The NCAA Tournament for Florida Basketball will get underway on Friday when the Gators take the court in Raleigh against the Norfolk State Spartans. This isn't the first time two teams have met during March Madness as the two met in the second round of the 2012 tournament, where Florida won 84-50.
Perhaps feeling the vibes of 2012, Florida has opened as a 28.5 point favorite. That is a massive number to cover but here are five reasons why Vegas has set the bar so high.
Norfolk State got fortunate in the MEAC title game
One of the moments that got glossed during championship week was the ending of the MEAC championship game between Norfolk State and South Carolina State.
Norfolk State gave up a four-point lead with 15 seconds to play and the game was tied at 65. South Carolina State then forgot the game was tied and intentionally fouled Norfolk State, sending them to the free-throw line.
The Spartans made one of two and had to survive a last-second shot.
Norfolk State has six Quad 3 or Quad 4 losses
The Spartans do have a 24-10 record and despite the craziness at the end of the MEAC championship game, they were also the regular season champions in that conference.
But despite 24 wins, the Spartans are 183rd in NET rankings and lost six times in either Quad 3 or Quad 4 games, including two losses to teams with NET ratings over 300 (Morgan State and North Carolina Central).
Norfolk State runs out of size quickly
One of the common themes that gives us confidence for a deep Gator run in March are the number of teams they are going to face who are prone to quickly run out of size if anyone gets into foul trouble.
Norfolk State has 6'10" Tyrel Bladen and 6'11" Kuluel Mading. After that it's a couple 6'8" guys, neither of whom average more than 25 minutes.
As we saw in the SEC Tournament, if a team runs out of size against the Gators, they are in trouble in a heartbeat.
Norfolk State can't shoot threes
A couple of weeks ago, when we started highlighting teams who might cause Florida trouble, we highlighted Omaha as a team Florida wouldn't want to see in the first round because of their ability to shoot threes.
Florida, on paper, will not have to worry about that with the Spartans. Norfolk State is 306th in the country in three-point shooting, and while they are 56th in two-point shooting, we are going to guess they haven't had to deal with the inside presence the Gators are going to present.
Norfolk State can't rebound
The singular stat that could lead this game to get out of hand in a hurry will be on the glass. As we know, Florida thrives at getting offensive rebounds and is 8th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage.
Norfolk State, meanwhile, is one of the worst rebounding teams in the country, collecting just 67% of opponent misses and ranking 347th out of 364 teams in the country.
So even if the shots aren't falling for the Gators, there should be ample opportunity to get second chance opportunities.