Despite losing the SEC Tournament final to Ole Miss on Sunday, the Gator men’s basketball team is a three seed in the NCAA Tournament field announced Sunday night. Florida will open play on Friday.
Florida is one of only three SEC teams to make the field; Missouri is a nine seed in the Midwest Regional and will face eight seed Colorado State while SEC Tournament champion Ole Miss is a 12 seed and will face five seed Wisconsin in the West Regional.
Florida’s first round opponent will be 14 seed Northwestern State, the Southland Conference Tournament champions. The Demons, a very high scoring team, knocked off regular season champion Stephen F. Austin 68-66 to make their first NCAA appearance since 2006. The Demons are 23-6 on the year and they’re also a team that likes to full court press a lot.
The Demons average an impressive 81 points a game and also average 15 assists a contest as well. They don’t shoot the 3 ball well (31 percent) but do shoot the ball well overall (46 percent). Much like Florida, they feature balanced scoring with four players averaging in double figures led by DeQuan Hicks at 14 points per game.
Louisville is the overall number one seed for the NCAA Tournament with Kansas, Indiana and Gonzaga receiving the other number one seeds.
Miami is a two seed in the East Region and former Gator coach Lon Kruger takes his fifth college team to the NCAA Tournament as his Oklahoma team is a 10 seed in the South Region. Florida Gulf Coast is a 15 seed in the South Region and will play two seed Georgetown in its opening game.
Former Gator assistant Shaka Smart has his VCU team back in the NCAA Tournament; VCU is a five seed and will face 12 seed Akson in the South Region.