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Jay Bilas: Florida is 'peaking at the right time' ahead of NCAA Tournament

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•03/17/25•

BarkleyTruax

Florida celebrates their win against Tennessee after the Southeastern Conference tournament championship at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 16, 2025 - Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Florida celebrates their win against Tennessee after the Southeastern Conference tournament championship at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 16, 2025 - Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Florida earned itself a No. 1 seed in March Madness after beating Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee in consecutive days to win the SEC Tournament in Nashville. It’s the Gators’ fifth conference tournament title in program history.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas has been high on the Gators all season, and continued his praise for head coach Todd Golden and his squad ahead of the NCAA Tournament. Joining Paul Finebaum during his show on Monday afternoon,

“They’re an impressive group, and they’re, I think, peaking at the right time,” Bilas told Finebaum. “And it may seem trendy, but I think people are just reacting to what they see when you watch them beat Tennessee. It was methodical.”

Florida has won 12 of its last 13 games dating back to Feb. 4, and are riding a six-game win streak heading into their NCAA Tournament slate. During that stretch, the Gators have wins over Auburn, Texas A&M, Missouri, Alabama twice and Tennessee.

Their success followed a stretch where Florida went 5-3 to begin SEC play. Before that, Florida had won its first 13 games of the regular season. Impressively, they’ve almost mirrored that streak to end the season against a conference that sent a record 14 teams to the NCAA Tournament.

“I said a couple of weeks ago that I thought they were the best team in the country, and the way they’re playing right now, the pieces that they have and how well they mesh together,” Bilas continued. “They’ve got four legitimate big guys that are really good that could start anywhere, and they just shuffle them in and out. They offensive rebound, they protect the rim. They are skilled. They screen off help extraordinarily well.

“I don’t know that there’s anyone that may have a group of guards that are as good as Florida’s. I’m not sure anybody’s got anybody better than those four guards, and then you put Urban Klavzar in as the fifth — that’s a tough combo there. And those guys can all score, they can all defend. Will Richard and Alijah Martin get a lot of steals. Martin gets them on the ball, and Richard gets them off the ball.”

The Gators will look to ride this wave of momentum into their opening NCAA Tournament game against Norfolk State on Friday. Norfolk State defeated SC State 66-65 in the MEAC Tournament final to clinch its spot in the Big Dance. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:50 p.m. ET and will air live on TNT.