Winner of nine of its last 11 games, Florida basketball’s stock has been quickly rising over the past month-and-a-half as the Gators have turned a sluggish start to Southeastern Conference play into a team that looks prepared for the SEC Tournament.
Todd Golden’s gang has not only been moving up as far as the conference tournament seeding is concerned, but also in the NCAA Tournament projections. Once upon a time, the Orange and Blue were a postseason afterthought but the team has hit another gear when it counted the most.
Following the win over Vanderbilt, USA TODAY Sports kept Florida up at a No. 6 seed, but this time moving from the Midwest Region to the East Region. There, the Gators are grouped with the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks, No. 11 Akron Zips and one of either the No. 11 Wake Forest Demon Deacons or Providence Friars in Omaha, Nebraska.
It is worth noting that Wake Forest beat Florida in Winston-Salem earlier this season, but that was a long time ago on the college basketball schedule.
The Southeastern Conference is represented by the No. 1 seed in the West Tennessee Volunteers, Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 3, South), Auburn Tigers (No. 5, South), Kentucky Wildcats (No. 5, Midwest), South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 6, Midwest) and Mississippi State Bulldogs (No. 8, East).
The Texas A&M Aggies are among the first four out of the tournament.
Florida hits the road to take on South Carolinas on Saturday, March 2, in the first of the final three games of the season. Tipoff is scheduled for noon ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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