Matt Hogue explains placement of Florida in NCAA Tournament, avoiding bubble conversation
The Florida Gators are in the NCAA Tournament and will be heading to Stillwater for Regional action. For any fans who may have been worried that the Gators didn’t have the resume to make the NCAA Tournament, they needn’t have worried because Florida was firmly in and not even listen on the bubble for the Field of 64.
NCAA Selection Committee chair Matt Hogue addressed the Gators while making an appearance on ESPN after the bracket was announced. There, he explained what went into the thinking on Florida.
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“Significant amount of deliberation and conversation,” Matt Hogue said. “No question about that. I think, again, one of the key aspects for Florida was that strength of schedule. I think, number one at overall strength of schedule. Number 13 at non-conference strength of schedule. That was something that mattered a lot through all of the conversations.”
Florida was just 13-17 in SEC play this season and struggled at times this season, losing six straight series at one point. That went along with several key losses in non-conference play that made some wonder if the Gators would make the NCAA Tournament.
Ultimately, in all of that, Matt Hogue emphasized that the value that the selection committee saw in Florida came from the strength of its schedule and how important that is for teams in general to schedule difficult games.
“But we did spend a great deal of time considering Florida and their overall resume, and again, I think you bring up a great issue and a great question when you do have teams from different places, different conferences, it’s difficult,” Hogue said.
“That underscores why it’s important to try and play as rigorous a schedule as you can, particularly out of the non-conference because often you will have those matchups that I think will be very beneficial when you’re in the room and the committee is looking over the amount of data that is considered.”
Despite how difficult Florida’s schedule was, it’s still a bit surprising to many that the Gators weren’t even considered a bubble team given their overall resume. However, it’s clear that this year’s selection committee cared deeply about strength of schedule.
Now, Florida is heading to the Stillwater Regional, which is being hosted by the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Gators earned the three slot within that Regional. Along with Florida and Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Niagara are also going to be competing to come out and make it to the Super Regional.