2008–09 Florida Gators men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 2008–09 Florida Gators Florida Gators wordmark.svg 175 Southeastern Conference East SEC 25–11 9–7 Billy Donovan Larry ShyattShaka SmartRob Lanier O'Connell Center National Invitation Tournament Quarterfinals The 2008–09 Florida Gators men's basketball team represented the University of Florida in the sport of basketball during the 2008–09 college basketball season. The Gators competed in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by head coach Billy Donovan, and played their home games in the O'Connell Center on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. The Gators were looking to build on their 24–12 record from the 2007–08 season. Preseason Entering the season, the Gators had to overcome the loss of Marreese Speights, who left for the 2008 NBA draft after his sophomore season with the Gators. (Speights was selected in the draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.) To replace him, the Gators added six freshmen to the team. The Gators won their two preseason games against Rollins and Warner. Class of 2008 Florida Class of 2008 – RivalsFlorida Class of 2008 – Scouthttps://archive.today/20120710111936/http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/school?page=commits&season=2009&schoolId=2305 Florida Class of 2008 – ESPN no no 2008 Allan Chaney PF New London, Connecticut New London HS 6 8 220 August 23, 2007 4 4 95 Kenny Kadji C Douala, Cameroon IMG Academy 6 10 225 June 30, 2007 4 4 96 Ray Shipman SF Pace, Florida Pace HS 6 5 204 June 21, 2007 4 4 96 Eloy Vargas PF Moca, Dominican Republic American Heritage School 6 9 220 September 26, 2007 4 4 96 Erving Walker PG Middle Village, New York Christ The King Regional HS 5 8 140 December 29, 2006 3 3 93 |- | colspan="7" style="padding-left:10px;" | Overall Recruiting Rankings:     Scout – 9     Rivals – 10 http://florida.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1082109 2008 Team Recruiting Rankings – Rivals 2011-07-12 https://web.archive.org/web/20111005225711/http://florida.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1082109 2011-10-05 dead      ESPN – 2  |} Roster Name Number Position Height Weight Class Hometown Adam Allen 14 F 6–8 225 Sophomore Milton, Florida Nick Calathes 33 G/F 6–6 194 Sophomore Winter Park, Florida Allan Chaney 24 F 6–8 231 Freshman Baltimore, Maryland Hudson Fricke 40 G 6–1 193 Sophomore Greenville, South Carolina Walter Hodge 15 G 6–0 170 Senior Guaynabo, Puerto Rico Kenny Kadji 30 F/C 6–10 235 Freshmen Douala, Cameroon Vernon Macklin 32 F 6–10 230 Junior Portsmouth, Virginia Kyle McClanahan 4 G 6–1 185 Freshman Maitland, Florida Chandler Parsons 25 F 6–9 213 Sophomore Winter Park, Florida Ray Shipman 3 G/F 6–5 212 Freshman Miramar, Florida Alex Tyus 23 F 6–8 220 Sophomore St. Louis, Missouri Eloy Vargas 1 F/C 6–10 215 Freshman Moca, Dominican Republic Erving Walker 11 G 5–8 161 Freshman Brooklyn, New York Dan Werner 21 F 6–7 230 Junior Middletown, New Jersey Coaches Name Type College Graduating year Billy Donovan Head coach Providence College 1987 Larry Shyatt Associate Head Coach College of Wooster 1973 Shaka Smart Assistant coach Kenyon College 1999 Rob Lanier Assistant coach St. Bonaventure University 1990 Darren Hertz Assistant to the Head Coach Florida 1997 Adam Beaupre Video Coordinator Florida 1999 Matt Herring Strength & Conditioning Coordinator University of Texas Southwestern 1994 Dave Werner Athletic Trainer Eastern Kentucky University 1991 Tom Williams Academic Counselor Florida 1978 After the season, assistant coach Shaka Smart left to become head coach of the VCU Rams. Schedule and results Retrieved from Gatorzone.com |- !colspan=12 style=Florida Gators|Exhibition games November 3, 2008 7:00 pm yes 19 Warner O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL 108–49 November 6, 2008 7:00 pm yes 19 Rollins O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL 82–53 |- !colspan=12 style=Florida Gators|Regular Season November 14, 2008 6:00 pm yes 19 Toledo O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL ESPNU 80–58 1–0 November 16, 2008 2:15 pm yes 19 Bradley O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL ESPNU 81–58 2–0 November 20, 2008 8:00 pm yes 18 Southern Utah O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL SUN 64–50 3–0 November 24, 2008 7:30 pm yes yes 17 Syracuse Sprint Center Kansas City, MO CBE Classic Semifinal