Following a fantastic night of college basketball, ESPN's lead bracketologist Joe Lunardi has updated his bracketology projections. Known as "Joey Brackets," Lunardi has published numerous projections since his debut with ESPN in 1997. He is hailed as one of the most accurate bracketologists of all time, and is often credited with the founding of bracketology.
Climbing up the list
The Gators rank as the sixth overall seed and a two-seed in Lunardi's updated bracketology, a small but significant bump from their former ranking as the eighth overall seed, clinging them to the final two-seed projection. In Lunardi's updated version, the Gators passed Marquette and Kentucky, both of which underperformed in their respective matchups. Marquette narrowly edged past Georgetown in a home game where 12.5 points favored the Golden Eagles, while Kentucky fell to Georgia in Athens, burning the momentum they had sustained after defeating Florida. Lunardi's full reveal can be viewed here.
Florida's overall ranking of sixth lands them between Marquette and Alabama, who sits on the brink of a one-seed. The Crimson Tide will face South Carolina in Columbia later today, potentially giving the Gators the possibility of moving up a spot. In front of Alabama only the current one seeds, consisting of Auburn, Duke, Tennessee, and Iowa State in order of seeding from lowest to highest. All four teams will be in action later this week, leaving an opportunity for other teams to potentially surpass with favorable results.
What's Next?
The impact of Tuesday's win over first-ranked Tennessee cannot be overstated for the Gators. Not only did the Gators take down the nation's sole remaining undefeated team, in blowout fashion, but they also picked up their first quadrant one "A" victory, joining North Carolina and Florida State as quadrant one wins. The rivalry win is one that will likely pay dividends come Selection Sunday when the Gators will likely hear their name called for the second straight year and the second time in Todd Golden's tenure with the Gators.
The Gators will return to the road and travel to face Arkansas in Fayetteville on Saturday. Florida will get yet another crack at John Calipari, who took Arkansas' head coaching job after departing from the same position at Kentucky. This game will be yet another quadrant one opportunity for the Gators, in what is shaping to be a historically difficult start to league play.
Florida's resume is so no doubt among the best in the nation, but the Gators are truly just getting started. A whopping ten quadrant one opportunities remain on the schedule, along with another four quadrant two games. In fact, Florida's lone non-quadrant one or two game- against the South Carolina Gamecocks, won't be played until the 15th of February. The upcoming stretch is likely to be extremely difficult, but providing of many resume-boosting opportunities for the Gators.