The NCAA Tournament field is set and the Florida Gators are the No. 7 seed in the South Region, but how does the Orange and Blue stack up against the rest of the competition?
The fine folks at CBS Sports asked that question for all 68 teams after taking a gander at the bracket, and the result is another re-rank featuring this year’s NCAA Tournament field.
Basic math says that Florida should fall in the 25-28 range as a No. 7 seed, but the Gators check in at No. 23 on this list. That might not surprise many after the Gators claimed the same spot in the most recent USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, but there are extenuating circumstances to consider.
“The Gators have been one of the hotter teams of the past month, but they’re also entering the tournament down a big man,” the excerpt reads. “Micah Handlogten suffered a broken leg in the SEC title game, which lowers UF’s ceiling, of course.
“Todd Golden’s bunch can get buckets in a variety of ways and through a lot of guys, but to me, it’s Walter Clayton Jr. who will dictate this team’s chances at making the second weekend. The never-satisfied guard has a tough competitive streak. His addition this season altered Florida’s trajectory.”
The loss of Micah Handlogten isn’t great, but the Gators do have SEC All-Freshman forward Alex Condon to step into his role. Fellow freshman Thomas Haugh will step up as a bigger piece in the rotation, too, but there’s no reason to expect Florida to lack a competitive drive without Handlogten.
The full re-rank can be found here.
Florida begins tournament play against either Boise State or Colorado on Friday, March 22 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The game will broadcast on TBS.
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