- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,151,546
- Reaction score
- 59
The Florida Gators keep winning and their March Madness stock keeps rising as the men's college basketball regular-season schedule continues to wind down.
Winners of eight-straight games, Todd Golden's team has surged to the top of the SEC standings and into the top 10 in both major polls. The team has finally found its sync and appears to be a potential repeat national championship candidate with the way they have been playing in recent weeks.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi is among those who agree that the Gators are looking like true contenders, promoting them to a No. 2 seed in the South Region in his latest bracketology update. That lines the Orange and Blue up with the 15th-seeded Marshall Thundering Herd — center Micah Handlogten's former school — in the opening round held in Tampa.
The Duke Blue Devils remain the No. 1 overall seed in ESPN's bracketology while also holding the top spot in the East. They are joined by the usual suspects, with the Michigan Wolverines (Midwest), UConn Huskies (South) and Arizona Wildcats (West) still reigning over their regions.
The Southeastern Conference still has the most member schools represented in ESPN's bracketology with 11 — two more than the Big Ten, and three more than the ACC and Big 12 — for the second-straight update.
Florida remains the top team among those 11 SEC representatives, having moved up to the No. 2 seed in the South, followed by the Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 4, East), the Vanderbilt Commodores (No. 5, West) and the Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 5, Midwest).
The Kentucky Wildcats (No. 7, West), Georgia Bulldogs (No. 9, Midwest), Texas A&M Aggies (No. 10, East), Texas Longhorns (No. 10, South), Missouri Tigers (No. 10, Midwest) and Auburn Tigers (No. 11, Midwest) round out the conference representation.
"You'll notice the SEC represents each of the current Last Four Byes, plus the first team among the Last Four In, in what could be a nightmare brewing for the selection committee," Lunardi points out.
"Proper bracketing procedures as they relate to the separation of teams within conferences could get thrown out the window — or multiple teams could be moved off their natural seed line, which the committee has been correctly reluctant to do in recent years," he continues.
"It would also be a nightmare scenario for the programs, whose coaches are already sick of the SEC grind. The five teams in question — Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas and Auburn — are not likely to remain in such perfect order, but the extremely close nature of their résumés suggests that one or more could play their way out of the field given head-to-head possibilities down the stretch or in the SEC tournament."
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.
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball rises to No. 2 seed in ESPN bracketology update
Continue reading...
Winners of eight-straight games, Todd Golden's team has surged to the top of the SEC standings and into the top 10 in both major polls. The team has finally found its sync and appears to be a potential repeat national championship candidate with the way they have been playing in recent weeks.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi is among those who agree that the Gators are looking like true contenders, promoting them to a No. 2 seed in the South Region in his latest bracketology update. That lines the Orange and Blue up with the 15th-seeded Marshall Thundering Herd — center Micah Handlogten's former school — in the opening round held in Tampa.
Top seeds in ESPN's 2026 bracketology update
The Duke Blue Devils remain the No. 1 overall seed in ESPN's bracketology while also holding the top spot in the East. They are joined by the usual suspects, with the Michigan Wolverines (Midwest), UConn Huskies (South) and Arizona Wildcats (West) still reigning over their regions.
SEC schools in ESPN's 2026 bracketology update
The Southeastern Conference still has the most member schools represented in ESPN's bracketology with 11 — two more than the Big Ten, and three more than the ACC and Big 12 — for the second-straight update.
Florida remains the top team among those 11 SEC representatives, having moved up to the No. 2 seed in the South, followed by the Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 4, East), the Vanderbilt Commodores (No. 5, West) and the Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 5, Midwest).
The Kentucky Wildcats (No. 7, West), Georgia Bulldogs (No. 9, Midwest), Texas A&M Aggies (No. 10, East), Texas Longhorns (No. 10, South), Missouri Tigers (No. 10, Midwest) and Auburn Tigers (No. 11, Midwest) round out the conference representation.
"You'll notice the SEC represents each of the current Last Four Byes, plus the first team among the Last Four In, in what could be a nightmare brewing for the selection committee," Lunardi points out.
"Proper bracketing procedures as they relate to the separation of teams within conferences could get thrown out the window — or multiple teams could be moved off their natural seed line, which the committee has been correctly reluctant to do in recent years," he continues.
"It would also be a nightmare scenario for the programs, whose coaches are already sick of the SEC grind. The five teams in question — Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas and Auburn — are not likely to remain in such perfect order, but the extremely close nature of their résumés suggests that one or more could play their way out of the field given head-to-head possibilities down the stretch or in the SEC tournament."
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.
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball rises to No. 2 seed in ESPN bracketology update
Continue reading...
