The Florida Gators occupy the 11-seed in the South Region, according to CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm’s first bracketology update of the season.
UF has missed the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons, including the 2022-23 campaign, which was the first under current head coach Todd Golden. A complete roster overhaul — courtesy of the transfer portal — has Florida looking like legitimate March Madness contenders, and Palm agrees.
Florida is matched up with Villanova in the initial bracket, but that’s likely to change several times over the next three months. Several opportunities to improve seeding will come for Florida once SEC play rolls around.
Looking at the rest of the conference: Tennessee and Auburn are the 2 and 8-seeds, respectively, in the East, Texas A&M and Alabama have the 4 and 8-seeds in the West, Ole Miss is the 7-seed in the Midwest and Kentucky joins Florida in the South as the 8-seed.
Florida’s upcoming opponent, Michigan, didn’t make Palm’s field of 68. A win might not do much for the Gators’ resume, but a loss could hurt badly come Selection Sunday.
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