The Florida Gators were the first team to punch their ticket to the championship game of the SEC Tournament on Saturday. They will face Tennessee after the Volunteers eliminated No. 1 Auburn in the second SEC semifinal game. Florida had no issue with Alabama, rolling past the No. 2 seed in the SEC, 104-82. Following Florida’s win in the SEC Tournament semifinal, head coach Todd Golden gave a strong opinion on the Gators possibly being a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, as per Pate Thamel of ESPN.
“I think we secured a No. 1 seed today,” Golden said. “That’s my opinion. . .I don’t really think it’s a debate, regardless of the result tomorrow.”
Obviously, Florida’s potential No. 1 seeding in March Madenss could hinge on the result of the Gators’ performance in Sunday’s SEC Tournament championship against Tennessee. But regardless, Todd Golden seems to have a point regarding Florida’s chances and securing one of the four No. 1 seeds.
On the final AP men’s basketball poll, Florida came in at No. 4 overall in the country behind only Duke, Houston and Auburn. They finished with an overall record of 27-4 overall and 14-4 in SEC regular season play. They’ve consistently been ranked in the among the top four in each AP poll.
This is Golden’s third season as head coach at Florida since taking over ahead of the 2022-23 season. His first year, the Gators finished 16-17 and made the NIT Tournament. Last season they finished 24-12 and were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
This has been the best season finish so far in the Golden era. Golden got his first head coaching job in 2019 at the University of San Francisco. He spent three seasons at USF and guided the Dons to the NCAA Tournament his final season in 2021-22.
But the Gators will ultimately have to wait until Selection Sunday to learn the NCAA Tournament fate.
The post Todd Golden drops stern No. 1 take after hammering Alabama appeared first on ClutchPoints.
