GAINESVILLE — Florida will open NCAA Event play Friday in Raleigh towards Norfolk State because the No. 1 seed within the West Area.
The Gators’ empathic win Sunday towards Tennessee within the SEC Event championship recreation ended the controversy on whether or not the Gators would would earn a No. 1 seed.
The one query after Sunday’s 86-77 win towards the Vols was the UF’s potential path to the Ultimate 4 in San Antonio.
The NCAA Choice Committee tabbed Todd Golden’s group the fourth No. 1 seed. UF sits behind Auburn, who anchors the South Area, Duke (East) and Houston (Midwest), organising Golden for a return to San Francisco if the Gators win two video games this week.
The 39-year-old performed at St. Mary’s Faculty in Moraga, 22 miles east of the town, and later coached 5 seasons on the College of San Francisco, together with the ultimate three (2019-22) as head coach earlier than coming to UF.
“That’s an extended methods away,” Golden mentioned forward of the SEC Event. “We’ve got to handle a variety of enterprise earlier than that, however it could be actually cool. Be enjoyable.”
Norfolk State (24-10) earned a event bid with a 58-55 win towards Morgan State within the MEAC Event remaining.
As a No. 15 seed of their first journey to the Large Dance, the Spartans beat second-seeded Missouri in 2012. Norfolk State additionally reached the NCAAs in 2021 and 2022.
With a win the Gators would the winner between No. 8 seed UConn, the two-time defending nationwide champion, and No. 9 seed Oklahoma (20-13) — 85-63 losers Feb. 18 in Gainesville. UConn (23-10) defeated UF 75-54 in December of 2022 throughout Golden’s first season and en path to the Huskies’ nationwide title, one in every of six by the varsity since 1999.
The Gators (30-4) made a robust case to play nearer to dwelling — Atlanta (South), Newark, N.J. (East) and Indianapolis (Midwest) are the opposite regional websites.
UF, gained 30 video games for the primary time since 2014, posting an 11-4 in Quad 1 video games and 9-0 towards Quad 2 foes. The Gators’ spectacular run included two wins towards the top-ranked group, a 73-43 choice Jan. 7 towards Tennessee in Gainesville, and a 90-81 win Feb. 8 at Auburn.
Florida is the sixth highest rated group within the historical past of analytics guru Ken Pomeroy’s Website started in 1997, forward of Houston and Auburn.
The SEC has 14 groups within the event, breaking Large East’s report 11 in 2011.
Edgar Thompson could be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
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