The field of 68 is set for this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and Florida earned a No. 1 seed (South), along with Michigan (Midwest), Arizona (West) and overall No. 1 Duke (East).

The defending national champion Gators (26-7), the Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular season champion, earned a No. 1 seed for the second straight season, something former coach Billy Donovan didn’t do when UF won back-to-back titles in 2006-07.

Florida will look to bounce back from Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament semifinals. The Commodores (26-7) defeated the Gators, 91-74, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

UF trailed by 13 at the half, which was the most they had trailed at the half since their loss to Auburn back on Jan. 24, and they had their 12-game winning streak end while suffering their worst loss of the season.

Plus, their 3-point shooting woes returned.

They were just 3-of-20 (15%) from 3-point range in a 71-63 win against Kentucky in Friday’s SEC quarterfinals and 5-for-17 against Vanderbilt. That’s a combined 21.6% for a team that was shooting 37.6% in their previous 11 games.

That’s still far better than their first three games of the season, when they made only 21.1% (19 of 90) behind the arc.

Currently, they are averaging 30.8% for the season, which is down from the average of 35% shooting by the last 15 national champions.

In fact, they rank 324th overall out of 365 teams this season.

From 2010-2019, five of the 10 national champions shot at least 38% for the season from the three-point line and eight of the 10 made at least 35%.

UConn had the lowest (32.9%) during that time period (2011). In fact, the Huskies shot just 11% (1-for-11) in a 53-41 win against Butler in a defensive slugfest title game that year.

But that’s an anomaly.

Since then, Baylor shot 41.3% for the season in 2021, Kansas made 35.1% in 2022, UConn was 35.3% from behind the arc and 36% when they repeated, and Florida made 35.6% last year (the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

The Gators made just 6-of-24 (25%) against Houston in last year’s title game, although they did hold the Cougars scoreless over the last two plus minutes.

Typically, it takes good guard play to win a title, as we saw last year with NBA signees Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin.

But we also know that Florida’s frontcourt might be the best in the country and a big reason why the Gators are ninth in the country, averaging 86.8 points per game.

However, that number is down to just 76.3 points over their last three games, which includes an 84-77 win at Kentucky when Florida shot 44.4% (8-of-18) from the 3-point line.

They may not need their 3-point shooting in the opening round.

Florida will take on the winner of the First Four game between No. 16 seeds Prairie View A&M and Lehigh at 9:25 p.m. on Friday in Tampa at Benchmark International Arena.

They may not need it against No. 8 seed Clemson or No. 9 Iowa in the next round.

But the Gators, who are making their 24th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and third in a row under fourth-year head coach Todd Golden, could need it against No. 5 seed Vanderbilt, assuming the Commodores defeat No. 12 McNeese State on Thursday and either No. 4 Nebraska or No. 13 Troy in the Round of 32 on Saturday.

When Florida defeated Vandy, 98-94, on the road on Jan. 17, the Gators made 9-of-24 (37.5%). The Commodores, who made 8-of-22 (36.4%) that day, connected on 48% behind the arc against UF (10-of-21) this past Saturday.

Vandy shoots 35.5% on the season, which is 88th nationally, but they also made 42% (10-of-24) in the SEC championship game loss to Arkansas.

Can Florida win the title without knocking down 3-point shots? Yes, but we also know the Gators are at their best when they do.

Golden, who has led UF to a 6-1 record in the NCAA Tournament, including last season’s national championship, will have his team locked in after losing for the first time since the Auburn loss.

As Donovan famously said before the Gators’ 2006 national title, “You’ve got to live in the moment.”

Florida defeated UCLA, 73–57, to win the first of their back-to-back national titles.

Now the Gators enter the 2026 NCAA tournament with a chance to win consecutively again, and they are six wins away from joining UCLA as the only two-time back-to-back national champions.