ESPN expert Joe Lunardi’s first bracketology is out. Do Miami and Florida make the cut?
March Madness is about a month away. Bubble teams can separate themselves and secure berths into next month’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, while other teams currently safe could play themselves out.
So where do teams currently stand? ESPN college basketball expert Joe Lunardi’s season-opening bracketology projections were released Tuesday, giving an indicator of how the selection committee might feel based on how team resumes currently stack up.
For in-state programs like Miami and Florida, Lunardi’s projections have both teams in the tournament. The Hurricanes (16-7, 8-4 ACC) are listed as one of the last four byes, while the Gators (15-8, 5-5 SEC) are holding onto one of the last four in.
Lunardi projects UM as an 11th seed in the South Region to play in the first round against Alabama, while UF is listed as a play-in game with San Diego State for a 12 seed berth in the South Region.
No other Florida schools make Lunardi’s initial bracketology. Florida State is 13-9 overall and 6-6 in ACC play, while UCF and USF are in the bottom half of the American Athletic Conference standings. Those teams would need to win their conference tournaments to secure the league’s automatic bid as things currently stand.
That’s also the case for Atlantic Sun member schools in Florida like Jacksonville, University of North Florida, Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast as the conference is a one-bid league, according to Lunardi’s projections.
Florida Atlantic, despite leading the East division of Conference USA, is not projected to make the tournament field, while FIU is much further down the C-USA standings as of Tuesday afternoon.
The path for Florida A&M or Bethune-Cookman is through their conference tournament as the SWAC is considered a one-bid league with Lunardi’s projections listing Southern as the conference’s representative to make the tournament in a 16-seed play in game.
Lunardi’s first bracketology has Auburn, Gonzaga, Arizona and Purdue as the four No. 1 seeds with Kansas, Duke, Baylor and Kentucky as No. 2 seeds.
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 12:37 PM.
