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Florida Gators receive No. 1 seed in 2025 NCAA Tournament

On3 imageby:Zach Abolverdi•03/16/25•

ZachAbolverdi

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The Florida Gators celebrate after defeating the Tennessee Volunteers in the 2025 SEC Championship Game at Bridgestone Arena. (Steve Roberts-Imagn Images)

NASHVILLE — The last time Florida won the SEC Tournament championship game, it received a 1-seed in the Big Dance. History repeated itself on Sunday.

Just hours after their first SEC tournament title since 2014, the Gators (30-4) were awarded a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament — also for the first time in 11 years.

Florida is the top seed in the West Region and will play Norfolk State (16) on Friday in Raleigh, N.C. If UF advances, it will face the winner of UConn (8) and Oklahoma (9) on Sunday.

It marks Florida’s third No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in school history. UF was also a 1-seed in 2014 and 2007, repeating as national champions in ’07.

“When we’re playing like this, I think we are the best team in America,” Gators coach Todd Golden said Sunday. “We gotta keep going. Obviously that can change at any time. We gotta have the mental toughness to keep pushing through.

“Not be content and satisfied to what we’ve done to this point. This is a huge goal of ours to get the SEC Tournament championship. We still have a lot left to do here in March and playing for the NCAA Tournament as well.”

With the 86-77 win over Tennessee on Sunday, Florida picked up its eighth top-25 win of the season, tied for most in program history (2006-07). UF also reached 30 wins for the fourth time in program history (36, 2013-14; 35, 2006-07; 33, 2005-06).

The Gators have won six games in a row and 12 of their last 13 heading into March Madness. They faced seven AP top-10 teams this season and went 5-2 in those games. The program was 6-16 all-time vs. AP top-10 opponents prior to 2024-25.

Prior to this year, the Gators had never beaten a top-ranked team in the regular season. They did it twice in 32 days in SEC play, routing Tennessee with a 73-43 win in Gainesville and winning their first-ever top-10 road matchup, 90-81, at Auburn.

Walter Clayton Jr. is the first player in program history to become a first-team All-American. Clayton was named SEC Tournament MVP, made the All-Tournament team with Will Richard and earned All-SEC honors along with Alex Condon.

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