# 2007–08 Florida Gators men's basketball team

The 2007–08 Florida Gators men's basketball team represented the University of Florida in the sport of basketball during the 2007–08 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.
The Gators were looking to rebuild after their 2006–07 season, when they won their second consecutive NCAA national championship. However, none of the starters returned from their 2006–07 season.

## Class of 2007

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Adam Allen SG | Milton, Florida | Milton HS | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Jun 5, 2006 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 78 ||||||
| Nick Calathes PG | Winter Park, Florida | Lake Howell HS | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Apr 28, 2005 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Jai Lucas PG | Bellaire, Texas | Bellaire HS | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | 145 lb (66 kg) | May 14, 2007 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Chandler Parsons SF | Winter Park, Florida | Lake Howell HS | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Aug 26, 2006 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 96 ||||||
| Alex Tyus PF | Cincinnati, Ohio | Harmony Christian HS | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Jul 11, 2006 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 91 ||||||
| Overall Recruiting Rankings: Scout – 3 Rivals – 1 ESPN – ||||||

## Roster

| Name | Number | Position | Height | Weight | Class | Hometown |
| Adam Allen | 14 | F | 6–8 | 206 | Freshman | Milton, Florida |
| Nick Calathes | 33 | G/F | 6–6 | 185 | Freshman | Winter Park, Florida |
| Hudson Fricke | 40 | G | 6–1 | 185 | Freshman | Greenville, South Carolina |
| Walter Hodge | 15 | G | 6–0 | 170 | Junior | Guaynabo, Puerto Rico |
| Jai Lucas | 5 | G | 5–11 | 150 | Freshman | Houston, Texas |
| Jonathan Mitchell | 0 | F | 6–7 | 243 | Sophomore | Mt. Vernon, New York |
| Chandler Parsons | 25 | F | 6–9 | 200 | Freshman | Winter Park, Florida |
| Shane Payne | 4 | G/F | 6–5 | 180 | Freshman | Weston, Florida |
| Marreese Speights | 34 | F/C | 6–10 | 250 | Sophomore | St. Petersburg, Florida |
| Alex Tyus | 23 | F | 6–8 | 203 | Freshman | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Michael Weisenberg | 22 | F | 6–7 | 190 | Junior | Long Beach, New York |
| Dan Werner | 21 | F | 6–7 | 235 | Sophomore | Middletown, New Jersey |

### Coaches

| Name | Type | College | Graduating year |
| Billy Donovan | Head coach | Providence College | 1987 |
| Larry Shyatt | Associate head coach | College of Wooster | 1973 |
| Lewis Preston | Assistant coach | Virginia Military Institute | 1993 |
| Rob Lanier | Assistant coach | St. Bonaventure University | 1990 |
| Darren Hertz | Assistant to the head coach | University of Florida | 1997 |
| Adam Beaupre | Video coordinator | University of Florida | 1999 |
| Matt Herring | Strength & Conditioning Coordinator | University of Texas Southwestern | 1994 |
| Dave Werner | Athletic trainer | Eastern Kentucky University | |
| Tom Williams | Academic Counselor | | |

