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Gators basketball to play in San Diego tournament next season; Kansas in same field

On3 imageby:Keith Niebuhr11/21/24

On3Keith

Thomas-Haugh-Florida-Gators
Florida Gators forwards Alex Condon (21) and Thomas Haugh (10). (Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports)

The Florida Gators basketball team will head west next season for a strong tournament in California. The school and Sports San Diego officials announced Thursday that Florida will compete in the 2025 Rady Children’s Invitational on Nov. 27-28, 2025.

The field also includes Kansas, Wisconsin and Providence.

First-round games are on Thanksgiving Day; the championship and third-place games are the following day. The matchups will be announced at a later date. All games will air on FOX or FS1.

“Quite simply, this is an amazing field,” sMark Neville, CEO of Sports San Diego, said. “It was our goal to bring top college basketball teams to our event and these teams fit that mold. We can’t wait for next year.”

This year’s games in the event are being played at LionTree Arena on the campus of UC San Diego. New ticket purchasers can join the Sports Sand Diego ticket presale list by visiting www.RadyChildrensInvitational.com. Tickets will go on sale in spring of 2025. Per the release, $5 from every ticket sold will go to Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.

Kansas currently is the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25, Wisconsin is No. 19 and Florida is No. 21.

Here’s what the official release said about each of the four programs:

Kansas Jayhawks

The Jayhawks have won four NCAA championships along with six times finishing as runner-up. They have also played in 15 Final Fours and in 51 NCAA tournaments. In addition, Kansas has won 63 regular-season championships and 2,396 games.

Florida Gators

The Gators captured back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007. They’ve also played in five Final Fours, nine Elite Eight rounds and 22 NCAA tournaments.

Wisconsin Badgers

The Badgers have played in four Final Fours and have made 27 NCAA Tournament appearances along with capturing 20 regular season championships. Wisconsin has won 1,663 games

Providence Friars

The Friars have made two appearances in the Final Four in 1973 and 1987, and have made four trips to the Elite Eight, and 22 appearances in the NCAA tournament. Providence has won 1,424 games.

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