The 2024-25 college basketball campaign tips off in less than two weeks and ahead of the season opener, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his final preseason bracketology.
Florida basketball, which finished strong last season, enters the year ranked 21st in both the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and the Associate Press Poll. The Gators also received a boost from Lunardi from his last update.
The Orange and Blue find itself a No. 7 seed in the West Region (San Francisco) where they are paired up with the 10th-seeded Maryland Terrapins in Seattle, Washington. That is an improvement over the August update when Florida was assigned a No. 9 seed in the East Region (Newark).
The Gators were a No. 6 seed in Lunardi’s way-too-early bracket and held on to that projection through the first update. He dropped Florida to a No. 7 seed in the mid-May update and again to a No. 9 seed before June.
After moving up to an 8-seed in the June update, Florida fell back down to the No. 9 to close out July.
Where does the rest of the SEC stand?
The Southeastern Conference has 10 teams in the bracketology, headlined by the Alabama Crimson Tide, who hold the top seed in the South Region, followed by the Auburn Tigers (2-seed, Midwest), Tennessee Volunteers (3-seed, West), Texas A&M Aggies (4-seed, East) and Texas Longhorns (5-seed, West).
Next up are the Arkansas Razorbacks (6-seed, South), Kentucky Wildcats (7-seed, East), Florida (7-seed, West), Mississippi State Bulldogs (8-seed, West) and Ole Miss Rebels (10-seed, South). That 10-pack of schools ties the Big Ten for the most teams representing a single conference.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.