Could Gators ever play in Carrier Classic? Donovan says he has open mind
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Football, Scott Carter
The Gators men's basketball team faced Ohio State Tuesday night in Columbus in a highly anticipated early season game between two teams ranked in the top 10.
Another big game in this young college basketball season happened Friday night in San Diego. It was called the Carrier Classic. North Carolina defeated Michigan State in the first NCAA game in history held on an aircraft carrier.
Prior to the Gators' departure for Columbus on Monday afternoon, Florida coach Billy Donovan was asked if he would ever consider taking part in a game such as the Carrier Classic.
“I would definitely be interested,'' Donovan said. “We've been invited to do a lot of different things.''
As the Gators try to grow their fan base in Florida, they have neutral-site games scheduled in four major markets around the state this season: Monday vs. Wright State in Tampa, Nov. 28 vs. Stetson in Orlando, Dec. 9 vs. Rider in Jacksonville, and Dec. 17 vs. Texas A&M in Sunrise.
The Gators also host Arizona at the O'Connell Center on Dec. 7 in a premiere non-conference game. Last season the Buckeyes visited Gainesville.
“We try to have for our fans really high levels of teams that people identify with as it relates to college basketball,'' Donovan said. “The balance of being able to do that and then not just being totally overloaded where you're all over the place.
“I thought that stuff [Carrier Classic] was really a great thing for our country, a great thing for college basketball and something I would be interested in if it made sense for our schedule.”
Here's something I think would be cool one day: an outdoor game at The Swamp. The Gators could host Kentucky and set a state record for largest crowd to ever attend a basketball game in Florida.
Right now that record is 41,340, set at Tropicana Field in 1999 when Connecticut defeated Duke in the national championship game.
Crazier things have happened, right? Didn't North Carolina and Michigan State just play outside on a ship? I thought so.
