The NCAA Tournament is quickly approaching with just a little over three weeks away and Florida basketball has been making a very strong case for its invite to the Big Dance.
While the Gators blew a chance to upset the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday night, they still have won seven of their last nine games — all in Southeastern Conference play. The recent stretch of success has quickly turned around a season that appeared to be in peril halfway through January.
The Orange and Blue is now a No. 8 seed in CBS Sports’ latest bracketology and back in the South Region, paired up with the No. 9 Nevada Wolf Pack for an opening-round battle in Memphis, Tennessee. The top-seeded Houston Cougars along with the No. 16 Quinnipiac Bobcats — who Florida beat at home earlier this season — also join them in that sub-bracket.
Florida had been seeded No. 7 in the Midwest Region in the previous update, paired up with the No. 10 Northwestern Wildcats for an opening-round battle in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Prior to that, the Gators had been seeded No. 8 seed facing the No. 9 St. Mary’s Gaels — Golden’s college alma mater — set for an opening-round South Region battle in Memphis.
Looking around the Southeastern Conference, the latest bracketology update includes the Tennessee Volunteers (No. 2), Alabama (No. 3), Auburn Tigers (No. 4), South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 6), Kentucky Wildcats (No. 7), Mississippi State Bulldogs (No. 10) and Ole Miss Rebels (No. 11). Ole Miss is also among the “last four in” while the Texas A&M Aggies are one of the first four out.
The Gators return home on Saturday, Feb. 24, to host the Vanderbilt Commodores inside the O’Connell Center. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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