GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — There’s only one way for No. 4 Florida to guarantee itself a top seed in the NCAA Tournament: win the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
And coach Todd Golden badly wants one of those No. 1 seeds in the NCAA field, which will be announced Sunday.
“We’re going to go try to win this thing,” he said emphatically Wednesday. “We’re going to give it all we got.”
Florida (27-4, 14-4 SEC) will play Missouri, LSU or Mississippi State in the quarterfinals Friday in Nashville, Tennessee. The second-seeded Gators enter the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the league, winners of nine of their last 10.
Texas A M Florida Basketball© Alan Youngblood
It’s not enough, though. Florida appears to have a tenuous grip on the final No. 1 seed, behind Duke, Auburn and Houston. Losing in the SEC tourney would put that at risk, especially if Alabama or Tennessee ends up cutting down the nets inside Bridgestone Arena.
“To be honest, I think it’s really important to us,” Golden said. “But at the same time, I’m not sure how big of a difference our path would truly be whether we’re the third or fourth 1 seed, or the first or second 2 seed. …
“We definitely want the 1 seed, don’t get me wrong. At this point, I think we’re in a really good spot. Pride-wise, we’re going to do everything we can to get this 1 seed. But I’m confident in our potential, whether we end up getting it or we’re a high 2.”
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Why does it matter? Sixteen of the last 23 national champions were No. 1 seeds. Six of the past seven champions have been top seeds, as well as 13 of the last 17.
“We’re approaching it with the same mentality we had all year, and that’s just going out and doing our job, trusting each other, having confidence in each other and go out and win,” senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. said.
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Clayton added that a No. 1 seed would mean little to him and his teammates.
“Whatever path, I like my guys,” he said. “Me and my guys against whoever.”
Golden, though, believes in analytics and numbers – so much so that he ordered up research on whether winning the league or advancing to the title game had any effect on NCAA Tournament success.
Golden and his staff were intrigued after the Gators made the SEC finale last year and then lost in the NCAA’s opening round. Golden decided to turn to data to see if the two had any historical correlation.
The results were mixed.
“It doesn’t matter enough,” Golden said.
He pointed to Auburn as an example. The Tigers won the SEC Tournament last year and then lost in the first round of NCAAs. They also won the league tourney in 2019 and then advanced to the Final Four.
Digging deeper, only three of the last 10 national champions — UConn (2024), Kansas (2022) and Villanova (2018) — won their conference tournament.
But Florida would rather have a No. 1 seed, especially since it would mean playing closer to home for the first and second rounds.
“That would be a nice little cherry on top of our regular season if we’re able to get the 1 seed for sure,” Golden said.
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