The men's basketball team warms up Tuesday readying for its first practice in the new O'Dome.
Open For Business: Gators Move Into O'Dome
Wednesday, December 21, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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UF will christen the $64.5 million renovated Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O'Connell Center Wednesday night against Arkansas-LIttle Rock.
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The new curb appeal is confined mostly to the front of the building in the form of the so-called "grand entrance," but it's obvious to anyone driving by. Walk through the doors of the renovated Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O'Connell Center and the cavernous front concourse of the Tom & Jane Johnson Atrium swallows you up.
Then stroll into where the actual games are played and let the awe factor taking over.
"Just wow," Florida coach Mike White said Tuesday afternoon. "This is an amazing place."
The UF basketball team sees Exatech Arena for the first time Tuesday, coming through the grand entrance officially named the Tom & Jane Johnson Atrium.
By design, White kept his UF basketball team from touring, even sneak-peeking, the $64.5 million upgrades to the O'Dome. Off limits, guys. No previews of the arena or locker rooms or anything. Instead, White wanted his players to focus not on what was to come but on the tasks at hand during the barnstorming, bus-riding portion of a non-league schedule that dispatched them to eight different venues for 11 games while their future new home was in its final stages of completion. Not even White came over to steal a look.
And so it was, on the eve of the building's long-awaited grand re-opening -- with the Gators (8-3) set to face Arkansas-Little Rock (9-3) Wednesday night -- White turned his guys loose on the O'Dome Tuesday for a first glance, followed by a first practice.
Some of their faces lit up as brightly as the giant, colorful $2 million scoreboard hanging above the court.
The players got taped at the practice facility then headed over to the dome. They entered through the 20,000-square foot grand entrance and filed into the arena as a group. Nearly all of them were armed with cell phones that either Snapchatted or Facetimed or did something to show off their new digs to someone somewhere. A couple scooted up through the now-bleacherless lower bowl and for a view from the plush lounge of the George Brand Center Court Club.
"Are you kidding?" forward Justin Leon asked rhetorically.
The O'Connell Center, as people know it, no longer exists. That 36-year-old, all-everything edifice was totally gutted and replaced with a state-of-the-art version complete with spectacular new audio and video tools that the team got a mini-taste of during their initial walk-through.
Then it was off to the home men's locker room, complete with a lounge, theater meeting room, circular locker room and training area.
It was thumbs up across the board.
"Two thumbs up," junior guard Chris Chiozza corrected.
After their guided foray, the players took to the floor for that inaugural practice, but first, en masse, approached a group of administrators standing watch to extend a collective hand and say, "thank you."
After that, the lights illuminating the stands went dim, exposing only track lighting along the aisles, leaving most of the arena light concentrated onto the floor and giving the court a pro-venue look and atmosphere (ala Madison Square Garden).
"It's bright in here," Chiozza said.
Better for making shots.
"Our guys are really jacked up. It's a special place," White said. "It shows the continued commitment from our administration for not only our basketball program but our entire athletic department. I know it's not all about athletics in this building, but it's the University of Florida. It speaks to who we are."
Said UF athletic director Scott Stricklin: "It has a big-time feel to it. I think when other schools come in here they're going to be blown away. They're going to have the perception of the old O'Dome, which really had the look of a multi-purpose facility, and this place is going to knock their socks off."
Work inside Exactech Arena was put on hold for two hours while the Gators practiced Tuesday.
But first, it's the Florida fans' turn. As of Tuesday afternoon, less than 1,000 seats remained for the Wednesday opener — the O'Dome's official capacity is now 10,133, nearly 1,500 fewer than before — and the UF ticket office is expecting a hefty walk-up. The hope is for a sellout, even with school (and the Rowdy Reptiles) gone for the holidays.
Chip Howard, the University Athletic Association's point man in the project, and Bahar Armaghani, UF's project manager for planning, design and construction, were on hand Tuesday and sporting smiles from the sidelines. Smiles of pride.
For good reason.
"It's pride for the program and the university,' said Howard, senior associate athletic director for internal affairs. "We had so much success in a facility that, frankly, was a little less than ideal. But to have this facility now, I think, is on par with where our programs are. They deserve this and that's the biggest satisfaction I have. They now have a chance to play in this place."
Howard praised the construction firm of Braswell & Gorrie for flipping the project in a nine months, "an impossible schedule," he said. Along the way, UAA, UF and O'Connell Center dealt with a lot of moving parts, yet the building hosted winter commencement (as planned) and now is ready for its first basketball game.
Mike Hill, senior associate AD for external affairs, called the collaborative effort (and finished product) "superhuman."
"What this does for all our teams that compete in this building, you can't measure it," Hill said. "It is a complete game-changer." Kasey Hill and teammates get first look at their new locker room
There was another person named Hill in the building Tuesday; senior point guard Kasey Hill. Four years ago, he was one of the top prospects in the country. When he made his official visit to UF, the Gators didn't even bother taking him to the O'Dome.
"Just saw the practice facility," Hill said. "That was it."
Frankly, given the dome's out-datedness, that had become the norm. Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center represents a very new norm.
Hill, the team's lone four-year senior, lived the evolution, experienced the wow factor and now gets to revel in it.
"It was a surprise coming in here because it looks so totally different," Hill said. "I think it's great, and I think a lot of people — a lot of recruits — are going to want to come and check this out. We're up there with the other big-time places now."
