Looking At Florida, Houston’s Final Four, Logo History

A rather predictable NCAA Tournament will come to a close on Monday night when the Florida Gators and Houston Cougars meet in the Alamodome in San Antonio (8:50 p.m. ET on CBS), marking the 11th time that two No. 1 seeds will play for the national championship.

The Gators are looking to capture their third national title in six Final Four appearances. It’ll be their fourth championship game appearance, as well, as they fell to Michigan State in 2000 before beating UCLA and Ohio State, respectively, in 2006 and 2007.

The Cougars, on the other hand, are hoping to cut down the nets for the first time following an improbable win over Duke in the national semifinal. They have made seven appearances in the Final Four, the most of any team without a championship.

Houston previously advanced to the title game in 1983 and 1984, as the Cougars fell to N.C. State and Georgetown, respectively. The last time Florida made it this far, meanwhile, the Gators became the first school to win a national title in football and basketball in the same calendar year.

Note that the NCAA used its own logo for the tournament until the 1978-79 season, when it began introducing a new design each year. The design often pulls inspiration from the location of the event, just like this year’s logo notably features the facade of the Alamo and a Fiesta-themed colour palette, reminiscent of the 1989-2002 San Antonio Spurs, who played their home games at the Alamodome.

With that said, we’ve decided to take a look at the logo history for both schools ahead of tonight’s matchup. One thing we couldn’t help but notice was that neither school was satisfied with the first attempt at their current logo, as Florida adjusted the colors of the “Gator Head” and Houston removed the beveling from the interlocking “UH.”

Check back for an update on what each team will be wearing tonight, though it’s expected that the Cougars will be in their white home uniforms as they were viewed by the selection committee as the tournament’s No. 3 overall seed, while the Gators will likely be in their blue road set as the No. 4 overall seed.