Bracketology 2020: Florida, Houston, and USC among biggest winners

TULSA, OKLAHOMA - MARCH 24: The Houston Cougars celebrates a three pointer scored by Armoni Brooks #3 (not pictured) during the second half of the second round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at BOK Center on March 24, 2019 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – MARCH 14: Andrew Nembhard #2 of the Florida Gators (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Florida Gators – 12-5 (4-1)

Current NET ranking: 39

The SEC overall is down this season, with teams such as Florida, Tennessee and LSU not performing as expected. That leaves a pair of teams that were ranked this week; Auburn at No. 4 and Kentucky at No. 10. With both of them losing, expect them each to fall once Monday’s rankings come out.

So there aren’t many opportunities for SEC teams to improve their resumes, including a Gators team whose NET rankings have been closer to 50 than 40 in the past week and is currently right on the bubble. They have average wins over the likes of Xavier, Providence and Miami, while still reeling over the big letdown last week against Missouri.

It got better this week, first beating Ole Miss by 16 points a few days earlier before taking advantage of playing a top-4 ranked Auburn squad. Florida handled the Tigers with a final score of 69-47, led by Omar Payne‘s season-high of 19 points and 11 rebounds on a perfect 9-9 shooting from the field. It’s true that Auburn already had questions about them while they were unbeaten, so this win may not be as strong by season’s end. But the Tigers will help with the Gators metrics and NET and almost offset the Missouri loss.

Florida probably won’t end up being a top-4 protected seed but right now, they need to cement themselves into the NCAA Tournament at-large position. At the very least, this week’s results help mitigate what has previously happened. And it can springboard the Gators onto a run, with a home matchup against No. 2 Baylor awaiting this team in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

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