After witnessing Florida’s loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday, experts at ESPN are losing confidence that the Gators men’s basketball team will be able to make the NCAA Tournament.
After knocking off then-No. 2 Tennessee on the first day of February, Florida has fallen to Kentucky, No. 3 Alabama and Vanderbilt, in that order. The Kentucky loss was close at times, but the Alabama one wasn’t. Even though Vanderbilt just beat Tennessee as well, it’s still a bad loss for [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] and Co.
With only six games left on the regular season schedule, UF has very few chances to earn another signature in Golden’s first year. Arkansas is a Tournament-caliber team and the rematch with Kentucky could help Florida’s case, but it could be hard for the Gators to make it to March Madness without a deep run in the SEC Tournament.
That’s why ESPN has Florida at the bottom of the “work to do” group in the SEC. There are better teams in the conference that would deserve a Tournament spot more than Florida if the season ended today.
“Since announcing their arrival on the bubble with a win at home over Tennessee, the Gators have gone 0-3. The final defeat in the series was the most surprising one, as Vanderbilt won its game at Florida by eight. Yes, one of UF’s losses came at Alabama and, yes, the Commodores were coming off their own win at home against the Volunteers.
“Nevertheless, this isn’t the trajectory the Gators expected for their next 120 minutes after bringing down the Vols. Florida is falling away from the bubble discussion and Todd Golden’s team has just two tournament-level opponents left on the schedule: Arkansas on the road and a home game against Kentucky.”
Sweeping the Razorbacks and Wildcats might get Florida back in the conversation, but the goal has to be to win out at this point. The team needs to play its best basketball of the season in the SEC Tournament, and maybe that will translate to a bracket spot and Tournament run.
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