Florida basketball maintains top seeding in 3 major bracketologies ahead of LSU matchup
Florida basketball maintains top seeding in 3 major bracketologies ahead of LSU matchup
Five games remain on the regular-season schedule for the Florida basketball program as Todd Golden and his team barrel their way toward the postseason. Now standing at 23-3 overall with 10 wins in 13 tries against other Southeastern Confernece schools, the Gators are ostensibly a lock for a high seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Orange and Blue sit second in both the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 this week while the NET rankings and KenPom has them ranked fourth, and ESPN's Basketball Power Index at fifth as of Friday. Florida also remains a top seed in the West Region in all three bracketologies provided by USA TODAY Sports, ESPN and CBS Sports.
USA TODAY Sports bracketology
USA TODAY Sports writers Eddie Timanus, Erick Smith and Paul Myerberg once again contributed to this update and kept Florida at the No. 1 seed in the West. However, its opening-round opponent in Raleigh, North Carolina, has changed back to the Norfolk State Spartans, who reclaim the No. 16 seed in this bracketology.
The SEC maintained its 12 member school mentions this time around. Florida (West), the Auburn Tigers (South) and Alabama Crimson Tide (Midwest) remained in their respective top seeds while the Tennessee Volunteers moved from the East to the West as a No. 2 seed; the Texas A&M Aggies fell from a No. 2 to a No. 3 seed in the South.
ESPN bracketology
ESPN's bracketology guru Joe Lunardi also kept Florida as the top seed in the West for the third straight week. However, instead of facing Norfolk State like in the previous update, the Gators are now matched up with the No. 16-seeded Quinnipiac Bobcats in Raliegh.
The SEC lost one team from its total representation this time around to a dozen mentions, with the trio of Florida (West), Auburn (South) and Alabama (Midwest) standing pat in their top seeds. Similarly to the USA TODAY Sports bracket, Tennessee held onto its second seed in the East while TAMU fell from No. 2 in the West to a No. 3 seed in the same region.
CBS Sports bracketology
Finally, CBS Sports basketball expert Jerry Palm kept Florida (West), Auburn (South) and Alabama (Midwest) as No. 1 seeds in their respective regions while lining the Gators up with a new team in the No. 16 Bryant Bulldogs. In the previous update, they were matched up with the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils.
Palm once again has 13 SEC schools mentioned in his bracketology, and along with the usual suspects occupying three of the top four seeds, he also has both the Volunteers and Aggies as No. 2 seeds in the East and Midwest, respectively. That gives the conference five of the top eight overall seedings.
Next up for Florida
The Gators travel to Baton Rouge on Saturday, Feb. 22, to face the LSU Tigers. Gametime is slated for 6 p.m. ET and the action can be followed on the SEC Network.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
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