Are Florida and Miami on the bubble or out in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology?
ESPN college basketball expert Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology predictions for next month’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament were released Tuesday.
And despite it’s upset win over No. 1-ranked Auburn on Saturday, the Florida Gators still see their bubble bursting for inclusion into March Madness, according to Lunardi’s projections.
UF (17-10) is among the “next four out” group, meaning the Gators have some resume-building to do as they approach their final four regular season games.
The Gators were listed in the group of last four teams into the tournament when Lunardi’s projections made their season debut a couple weeks ago. Since then, UF had back-to-back 1-1 weeks to falter down the bubble team list on Lunardi’s bracketology. The latest was losing to unranked Texas A&M by one point on the road, before the 63-62 victory at home over Auburn.
UF has No. 19 Arkansas at home Tuesday night, unranked Georgia on the road Saturday, unranked Vanderbilt on the road March 1 and No. 6 Kentucky at home March 5 remaining on its schedule.
Meanwhile, the Miami Hurricanes (19-8) are holding onto one of the last four byes, according to Lunardi’s projections. Lunardi has UM slotted as a 10 seed to face Iowa in a Midwest Regional first-round game.
The Canes’ final four regular-season games are against unranked opponents: at Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Virginia Tech at home on Saturday, at Boston College on March 2 and at Syracuse on March 5.
No other Florida schools were listed on the bubble or in the tournament field, according to Lunardi’s projections.
