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Gators a No. 1 seed in NCAA tournament selection committee's bracket preview

On3 imageby:Keith Niebuhr•02/15/25•

On3Keith

Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. - Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio
Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. - Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

Florida’s play this season has impressed the NCAA tournament men’s basketball selection committee and that was reflected Saturday. When the committee revealed its bracket preview, the Gators were named a No. 1 seed. Auburn is the overall top seed while Alabama was next, followed by Duke, then Florida.

The Gators edged out Tennessee for the final No. 1 seed. According to North Carolina athletic director/committee chair Bubba Cunningham it was close between the Gators and Vols, who split two games during the regular season. Both games were blowouts. Tennessee is the No. 5 overall seed, followed by another SEC team at No. 6, Texas A&M.

“The narrative since the season began was how strong Southeastern Conference teams are, and that’s reflective in this top 16 reveal,” Cunningham said, per ESPN. “While each team is evaluated independent of their conference affiliation, there’s no escaping the fact that the league is on course for a historic season in terms of representation in the tournament, specifically the highly sought-after top 16 seeds. Having five of the top six teams being from one conference is equally impressive as it is unusual.”

While this bracket reveal is simply a reflection of where things stand today, ESPN.com noted, “All four 1-seeds in the 2023 mock bracket reveal ended up as 1-seeds on Selection Sunday, while three of the four 1-seeds in last year’s mock bracket reveal were 1-seeds a month later.”

Auburn might be the top overall seed, but the Tigers are 0-1 vs. the Gators. Florida won at Auburn last Saturday in a game that wasn’t particularly close. The No. 1-ranked Tigers, however, are 22-2 overall, 10-1 in the SEC entering Saturday’s game at No. 2 Alabama, which is 21-3, 10-1. The Gators play at Alabama later in the season. While Auburn is 13-2 in Quad-1 games, Alabama is 8-3, Duke is 5-3 and Florida is 5-3.

Florida, ranked No. 3 in the AP Top 25, is 21-3 overall, 8-3 in the SEC. The Gators play host to South Carolina (10-14, 0-11) on Saturday. Florida beat the Gamecocks by only one, 70-69, earlier this season at South Carolina. And, the Gators will be without forwards Alex Condon and Sam Alexis, both injured, for this game. You can find a preview HERE.

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