Florida Gators basketball accepts NIT bid as a No. 2 seed

The Florida Gators basketball team (19-14, 9-9 SEC) has accepted a bid to the NIT Tournament as a No. 2 seed and will open the tournament against No. 7 seed North Florida Tuesday at 9 p.m.. Due to renovations in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Florida will be unable to host NIT Tournament games, meaning they will hit the road.  This will be the first time Florida has accepted a NIT big since 2009, where they were a No. 1 seed. The Gators beat Jacksonville and Miami before an 11-point quarterfinal loss to Penn State that year.

The Gators were the No. 8 seed in the SEC Tournament, starting with a win over Arkansas before a close loss to No. 1 seed Texas A&M. Florida hasn’t beaten a team in the NCAA Tournament since a January 30 win over West Virginia.

Entering the last two weeks of the season the Gators had a chance to earn a NCAA Tournament bid, but a 1-3 stretch to end the season and just one win in the SEC Tournament left Florida one win shy of 20, a number many thought would have been enough to earn them a bid into the big dance.

This will be first year head coach Mike White’s fourth trip to the NIT Tournament as a head coach. In 2012 he led Louisiana Tech, the first time the school had reached the tournament since 2005. As a No. 5 seed, White’s squad upset No. 4 seed Florid State before falling to Southern Mississippi in the second round. White took the Bulldogs to the NIT in the following two seasons as a No. 3 seed in 2014 and 2015, falling short in the quarterfinals both seasons.

Florida’s bracket:

1 Monmouth vs 8 Bucknell

4 George Washington vs. 5 Hofstra

3 Ohio State vs 6 Akron

2 Florida vs 7 North Florida

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

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