Florida Receives Bold NCAA Tournament Seed Projection After Loss to Vandy

Entering the SEC Tournament, No. 4 Florida was one of the hottest teams in college basketball.

The Gators had a slow start to the season, but went 16-2 in conference play before taking on Kentucky in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.

UF beat the Wildcats 71-63 on Friday, but ran into trouble against No. 22 Vanderbilt on Saturday. 

Vandy shot 55 percent from the field to Florida's 47 percent, earning a 91-74 win over the Gators in front of 16,612 fans at Bridgestone Arena in Saturday's semifinal round.

Florida was attempting to wrap up a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament this week. 

The defending national champions will have to wait to see their fate on Selection Sunday after failing to make the final of the conference tournament in a rout by the Commodores.

During an appearance on ESPN's SportsCenter on Sunday, Joe Lunardi said he's still projecting the Gators to earn a No. 1 seed despite the result of Saturday's loss.

“It’s like a race where everybody is going backwards. Florida is the winner of that race," Lunardi said, via On3. "They had a pretty good, healthy lead for that fourth No. 1 seed. They are going to be the fourth No. 1 seed, and they’ll be in the South. 

"They’ll see their name come up fourth on the Selection Show tonight."

However, not all of that news is necessarily good for UF. 

Lunardi noted that Florida will likely have to play Houston on their home turf in the tournament.

"If there’s a negative for the Gators, it’s that their No. 2 is very likely to be the same Houston Cougars team that lost the Big 12 Final to Arizona," Lunardi said. 

"That region will be contested in Houston, so we could have a rematch of last year’s National Championship Game between the Gators and the Cougars. This time, it would take place in Houston’s backyard.”

Houston would be a tough out for the Gators, who struggled against top-tier competition early in the season.

Still, for Florida to repeat as champions, it will have to win tough games deep in the tournament. A No. 1 seed would give the Gators their best opportunity to make it through the first weekend.

Survive and advance.