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Florida Gators Basketball: How to watch Selection Sunday

By Benjamin Henderson

Jan 18, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Florida Gators guard Trey Bonham (2) takes a free-throw against the Texas A&M Aggies during the first half at Reed Arena. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 18, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; Florida Gators guard Trey Bonham (2) takes a free-throw against the Texas A&M Aggies during the first half at Reed Arena. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports /
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Selection Sunday is fast approaching and the hopes and dreams of the Florida Gators will hang in the balance as 68 teams get invited to The Big Dance.

Florida missed out on the tournament last year and hopes to reverse their fortunes this year.

When: Sunday, March 12

Time: 6 PM

TV: CBS

Selection Sunday: The Florida Gators are ranked in the 40s in the computer rankings, so they are a shoo-in right?

Well, not quite. While 68 teams will be invited to the tournament, it’s not necessarily the 68 “best” teams in the nation. 32 teams get an automatic bid to the tournament by winning their conference.

So when a team from the Big South or the SoCon win their conference, they will eat up one of the 68 bids. This leaves 36 teams that don’t win their conference to hope to get an at-large bid.

Didn’t the field used to be 64 teams?

It did, but the NCAA expanded the field to 68 teams and now requires the “Last four in” to travel to Dayton, OH to play in an opening round game before making it to the main dance. The four lowest-rated teams in the tournament also have to travel to Dayton.

How long will this take?

If CBS dives right into the brackets, they could have the whole tournament revealed in 30 minutes. Hopefully they learned their lesson from a few years ago when they dragged the proceedings out for two hours and were properly lambasted for it.

When you my ears perk up to see if Florida makes it in?

Realistically if Florida sneaks it will be as a 10, 11, or 12 seed. So if they are announcing the 3 seed vs 14 seed game, don’t expect Florida’s name to be called at that point. There is also the very real possibility if Florida does sneak in that it will be traveling to Dayton for the opening round game.

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