## 2007–2008 schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 1, 2007* 8:00 pm | | Flagler | W 97–51 | | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| November 5, 2007* 7:00 pm | | Lynn | W 101–65 | | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| Regular season (Non-conference play) ||||||
| November 9, 2007* 8:00 pm, FSN | | North Dakota State | W 75–65 | 1–0 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| November 11, 2007* 3:00 pm, SUN | | Tennessee Tech | W 93–65 | 2–0 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| November 14, 2007* 7:00 pm, FSN | | North Carolina Central | W 105–51 | 3–0 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| November 17, 2007* 7:00 pm, FSN | | Rutgers | W 88–63 | 4–0 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| November 20, 2007* 8:00 pm, SUN | No. 24 | North Florida | W 102–51 | 5–0 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| November 23, 2007* 8:00 pm, FSN | No. 24 | Florida State | L 51–65 | 5–1 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| November 27, 2007* 7:00 pm, FSN | | Stetson | W 71–48 | 6–1 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| November 30, 2007* 7:30 pm, FSN | | vs. Vermont | W 86–61 | 7–1 | St. Pete Times Forum St. Petersburg, FL |
| December 3, 2007* 7:00 pm, FSN | | Jacksonville | W 88–72 | 8–1 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| December 5, 2007* 7:00 pm, SUN | | Florida A&M | W 91–52 | 9–1 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| December 15, 2007* 3:00 pm, SUN | | vs. Georgia Southern | W 52–49 | 10–1 | Veterans Memorial Arena Jacksonville, FL |
| December 19, 2007* 7:00 pm, FSN | | Charleston Southern | W 89–64 | 11–1 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| December 22, 2007* 4:00 pm, CBS | | at Ohio State | L 49–62 | 11–2 | Jerome Schottenstein Center Columbus, OH |
| December 29, 2007* 6:30 pm, FSN | | vs. Temple | W 86–69 | 12–2 | BankAtlantic Center Sunrise, FL |
| January 2, 2008* 8:00 pm, FSN | | High Point | W 88–70 | 13–2 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| Regular season (SEC conference play) ||||||
| January 8, 2008 9:00 pm, ESPN | | at Alabama | W 90–83 | 14–2 (1–0) | Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, AL |
| January 12, 2008 12:00 pm, Raycom | | Auburn | W 72–56 | 15–2 (2–0) | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| January 16, 2008 8:00 pm, Raycom | | at No. 15 Ole Miss | L 87–89 | 15–3 (2–1) | Tad Smith Coliseum Oxford, MS |
| January 19, 2008 9:00 pm, ESPN | | Kentucky ESPN College GameDay | W 81–70 $^{OT}$ | 16–3 (3–1) | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| January 23, 2008 8:00 pm, Raycom | | at South Carolina | W 73–71 | 17–3 (4–1) | Colonial Center Columbia, SC |
| January 27, 2008 1:00 pm, Raycom | | No. 13 Vanderbilt | W 86–64 | 18–3 (5–1) | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| February 2, 2008 3:00 pm, Raycom | No. 19 | at Arkansas | L 61–80 | 18–4 (5–2) | Bud Walton Arena Fayetteville, AR |
| February 5, 2008 9:00 pm, ESPN | No. 22 | at No. 7 Tennessee | L 82–104 | 18–5 (5–3) | Thompson-Boling Arena Knoxville, TN |
| February 9, 2008 3:00 pm, Raycom | No. 22 | Georgia | W 77–67 | 19–5 (6–3) | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| February 13, 2008 8:00 pm, Raycom | | LSU | L 73–85 | 19–6 (6–4) | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| February 16, 2008 3:00 pm, Raycom | | at No. 19 Vanderbilt | L 58–61 | 19–7 (6–5) | Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, TN |
| February 20, 2008 8:00 pm, Raycom | | South Carolina | W 85–82 | 20–7 (7–5) | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| February 27, 2008 7:30 pm, SUN | | at Georgia | W 77–64 | 21–7 (8–5) | Stegeman Coliseum Athens, GA |
| March 1, 2008 4:00 pm, CBS | | Mississippi State | L 59–68 | 21–8 (8–6) | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| March 5, 2008 9:00 pm, Raycom | | No. 4 Tennessee | L 86–89 | 21–9 (8–7) | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| March 9, 2008 12:00 pm, CBS | | at Kentucky | L 70–75 | 21–10 (8–8) | Rupp Arena Lexington, KY |
| SEC tournament ||||||
| March 13, 2008 7:30 pm, Raycom | | vs. Alabama SEC tournament first round | L 69–80 | 21–11 | Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA |
| National Invitation Tournament ||||||
| March 19, 2008 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 2 | No. 7 San Diego St NIT First Round | W 73–49 | 22–11 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| March 21, 2008 9:30 pm, ESPNU | No. 2 | No. 3 Creighton NIT Second Round | W 82–54 | 23–11 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| March 25, 2008 9:00 pm, ESPN | No. 2 | at No. 1 Arizona State NIT Quarterfinal | W 70–57 | 24–11 | Wells Fargo Arena Tempe, AZ |
| April 1, 2008 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 2 | vs. No. 2 Massachusetts NIT Semifinal | L 66–78 | 24–12 | Madison Square Garden New York City, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from Coaches' Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||