Joe Lunardi predicts Florida Gators’ NCAA Tournament seeding

Will the No. 4 Florida Gators’ 91-74 blowout loss to No. 22 Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament semifinals Saturday cost UF a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament?

According to noted ESPN bracket guru Joe Lunardi, probably not.

“I think Florida is still going to be the No. 1 seed in the South [region] and fourth overall,” Lunardi said on ESPN shortly after the Florida-Vanderbilt game.

To Lunardi, Florida’s main competition for the final No. 1 seed is UConn, which beat the Gators earlier this season 77-73. Florida now is 26-7, while the Huskies are 29-4. But Florida is higher in the NCAA Net Rankings, has a better record vs. Quad-1 opponents, has a stronger strength of schedule and won its conference regular season title while UConn did not.

Body of work could be key to the Florida Gators

To Lunardi, all of that gives Todd Golden’s Gators the edge despite getting blown out Saturday.

“I’ve been tempted by this and I’m gonna be temped by this particular [matchup] given the head-to-head loss UConn has over Florida,” Lunardi said. “But this is where the term body of work really comes into play. And the committee already will have had this discussion having seeded the top lines already, which is important. They can go back and change it but they’ve done this already.

“Florida was the outright champion of a far stronger league. UConn finished second in a far weaker league. I know the UConn and Big East people won’t want to hear that but I fully expect that Florida is going to be the No. 1 seed in the South [Sunday] night. And the committee over the years, for all the slings and arrows they take, they’re very good at not overreacting to a single result. And that’s what we’re often guilty of, the folks in our seats. I think they’re gonna end up keeping Florida right where they are.”