The now-ranked Florida Gators have a major hurdle to get over on Wednesday. The Orange and Blue will travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to face the 13th-ranked Crimson Tide.
Using the College Basketball Power Index, ESPN predicts the winner and margin of every matchup in the country. According to Wednesday’s projections, Florida is an underdog. Alabama has an 86.4% chance to win with an expected 13.4-point margin of victory. The game also earned a matchup quality rating of 81.0, giving it the fifth-highest mark on a day filled with marquee matchups.
“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.”
The game will be of the Quadrant 1 variety for Florida, which enters the matchup ranked No. 28 in the NET, while Alabama is also playing a Quad 1 game ranked No. 5 coming in.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
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