Swampcast talks Florida football, Florida basketball vs No. 1 Auburn
The Sun’s Kevin Brockway and Noah Ram talk Florida football signing day and No. 6 Florida basketball vs No. 1 Auburn with Adam Cole of the Montgomery Advertiser.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee revealed its Top 16 seeds ahead of 2025 March Madness on Saturday.
There’s still a month to go before Selection Sunday on March 16. But No. 3 Florida basketball finds itself in good position heading into the back stretch of the 2024-25 season.
The No. 3 Florida Gators (22-3, 9-3 SEC) project as a No, 1 seed in the West Region, where the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight will be held in San Francisco, Calif.
“The goal is for us to be the best team in America,” Florida basketball coach Todd Golden said after UF’s 88-67 win over South Carolina on Saturday night. “That’s our goal. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but we’ll continue to work for it. But it’s a great starting point. Obviously, we want to give ourselves the best chance to advance in the NCAA Tournament as possible. If you’re able to lock down a 1 seed, you give yourself a much better chance to do that. So, we’ll continue to talk about it and try to reach that goal.”
UF was named the fourth overall No. 1 seed by the NCAA Selection Committee, behind No. 1 overall seed Auburn (South, Atlanta), No, 2 overall seed Alabama (Midwest, Indianapolis) and No, 3 overall seed Duke (East, Newark, N.J.).
The other projected seeds in the West Region with Florida are No. 2 seed Houston, No. 3 seed Kentucky and No. 4 seed Michigan.
Florida has earned No. 1 seeds twice in program history ― both times under former head coach Billy Donovan ― in 2007 and 2014. UF’s 2007 team repeated as national champions and its 2014 team reached the Final Four, before falling to eventual national champion UConn.
If Florida ends up the No. 1 seed in the West and advances to the Sweet 16 in San Francisco, it would be a homecoming of sorts for Golden, who was an assistant and head coach at San Francisco from 2016-22. Golden also played college basketball in the Bay Area at Saint Mary’s under coach Randy Bennett from 2004-08.
This story was updated
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1
