Less than a week remains before Florida basketball embarks on its 2026-27 journey to the NCAA Tournament as the Gators vie for a second national title in three seasons.
Despite dropping a preseason exhibition game in Jacksonville to Baylor, 82-76 in overtime, Todd Golden's gang remain the top overall seed and the South Region's No. 1 seed in ESPN March Madness guru Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology update
."Three seasons ago, Connecticut was the dominant team in college basketball and won a second straight national championship. Two seasons ago, Florida emerged as the best team by February and won 12 of its final 13 games on the way to the NCAA title," Lunardi begins.
"Last season, Michigan revived the UConn script and dominated from start to
finish to cut down the nets. This season? So far, it feels a lot more unpredictably normal. Florida is the consensus preseason No. 1 team, but not in a way that screams national champion with any certainty," he continues.
"At least a half dozen other teams could be just as good by March — if not better — albeit after a bit more seasoning."
Florida faces Stetson in a second preseason exhibition game on Tuesday night in Gainesville before tipping off its upcoming regular-season schedule on Monday, Nov. 2, against the Miami Hurricanes in the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Top seeds in ESPN's 2027 bracketology
Florida retains the top overall seed in the latest bracketology, sitting atop the South, while Duke remains the No. 1 seed in the East. Meanwhile, Illinois holds on to its claim over the Midwest and Arizona still rules the West.
SEC schools in ESPN's 2027 bracketology
The Southeastern Conference still leads the way with 12 representatives — one more than the Big Ten, two more than the Big 12, five more than the Atlantic Coast Conference, and six more than the Big East. The Atlantic 10, Mountain West and Pac-12 all have two schools listed, rounding out the conferences with more than one school included.
Florida still headlines the SEC with the top seed in the South, while Texas slides over to the West while remaining a No. 3 seed. Tennessee follows them, standing pat as the No. 4 seed in the East, while Alabama and Arkansas both slid down a spot to No. 4 seeds, swapping regions to the Midwest and West, respectively.
Next up are Kentucky (No. 6, Midwest), Vanderbilt (No. 6, South), Missouri (No. 8, Midwest), Auburn (No. 8, South), Texas A&M (No. 8, East), Georgia (No. 10, South) and Oklahoma (No. 11, West). LSU returns and now sits among the first four out, while Ole Miss slid to the final team in the next four out category.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida remains top overall seed in ESPN's latest bracketology update
