The eighth-ranked Florida basketball team boarded another chartered jet Friday for its game this weekend at Mississippi State. For the Gators, this is the 11th time they've taken to the road this season -- seven times by air, four by bus -- which is is easily the most in the Southeastern Conference. UF hasn't logged the most miles in the league, but the Gators didn't bite a big chunk of miles with one long haul to Maui either, like MSU and Ole Miss did. Florida has jetted to Tucson, Ariz., Kansas City, Mo., New Haven, Conn., and with this trip to Starkville will be the only SEC team to play four of its first six league games on the road (at LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia and Mississippi State). Don't forget those in-state bus rides to Mayport, Tampa, Tallahassee and Sunrise, also. They count.
By season's end (with visits to Arkansas, Auburn, Missouri, Tennessee and Nashville to come, the Gators will fly more than 23,000 miles. That's about the equivalent of flying from Gainesville to Texas -- heading east. The long way. And that, of course, doesn't include the NCAA Tournament.
Here's how Florida's travel stacks up against the rest of the SEC, with miles projected through games scheduled for Saturday.
Mileage source: DistanceBetweenCities.com (data assumes road trips of 220 miles or less are driven)
SCHOOL TRIPS AIR MILES ROAD MILES TOTAL
Mississippi State 7 14,230 468 14,698
Florida *11 11,518 2,740 14,258
LSU 6 11,268 0 11,268
Ole Miss 4 9,600 462 10,062
South Carolina 5 8,306 0 8,306
Missouri 5 7,974 250 8,224
Vanderbilt 6 7,924 0 7,924
Alabama 6 7,162 170 7,332
Arkansas 6 6,630 380 7,010
Tennessee 6 6,302 340 6.642
Auburn 6 6,186 0 6,186
Georgia 5 5,630 140 5,770
Texas A&M 6 5,274 194 5,468
Kentucky 7 3,824 502 4,326
Worth noting
*Includes season-opening trip to Naval Station Mayport to face Georgetown on USS Bataan. The game was cancelled at halftime, but the travel was not.
-- Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State took 8,000-mile trips to Hawaii for tournaments. MSU also went to Providence and Loyola-Chicago
-- South Carolina played in a tournament at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
-- LSU played at Boise State, Cal-Irvine and Marquette.
-- Tennessee played in a tournament at Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
