ORLANDO, Fla. — There have been years when March arrives in Florida and barely makes a ripple.

Thankfully, not this year.

This year, the Sunshine State has four teams dancing — Florida, Miami, UCF and USF — with a fifth, Florida State, surging so hard down the stretch it felt like the Seminoles belonged in the bracket, too. Not that basketball in our state hasn’t had some great moments in recent memory. The Gators, after all, won the national title last year and Miami and FAU were BOTH in the Final Four just three seasons ago.

But this year, our hoops success just seems more significant, satisfying and special. It feels more joyful. Because if the last few months have taught us anything, it’s this:

Nothing is guaranteed in college sports anymore; especially not in Florida.

For decades, this has been a football-first state, where Saturdays in the fall define our culture. From Gainesville to Tallahassee to Orlando to Miami, everything revolves around football. And, for the longest time, that investment paid off in relevance, bowl games and national conversation.

But not last year.

Florida stumbled so badly that the Gators fired coach Billy Napier. Florida State stumbled so badly that the Seminoles would have fired coach Mike Norvell if they could afford to pay his buyout. And UCF, despite the return of coach Scott Frost, is still trying to find its footing in the Power 4 and has the look of a program caught between levels.

Thank goodness for Miami football, which had been adrift in obscurity for nearly a quarter-century, but finally found its way back to national relevance when it played Indiana for the national championship.

But for the three programs Central Florida fans care most about — Florida, Florida State and UCF — bowl season came and went without any of them participating.

That’s almost unthinkable in a state like this.

And, yet, at the same time football was sputtering, something else was building.

Quietly at first. Then unmistakably.

Basketball.

This is where perspective matters. What’s happening right now would have been unimaginable not that long ago.

There was a time within my living memory when college basketball in Florida barely existed in the public consciousness. It wasn’t just ignored; it was dismissed. Programs struggled for attention and even basic respect.

Miami dropped basketball altogether for 14 years from 1971 to 1985. Not scaled it back — but shut it down completely. That tells you everything you need to know about where the sport stood.

At Florida, former coach Norm Sloan once delivered a line that still echoes today when describing how little sports writers cared about covering college basketball in the SEC and in the state of Florida. When asked what it would take for the sport to get media attention, Sloan said, “A few timely funerals.”

It was dark humor, but it wasn’t really a joke.

That was the reality.

Then everything changed.

Billy Donovan didn’t just build a winner at Florida; he rewired expectations with NCAA Tournaments nearly every year, Final Fours, back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. Billy D didn’t just elevate the Gators; he legitimized college basketball across the entire state. Suddenly, Florida wasn’t just producing players; it was producing contenders.

Now, nearly two decades later, Todd Golden has taken that torch and sprinted with it. Winning a national title last season and returning with a No. 1 seed, Florida is on the brink of something rare — the chance to become just the fourth program in the last 50 years to win back-to-back championships.

But what makes this March even more special isn’t just Florida.

It’s everybody.

UCF’s rise under Johnny Dawkins is one of the most important stories in the state. Transitioning into the Big 12 — arguably the toughest basketball conference in the country — could have buried the program. Instead, Dawkins, with a limited NIL budget, built a whole new team from the transfer portal; a team that belongs, competes and earned its place in the tournament.

Miami, under first-year coach Jai Lucas, has found new life as well. The program had badly deteriorated in the final seasons under former coach Jim Larrañaga, with Lucas inheriting a 7-24 team that finished last in the ACC. In his first year, he miraculously transformed a 24-loss team into a 25-win contender.

Then there’s USF, where this season has carried a weight far beyond wins and losses. After the sudden and heartbreaking death of former head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim in October 2024, the program could have unraveled. Instead, under Bryan Hodgson, it has rallied and honored its past while fighting for its present. And, now, the Bulls are dancing.

That’s not just a basketball story. It’s a human story.

And then there’s Florida State, which didn’t make the tournament under first-year coach Luke Loucks, but the Seminoles still deserve kudos. They won 10 of their last 13 games and lost by a point to No. 1-ranked Duke in the ACC Tournament. If FSU had somehow pulled out a victory against the Blue Devils, the Seminoles would be dancing, too.

Five programs. Four bids. One near miss.

In a football state.

And that’s the point.

While football will always dominate the headlines in Florida, it also demands near perfection. It requires massive rosters, relentless recruiting and survival in a landscape mostly dominated by a handful of national superpowers. When things go wrong, they tend to go wrong big.

Basketball is different.

Basketball allows for moments like this. It allows multiple programs to rise at once. It allows fan bases to dream simultaneously instead of cannibalizing each other’s success.

And, most importantly, it allows joy.

That’s what this March should be about.

Not expectations (unless you’re the Gators). Not pressure. Not debates about who can go the furthest or which program matters most.

Just joy.

So watch the games. Fill out the brackets. Argue with your friends. Lose your voice for a team you might not even usually follow.

From Pahokee to Panama City, from South Beach to the Redneck Riviera, the entire state is part of the same story.

After a fall that left so many fan bases frustrated, this is a spring worth celebrating.

The NCAA Tournament has turned our pigskin peninsula into a roundball republic.

Hallelujah, it has turned November sadness into March gladness across the Sunshine State!

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