The 2008–09 Florida Gators men's basketball team represented the University of Florida in the sport of basketball during the 2008–09 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 build on their 24–12 record from the 2007–08 season.
Preseason Entering the season, the Gators had to overcome the loss of Marreese Speights, who left for the 2008 NBA draft after his sophomore season with the Gators. (Speights was selected in the draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.) To replace him, the Gators added six freshmen to the team. The Gators won their two preseason games against Rollins and Warner.
Class of 2008 Florida Class of 2008 – RivalsFlorida Class of 2008 – Scout
| colspan="7" style="padding-left:10px;" | Overall Recruiting Rankings: Scout – 9 Rivals – 10 ESPN – 2
Roster Name Number Position Height Weight Class Hometown Adam Allen 14 F 6–8 225 Sophomore Milton, Florida Nick Calathes 33 G/F 6–6 194 Sophomore Winter Park, Florida Allan Chaney 24 F 6–8 231 Freshman Baltimore, Maryland Hudson Fricke 40 G 6–1 193 Sophomore Greenville, South Carolina Walter Hodge 15 G 6–0 170 Senior Guaynabo, Puerto Rico Kenny Kadji 30 F/C 6–10 235 Freshmen Douala, Cameroon Vernon Macklin 32 F 6–10 230 Junior Portsmouth, Virginia Kyle McClanahan 4 G 6–1 185 Freshman Maitland, Florida Chandler Parsons 25 F 6–9 213 Sophomore Winter Park, Florida Ray Shipman 3 G/F 6–5 212 Freshman Miramar, Florida Alex Tyus 23 F 6–8 220 Sophomore St. Louis, Missouri Eloy Vargas 1 F/C 6–10 215 Freshman Moca, Dominican Republic Erving Walker 11 G 5–8 161 Freshman Brooklyn, New York Dan Werner 21 F 6–7 230 Junior 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 Shaka Smart Assistant coach Kenyon College 1999 Rob Lanier Assistant coach St. Bonaventure University 1990 Darren Hertz Assistant to the Head Coach Florida 1997 Adam Beaupre Video Coordinator Florida 1999 Matt Herring Strength & Conditioning Coordinator University of Texas Southwestern 1994 Dave Werner Athletic Trainer Eastern Kentucky University 1991 Tom Williams Academic Counselor Florida 1978
After the season, assistant coach Shaka Smart left to become head coach of the VCU Rams.
Schedule and results Retrieved from Gatorzone.com
!colspan=12 style=|Exhibition games
!colspan=12 style=|Regular Season
!colspan=12 style=|SEC Tournament
!colspan=12 style=|National Invitation Tournament
Rankings + Ranking movementLegend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. Poll Pre Wk 1 Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Wk 10 Wk 11 Wk 12 Wk 13 Wk 14 Wk 15 Wk 16 Wk 17 Wk 18 Wk 19 Final AP 19 19 18 17 23 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR 23 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Coaches 21 21 19 19 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
References