One of the main benefits for Florida Basketball being the two seed in the SEC Tournament is that they get to sit back and watch everyone else battle it out for two days before having to step on the court. By the time Florida has to play on Friday night, only six teams out of the original 16 who showed up to Nashville will still be in the running to win the SEC Tournament.
But with Selection Sunday and the NCAA Tournament looming, here are two truths and a lie for the Gators as they get set to try and cut down the nets.
Truth: Florida's depth should make them the favorite
One of the things that makes conference tournaments difficult to navigate, even with a double bye, is having to play three games in three days if you want to win it all. For teams starting outside the top four, they have to win four games in four days or even five games in five days.
As NC State showed last year in the ACC Tournament, it isn't impossible to pull off such a run, but fatigue makes it highly unlikely.
Florida has the potential to go nine players deep and should be able to spread out their minutes to give them the freshness advantage throughout.
Truth: Florida got screwed in SEC voting
We chronicled earlier this week how comical it was that Todd Golden wasn't named coach of the year, but it wasn't just Golden who got snubbed by the voters.
Thomas Haugh got passed over for 6th Man of the Year, Alex Condon was relegated to the All-SEC Third Team despite having a case to be on the first, Alijah Martin was passed over for Defensive Player of the Year, and Will Richard was left off the All-SEC teams altogether.
Golden claims they are using the snubs as motivation, and a motivated Gator squad is a scary sight for all.
Lie: The SEC Tournament will dictate how the NCAA Tournament
Not to pour cold water on this week, but the reality is that winning the SEC Tournament does little to guarantee a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
As we chronicled earlier this week, of the past 40 Final Four participants, 21 didn't win their conference tournament. The SEC Tournament champion has made the Final Four just once since 2016. Seven of the past ten national champions didn't win their conference tournament.
This doesn't mean Florida should take the laissez-faire approach that John Calipari alluded to earlier this week, and it doesn't mean that winning the SEC Tournament doesn't hold value as a meaningful banner for the program to raise.
It just means we shouldn't overreact one way or the other, no matter what happens this week.