[bigboydan]

Florida will be making its third appearance in the Final Four and second during Billy Donovan’s 10-year tenure. The Gators lost to Michigan State in the finals of the 2000 NCAA Tournament after beating North Carolina in the semifinals. They lost to Duke in the semis of the ’94 Tournament in Charlotte.



--Since an 82-77 loss at Alabama back on Feb. 26, UF has won nine in a row with six of those victories coming by double-digit margins. The Gators are perfect against the spread during the Tournament, 6-2-1 ATS over their last nine games.



--Florida and George Mason played a pair of common foes, Wake Forest and Mississippi State. The Gators beat the Bulldogs 75-60 in Gainesville, failing to cover the number as 18-point favorites. The Patriots lost 63-61 as 3 ½-point favorites in Starkville on Dec. 30. George Mason lost 83-78 in overtime at Wake Forest on Nov. 11, but the Patriots took the money as 10-point underdogs. Florida beat Wake 77-72 at Madison Square Garden in the semifinals of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.



--The ‘under’ is 15-6-1 in UF’s last 22 games with a total. The Gators are allowing just 56.3 points per game during the first four games of the Tournament.

--LSU is back in the Final Four for the first time since 1986 when it made the semifinals by virtue of a 59-57 win over Kentucky in an Elite Eight matchup at the old Omni in Atlanta. That team was led by the play of Ricky Blanton, Anthony Wilson and the late Don Redden.

--Although Dale Brown led the '86 Tigers to the Final Four, he couldn't lead a 1990 LSU squad to the Sweet 16 with future NBA players like Chris Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal and Stanley Roberts. That team was ousted by Georgia Tech in a second round game in Knoxville when Kenny Anderson and Dennis Scott paced the Yellow Jackets to victory. That same G-Tech squad ended the career of Steve Smith when Anderson's buzzer beater in the Crescent City knocked off Michigan State. The Yellow Jackets gave UNLV its best game in the '90 Final Four in Denver, leading the Runnin' Rebels by seven at intermission before eventually falling to Larry Jackson, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt and Co.

--LSU has made it this far despite the absence of Tack Minor, who tore his ACL in a Dec. 22 loss to Cincinnati, and Brandon Bass, who went pro after his sophomore year when he was the 2005 SEC Player of the Year.

--UCLA has won 11 national titles with the last coming in 1995 when it beat Arkansas in the finals. Jim Harrick's team needed a coast-to-coast lay-up from Tyus Edney to beat the horn in a second-round win over Missouri. Then the Bruins had to play without Edney (ankle) in the finals, but they got stellar play from reserve point guard Cameron Dollar in the victory against the Razorbacks.

--George Mason is the first double-digit seed to advance to the Final Four since......the 1986 LSU Tigers.