Gators Earn No. 7 Seed in NCAA Tournament

After an impressive run in the SEC Tournament, the Florida men’s basketball team received a No. 7 seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament.

The Gators head to Indianapolis on Friday, where they’ll play the winner of the Colorado-Boise State First Four game at 4:30 p.m. on TBS.

https://twitter.com/GatorsMBK/status/1769487881398038617

The Gators will be playing without starting center Micah Handlogten, who suffered a broken leg in the early minutes of the SEC championship game against Auburn on Sunday.

UF coach Todd Golden will be taking his team into March Madness for the first time in his second year. He took the Gators to their first SEC Tournament championship game since 2014 and is coming off of a 24-win season.

https://twitter.com/SEC/status/1769129655951307254

The loss of Handlogten will be felt. The starting center led the team in rebounds, averaging 7.1 per game. Florida led the nation in rebounds during the regular season, as the team brought down 42.97 rebounds per game. UF will now rotate between three big men in Tyrese Samuel, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh. Condon and Haugh have seen increased minutes down the stretch of the season, but losing the presence of Handlogten in the paint will be tough to replace for UF.

Out of surgery and doing well! Thank you all again for the support! 🧡💙🐊

— Micah Handlogten (@MHandlogten) March 18, 2024

This will mark the Gators’ 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance and the first one since 2021.

In 2021, the Gators were the No. 7 seed, as well. However, they fell to Oral Roberts, who was a 15-seed in the second round.

The Possible Opponents

Neither Colorado (24-10) nor Boise State (22-10), both a No. 10 seed, have played Florida before.

Colorado is coming off of a loss in the Pac-12 final, but won eight consecutive games before that.

https://twitter.com/CUBuffsMBB/status/1769487903325859997

Boise State is entering the tournament for the third consecutive year, but the Broncos have never won a tournament game.

Boise State will open #MarchMadness against Colorado.#BleedBlue x #UnbreakableCulture pic.twitter.com/noRjwsH6tx

— Boise State MBB (@BroncoSportsMBB) March 17, 2024

Their last and only meeting was in November 2022 when the Broncos beat the Buffaloes 68-55.

The two teams will play in Dayton, Ohio, at 9:10 p.m. Wednesday.