His team was sequestered this time last March in Nashville, observing pandemic-induced restrictions and playing SEC tournament games before sparse audiences in an effort to bolster their NCAA seeding.
“The whole season was kind of a fog, where everything seemed a bit off, of course, for obvious reasons,” recalled Florida coach Mike White, whose two tourney games at Bridgestone Arena had an announced total of fewer than 4,000 fans. “It was unfortunate, but it was what it was.”
A year later, the unranked Gators (19-12, 9-9 SEC) arrive in Tampa burdened with far more pressure than protocols. Instead of existing in a bubble, they’re on one.
Based on their blemished resume, an early exit in this week’s SEC tourney at Amalie Arena essentially shatters their modest NCAA hopes.
“You’ve got to win games,” said Gators 6-foot-11 senior Colin Castleton, a second-team pick on the coaches All-SEC team. “Whatever we’ve got to do to win games, that’s what it all boils down to. Everybody knows it, it’s not going to be sugarcoated.”
Excluding the 2019-20 season, when March Madness became one of sports’ initial COVID-19 casualties, the Gators haven’t missed an NCAA Tournament since 2016. But they’re currently only 54th (seventh among SEC teams) in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, a primary gauge used by the selection committee when assessing a team’s candidacy.
Additionally, White’s team is only 2-9 in Quad 1 contests (most challenging games on the schedule) and still feels the smudge of a 15-point home loss to Texas Southern (212th in the NET rankings) in early December. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi lists the Gators and Texas A&M — their opponent Thursday afternoon — among the “First Four Out” in his latest projection of the NCAA’s 68-team field.
“Obviously must beat Texas A&M,” ESPN Hall of Fame hoops analyst Dick Vitale said via text when asked what Florida must do in Tampa to make the NCAA field.
“A lock for March Madness and knocking out the committee would be to beat Auburn (in Friday’s quarterfinals). If they lose to Auburn in a real battle they become on the table to be discussed. If (they) lose easily I think they go from being on the bubble to a bubble bath.”
While Vitale — and conventional wisdom — suggest the Gators must win at least two games at Amalie to enter serious NCAA discussion, even that might not be sufficient if other bubble teams also make nice conference tournament runs.
Veteran ESPN analyst Mark Wise noted how big wins last weekend by fellow bubble teams Michigan (at Ohio State) and North Carolina (at Duke) did no favors for the Gators, who squandered their own chance for a statement win by losing to Kentucky at home on senior day.
Similarly, any nice conference tourney run by a Rutgers or a Creighton or an Indiana (all bubble teams) could partially offset one made by the Gators at Amalie.
“There could be a scenario where Florida could win one (SEC tourney game) and get in,” said Wise, a USF assistant during the Lee Rose era. “My guess is, it would probably take two. But again, if the people around you also win two and also beat somebody of significance, you haven’t gained any ground.”
Naturally, White can’t concern himself with such scenarios. No less a basketball sage than Norman Dale (see Hoosiers) once said a tradition exists in tournament play to not talk about the next step until you’ve climbed the one in front of you.
The Gators’ first step at Amalie is steep enough. Texas A&M (20-11, 9-9), on a four-game win streak, held off a late Florida surge to top the Gators, 56-55, three weeks ago in College Station.
“We’ve got to win games,” White said.
“(The Gators’ fate) is up to the committee and the people that do it for a living. Not only those guys I guess, but Lunardi and all of the other experts in the field. They’re going to make cases and they’re going to put people in and have people out, and all we can focus on is Texas A&M.”
Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com . Follow @TBTimes_Bulls
SEC basketball tournament
At Amalie Arena Wednesday-Sunday
Tickets: Full tournament and individual-session tickets available at secticketoffice.com or amaliearena.com
Game schedule
Wednesday: No. 12 seed Missouri vs. No. 13 Ole Miss, 6; No. 11 Vanderbilt vs. No. 14 Georgia, 8:30
Thursday: No. 8 Texas A&M vs. No. 9 Florida, noon; No. 5 LSU vs. TBD, 2:30; No. 7 South Carolina vs. No. 10 Miss. State, 6:30; No. 6 Alabama vs. TBD, 8:30
Friday: No. 1 Auburn vs. TBD, noon; No. 4 Arkansas vs. TBD, 2:30; No. 2 Tennessee vs. TBD, 6; No. 3 Kentucky vs. TBD, 8:30
Saturday: Semifinals, 1 and 3:30
Sunday: Championship, 1
