The 2024 calendar year is about to come to a close and it has been a heck of a 365-day stretch for Florida basketball.
The Gators went on a tear in the second half of last season that took them to the Southeastern Conference Championship Game as well as the NCAA Tournament. Then this fall, Todd Golden’s team opened up the schedule with 13-straight wins for the program’s best start since the 2005-06 national championship campaign.
On New Year’s Eve, ESPN’s resident basketball expert Joe Lunardi released his latest college basketball bracketology, which continued its bullish outlook for the Orange and Blue.
Florida’s ESPN bracketology seed, region
Lunardi kept the Gators at the No. 2 seed in the West Region (San Francisco), where they are projected to play the No. 15 seeded Northern Colorado Bears in Cleveland, Ohio. The No. 7-seeded St. John’s Red Storm is also slated in the same city and is pitted against No. 10-seeded San Diego State Aztecs in the opening round.
SEC teams in ESPN’s bracketology
The SEC boasts the most teams in the bracketology update with 13 of its 16 member schools included. The top-seeded programs are the Auburn Tigers (No. 1, South) and the Tennessee Volunteers (No. 1, Midwest), followed by Florida (No. 2, West), the Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 2, East), Kentucky Wildcats (No. 3, West) and Texas A&M Aggies (No. 3 South).
The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the No. 4 seed in the South while the Oklahoma Sooners (No. 5, East), Ole Miss Rebels (No. 8, West), Georgia Bulldogs (No. 9, Midwest), Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 9, East) all earned main bracket seedings.
Texas Longhorns (No. 11, Midwest) are among the last four byes and the Vanderbilt Commodores (No. 11) are the last team in the bracket. Meanwhile, Auburn is listed as the top-seeded team overall while the Missouri Tigers are the first team out.
The LSU Tigers fell out of the bracketology this week after being mentioned among the next four out in the last update.
Next up for Florida
The Gators open up the SEC schedule against Kentucky on Saturday, Jan. 4, inside Rupp Arena. Tipoff is slated for 11 a.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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