OTL Investigates ESPN"s Worst Brackets | ESPN Originals
GAINESVILLE, Fla. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi thinks center John Egbunus season-ending knee injury should be a factor for the NCAA Tournament selection committee when evaluating Florida basketball. Still, Lunardi projects the Gators as a No. 4 seed opening the tournament close to home in Orlando.
That could change, he added, based on the Gators performance in the SEC Tournament this week.
Florida, the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, opens up Friday night against either Vanderbilt or Texas A&M.
Most seem to have them kind of split between 3 and 4 so I guess I might be in a small minority that has them as a 4, and I guess thats in part because Im trying to factor in a little bit of the current roster, which is shorthanded. And to me thats worth half a seed line to a seed line, Lunardi said Wednesday on a media teleconference. If theyget to the (SEC) final and lose to Kentucky, I dont think theyll be worse than a 4. If they lose to somebody else I supposethey could slide to 5, but overall their numbers and profile are still pretty strong.
The Gators (24-7, 14-4 SEC) face an interesting opening gameFriday night, whoevertheir opponent ends up being. Vanderbilt and Texas A&M play Thursday.
RELATED: 2017 SEC Tournament games, times, predictions | Action updates
The Commodores (17-14, 10-8) swept the regular-season series with Florida, including a 73-71 win in Nashville last Saturday.
Meanwhile, Florida won its only meeting with Texas A&M (16-14, 8-10) this year, 71-62. The Aggies havean imposing front court that could pose a stiffer challenge to a Gators team now without its best interior presence in Egbunu.
Lunardi, ESPNs longtime NCAA Tournament bracket expert, thinks a loss in their opening game would likely drop the Gators to a No. 5 seed, but not definitively.
Remember, no result happens in a vacuum. What are all the other 4s and 5s doing, right? he said. Ive had years in doing an update on a Monday, all 4 No. 1 seeds lost in a given weekend so nothing changed. Its kind of like if everybody stands still nobody loses the race.
espn bracketologist joe Lunardi thinks the Gators will be a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. (Mark Gaier/ESPN Images)If the Gators keep their place in that race, as a top-4 seed that is, Lunardi thinks their odds of starting the NCAA Tournament close to home in Orlando are a near certainty.
Extremely good because there just arent a lot of teams for which Orlando would be the obvious landing spot, and theyre the only two Florida, Florida State the only two teams on the board really that could be a 1-4 seed, which is what you need to kind of dictate your spot, he said. So I think theyre both going to be there as what I call pod leaders.
Orlando is amongeight host sites for the first and second rounds. They others are Buffalo, N.Y., Milwaukee, Wis., Salt Lake City, Utah, Greenville, S.C., Indianapolis, Ind., Sacramento, Calif., and Tulsa, Okla.
If they slide to a 5 then all bets are off because then they cant control where they go, Lunardi said. They would be linked to wherever the other 4s are, right? Because, you know, once you slot a 4 anywhere youre automatically tying a 5, a 12 and a 13 to that same site. So you lose your ability to do Google Maps once youre not a top 4 anymore.
Overall, Lunardi expects five SEC teams will make the Big Dance. Those teams areKentucky, Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas and Vanderbilt.
The Commodores can certainly thank their two wins over the Gators for that status.
I think Vandys in. They could be in a situation where they have to go again to the First Four where theyve played other times, and there has certainly been a lot of SEC representation at the First Four over the years, Lunardi said. But when I look at it, I dont think there really is a bubble in the SEC at this point. I think the five that are going obviously UK and Florida at the top, South Carolina, Arkansas and now Vandy and short of a complete run by an underdog in dramatic fashion at the tournament, those are the five that were going to be talking about a week from now.
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