ESPN2 83–89 3–1 November 25, 2008 7:45 pm yes yes 17 Washington Sprint Center Kansas City, MO CBE Classic Consolation Game ESPNU 86–84 4–1 November 30, 2008 1:00 pm yes yes 17 Missouri-Kansas City Amway Arena Orlando, FL SUN 86–65 5–1 December 2, 2008 7:00 pm yes 23 Florida A&M O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL SUN 73–58 6–1 December 7, 2008 6:00 pm yes yes 23 Florida State Donald L. Tucker Center Tallahassee, FL FSN 55–57 6–2 December 10, 2008 8:00 pm yes Florida Gulf Coast O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL FSN 94–60 7–2 December 20, 2008 6:30 pm yes yes UCF Veterans Memorial Arena Jacksonville, FL FSN 89–61 8–2 December 22, 2008 7:00 pm yes Georgia Southern O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL FSN 88–81 9–2 December 28, 2008 6:30 pm yes yes Winthrop BankAtlantic Center Sunrise, FL Orange Bowl Basketball Classic FSN 74–45 10–2 December 30, 2008 1:00 pm yes Stetson O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL FSN 78–57 11–2 January 3, 2009 4:00 pm yes NC State O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL CBS 68–66 12–2 January 6, 2009 7:00 pm yes Longwood O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL SUN 95–69 13–2 January 10, 2009 6:00 pm Ole Miss O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL FSN 78–68 14–2 (1–0) January 14, 2009 8:00 pm yes Auburn Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Auburn, AL Raycom 68–65 15–2 (2–0) January 17, 2009 2:00 pm Arkansas O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL Raycom 80–65 16–2 (3–0) January 21, 2009 7:00 pm yes 24 South Carolina Colonial Life Arena Columbia, SC Raycom 69–70 16–3 (3–1) January 25, 2009 1:30 pm yes 24 Vanderbilt Nashville, TN Memorial Gymnasium CBS 94–69 17–3 (4–1) January 28, 2009 8:00 pm Georgia O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL Raycom 83–57 18–3 (5–1) January 31, 2009 9:00 pm yes Tennessee ESPN College GameDay Thompson-Boling Arena Knoxville, TN ESPN 63–79 18–4 (5–2) February 3, 2009 9:00 pm South Carolina O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL ESPN 97–93 19–4 (6–2) February 10, 2009 9:00 pm yes Kentucky Rupp Arena Lexington, KY ESPN 65–68 19–5 (6–3) February 14, 2009 3:30 pm yes Georgia Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia ABC 86–88 19–6 (6–4) February 18, 2009 7:00 pm Alabama O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL SUN 83–74 20–6 (7–4) February 21, 2009 3:00 pm Vanderbilt O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL Raycom 82–68 21–6 (8–4) February 24, 2009 9:00 pm yes LSU Pete Maravich Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA ESPN 75–81 21–7 (8–5) March 1, 2009 2:00 pm Tennessee O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL CBS 75–79 21–8 (8–6) March 4, 2009 8:00 pm yes Mississippi State Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, MS Raycom 71–80 21–9 (8–7) March 7, 2009 2:00 pm Kentucky O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL CBS 60–53 22–9 (9–7) |- !colspan=12 style=Florida Gators|SEC Tournament March 12, 2009 9:45 pm no yes Arkansas St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, FL SEC Championship round 1 Raycom 73–58 23–9 March 13, 2009 9:45 pm no yes Auburn St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, FL SEC Championship round 2 Raycom 58–61 23–10 |- !colspan=12 style=Florida Gators|National Invitation Tournament March 18, 2009 8:00 pm 1 Jacksonville 8 O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL National Invitational Tournament round #1 84–62 24–10 March 20, 2009 7:00 pm 1 Miami 4 O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL National Invitational Tournament round #2 ESPNU 74–60 25–10 March 24, 2009 9:00 pm 1 Penn State 2 O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL National Invitational Tournament Quarterfinal ESPN 62–71 25–11 AP poll Rankings + Ranking movementLegend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. Poll Pre Wk 1 Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Wk 10 Wk 11 Wk 12 Wk 13 Wk 14 Wk 15 Wk 16 Wk 17 Wk 18 Wk 19 Final AP 19 19 18 17 23 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR 23 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Coaches 21 21 19 19 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR References Category:Florida Gators men's basketball seasons Florida Florida Gators men's basketball team Florida Gators men's basketball team Florida