Florida men’s basketball concluded its 2021-2022 regular season Saturday with a 71-63 loss to Kentucky on senior day in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The Gators still have one more chance to improve their chances to make March Madness at the SEC Tournament.
The tournament in Tampa, Florida, tips off on Wednesday, but coach Mike White and his team don’t play until Thursday. The No. 9-seeded Gators’ first matchup is versus Texas A&M who they lost to in the regular season. If Florida gets past the Aggies, it’ll have to upset top-seeded Auburn on Friday then probably have to beat No. 4 Arkansas or No. 5 LSU to advance to the SEC Tournament title game.
Many bracketology updates before Saturday believed the Gators needed to upset the Wildcats to make March Madness. The predictions after the loss still have Florida on the wrong side of the bubble, meaning it’ll likely take a serious run to the semifinals or the championship game in the SEC Tournament to make the field to extend Florida’s streak of making the big dance to six.
Here’s where the Gators stand in the most recent projections.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi
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After bouncing back and forth between “First Four Out” and “Last Four In” on Lunardi’s brackets for most of the season, Florida has sat firmly among his “Next Four Out” for a few weeks now and still do on Monday. The Gators will have one last chance to improve their stock at the SEC Tournament.SEC teams:
No. 2 Auburn (Midwest)
No. 2 Kentucky (East)
No. 3 Tennessee (South)
No. 4 Arkansas (West)
No. 5 Alabama (South)
No. 6 LSU (West)
The Athletic’s Brian Bennett
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Bennett is kinder to Florida than Lunardi. He currently has the Gators among his “First Four Out” with BYU, Indiana and Oklahoma. Looking at other SEC teams, he has Auburn…
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