1999–2000 Florida Gators men's basketball team

The 1999–2000 Florida Gators men's basketball team represented the University of Florida in the sport of basketball during the 1999–2000 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.

1999–2000 Florida Gators men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Runner-up SEC Regular Season Co-Champions and Eastern Division champions
National Championship Game, L 76-89 vs. Michigan State
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	East
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 13
Record	29–8 (12–4 SEC)
Head coach	Billy Donovan (4th season)
Assistant coach	John Pelphrey Anthony Grant Donnie Jones
Home arena	O'Connell Center
Seasons ← 1998–99 2000–01 →

1999–2000 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
No. 13 Florida	12	–	4		.750			29	–	8		.784
No. 11 Tennessee	12	–	4		.750			26	–	7		.788
No. 19 Kentucky	12	–	4		.750			23	–	10		.697
Vanderbilt	8	–	8		.500			19	–	11		.633
South Carolina	5	–	11		.313			15	–	17		.469
Georgia	3	–	13		.188			10	–	20		.333
West
No. 10 LSU	12	–	4		.750			28	–	6		.824
No. 24 Auburn	9	–	7		.563			24	–	10		.706
Arkansas †	7	–	9		.438			19	–	15		.559
Alabama	6	–	10		.375			13	–	16		.448
Ole Miss	5	–	11		.313			19	–	14		.576
Mississippi State	5	–	11		.313			14	–	16		.467
† 2000 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The Gators were the SEC regular season champions, winning a share of the title with a 12–4 conference record. They earned a five seed in the 2000 NCAA tournament where they advanced to the Final Four and then made the school's first ever appearance in the NCAA championship game where they lost to Michigan State.^[1] Florida ended the season No. 2 in the final USA Today/ESPN Rankings and were ranked wire-to-wire for the first time in school history.

