Shoulda had us there last year Joey. Way-Too-Early men's Bracketology: Defending champion Florida returns to the top line
I know, right? Year after year after year of ignoring the Gators. He finally pays attention when he has no other options. I still think he needs to get a real job. Dude, move out of your mom's basement. Kiss a real girl, not that inflatable in the corner. If you wanna write, be a real writer.
Look, I have no issue with Joe. All of us would take the check to do what he does. And back in the day he was the guy that sorta cracked the code. Before we had quads and nets etc....He would often get the entire field correct (not seeds, but field). This was before every site had their own guy using basically Joe's methodology. He wasnt alone in falling all over Auburn and Duke this season. That was the quad/net garbage. I honestly think in the old days he might have had us at #1 before the system was basically automatic.
With all of this preseason praise from the press, it will be one of the most challenging years to maintain the mantra that the media hates us. But I know somehow we will succeed.
Just one note here: Duke and Auburn combined to win 67 games and both made the final four. They were both excellent teams.
If we aren’t in Tampa for the first weekend, I think we can legitimately call the regular season a disappointment.
What's that saying about a frozen clock being right once or twice a day? Along with some minor changes, Lunardi basically took the 2025 finish and made it his preseason bracket, lol. This time, there are not as many high-end high seeds like two or three #1 seeds and multiple 2 seeds like in the 2025 season. SEC (14 bids, same as 2025): High-Seeds 1. Florida (East) <-- Overall #1 seed 2. Tennessee (West) 3. Kentucky (MidWest) 4. Auburn (South) 5. Alabama (West), Arkansas (Midwest) 6. ------------------ Low-Seeds 7. Missouri (East) 8. Vandy (West), Miss. St (Midwest), Oklahoma (South) 9. Texas (East) 10. Georgia (South), Ole Miss 11. Texas AM (Midwest) 12. Florida's Non-conference Opponents: (1) - Duke (West) (2) - UConn (Midwest in (1) Houston's bracket) (3) - Arizona (West) (10) - Miami (East) vs (10) Iowa <-- Play in game In my opinion, the 8/9 seeds are the worst to have as there is little chance of advancing to the SW16 by defeating a 1-seed. Four SEC teams at the 8/9 positions there again? That basically eliminates a 1/3 of the conference from advancing. As a 6/7/10 seed, one has a better chance of defeating a 2/3 seed to advance past the first weekend.
Florida seems to have a favorable home SEC schedule (ie, Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Kentucky (h/a), etc.) - that will help in trying to win the regular season SEC title. Last season, Florida had a much, harder SEC schedule & was able to win on the road decisively at many places (i.e at #1 Auburn, at 7 Alabama, etc.). However, that 1st SEC game on the road (at Kentucky) and dropping one at Georgia was costly in not winning the 2025 SEC title. Additionally, in order to secure a 1-seed, UF needs to win 2/3 (I believe) of Arizona(N), UConn(N) and Duke (A).
Yea, but if we sweep our home schedule then a slight OOC failure might not stop us from being a one. That’s a ton of big time opportunities in the O’Dome where it’s tough to beat us when we are elite.
I am surprised that the Big-East has only three bids: (2) UConn, (2) St Johns and (8) Creighton. For a conference with that many high seeds, I thought that was strange. Meanwhile, the ACC seems to have a resurgence (from 3 bids to 6 bids). The strength is 1 Duke, 5 North Carolina along with 7 Louiville (seems low), 9 NC State & 10 Miami. Who is that 6th ACC team that I am missing? I don't see any of the old BE teams like Syracuse, Pitt, etc.
The Big Ten (11 bids) High-seeds: 1. Purdue (South) 2. Michigan (East) 3. 4. Michigan St (MidWest), UCLA (West), Illinois (East) 5. 6. Ohio St (West), Wisconsin (East) Low-seeds: 7. USC (West), Oregon (South) 8 9 10. Maryland (Midwest), Iowa (East) 11 12 (See me post above for the SEC - 14 teams) The Big-Ten has 7 high seeds while the SEC has 6 high seeds. As for the low-seeds, the SEC has 8 teams while the Big-Ten has only 4-teams. Hmmmm..
