After taking down Mississippi State over the weekend, Florida is back on the bubble of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update.
The Gators are in the Next Four Out, the latter half of the top eight teams in the country he believes will miss the NCAA Tournament. It’s not the first time Florida’s been in this spot this season, so no one is celebrating just yet.
Ahead of Florida in the First Four Out are Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, USC and West Virginia. The Sooners beat the Gators at the Jumpman Invitational, 62-53, and suffered an embarrassing 29-point loss to WVU in the final game of the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament. Overcoming those losses won’t be easy, but UF faces a top-5 team in Kansas State over the weekend.
First, the Gators have to take care of business against South Carolina on Wednesday, though. Losing to the No. 277-ranked team in the NCAA NET rankings would be a Quadrant 4 loss and a devastating blow to the team’s Tournament chances.
Lunardi has five teams making the Tournament in his predictions: Alabama and Tennessee are both No. 1 seeds in the Midwest and East, respectively; Auburn is the No. 6 seed in the East; Arkansas is the No. 8 seed in the South; Missouri is the No. 10 seed in the South; and Kentucky is on the bubble as well as part of the Last Four In.
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