March may wind up belonging to the Florida Gators
The Florida Gators are top seed as the NCAA Tournament begins and while history is full of examples that prove earning one of those doesn’t guarantee you anything… this whole thing feels like it is theirs to lose.
Florida is coming into the tournament hot after taking care of Tennessee with relative ease in the SEC tournament final and many oddsmakers believe Todd Golden’s squad is going to win it all.
In case you think I am exaggerating… think again. Our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook have the Gators with the second-best odds to cut down all of the nets at +350. Only Duke is ahead of them at +280. Auburn comes in line right after Florida at +550 which really heightens, as many have noted, how strong the SEC was overall. It makes sense that the conference’s best team has a strong shot relative to the main goal.
You may find my opinion one that you agree with, but I always like to double-check these sort of things and preferably prefer to do so with people who know more than I do. Thankfully this week offered me the chance to sit down with Ian Eagle and Clark Kellogg to discuss the tournament at large, plus their partnership with Wendy’s, and both gentlemen believe that this could be Florida’s year as well.
Clark Kellogg: “I think Florida’s the most complete team in the field. When you look at the back court, the front court, depth, versatility, two-way players… I think they’ve been as impressive as Auburn and I think they’re a little more explosive than every team in the field… this Florida Gators team is the team that I’ve picked to win it all.”
Ian Eagle: “I do know that in this tournament if you have superb, elite guard play… you can win the whole thing. And I think that’s how the Gators are approaching this. They are, to me, top to bottom, probably the most impressive team that I’ve seen this season.”
Ian touched on guard play and Florida has that in serious fashion at the moment. Walter Clayton Jr. is one of the top guards in the country and the Gators roll deep with Will Richard, Craig Brown and Donnell Harvey as other options. It is a necessary ingredient to Ian’s point.
Florida tips off against Norfolk State on Friday at 6:50pm ET and Ian will actually be on the call for that game with Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson. You can watch it on TNT (thankfully I didn’t have to make the obligatory truTV that everybody has this time of year).
As noted Ian and Clark were made available thanks to Wendy’s and were pretty excited about it. How could they not be, Wendy’s is delicious.
As the Official Hamburger of March Madness®, Wendy’s is ensuring viewers can have fresh, never frozen beef* as millions tune into the action with a $1 Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger and $1 Double Stack™ with an additional purchase exclusively with the offer in the Wendy’s app to fuel their appetites throughout the tournament.
Our thanks to Ian, Clark and Wendy’s for the time. Best of luck to the Gators.
