Todd Golden’s Gators have been hot of late having won six in a row to close out a perfect December as well as the non-conference schedule. Now, things get hairy with the start of the Southeastern Conference slate.
Florida currently sits on a solid 10-3 record, with close losses to the Virginia Cavaliers and Baylor Bears, as well as a double-digit defeat at the hands of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Per the NET rankings, Golden’s gang is No. 49 overall with a 1-3 mark against Quadrant 1 teams, along with a 1-0 record against Quad 2, 2-0 against Quad 3 and 6-0 against Quad 4.
The results so far have not impressed The Athletic’s Brian Bennett, who recently published his second edition of this season’s bracket watch series. Despite the resounding win over the Quinnipiac Bobcats, the Orange and Blue actually fell a spot to the No. 12 seed in the Midwest Region (based in Detroit, Michigan) and have been relegated to the final spot of the last four byes group.
In his previous update, Florida took the 11th seed in the South Region (based in Dallas, Texas) and was also among the last four byes.
The revised bracket has the Gators facing the fifth-seeded Oklahoma Sooners in Spokane, Washington, in the opening matchup. The No. 4 Duke Blue Devils will also be facing the No. 13 Akron Zips at the same location to start things off.
Other SEC schools included in the bracket are the Tennessee Volunteers (No. 2), Kentucky Wildcats (No. 3), Auburn Tigers (No. 5), Texas A&M Aggies (No. 6), Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 7) Ole Miss Rebels (No. 9) and South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 9); the Arkansas Razorbacks are among the first four out.
Florida opens up its SEC schedule on Saturday against Kentucky inside the O’Connell Center on Jan. 6. Tipoff is scheduled for an early 12:30 p.m. ET start and the game can be watched on ESPN.
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