Florida must beat Kentucky to boost NCAA Tournament hopes

As of Friday morning, the Florida Gators sit just barely outside of the projected 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. UF is considered one of the “Next Four Out” and will be in must-win mode the rest of the way. Which means that Saturday’s home matchup against No. 7 Kentucky will be the most important of the year for the Gators.

The contest will be just another Super Bowl for the Wildcats, which has played at least a dozen of them already this season. Florida is 19-11 on the season with a 9-8 record in the SEC. Their net rating stands at 51 while KenPom has the Gators at No. 49. Impressive wins over Auburn, Ohio State, and Oklahoma State build the top of their resume, but a 2-8 overall mark against Quad 1 teams has them on the outside looking in.

All this being said, a win over Kentucky could easily push Florida into the projected field. UK won the first matchup at Rupp Arena on Feb. 12, but now the ‘Cats will head to Gainesville for what should be another rowdy atmosphere. Florida will play as if their NCAA Tournament lives depend on it.

Kentucky guard Kellan Grady says this group will be ready for the challenge when asked if he has to remind his teammates how important this game is for Florida.

“We all understand that. It’s not necessarily something that has to come from me,” Grady said during Friday’s pre-Florida press conference. “The coaching staff has articulated what you just described. (Florida is) probably a brink bubble team, they may have a bid by now or they may not, so a win against a team like us would probably solidify their spot. But at the end of the day, it’s our next game, it’s a road game, it’s the season finale for the whole SEC so everybody is gonna give each team their best shot and we expect no less, especially since we’re coming to town.

“It’s important to consider, but we can’t get lost in that. We have to go out and execute our gameplan and be ready for a challenging road game.”

Florida will surely present a challenge, too, especially with so much at stake. Even though Kentucky did win by 21 in the first matchup, the home crowd will be on UF’s side this time around. But if you ask UK head coach John Calipari his thoughts on the must-win, he’s upset that Florida is even in this position in the first place. He believes the Gators have shown enough — while playing in what he calls the toughest conference in the country — that they shouldn’t even be in a do-or-die scenario.

“Why should they have to beat us to get in? I think that’s a bunch of crap. I do,” Calipari said of Florida on Friday.

Calipari talked for a few minutes about the quality of talent and overall programs in the SEC, which he’s done multiple times in recent weeks. He has said in the past that the SEC is the best conference in the country and echoed that once again on Friday.

“It just disappoints me when I’m not hearing ‘They should get eight teams in, they should have eight teams.’ We’re the best league,” Calipari said of the SEC.

As of Friday morning, the SEC has six teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament, per Lunardi: Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and LSU, with Florida right on the bubble. The Big 12 also has six teams projected to make the tourney, while the Big East has seven and the Big Ten leads with eight.

But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter how desperate Florida is or isn’t. Kentucky has played 30 games now. Not much should shock them at this point. Now it comes down to taking care of business.

“All I’m saying to my team, everything I’ve done all year is to prepare you for March. You won’t believe this, we’re in March right now,” Calipari added. “Let’s see what happens. Hard game down there now. Always is a hard game. Mike (White has) done a great job with his team. They’re going to be prepared. The things we hurt them with up here, I promise you we won’t hurt them with down there. You won’t believe this, they watch tape too.”