Florida Gators Snatch Back One-Seed After Crucial Win in Tuscaloosa

The Florida Gators move up to grab one of the four one-seeds in college basketball after going into and collecting yet another top-10 road victory against the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide. With their win and the No.4 Tennessee Volunteers loss, the Gators are almost guaranteed to move up into the top four. The Gators are now 26-4, losing to just the Vols, the No. 19 Kentucky Wildcats, the No. 15 Missouri Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs.

The Gators’ final game is against Ole Miss. This game will be senior night for the Gators, something may motivate the Gators.  Despite Ole Miss’ 21-9 record, the Rebels are capable of beating nearly anyone in the conference. They just defeated the Tennessee Volunteers in their last game.

Florida is currently projected to be the one-seed in the West region. If it all ended now, here’s what the competition would look like for the Gators. Their opening game would be against Norfolk State, the projected MEAC Champions.

With a win against them, they would likely face the eight-seed Creighton in the round of 32. Creighton has been a difficult team for many top teams this season. They’ve beaten Kansas, St. John’s, UConn and Marquette this season. However, they’ve also lost their fair share of games, losing to Alabama and Texas A&M. It only makes sense that the Gators continue the trend and beat the Blue Jays.

Looking past that, the Gators would then play the five-seed Michigan Wolverines or the four-seed Kentucky Wildcats. The Wolverines have eight losses this season, two of which come from the only SEC teams on their schedule. The issue for them is that the Gators are one of the best teams in the country, not just the SEC. It is much more likely that the Wildcats will be the team that Gators see in the Sweet 16. The Wildcats already lost to Florida this season in Rupp Arena. This could be a chance for the Wildcats to get revenge. However, this is not the same Wildcat team it once was.

Should the Gators get into the Elite Eight, the projected two-seed is Texas Tech and the three-seed is Wisconsin. Any Florida fan will remember the 2018 NCAA Tournament where the six-seed Gators were eliminated by the three-seed Red Raiders, 66-69. A rematch with Texas Tech in the Elite Eight would be both nerve-wracking and exciting. The Red Raiders have been to the title game but came up one game short, losing to the Virginia Cavaliers in 2019.