Reaction: Gators Enter Joe Lunardi's Bracketology as 9-Seed

After a strong second year under Todd Golden and an offseason of improving the roster, the Florida Gators enter 2024 as a nine-seed in Joe Lunardi's Bracketology, but is this ranking too low?

Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden lead the Florida Gators men’s basketball team in a practice on John W. Frost II Practice Court in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun] / Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Even after an impressive year two under Todd Golden, it seems the Florida Gators still have much to prove to their peers heading into the new campaign. 

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi updated his Men’s Bracketology: 2025 NCAA Tournament seeding on Tuesday and the Gators enter the new season as a 9-seed, which might come as a surprise to most due to how they performed last season and how they rebuilt their roster this offseason. 

Additionally, there are also eight other SEC schools who feature in Lunardi’s first rendition of bracketology this season that rank higher than the Gators and one sitting as their equal. 

The other SEC teams included are 1-seed Alabama, 2-seed Auburn, 4-seeds Tennessee and Arkansas, 5-seeds Texas A&M and Texas, 6-seed Kentucky, 7-seed Mississippi State and fellow 9-seed Ole Miss. 

But after looking at these schools, it is somewhat confusing as to why the Gators are rated lesser than others.

For example, it seems a little rushed to rank Kentucky and Arkansas as surefire better teams right now. Both schools had to hire new coaches who transformed their entire rosters through the portal. Not to mention, Arkansas had zero scholarship players at one point. It is going to take time for these teams to click – and that is not even a guarantee. 

Then, it is hard to believe that the state of Mississippi is at an equal or more advantageous spot than the Gators. Mississippi State and Ole Miss finished under .500 in the league last year, while the Florida finished 11-7 and probably had the better offseason than either school.

However, to play devil’s advocate in this situation, there are some obvious questions the Gators will need to answer. They lost starting point guard Zyon Pullin, starting forward Tyrese Samuel and starting center Micah Handlogten, who is set to medically redshirt after a broken ankle in the SEC Tournament.

So, how will Florida replace them, and what impact will it have offensively? Also, with Pullin now gone, is Walter Clayton Jr.’s production going to take a dip as he will be tasked with being the first option and lead ball handler? 

And while these are valid points, the Gators will hope they have already solved their biggest problem from a year ago through the portal. Defense was the Achilles heel for the Gators in last season, but Golden strongly addressed this problem by bringing in multiple high-level defenders to help fix one of the worst defenses in the SEC and NCAA last season. 

In his latest portal class, Golden managed to sway guard Alijah Martin, forward Sam Alexis and center Rueben Chinyelu to relocate to Gainesville. All three should instantly improve this Gators defense in 2024-25. 

Furthermore, this team boasts great depth in each position. 

At the guard spot, they will have Clayton Jr. and Martin as starters and Denzel Aberdeen and Urban Klavzar serving as bench options. Now, Klavzar might be a new name for fans of the Orange & Blue, but the freshman has tons of international experience under his belt as he has competed at multiple levels for the Slovenian national program, which includes All-Tournament honors at the 2024 U20 EuroBasket. 

As for wings, Will Richard will lead the way for the Gators with freshman Isaiah Brown being the most likely bench option. 

Lastly, the forward/center positions are well stocked too. The primary candidates to start at power forward and center are Alexis and Alex Condon. Then, the Gators will have Thomas Haugh and Chinyelu coming off the bench as replacements. 

So, if the Gators are able to play to their strengths like they did last year, it is hard to see them as a 9-seed come the end of the year with the amount of talent they have on this team and how they addressed their weak spots this offseason.