NASHVILLE – There wasn’t any doubt in Florida basketball coach Todd Golden’s mind. Yes, the Gators should still be a No. 1 seed in March Madness.
Top-seeded UF was eliminated by Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament semifinals on Saturday, March 14. Adding to the untimeliness of the loss was that Florida’s 91-74 loss to the Commodores was its worst of the season.
“Looking at Quad 1 wins, I think we’re in a good spot that way,” Florida basketball coach Todd Golden said postgame. “Analytically, the predictive metrics, whether it’s KenPom, Torvik, we’re top four in all those by a wide margin. It’s really not close.”
Entering the matchup, Florida had 12 wins against Quadrant 1 teams, the fourth-most in the country.
“We had our early-season tough start where we played really good, competitive opponents, and road or semi-away venues where we fell a little bit short,” Golden said. “We haven’t lost in 54 days or something leading up to this game, playing some of the best basketball in America. I do believe we’ve done enough to be the fourth 1 seed. But we’ll find out tomorrow night.”
It was a sentiment shared by Gator forward Alex Condon, who was held to 13 points and seven rebounds after picking up four fouls.
“It’s out of our hands,” Condon said. “I feel this team is a national championship contender. I think we have really good players, and we are a super deep team. It’s out of our hands. We can’t do anything about it now. It’s up to them.”
For Condon, Friday’s ugly win against Kentucky bled over against Vanderbilt.
“I think we came in with the mindset with passive and let the end of yesterday’s game carry into today a little bit,” Condon said. “I can guarantee we are not going to be complacent now. With that chip on our shoulder again, we haven’t had this feeling in a while, now getting blasted by a team like this.
“I think it’s not the worst thing that could have happened. Waking us up a little bit and playing with a little bit more urgency.”
Florida’s leading scorer, Thomas Haugh, who put up 19 points and nine rebounds vs. Vanderbilt, wasn’t concerned about the committee. Rather, he was already focused on how his team would respond — similarly to how the Gators did after their last loss to Auburn back on Jan. 24.
“I don’t really care, I’ll leave it to the committee,” Haugh said. “We didn’t play our game today. That’s just what happens. You saw what we did when we lost to Auburn, too, so hopefully we have the same fire underneath our butts, and go back out here and get it done.”
Still, it’ll be the first time in two years that the Gators are not in the SEC championship game. Notably, all three of UF’s national titles featured Florida winning the tournament.
“Part of what makes our program what it is is our consistency,” Golden said. “We are not going to change a lot. We are going to get back to defending, rebounding and taking care of the ball.
“As I told the team in the locker room, very disappointed to not be playing on Sunday again. But everything that we — our goal at the beginning of the year is still in front of us in terms of being able to play for a national championship.”
Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at AAbadie@usatodayco.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at Andrew Abadie Sports Reporter or on Instagram @andrewabadie_sports.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida basketball makes final pitch for No. 1 seed after SEC Tournament exit
Reporting by Andrew Abadie, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
