Florida basketball’s seed in ESPN’s early bracketology will surprise you
Florida basketball had a heck of a run during the 2023-24 campaign that unfortunately fell a bit short of the potential the team possessed. Nonetheless. the Gators made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the Todd Golden era while also making a deep push in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
While the Orange and Blue lost some key players to eligibility expiration — plus the inevitable loss of center Micah Handlogten for the foreseeable future — the national sports media has been fairly bullish on the upcoming edition of Golden’s gang. Having already snagged a solid replacement from the transfer portal, things are looking good in Gainesville.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi recently released his very early projections for next March’s Big Dance, with Florida earning a No. 6 seed in the South Region based in Atlanta, Georgia, with its opening game against either the No. 11 Clemson Tigers or Providence Friars in Cleveland, Ohio.
Looking at the rest of the SEC, the Alabama Crimson Tide are the No. 1 seed in the South, followed by the Auburn Tigers (No. 3, Midwest), Texas Longhorns (No. 4, East), Tennessee Volunteers (No. 5, West), Mississippi State Bulldogs (No. 8, East), Texas A&M Aggies (No. 9, Midwest), South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 10, East) and Missouri Tigers (No. 11, West).
South Carolina is one of the last four byes, while Missouri is one of the last four in. The LSU Tigers and Ole Miss Rebels are among the first four out while the Georgia Bulldogs are in the next four out.
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