Now that the men’s NCAA tournament basketball field has been trimmed from 68 to the Final Four, it remains a strong possibility that there will be an all-SEC final.
At least according to the oddsmakers.
RJ Bell of Pregame.com has the spreads set for Saturday’s national semifinals with Florida favored by 6.5 against surprising Connecticut.That game will be played at 6:09 p.m. on TBS.
The Gators’ have not lost since falling to UConn by a point on Dec. 2.
In the other semifinal that will start 40 minutes after the conclusion of the opener, Kentucky is favored by 2 against Wisconsin. The Wildcats have won seven of their past nine games, with the two losses both to Florida, the SEC regular season and SEC tournament champion.
The Gators have won 30 in a row since losing to the Huskies. UF’s other loss? The Gators lost 59-53 to Wisconsin in the second game of the season.
Also consider this: Only one team seeded worse than sixth has made the Finals in the past 28 years so history would strongly favor Florida against seventh-seeded UConn and Wisconsin against eighth-seeded Kentucky.
The NCAA men’s champion has been seeded No. 4 or better for 25 consecutive tournaments.
