Florida basketball continues its balancing act on the NCAA Tournament bubble heading into the final game of the regular season. Various members of the media have different takes, but they all at least agree that an invitation to the Big Dance is anything but a sure thing, while Tipico’s betting odds are currently bearish on the Gators’ chances.
Currently ranked No. 51 in the NET rankings, Florida only has two Quadrant 1 wins to its credit (against eight losses), while going 4-2 against Quadrant 2 teams, a perfect 6-0 against Quadrant 3 and a blemished 7-1 tally in Quadrant 4 affairs. That sore mark under Quad 4 was a loss to the Texas Southern Tigers, who beat the Gators in Gainesville by 15 points and represents a major red mark on the tournament résumé.
Eamonn Brennan of The Athletic weighed in with his take on where Florida currently stands. While neither optimistic nor pessimistic, he offers an honest assessment of the Gators’ current status while highlighting the importance of the Vanderbilt win.
Florida (19-11, 9-8; NET: 51, SOS: 49): If Florida ends up going to the NCAA Tournament and pulling off some sort of crazy First Four-to-Final Four remontada, Tuesday night’s win at Vanderbilt probably won’t get a whole lot of recognition in the eventual narrative, but it will be inarguably one of the more dramatically important results of Florida’s season. The Gators’ win probability was deeply in deficit, with Vanderbilt leading 78-73 with 44 seconds remaining, until the Gators scored the final nine points of the game en route to a quietly massive victory. Why “quietly massive?” Because Florida is at that stage of the bubble season where every win or loss could be a decider for tournament participation; the Gators are that close to the cut line that every single result counts. (Meanwhile, for what it’s worth, Vanderbilt is really improved this year — Scotty Pippen Jr. is a stud, and the program around him is uniformly better, too.) There is a much more obvious big game coming Saturday, when Kentucky comes to Gainesville, and you don’t need us to tell you what a win there could do for UF’s at-large chances. But the Vanderbilt comeback kept the season alive. It shouldn’t be overlooked.
That Kentucky game is scheduled to tip off at 2 p.m. EST in the O’Connell Center on Saturday. The SEC Tournament then gets started next Wednesday at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, continuing until a winner is crowned on Sunday. A strong showing for Florida would greatly help its NCAA Tournament hopes.
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