Florida’s 2022-23 SEC schedule has been announced, meaning we can finally see what look to be difficult stretches and where the Gators might be able to string together some wins and gain momentum. Without further ado, let’s just get into it.
December 28: @ Auburn
January 4: Texas A&M
January 7: Georgia
January 10: @ LSU
January 14: Missouri
January 18: @ Texas A&M
January 21: @ Mississippi State
January 25: South Carolina
February 1: Tennessee
February 4: @ Kentucky
February 8: @ Alabama
February 11: Vanderbilt
February 15: Ole Miss
February 18: @ Arkansas
February 22: Kentucky
February 25: @ Vanderbilt
February 28: @ Georgia
March 3: LSU
With the SEC becoming so strong top to bottom there are never any particularly easy games or cupcake stretches, but there are still games that are easier than others and opportunities where the Gators could win a few in a row or find themselves on a losing skid.
For starters, the Gators will have an opportunity to jump out near the front of the SEC standings in games two to five. Yes, they start the season against a powerful Auburn squad, but after that they get home games with Texas A&M, Georgia, and Missouri, with a road contest with LSU coming in the middle. Texas A&M has struggled recently during the start of SEC play and really picked things up at the end of the season so this is a great time for the Gators to catch them. Georgia, LSU, and Missouri are all in rebuilds, so to get them three in a row is an opportunity for the Gators to gather some steam. Of course, Georgia coming to town means the return of Mike White to Gainesville.
However, if you have an easy stretch of games in the SEC–that means a difficult stretch is coming. On January 28th the Gators will have a challenging game in the Big 12-SEC Challenge against Kansas State on the road (a chance for the Gators to potentially see Keyontae Johnson who announced his transfer there) and then will enter an extremely challenging three game stretch. First, they’ll get Tennessee at home on February 1st, a team that many will project to win the SEC and a team that the Gators have had all kinds of trouble with in recent seasons. Next, Florida will get Kentucky and Alabama on the road on February 4 and February 8, about as challenging a back to back road slate as a team could have in the SEC.
Another challenging two game turnaround happens a week later as the Gators will be on the road at Arkansas in front of a raucous crowd and then back in Gainesville to see the Kentucky Wildcats. These will be two teams projected to be near the top of the SEC so these could be two huge games nearing the end of the season.
By the time late February rolls around you will hope that the Gators are comfortably in position for an NCAA Tournament berth and a quality seed in the SEC Tournament, but if not, things do break well for Florida’s last three games of the season where they have Vanderbilt, Georgia, and LSU. The Commodores look like an improved roster, but they’re still going to be projected to finish in the bottom third of the SEC. Georgia and LSU might have things more figured out than they did early in the season where the Gators first see them as their transfer heavy rosters continue to meld, but relative to the big time heavy hitters at the top of the league this is a somewhat favorable way to end regular season play.
This season the SEC will compete for the title of best league in college basketball as years of investment in basketball has built the conference into a hoops power. That means the Gators will have all the opportunities they could ask for to build a quality NCAA Tournament resume, though it also means they’ll have plenty of opportunities to have losses. With the SEC having an unbalanced schedule due to the size of the league the schedule matters greatly and the Gators have one that gives them opportunities to string some wins together against teams that will likely be in the bottom half of the league and hopefully give them the confidence to take down some of the big boys at the top. Just how many of those big boys they take down will define their season both from an SEC and NCAA Tournament standpoint.