Busting Brackets
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Nevada Basketball: Keys to Round of 64 matchup with Florida

By Jonathan Geib

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 15: Caleb Martin #10 and Cody Martin #11 of the Nevada Wolf Pack walk up court during a semifinal game of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament against the San Diego State Aztecs at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 15, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. San Diego State Aztecs won 65-56. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 15: Caleb Martin #10 and Cody Martin #11 of the Nevada Wolf Pack walk up court during a semifinal game of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament against the San Diego State Aztecs at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 15, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. San Diego State Aztecs won 65-56. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images /

Nevada Basketball opens their NCAA Tournament quest with a Round of 64 matchup with Florida. Will the Wolf Pack score enough on the defensive-minded Gators?

The West Region in the NCAA Tournament this year is widely considered to be the region with the easiest path to the Final Four. Can Gonzaga prove their worth as a 1-seed and overcome prior season disappointments? That is what everyone will be watching for. However, the University of Nevada Basketball, out of the Mountain West Conference, is an underrated 7-seed that might have something to say about that.

Nevada’s first round match-up is against the University of Florida Gators, who finished 8th during the regular season in the Southeastern Conference. The Gators were the last of seven SEC teams that made the NCAA Tournament this year, and received a very generous 10-seed after boasting a disappointing record of 19-15 overall and 9-9 in conference.

The impressive performances by the team’s at the top of the SEC such as Kentucky, LSU and Tennessee may have assisted in the seeding of Florida based on pure strength of conference. Whatever the case may be, I believe the journey will end in the first round for the Gators. Whereas, Florida have a bad record in a strong conference, the criticism of the Nevada Wolf Pack is that they have a very good record in a weak conference.

Nevada finished first in the Mountain West Conference during the regular season with a record of 29-4. Having played most of their games in the West coast time zone, many Tournament viewers may have never seen a Nevada game and therefore lean towards choosing Florida to pull off a presumed upset. In the following slides, I will break down the three keys for the Wolf Pack to win this game.