ESPN's Joe Lunardi calls Florida 'a very dangerous team' come March

Florida suffered a heart-breaking overtime loss on the road at Alabama in the middle of the week, but that result might have actually served to bolster the team’s NCAA Tournament resume a bit, with the Crimson Tide representing a quality Quadrant 1 opponent.

The Gators were looking to bounce back from that loss on Saturday against Vanderbilt, a game that the team can’t afford to lose when it comes to building its tournament profile.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi thought the Alabama game was more significant than today’s against Vanderbilt, though.

“I think you could make the argument that that game at the end of the day might help their metrics more than this one simply given the site and the quality of the opponent,” Lunardi said.

The ESPN guru has Florida firmly in the NCAA Tournament, currently as a No. 7 seed. He wasn’t always that high on the Gators.

In fact, he wasn’t even sure Florida was an NCAA Tournament team a few weeks ago.

“Before coming on I took a look at Florida and not even a full month ago they were a bubble team,” Lunardi said. “Checked back even two or three weeks ago in the 10, 11 seed range. Now a seven, knocking on the door of a six.”

Suffice it to say, Lunardi is impressed by the job that coach Todd Golden has done with this team. The Gators have excellent guard play, led by the likes of Walter Clayton and Zyon Pullin, while they’re deep in the frontcourt with a handful of bigs who can really stretch the floor.

Florida just seems to have found its identity as SEC play has gone on.

“This is really an extraordinary, I don’t want to say turnaround, I want to say evolution, if you will, for the Gators,” Lunardi said. “Because a lot of teams, the whole isn’t equal to the sum of the parts. But I think with this squad, it’s the other way around. They’re definitely getting the most out of what they have and look to me like a very dangerous team in a one-and-done situation.”