Florida slips a seed in ESPN’s bracketology ahead of SEC play

Here are the latest bracket predictions from Joe Lunardi ahead of the Kentucky game on Saturday.

Todd Golden and the Florida men’s basketball team are getting ready to open up its 2024 Southeastern Conference schedule after wrapping up a perfect month of December to give the team a six-game winning streak.

However, despite the recent success — albeit it, against mostly inferior competition — the Orange and Blue have not seen much improvement in their bracketology seedings, including ESPN writer Joe Lunardi’s. In his latest update, the Gators fell from a No. 10 to No. 11 seed while remaining among the last four byes.

Florida is now in the South bracket based in Dallas, Texas, with an opening matchup with the No. 6 Villanova Wildcats in Charlotte, North Carolina. The other game in the immediate bracket takes place between the No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels and No. 14 High Point Panthers (via automatic qualification).

In his previos update, Lunardi had the Gators a No. 10 seed in the West (Los Angeles) bracketed with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Marquette Golden Eagles and Weber State Wildcats in Indianapolis, Indiana

Other Southeastern Conference schools included in the mix this week are the Tennessee Volunteers (No. 2), Kentucky Wildcats (No. 2), Auburn Tigers (No. 5), Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 6), Texas A&M Aggies (No. 7), Ole Miss Rebels (No. 8) and South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 11). The ‘Cocks are also among the first four byes.

Florida opens up its SEC schedule on Saturday against Kentucky inside the O’Connell Center on Jan. 6. Tipoff is scheduled for an early 12:30 p.m. ET start and the game can be watched on ESPN.

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