In or out? This is what ESPN thinks about Florida’s NCAA tournament hopes

ESPN published an updated NCAA Tournament Bubble Watch on Wednesday, with the Gators listed as a “Should Be In” team among their SEC peers.

It has been a rough week for the Florida Gators men’s basketball team after their gut-punch home loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks last Wednesday coupled with their second COVID-19 outbreak of the season, forcing the postponement of road matches with the LSU Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers.

Unsurprisingly, UF has fallen out of the top 25 in both the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll and the AP Poll, though they remain fairly buoyant in a few bracket projections, including ESPN’s latest entry as well as Sports Illustrated’s and USA TODAY Sports’. Florida has also tumbled in the NET ratings but somehow has managed to bounce back a smidgen to No. 27 since our last update.

ESPN insider John Gasaway published his updated NCAA Tournament Bubble Watch on Wednesday, with the Gators listed as a “Should Be In” team among their Southeastern Conference peers. Here is what Gasaway had to say about UF’s outlook.

As a team that has played the balance of the season without its SEC preseason player of the year, Florida will likely take the No. 7 seed the mock brackets are writing in next to its name and be thankful. Keyontae Johnson is in good condition after collapsing against Florida State in December, and Mike White’s group has notched important wins at home against Tennessee and on the road at West Virginia in compiling a 10-5 record. Even without Johnson, the Gators rank alongside Alabama and Arkansas as one of the better shooting teams in SEC play.

Among fellow SEC schools, only Alabama are listed as a lock, with Missouri and Tennessee on the same tier as the Gators. Arkansas and LSU were mentioned as teams with work to do to wrap up the summary.

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