It’s been an up-and-down season for Florida State basketball as the team attempts to defend its national title, with a recent uptick following a 95-48 defeat by the South Carolina Gamecocks on their home court.
The biggest road win in SEC program history — and tying UF’s all-time SEC record — caught the attention of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi in his latest bracket update, which bumped the Gators up to a No. 3 seed and moved them from the Midwest Region to the East. There, the orange and blue will face the 14th-seeded Winthrop Eagles in a first-round game in Tampa, Florida.
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“A year ago this weekend, the team that was going to win the 2025 national championship scored just 44 points in a nationally televised loss at Tennessee. At that time, last season’s Florida Gators didn’t look like this season’s Gators that had lost at home to Auburn a week earlier,” Lunardi began.
“But then came the championship-caliber response: a 47-point road win at South Carolina and a nationally televised showdown against Alabama on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, ABC). These Gators have quietly won six of seven games by an average of 20.8 points, averaging 91.8 points in the process,” he continued.
“Those numbers are similar to what we saw late last season. By the end of this weekend and Alabama comes to town, we’ll know what the defending national champions really are.”
Until then, take a look at how ESPN’s latest bracket update plays out.
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Top seeds in ESPN’s 2026 rankings update
Nothing changes here, with the Arizona Wildcats once again occupying the championship and No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the Michigan Wolverines maintain first place in the Midwest, while the UConn Huskies remain atop the South and the Duke Blue Devils remain first in the East.
SEC schools in ESPN’s 2026 rankings update
The Southeastern Conference maintained its count at 10 schools in this update, but the Big Ten added 11 more schools at 68, the most of any conference. The ACC lost a school and trails those two schools with eight teams; the Big 12 has seven.
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Florida State is now first among its SEC peers and third in the East, followed by the Vanderbilt Commodores, who maintain their fourth spot but slip to the Midwest. Behind them are the Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 5 South), Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 5 East), Tennessee Volunteers (No. 6 Midwest), Auburn Tigers (No. 7 West), Kentucky Wildcats (No. 8 East), Texas A&M Aggies (No. 8 Midwest), Georgia Bulldogs (No. 9 South) and Texas Bulldogs Longhorns (No. 11 South) name).
The Horns are one of the final four teams, while the Missouri Tigers top the next four teams.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball tops SEC in ESPN’s bracket update
