his value. Neal Walk had much better numbers, across the board — No. 1 in rebounding, No. 10 in scoring — but Noah’s NCAA Tournament rings are the ultimate trump card.

Chris Wright

Managing Editor

A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.