The college basketball season is still several months away from tipping off the 2021-22 season, but ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi doesn’t take a break from his projections during the offseason. He released his updated bracketology Tuesday, and it doesn’t feature much change for Florida.
The Gators remain a projected No. 9 seed, now slotted to take on eight-seeded Xavier in the first round. UF finds itself in the South Region, and would potentially face No. 1 seed Kansas in the second round.
Also in the South Region are Alabama, a projected No. 4 seed, and Mississippi State, who draws a play-in game against Rutgers for the No. 11 seed and is the Last Team In. Other SEC teams in Lunardi’s projected field are No. 3 Kentucky, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 Auburn and No. 8 LSU.
The Gators entered the last two seasons with considerable hype surrounding them, but it seems Lunardi is taking a more measured approach this time around. Florida lost seven players this offseason between the transfer portal and the draft, and though it reloaded with talent, it’s a patchwork roster of transfers that have never played together before.
This team is incredibly difficult to predict this season, but Lunardi seems to think it will be on the tournament fringe once again, which would undoubtedly be a disappointing outcome for coach Mike White in his seventh season.
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