Are the Florida Gators National Title Contenders This Season?

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00:00Michael, I'm excited about this. My alma mater seems to be one of the best teams in the country,

00:07at least thus far. My Gators, they win 90 to 84 against North Carolina yesterday. They've

00:13been nothing but stellar to start the season here. And I wonder, Mike, is this legit? Is

00:17this real? Because the more they play and play against good competition, by the way,

00:22gets them ready for the SEC. Are the Gators one of those teams that we could see at the

00:27end of the regular season getting a one or a two seed in the NCAA tournament?

00:32Well, I think they're very good, but they have had the advantage of playing teams that are just

00:37below, or maybe a little bit less than that, the top echelon. They'll play top echelon when they

00:44get into the SEC. Kentucky and Auburn, Alabama are all outstanding. And if they can fare well

00:52against those opponents, that would be significant for them. I like their team.

00:57They move the basketball well. They shoot it well. They have size inside. I thought they did

01:02a really nice job against Carolina of establishing what the game was going to be about. And Carolina

01:08had to be a bit frantic with their offense. I mean, they ended up scoring. Carolina scored

01:13very well. R.J. Davis got it going, but they needed to be perfect down the stretch to hang

01:18with what Florida was bringing. Carolina could not guard them without fouling.

01:24So I like their team. But one of the things about this SEC, honestly, Craig, is that the

01:30scheduling has been genius. The teams like Auburn and Alabama that can handle it have gone out and

01:36challenged the biggest heavyweights that are out there. And the teams like Florida and Oklahoma

01:43that are very good, but maybe not elite, aren't taking big risks

01:47in non-conference. And it's paying off very well for them.