Gators are the NCAA No. 4 seed; Does that sound familiar to you?

Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Tommy Haugh are key reasons why Florida could repeat as champs (Photo by Chris Spears)

A year ago there was that embarrassing loss to Georgia in Athens when the Gators fell behind by as many as 25 points in the first half before roaring back to take the lead with 1:08 remaining in the game. Florida ran out of gas in the final minute and dropped an 88-83 decision to a team they had beaten by 30 points exactly one month earlier.

Back home in Gainesville, the Gators regrouped, re-focused and played with an agenda in winning their final three regular season games and all three games at the Southeastern Conference Tournament to earn the No. 4 overall seed for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The Gators went 6-0 with four come-from-behind wins to capture the national championship.

So here we are a year later. The Gators are back home in Gainesville getting regrouped and re-focused after an embarrassing loss in the SEC Tournament, this one 91-74 at the hands of a Vanderbilt team they beat a few weeks ago in Memorial Gymnasium. The Vandy win preceded another embarrassing loss, this one to Auburn at the O-Dome back on January 24.

As they get their minds and bodies right for a potential 3-weekend, 6-game NCAA Tournament gauntlet, the Gators find themselves once again the overall No. 4 seed. A year ago, the three teams ahead of the Gators were 1. Auburn; 2. Duke; and 3. Houston. This year it’s 1. Duke; 2. Arizona; and 3. Michigan.

The Gators will begin their quest for a repeat national championship Friday night at Tampa’s Benchmark International Arena (9:25 p.m., TNT) as the top seed in the South Region. The No. 2 in the South is Houston, whom the Gators beat in last year’s NCAA championship game. The No. 5 seed in the South is Vanderbilt, which beat the Gators Saturday afternoon in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

There is a lot of familiarity here. If Yogi Berra were still alive he might take a look and say, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

What could make this “déjà vu all over again” would be for the Gators to rebound from the Vanderbilt loss the same way they did last year when they went on a 12-game winning streak after losing to Georgia. After the loss to Georgia last year the winning streak included avenging wins over Missouri and Tennessee in the SEC Tournament, both of whom had beaten the Gators during the regular season.

When the Gators lost to Auburn back on January 24, it was a scorched earth run through the SEC regular season with a 12^th straight win in the SEC Tournament quarter-finals over Kentucky. The streak ended with the Vanderbilt loss. It is quite possible the Commodores will be standing in the way of Forida’s national championship ambitions if the two teams make it to the Sweet 16 game in Houston.  Another payback opportunity for Todd Golden. He's really been good whenever he's had a chance to avenge a loss.

The talking heads at the networks would love a Florida-Houston rematch in the Elite Eight. Imagine also the hype if the Gators reach the Final Four where those same talking heads are predicting Duke and Arizona will be waiting.

It sets up for a revenge tour for the Gators and don’t put it past Todd Golden to use the losses to those teams as motivation to become the only team other than UCLA to have a multi-championship repeat. UCLA went back-to-back in 1964 and 1965, then won seven straight from 1967-73. While the Gators are one of seven teams to win back-to-back titles (2006-07), only UCLA has multiple titles twice.

If it were to happen this year, it would take the Gators going on another scorched earth tear. They’ve done it before. Do they have it in them to go 6-0 over the next three weeks?

THE FOUR NCAA REGIONS AND THE SEC

EAST

1. Duke (32-2); 2. UConn (29-5); 3. Michigan State (25-7); 4. Kansas (23-10)

No SEC teams in the East

SOUTH

1. FLORIDA (26-7); 2. Houston (28-6); 3. Illinois (24-8); 4. Nebraska (26-6)

5. Vanderbilt (26-8)

10. Texas A&M (21-11)

First round matchups

Tampa: 1. Florida vs. 16. Prairie View (18-17)/Lehigh (18-16) winner (Friday)

Oklahoma City: 5. Vanderbilt vs. 12. McNeese State (28-5) (Thursday); 7. Saint Mary’s (27-5) vs. 10. Texas A&M (Thursday)

WEST

1. Arizona (32-2); 2. Purdue (27-8); 3. Gonzaga (30-3); 4. Arkansas (26-8)

10. Missouri (20-12)

11. Texas (18-14)

Play-in matchup

Dayton: 11. Texas vs. 11. North Carolina State (20-13)

First round matchups

Portland: 4. Arkansas vs. 13. Hawaii (24-8) (Thursday); 6. BYU (23-11) vs. 11. Texas-11. North Carolina State play-in winner (Thursday)

St. Louis: 7. Miami FL (25-8) vs. 10. Missouri (Friday)

MIDWEST

1. Michigan (31-3); 2. Iowa State (27-7); 3. Virginia (29-5); 4. Alabama (23-9)

6. Tennessee (22-11)

7. Kentucky (21-13)

8. Georgia (22-10)

First round matchups

Tampa: 4. Alabama vs. 13 Hofstra (24-10) (Friday)

Philadelphia: 6. Tennessee vs. 11. Miami OH (31-1)/11. SMU (20-13) winner (Friday)

St. Louis: 7. Kentucky vs. 10 Santa Clara (26-8) (Friday)

Buffalo: 8. Georgia vs. 9. Saint Louis (28-5) (Friday)