sports
DESCRIPTION
13 NCAA tournament appearances, seven of 0 Number of national sports pundits who pre- ship pep rally April 7 in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center into the NCAA championship game, according to Nielsen ratings By Meredith Jean Morton (BSJ ’06) dicted the Gator men’s basketball team’s bracket- busting run at the start of the 65-team NCAA tournament in March which were with head coach Billy Donovan over the season Four pep rallies in Indianapolis SUMMER 2006 42 Jim Burgess (BEE ’63)TRANSCRIPT
WINTER 200442 UF TODAY 43 UF TODAY 43Jim
Bur
gess
(BEE
’63)
By the NumbersNational Championship Style
0 Number of national sports pundits who pre-dicted the Gator men’s basketball team’s bracket-busting run at the start of the 65-team NCAA tournament in March
12,294,000 Households that tuned into the NCAA championship game, according to Nielsen ratings
10,406 People at the post-champion-ship pep rally April 7 in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center
.744 Free-throw percentage for the team
195,331 Gator fans attending the games over the season
5,000+/- Gators who attended the Final Four pep rallies in Indianapolis
3 Times UF has competed in the Final Four
$70,000 Amount the UF Athletic Asso-ciation paid to purchase the NCAA championship floor, which will be sanded, repainted with Gator colors and installed in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center for next season
6,000 Gator fans at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center to watch the championship game broadcast on a large-screen television
13 NCAA tournament appearances, seven of which were with head coach Billy Donovan
Untallied Total number of records broken by the 2005-06 Gator men’s basketball team, in-cluding best start in school history, longest winning streak in school history, longest string of consecu-tive home victories and most blocked shots in NCAA championship game history
For the latest UF sports news, visit www.gatorzone.com.
SP
OR
TS
As th
e lo
ne u
pper
clas
sman
sta
rter
on
last
se
ason
’s N
atio
nal C
ham
pion
ship
bas
ketb
all
team
, it
wou
ld s
eem
Lee
Hum
phre
y m
ight
fe
el n
egle
cted
by
the
atte
ntio
n re
ceiv
ed b
y th
e 20
05-0
6 “f
ab fo
ur”
unde
rcla
ssm
en J
oaki
m N
oah,
Al H
orfo
rd,
Tau
rean
Gre
en a
nd C
orey
Bre
wer
.B
ut r
athe
r th
an q
uiet
ly s
tayi
ng o
ut o
f the
spo
tlig
ht,
Hum
phre
y, n
ow a
sen
ior,
care
fully
cho
oses
his
tim
es t
o sh
ine,
oft
en r
esul
ting
in g
ame-
win
ning
per
form
ance
s.
One
suc
h pe
rfor
man
ce w
as d
urin
g th
e G
ator
s’ N
CA
A T
ourn
amen
t se
mi-
final
gam
e in
Ind
iana
polis
, w
here
his
3-p
oint
sho
otin
g th
rust
UF
into
the
Na-
tion
al C
ham
pion
ship
gam
e. U
F’s
win
was
larg
ely
at-
trib
uted
to
Hum
phre
y, e
arni
ng h
im p
laye
r of
the
gam
e ac
cola
des.
Ove
rall,
he
mad
e te
n 3-
poin
t ba
sket
s in
the
fin
al t
wo
tour
nam
ent
gam
es, t
ying
him
at
seco
nd a
ll-ti
me
for
3-po
int
accu
racy
in t
he F
inal
Fou
r.“R
epet
itio
n is
the
big
gest
thi
ng, b
ut I
had
goo
d in
stru
ctio
n,”
Hum
phre
y sa
ys o
f his
long
-ran
ge s
hoot
-in
g sk
ills.
“A
lot
of it
is a
God
-giv
en g
ift,
but
you
hav
e to
tra
in a
s w
ell.”
Hum
phre
y ha
s be
en t
rain
ing
sinc
e he
mad
e hi
s fir
st
buck
et a
t ag
e 5
from
beh
ind
the
back
boar
d.“M
y da
d is
a m
iddl
e sc
hool
bas
ketb
all c
oach
, so
I w
as a
lway
s ar
ound
the
gym
,” s
ays
the
Mar
yvill
e,
Tenn
., na
tive
. “H
e an
d I
used
to
shoo
t ev
ery
nigh
t;
thos
e ar
e so
me
of m
y be
st c
hild
hood
mem
orie
s.”
Hum
phre
y’s
pare
nts,
Ton
y an
d M
ache
ala,
who
bot
h w
ork
for
the
Tenn
esse
e sc
hool
sys
tem
, pro
vide
d th
e fo
unda
tion
for
his
bask
etba
ll, e
duca
tion
and
cha
ract
er,
says
UF
head
coa
ch B
illy
Don
ovan
.“H
e is
as
hum
ble
an a
thle
te a
s I’v
e ev
er b
een
arou
nd, a
nd I
thi
nk a
lot
of t
hat
goes
bac
k to
his
up-
brin
ging
,” s
ays
Don
ovan
. “H
e is
a c
lass
indi
vidu
al, a
nd
he w
ill b
e su
cces
sful
in a
ll w
alks
of l
ife.
”
Des
pite
his
suc
cess
as
a G
ator
, Hum
phre
y sa
ys h
e gr
ew u
p a
Uni
vers
ity
of T
enne
ssee
fan.
“Ten
ness
ee n
ever
rea
lly r
ecru
ited
me,
so
I di
dn’t
have
the
cho
ice
of g
oing
the
re. I
love
the
Uni
vers
ity
of
Flor
ida
— it
’s be
en a
gre
at fi
t fo
r m
e ba
sket
ball-
wis
e.”
UF
has
also
pro
vide
d an
aca
dem
ic fi
t fo
r th
e ap
-pl
ied
phys
iolo
gy a
nd k
ines
iolo
gy m
ajor
. Las
t se
ason
, H
umph
rey
was
nam
ed t
o th
e A
cade
mic
All-
Am
eric
an
Seco
nd T
eam
and
was
aw
arde
d th
e So
uthe
aste
rn C
on-
fere
nce
Men
’s B
aske
tbal
l Sch
olar
Ath
lete
of t
he Y
ear.
Whi
le H
umph
rey
is n
ot c
erta
in o
f pos
t-gr
adua
tion
pl
ans,
he
says
he
wou
ld li
ke a
cha
nce
to p
lay
prof
es-
sion
al b
aske
tbal
l or
coac
h, e
choi
ng h
is r
ole
mod
el
— h
is d
ad.
For
the
pres
ent,
Hum
phre
y w
ill fo
cus
on c
urre
nt
goal
s —
to
be a
lead
er o
n a
team
str
ivin
g to
rep
eat
the
succ
ess
of t
he 2
005-
06 s
easo
n. H
is r
ole
as a
lead
er is
be
st s
umm
ariz
ed b
y hi
s fo
rmer
tea
mm
ate
and
lone
20
05-0
6 se
nior
, Adr
ian
Mos
s.“L
ee is
a t
rue
team
mat
e, n
o be
tter
way
to
put
it,”
M
oss
says
. “H
e w
orks
rea
lly h
ard
in t
he g
ym; h
e w
orks
re
ally
har
d in
the
cla
ssro
om a
nd s
how
s th
e yo
unge
r gu
ys h
ow im
port
ant
it is
. And
did
I m
enti
on h
e sh
oots
th
e lig
hts
out
of a
gym
?”
By M
ered
ith Je
an M
orto
n (B
SJ ’0
6)
Long
S
hot
SUMMER 200642