Roster

1999–2000 Florida Gators men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 00 Brent Wright 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Jr Miami Senior Miami, Florida G 2 Ronnie King 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Armwood Brandon, Florida F 4 Donnell Harvey 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 216 lb (98 kg) Fr Randolph-Clay Shellman, Georgia G 5 Teddy Dupay 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 178 lb (81 kg) So Mariner Fort Myers, Florida G 10 Brett Nelson 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 182 lb (83 kg) So Saint Albans St. Albans, West Virginia G 12 Justin Hamilton 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 207 lb (94 kg) Fr Booker Sarasota, Florida G/F 13 Mike Miller 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) So Mitchell Mitchell, South Dakota F 15 Matt Bonner 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 237 lb (108 kg) Fr Concord Concord, New Hampshire G 20 David Kliewer 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Fr   Tarpon Springs, Florida F 23 LaDarius Halton 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr   New Smyrna Beach, Florida F 25 Major Parker 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 218 lb (99 kg) Jr   Fort Lauderdale, Florida F 33 Adriel Davis 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 221 lb (100 kg) Fr   Tallahassee, Florida C 50 Udonis Haslem 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 240 lb (109 kg) So Miami Senior Miami, Florida G 52 Kenyan Weaks 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 198 lb (90 kg) Sr   Concord, North Carolina	Head coach Billy Donovan (Providence) Assistant coach(es) John Pelphrey (Kentucky) Anthony Grant (Dayton) Donnie Jones (Pikeville) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular Season
Nov 19, 1999*	No. 7	Florida State	W 96–61	1–0	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Nov 22, 1999*	No. 6	vs. Utah State Maui Invitational Tournament	W 60–58	2–0	Lahaina Civic Center  Maui, Hawaii
Nov 23, 1999*	No. 6	vs. No. 22 Purdue Maui Invitational Tournament	L 68–79	2–1	Lahaina Civic Center  Maui, Hawaii
Nov 24, 1999*	No. 6	vs. Georgetown Maui Invitational Tournament	W 72–62	3–1	Lahaina Civic Center  Maui, Hawaii
Nov 29, 1999*	No. 11	New Hampshire	W 131–72	4–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Dec 4, 1999*	No. 11	Florida A&M	W 96–44	5–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Dec 11, 1999*	No. 9	Bethune-Cookman	W 93–77	6–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Dec 19, 1999*	No. 9	High Point	W 109–60	7–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Dec 21, 1999*	No. 8	vs. Rutgers	W 85–65	8–1	Continental Airlines Arena  East Rutherford, New Jersey
Dec 23, 1999*	No. 8	UNC Wilmington	W 80–53	9–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Dec 28, 1999*	No. 6	VMI	W 113–68	10–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Dec 30, 1999*	No. 6	South Alabama	W 82–61	11–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Jan 5, 2000	No. 6	at Vanderbilt	L 77–87	11–2 (0–1)	Memorial Gymnasium  Nashville, Tennessee
Jan 8, 2000	No. 6	at Ole Miss	W 75–71	12–2 (1–1)	Tad Smith Coliseum  Oxford, Mississippi
Jan 12, 2000	No. 10	No. 24 LSU	W 82–57	13–2 (2–1)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Jan 18, 2000	No. 9	No. 16 Tennessee	L 79–81 2OT	13–3 (2–2)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Jan 22, 2000	No. 9	at Alabama	W 77–73	14–3 (3–2)	Coleman Coliseum  Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Jan 26, 2000*	No. 10	at DePaul	L 69–71	14–4	Allstate Arena  Rosemont, Illinois
Jan 29, 2000	No. 10	No. 20 Vanderbilt	W 89–63	15–4 (4–2)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Feb 2, 2000	No. 12	at South Carolina	W 86–82	16–4 (5–2)	Carolina Coliseum  Columbia, South Carolina
Feb 5, 2000	No. 12	at Georgia	W 85–66	17–4 (6–2)	Stegeman Coliseum  Athens, Georgia
Feb 8, 2000	No. 12	No. 11 Kentucky	W 90–73	18–4 (7–2)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Feb 12, 2000	No. 12	at No. 8 Tennessee	L 73–76 OT	18–5 (7–3)	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Feb 15, 2000	No. 11	at Arkansas	W 80–71	19–5 (8–3)	Bud Walton Arena  Fayetteville, Arkansas
Feb 19, 2000	No. 11	Mississippi State	W 88–58	20–5 (9–3)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Feb 23, 2000	No. 9	at Georgia	W 90–68	21–5 (10–3)	Stegeman Coliseum  Athens, Georgia
Feb 27, 2000	No. 9	No. 11 Auburn	W 88–59	22–5 (11–3)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Mar 1, 2000	No. 8	South Carolina	W 87–67	23–5 (12–3)	O'Connell Center  Gainesville, Florida
Mar 4, 2000	No. 8	at No. 22 Kentucky	L 70–85	23–6 (12–4)	Rupp Arena  Lexington, Kentucky
SEC Tournament
Mar 9, 2000*	No. 11	vs. Ole Miss SEC Tournament Quarterfinal	W 89–67	24–6	Georgia Dome  Atlanta, GA
Mar 10, 2000*	No. 11	vs. Auburn SEC Tournament Semifinal	L 70–78	24–7	Georgia Dome  Atlanta, GA
NCAA Tournament
Mar 17, 2000* 2:37 pm, CBS	(5 E) No. 13	vs. (12 E) Butler First Round	W 69–68 OT[3]	25–7	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, NC
Mar 19, 2000* 2:30 pm, CBS	(5 E) No. 13	vs. (4 E) No. 21 Illinois Second Round	W 93–76	26–7	Lawrence Joel Coliseum  Winston-Salem, NC
Mar 24, 2000* 7:38 pm, CBS	(5 E) No. 13	vs. (1 E) No. 1 Duke Sweet Sixteen	W 87–78	27–7	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, NY
Mar 26, 2000* 5:00 pm, CBS	(5 E) No. 13	vs. (3 E) No. 14 Oklahoma State Elite Eight	W 77–65[4]	28–7	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, NY
Apr 1, 2000* 8:17 pm, CBS	(5 E) No. 13	vs. (8 S) North Carolina Final Four	W 71–59[5]	29–7	RCA Dome  Indianapolis, IN
Apr 3, 2000* 9:00 pm, CBS	(5 E) No. 13	vs. (1 MW) No. 2 Michigan State National Championship	L 76–89	29–8	RCA Dome  Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Eastern.

Rankings

Main article: 1999–2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

NBA draft

Main article: 2000 NBA draft

Round	Overall	Player	NBA Club
1	5	Mike Miller	Orlando Magic
1	22	Donnell Harvey	New York Knicks

^[6]

References

1. "Gators Fail to Press On". The Washington Post. April 4, 2000. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
2. "1999-00 Men's Basketball Roster". University of Florida Athletics. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
3. "After Butler Loses Its Poise, A Wary Florida Advances". The New York Times. March 18, 2000. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
4. "Florida advances to second Final Four". ESPN. March 26, 2000. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
5. "North Carolina Falls To Florida's Waves". The New York Times. April 2, 2000. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
6. "2000 NBA Draft". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC.