Florida basketball won its Southeastern Conference Tournament opener on Thursday night, but it was not easy, as the pesky Georgia Bulldogs gave the Gator Nation a scare; alas, Todd Golden’s gang earned the 85-80 victory to advance to the next round, where the Alabama Crimson Tide awaits.
Using the Basketball Power Index, ESPN is giving the Crimson Tide a 73.9% win probability and a projection to come out victorious by 7.5 points over the Gators. The matchup quality earned an 85.0-point grade, putting it among the top 10 games played on Friday.
“BPI is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward,” the site reads. “BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is… Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day’s rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections.”
Florida is ranked No. 35 in the NET rankings, while Alabama is No. 8, which makes it a Quadrant 1 game for both teams.
Tipoff between the Gators and the Tide is slated for sometime around 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday night as it is the final game on the day’s roster.
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