Steve Spurrier reveals he would cheer for Florida over Duke in possible NCAA Tournament game

As the college basketball season gets closer to the NCAA Tournament, legendary head coach Steve Spurrier has multiple rooting interests in play. Despite playing/coaching football, Spurrier still keeps up with the Florida and Duke basketball programs. Both are having a tremendous amount of success at the moment, being projected as one-seeds.

So if there was a scenario where Florida faced Duke this season, who would Spurrier cheer for? The answer is an easy one according to him.

“Florida,” Spurrier said on his rooting interests. “Then Duke and South Carolina after that if somebody wants to ask ‘If Duke’s playing South Carolina, who you pulling for?’ I guess I’d have to pull for a tie in that.”

Luckily for Spurrier, South Carolina will not factor into the postseason. Lamont Paris has had a difficult stretch in Columbia, just earning the program’s first SEC win of the year on Saturday against Texas. Unless they go on to win the SEC Tournament in Nashville, there will be no NCAA Tournament appearance for the Gamecocks.

Florida would overtake South Carolina too in Spurrier’s rooting order although, that is not an uncommon matchup. Jan. 22 was a close Florida win in Columbia, escaping by one, while the reverse fixture on Feb. 15 was a blowout 88-67 win for the Gators. A sweep for Todd Golden‘s bunch as they compete for an SEC regular season championship.

Spurrier is rocking with Florida no matter the situation but would have a more difficult time when comparing Duke and South Carolina.

“Both schools were really good to me,” Spurrier said of Duke and South Carolina. “So I love both of them and I’m a Gator and this is home base here, no question.”

While there was no full explanation as to why Florida would get the ultimate nod, there should be no doubts about where Spurrier’s loyalties lie. Having success in Gainesville as both a player and head coach, UF will always be No. 1 in The Old Ball Coach’s heart.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently projects Duke as the No. 2 overall seed and Florida No. 4 overall. Based on those, the two teams would not meet up in March Madness until the national championship game. It’s certainly something you cannot count out with how well they are playing at the moment.

Maybe Spurrier can clear his calendar for the first weekend in April and get down to San Antonio.