Mike Ridaught
First and foremost, I’m a Gator fan.
So, the fact that Florida was one-and-done in the NCAA tournament has lowered my excitement level for the Big Dance.
Despite its earliest NCAA Tournament exit since 2010, I consider the season a huge success though as the Gators’ 24 wins were the team’s most since 2016-17. Plus, they got to the SEC championship game.
Florida, a No. 7 seed in the South Region, set a program NCAA Tournament record for points in a game in the 102-100 loss in regulation to No. 10 seed Colorado.
UF finished the season with a school-record 85.6 points per game.
Three Gators scored 500-plus points in a season for the first time in program history: Walter Clayton Jr. (633 — which ranks fifth all-time in program history), Zyon Pullin (512) and Tyrese Samuel (500).
Clayton had 33 on Friday, marking the second-most in Florida NCAA Tournament history behind only KeVaughn Allen’s 35 in the 2017 Sweet 16 vs. Wisconsin.
As Zach Abolverdi wrote, the turnaround season made Florida basketball ‘fantastic’ once again.
With no allegiance remaining, it’s now all about my bracket.
I picked some upsets, like No. 11 Duquesne over No. 6 BYU, and No. 12 James Madison University over No. 5 seed Wisconsin.
I also picked No. 11 NC State over No. 6 Texas Tech.
Shoutout to the Wolfpack (24-14) for playing five games and winning the ACC Tournament, and for a pair of wins this past weekend.
That’s seven wins in 12 days for the No. 10 seed.
NC State’s Sweet 16 game in the South Region against No. 2 seed Marquette (27-9) set for Friday night.
How is your bracket? I’m 11-5 in Sweet 16 picks.
There definitely were some bracket-busters.
Kentucky’s loss to No. 14 seed Oakland affected millions of brackets after the No. 3 seed Wildcats were bounced from the South Region.
March Madness Live, the NCAA’s official site, reported only 0.005% of brackets were flawless.
I actually had the Gators beating the Wildcats in the Sweet 16 and advancing to the Elite Eight.
You can call me a homer, but I felt the way Florida played against Kentucky during the regular season that the Gators could beat them again on a neutral floor. I liked their matchups in the first two games against Colorado and Marquette.
Unfortunately, neither team got out of the first round.
The SEC had eight teams qualify for the tournament. However, the SEC went 3-5 in first round games and all five losses were to lower seeds, including No. 4 seed Auburn’s upset loss to No. 13 seed Yale.
It used to be that you could expect a No. 12 seed to upset a No. 5 seed.
This year it was the No. 11 seed, which went 3-1 against the No. 6 seed, including No. 6 South Carolina’s 87-73 loss against No. 11 seed Oregon.
At least Tennessee (26-8) and Alabama (23-11) represented the SEC and advanced.
Here are five early thoughts on Tennessee-Creighton (25-9) in the Sweet 16 (Friday around 10:15 p.m. on TBS and TruTV).
Alabama, the No. 4 seed in the West, will face top seed North Carolina (29-7) on Thursday in Los Angeles (around 9:45 p.m. on CBS). Here is what the Crimson Tide said about their matchup against UNC.
That follows No. 2 Arizona (27-8) and sixth-seeded Clemson (23-11) at 7:09 p.m. ET. The Wildcats (27-8) are -7.5 (-104) according to FanDuel.
On Saturday, I had Kansas beating Gonzaga in the Round of 32 and advancing to the Sweet 16.
They won a title two years ago, but if there is a model of consistency in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, it’s Gonzaga.
The Bulldogs improved to 27-8 in NCAA play since 2015. That leads the nation in games played and in wins in the NCAA tournament.
They also advanced to their ninth straight Sweet 16.
However, Gonzaga and Purdue, which also made the Sweet 16, lead the country with the most NCAA Tournament wins without a national championship.
Top seed Purdue (31-4) will face No. 5 seed Gonzaga (27-7) in the Midwest Region at 7:39 p.m. on Friday (TBS/truTV).
Purdue defeated Gonzaga, 73-63, in November at the Maui Invitational.
Other matchups this week include top seed UConn vs. No. 5 seed San Diego State (26-10), a rematch of last year’s title game, in the East Region on Thursday (7:39 p.m., TBS/truTV), followed by No. 2 seed Iowa State (29-7) vs. No. 3 Illinois (28-8) in the East Region (10:09 PM, TBS/truTV).
Top seed Houston (32-4) will face No. 4 seed Duke (26-8) in the South Region on Thursday night (9:39 p.m. – CBS).
Let’s hope this weekend is a little more competitive.
While there were some great games with Creighton-Oregon going into double overtime, and Houston’s 100-95 overtime win against Texas A&M, just to name a couple, there were a lot of blowouts.
The 15.8-point average margin of victory is second all-time since the field expanded to 64 in 1985.
But the cream rises to the top.
All four top seeds are still alive and all eight top-two seeds are headed to the regional round for the fifth time.
I love this time of the year, but with the Gators out, the Sweet 16 is bittersweet for me, or not so sweet.
Enjoy the games.