Another season of college hoops is upon us, so you know what that means: complaining about December non-conference losses on Twitter, Bracketology updates ad nauseum from Joe Lunardi and the cloud of a federal fraud trial that implicates most major programs in the country in some way.
Basketball’s back, baby.
Florida’s squad starts the year unranked in the preseason AP Top 25 but returns all but one starter from a year ago. The Gators will take the court for the first time on Tuesday in an exhibition against Florida Southern, so here are three bold predictions for UF’s season.
Florida will upset Florida State to open the season
OK, so maybe this one isn’t that bold. But the No. 17 Seminoles haven’t lost to the Gators since 2013.
FSU returns three starters, including its two leading scorers from last season in Terance Mann and Phil Cofer. The ‘Noles have an experienced team and will pose a tougher season-opening challenge than the Gators are used to. It will also be the first test for true freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard, the presumptive replacement for Chris Chiozza. Not to mention the fact that FSU is coming off an Elite Eight run a season ago.
All of these are good reasons to pick the Seminoles to win on Nov. 6. That’s why there’s going to be a lot of buzz when the Gators catch them napping and end the winning streak at four.
The Gators will win the SEC Tournament
Sure, the Gators were picked to finish fifth in the league at SEC Media Day in Birmingham last week.
I don’t buy it, though. Tennessee and Auburn topped the conference a year ago, and Kentucky is probably going to do Kentucky things, but Florida has the talent to compete with these teams. UF is deeper than it was last season, especially in the frontcourt. Isaiah Stokes and Chase Johnson appear to finally be healthy, and newcomer Keyontae Johnson should see meaningful minutes.
The Gators will start conference play slow, but once they solidify their rotation, they’ll surge to finish second in the SEC in the regular season. After splitting the regular season series, Florida will take down the Wildcats in the SEC Championship Game in Nashville.
UF will make it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament
They may not reach their full potential, but the Gators are a team that’s built to win in the tournament. Three returning seniors. A returning junior starter. A potential freshman phenom. Experienced depth. This is the formula that led Florida to deep tournament runs in 2014 and 2017, and UF will enter the tournament playing its best basketball of the season. The Gators will ride their veteran leadership to their fifth Elite Eight appearance in eight years.
Tyler Nettuno is a basketball writer for The Alligator. Follow him on Twitter @TylerNettuno and contact him at tnettuno@alligator.org.
