Me’Arah O’Neal has pretty huge shoes to fill on the basketball court.
As you can probably guess from her surname, the 18-year-old is the youngest daughter of NBA great Shaquille O’Neal.
Standing at 7ft tall, Shaq played for six teams during his near two-decade long professional career, winning four championships and three Finals MVPs.
He also boasts a ridiculous net worth of $500million, thanks to his television and entrepreneurial work post-NBA.
No pressure then, Me’Arah.
The teenager, though, has already emerged from her father’s shadow to play college hoops and committed to the University of Florida in 2023.
She picked the Gators over a number of other teams, including her father’s alma mater, LSU.
“I went on the Florida visit, and I had a feeling that’s where I belonged, and that I was going to be most successful if I went to go play at Florida,” Me’Arah said when announcing her decision.
“I felt like I connected with Coach Kelly more than I connected with any of the other schools that recruited me. She really cares about me not just on the court but off the court. That’s important for me.”
O’Neal’s first season with the Gators has been a bit of a mixed bag.
The 6-foot-4 guard, who has started eight games, is averaging 4.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists in her freshman year, and her team have a record of 19-17.
But the Gators were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament by LSU earlier this month.
If they had won the competition, they would have been awarded an automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
A 101-87 defeat to the Tigers meant that O’Neal and her teammates missed out on their March Madness dream.
All is not lost, though, as Florida dropped into the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) instead.
The WBIT is comprised of 32 NCAA Division I women’s basketball teams not selected to participate in March Madness.
Florida have negotiated their way through the first three rounds of the competition, and beat Texas Tech 67-63 to reach the semi-final stage.
On Monday, the Gators have a chance to make the championship game with a win against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
There would be no better way for O’Neal and her teammates to bounce back from the disappointment of failing to make March Madness by winning the WBIT.
The tournament is only in its second season, and the inaugural event was won by Illinois last year.
A run to the semis is already a massive improvement for Florida compared to their showing 12 months ago, when they were knocked out in the first round by St. John’s.
“We have worked hard to get here, we have had some very, very close games,” coach Susie Gardner said ahead of the Final Four meeting with Minnesota.
“(The players) have been on fire in the last three games… here we are playing in almost April. This is great for our program.”
How to watch March Madness in the UK
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March Madness is one of the most exciting times of the year for basketball fans, with a total of 68 teams battling it out to become the Division 1 college champions.
This year UConn have the chance to become only the second team ever to complete a March Madness three-peat, having emerged victorious for the last two years.
talkSPORT will have the latest news on the tournament, but for UK basketball fans the way to watch is through Sky Sports. The broadcaster will be showing EVERY March Madness game through their Sky Sports + streaming service.
Click here to sign up to a Sky Sports subscription, or read our article on the best Sky Sports deals available now.
