With four games left in the regular season, it would be easy for Florida Basketball to daydream about March. The Gators are 24-3 on the season but have a difficult slate of games to close out the regular season in their quest for a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament.
On paper, tonight is the easiest of their remaining four games. It's also what makes tonight feel like a bit of a trap.
Florida Basketball: It's A Trap
The last time we saw Georgia, Florida clocked them by 30 points. After getting Georgia ranked for the first time in a decade, Mike White and friends have struggled to keep pace in the SEC and are sitting at 4-10 in conference play.
ESPN Bracketology has Georgia on the outside looking in as it stands right now.
So it seems surprising that oddsmakers have Florida as just a seven-point favorite entering tonight, considering the Gators have won six straight games by a minimum of nine points.
Well, it appears Vegas is feeling a trap in Athens tonight.
Metrics-wise, there are not many things to grab onto to predict the upset. Florida can easily match Georgia's size, and as we saw in the first contest between the two squads, the Bulldogs are one of the worst teams in the country at turning the ball over.
The only thing to grasp is that Florida is on the road, and this has the feeling of being the last stand for Georgia. The final four games for Georgia are manageable, and if the Bulldogs can win their last four, they probably get themselves into the Big Dance.
Meanwhile, Florida's final three games are brutal, with Texas A&M, Alabama, and Ole Miss still left to navigate. Combined with hosting College Gameday on Saturday, the temptation is to look ahead, given they beat Georgia by 30 the first time around.
If the Gators want to secure a number one seed for March Madness, they probably can go no worse than 3-1 during this stretch.
So avoid the trap tonight and move on to Saturday as Florida looks to move to 25-3 on the season.