Gators have work to do in The Athletic’s NCAA Tournament bubble watch
Florida basketball has been teetering on the edge of NCAA Tournament bracketologies all season in large part due to inconsistent play plus the inability to start the game strong as well as finish off comebacks.
This past week, the Gators showed their yin and yang by beating the then-second-ranked Tennessee Volunteers at home to vault them back onto the bubble before reverting back to their old ways on the road in a loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. The teeter-totter performances have been very pronounced in Southeastern Conference competition, in which the Orange and Blue now hold a 6-4 record as well as a 13-10 mark overall.
Todd Golden’s team slipped off of Jerry Palm’s latest bracket predictions for CBS Sports and they will predictably fall from a few more once those updates are published. The Athletic’s Eammon Brennan followed up with his bubble watch article on Tuesday, in which he placed the Gators in the “work to do” category among fellow SEC schools. Here is what he had to offer.
Florida is back on the bubble, baby! It just didn’t feel the same around here without the Gators in the mix, but last week’s home win over Tennessee put them into the picture. A win at Kentucky would have added to the festivities, but the Wildcats held on. At the very least, Saturday’s defeat was a bit of a national highlight for Colin Castleton, who has quietly been having another excellent season in an excellent career, and who was fantastic in Rupp: 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks, one steal. Can he lead them to the tournament? There is a decent chance. The Gators have lost a ton of games already, but almost all of these losses have come against quality opposition; their worst loss is a Quadrant 2 neutral court defeat to Oklahoma. Throw in a good schedule, the opportunities the SEC will continue throw up, and Castleton’s productivity as a baseline for performance, and sure: Florida could get there. Let’s see how Wednesday at Alabama goes.
Next up for Florida is the Alabama Crimson Tide, who host the Gators on Wednesday, Feb. 8, inside Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Nate Oats’ team is currently a “lock” in The Athletic’s update. Tipoff for the midweek affair is scheduled for 9 p.m. EST and the game can be followed by watching ESPN2 or listening to the Gator Sports Network.
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