Florida still tops ESPN’s bracketology after season’s opening week

The 2026-27 men’s college basketball campaign started on a strong note for the Florida Gators, who notched a pair of wins over Miami and Jacksonville during the opening week of play.

Todd Golden’s team defeated a physical Hurricanes team that was ranked No. 14 at the time in Tampa to open up the schedule before laying a 31-point beatdown on the Dolphins in the home opener inside the O’Connell Center. Florida looked solid in both matchups, with some significant improvement shooting from beyond the arc in comparison to last year.

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With those two victories under the Gators’ belt, they once again find themselves the top overall seed in the first bracketology update of the season from ESPN’s NCAA Tournament guru Joe Lunardi. Sitting East Region’s No. 1 spot, the Orange and Blue are lined up against either No. 16 Merrimack or American in the first round — the former of which has a date with Golden’s gang in Gainesville this Friday.

Before that, however, Florida travels to Tallahassee on Tuesday night to take on FSU in its only true road game before the SEC schedule begins.

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PHOTOS: Highlights from Florida’s home opener vs Jacksonville

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PHOTOS: Highlights from Florida’s home opener vs Jacksonville

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PHOTOS: Highlights from Florida’s home opener vs Jacksonville

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PHOTOS: Highlights from Florida’s home opener vs Jacksonville

Top seeds in ESPN’s 2027 bracketology

Florida remains the top overall seed in the latest bracketology, sitting atop the East, while Duke remains a No. 1 seed but slides over to the Midwest. The big change is UConn displacing Arizona from the upper echelon and taking over the No. 1 seed in the West, while Illinois is still a top seed but now in the South.

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SEC schools in ESPN’s 2027 bracketology

The Southeastern Conference still leads the way with a dozen representatives — one more than the Big Ten and Big 12, five more than the Atlantic Coast Conference, and seven more than the Big East. The Atlantic 10, Mountain West and Pac-12 all have two schools listed, rounding out the conferences with more than one school included.

Florida still headlines the SEC with the top seed in the East, while Texas remains the No. 3 seed in the West. Alabama ascends to the No. 3 seed in the Midwest and Vanderbilt moves up to No. 5 in the West, while Tennessee slips to the No. 5 seed in the South and Arkansas tumbles to the No. 6 seed in the Midwest.

Next up are Kentucky (No. 7, East), Missouri (No. 8, West), Texas A&M (No. 8, Midwest), Auburn (No. 9, South), Georgia (No. 11, West) and LSU (No. 11, South). Auburn now sits among the last four byes, while Oklahoma slides out of the field of 76 and is the final team among the first four out; Ole Miss bumped up to the top team in the next four out category.

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida still tops ESPN’s bracketology after season’s opening week

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