Florida survived and advanced in the NCAA Tournament with a 75-70 win over Virginia Tech in the opening round. Meanwhile, the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles pulled off the upset of the tournament knocking off No. 2 seed Ohio State.
The following are our staff predictions for the Florida – Oral Roberts matchup.
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Well, the grumblings for Mike White to be fired were quieted for about 48 hours after the Gators defeated Virginia Tech and it got muted further when Oral Roberts upset Ohio State, guaranteeing that Florida would be the favorite heading into the Round of 32 matchup. Caesar’s Sportsbook has the Gators as an 8.5 point favorite. I’m not a fan of the spread, but Colin Castleton should be the difference maker down low for Florida. I’ll take the Gators (and Mike White) to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, 77-72.
Ryan Haley:
Not only was I the only dissenting opinion against the Gators last round, I was 0-2 when I said that whoever won would get bounced by Ohio State. My credibility, like my bracket, busted.
Florida has to feel good about this matchup. The Golden Eagles are a shorter, poor rebounding team that does most of its damage on the perimeter. They live and die by the three, and they usually live (38.4% as a team), but they can’t exploit Florida’s lack of size inside, especially if Omar Payne remains absent. Both talent-wise and matchup-wise, advantage Gators. Give me the team with Tre Mann. Gators to the Sweet 16, 73-59.
Alright, well. This is interesting. A lot of people had Ohio State moving into the Round of 32 to face the Florida-VA Tech and then some. Now the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts are there. And, honestly, this matchup doesn’t leave me with confidence either. You know why? Because the Buckeyes had advantages too and Oral Roberts pulled it out despite not shooting too well. And sometimes this Gator team has the propensity to underperform after big wins. Not to mention Abmas and Obanor can carry the Golden Eagles (59 combined points against OSU). But the Gators can score too, only allow six threes a game on defense and I think they can do just enough to win. But don’t be surprised if it’s not easy or something worse than a tough game happens. Florida 78, Oral Roberts 70.
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The Gators and Golden Eagles are scheduled for a 7:45 PM tip from Indianapolis and can be viewed live on TruTV.