Florida fans camping out, lining up outside multiple bars ahead of national championship

It’s been almost two decades since Florida’s back-to-back men’s college basketball championships in 2006 and 2007. The Gators have a shot to add a third title to their resume in the sport on Monday, and their fans are showing out.

While the game against Houston won’t tip-off until just before 9:00 p.m. ET, fans and students alike have been preparing to get rowdy since late Sunday evening. Check out the videos below, shared to social media by ESPN’s Jesse Simmons and Florida’s Barstool Sports affiliate. Florida fans have been camping out for hours for watch parties, bars and everything in between.

This is so college.

9 hours before the National Championship and students are already lined up outside multiple bars in Gainesville (some camped out last night)

The Gators are hungry for a Natty 🐊🏆 pic.twitter.com/0zxEV5HS3m

— Jesse Simmons (@ItsJesseSimmons) April 7, 2025

UF students camping out at The Swamp 24 hours before the National Championship. It just means more. pic.twitter.com/mm3T7L15LZ

— Barstool Florida (@UFBarstool) April 7, 2025

As Simmons alluded to, it doesn’t get more college than that, and the Gators are going to love every bit of it. Now, the question is whether or not they’ll make it all worth it for their supporters. The Cougars will be no easy task, but Florida hasn’t had a simple road to the national title game either. They’ve had to fight their way to the top, even as a No. 1-seed.

Entering the showdown, Florida opened as a 1.5-point favorite over Houston in the title game, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The over-under opened at 141.5. It’ll be strength-on-strength in the national championship though, as the Gators enter the game No. 2 in offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, while Houston has the most efficient defense in the nation.

More on Florida vs. Houston, National Championship Game

Moreover, Florida got the night started on Saturday in the Final Four with a come-from-behind victory over Auburn at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Gators trailed 46-38 at halftime before completely flipping the script out of the break, outscoring the Tigers 41-27 in the second half en route to the 79-73 victory to advance to the national championship.

Walter Clayton Jr. led the charge for Florida and had social media abuzz after his huge performance. He had a game-high 34 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including a 5-of-8 showing from three-point distance and some huge shots down the stretch for the Gators.

In the nightcap, Duke took on Houston in a strength-on-strength matchup. The Blue Devils entered the game as the top scoring team in the country while the Cougars were the No. 1 defense in the nation – marking the first time the top two teams in those respective categories faced each other.

Duke was able to gain control in the first half, but Houston didn’t go down easily out of halftime and got within four points heading into the final four minutes of the game. The Cougars didn’t back down, though, and eventually jumped out in front with 19 seconds left after putting together a huge run with multiple swings.

Ultimately, Houston was able to pull away from there and seal the victory after holding Duke scoreless for the final 3:03 of the game. It was quite the way to end the night of Final Four action and, as a result, set up the national championship game.

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.