Saturday was the 16th game of the season for Florida Basketball and the halfway mark of the regular season, as the Gators still have 15 games before the SEC Tournament gets underway. Most bracketology prognosticators have Florida pegged as a two-seed, though there are a couple slotting them as a potential number-one seed.
There is still a long way to go, but how does Florida's current resume stack up against other potential one-seeds?
Florida Basketball: Fantastic
Team | NET | RPI | Quad 1 Record | Strength of Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Auburn | 1st | 1st | 7-1 | 7th |
Duke | 2nd | 8th | 5-2 | 14th |
Iowa State | 6th | 13th | 4-1 | 47th |
Alabama | 7th | 2nd | 4-2 | 2nd |
Florida | 5th | 16th | 4-1 | 66th |
Marquette | 12th | 6th | 5-2 | 19th |
Tennessee | 4th | 9th | 4-1 | 40th |
Kansas | 8th | 4th | 3-3 | 5th |
The NCAA committee claims they value NET rating, so being 5th in this metric should be a big boost for Florida. We didn't even include Houston on this chart because even though they are 3rd in NET, they are 3-3 against Quad 1 opponents.
The major red flag for Florida is their strength of schedule is by far the lowest of all the other teams in consideration, but their four Quad 1 wins are tied for the 5th most in the country, and a good chunk of SEC games will be Quad 1.
If the committee had to pick today, Auburn and Duke would be locks to be a one seed. Iowa State probably isn't really the best choice if looking at a blind resume, but we also have a feeling the committee isn't going to take three SEC teams to be a one-seed, and the Cyclones will sneak in by default.
That leaves the final one seed for Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee. The Gators just crushed Tennessee by 30, but even though Florida has a better NET than Alabama, the Crimson Tide have the 2nd best strength of schedule in the country.
What's probably going to play out if Duke and Iowa State hold serve is that the top two teams in the SEC will get the nod when all is said and done.
Selection Sunday is March 16.