Gators To Play In 2021 Fort Myers Tip-Off

Florida’s 2021 basketball schedule got some clarity on Friday as word got out that the Gators will be playing in the Fort Myers Tip-Off. Joining the Gators will be Ohio State, Seton Hall, and California making it a talented field with teams from coast to coast.

The 2020 field consists of Butler, Colorado, South Florida, and Wisconsin so it’s a tournament that generally attracts really quality teams. While the 2021 dates haven’t been officially released the 2020 event will take place from November 23-25 and considering it is a tip-off event it will likely be around the same time in 2021.

Under Mike White the Gators have played some of the toughest non-conference schedules of any high major team and playing in this event shows that the program is once again committed to challenging themselves in the fall and bolstering their resume for when consideration comes Selection Sunday.

It’s tough to project just how good teams will be in 2021 when this tournament will take place but we can see a bit of how the rosters for each team might shape up.

Ohio State just got gutted by a few transfers that left but they also landed the biggest player that was on the market in Seth Towns from Harvard. There is a chance he’ll be in the NBA in 2021 and not at Ohio State but he would stand to be a redshirt senior in that season and if so the Buckeyes would be in great shape. Their 2020 recruiting class has a familiar name to Gators fans in Zed Key who Florida pursued for a number of months and will have some other solid recruits so they should be a solid competitor in 2021.

Seton Hall had a fantastic 2019-20 season but are losing a lot of their pieces to graduation and will look a whole lot different by the time 2021 rolls around. Their 2020 recruiting class is only ranked 82nd so they don’t have a huge influx of talent but it’s worth noting they are always one of the teams most focused on transfers and JUCO talent so they’ll reload and be an old and competitive team.

California has been at the basement of the Pac-12 over the last few seasons and it doesn’t look like anything will really be changing for them in the near future so they’ll likely be the fourth seed for the tournament. Considering this Fort Myers event is so early teams won’t be in midseason form and anyone can beat anyone, so they still shouldn’t be taken lightly.

The Fort Myer Tip-Off is a chance for in-state Gator fans to see their team in a non-conference tournament without having to travel far. It takes place at Florida Southwestern State College in a beautiful 3500 seat building and if you have the chance to go it’s certain to be a good time.

Eric Fawcett
Eric is a basketball coach and writer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His work has been found at NBA international properties, ESPN, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Lindy's and others. He loves zone defenses, the extra pass, and a 30 second shot clock. Growing up in Canada, an American channel showing SEC basketball games was his first exposure to Gator hoops, and he has been hooked ever since. You can follow him on Twitter at @ericfawcett_.