The Florida Gators men's basketball team will begin defense of its national title in Tampa.
The Gators (26-7) were chosen as the South Region's No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. The SEC regular-season champions will play at Benchmark International Arena against the winner of a First Four game between Prairie View A&M and Lehigh.
First-round games in Tampa begin on Thursday with two in the Midwest Region: No. 4 seed Alabama (23-9) vs. No. 13 Hofstra (24-10) and No. 5 Texas Tech (22-10) vs. Akron (29-5).
On Friday, in addition to the Florida game, No. 8 seed Clemson (24-10) will meet No. 9 Iowa (21-12) in the South bracket.
The winners from the first-round games will meet in the second round on Sunday.
ALSO READ: USF Bulls earn first NCAA hoops bid since 2012, first conference title in 36 years
The other No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament are Duke, which is first overall, along with Arizona and Michigan.
Florida won 12 in a row before losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC semifinals. Although UF sputtered, it delivered one of college hoops’ top turnarounds. The Gators were 5-4 in early December and unranked by January before getting hot down the stretch.
They are ultra physical and the best rebounding team in the country, with big men Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh leading the way.
"A lot that we can improve upon over the next couple days before we get ready for the NCAA tournament," Florida coach Todd Golden said. "But everything that we — our goal at the beginning of the year is still in front of us in terms of being able to play for a national championship."
While the Gators will benefit from an opening date near their Gainesville campus, the path to another Final Four could get more difficult the following weekend.
It could include a rematch with Houston, whom UF beat in the final a year ago, only this time in a South Region finale that would be played just a short drive from the Cougars' campus.
The second-seeded Cougars will start against No. 15 seed Idaho on Thursday in Oklahoma City.
The Gators are in the NCAAs for 24th time, the third straight under Golden in his fourth year. Golden has led UF to a 6-1 record in the tournament, including last season's championship.
"Part of what makes our program what it is is our consistency," Golden said. "We are not going to change a lot. We are going to get back to defending, rebounding, taking care of the ball."
The First Four game between No. 16 Prairie View (18-17) and No. 16 Lehigh (18-16) will be played in Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday.
Other first-round games involving Florida teams:
- In the West Region, No. 7 Miami plays Friday against No. 10 Missouri in St. Louis.
- In the East Region, No. 10 UCF (21-11) meets No. 7 UCLA (23-11) on Friday in Philadelphia.
- In the East Region, No. 11 USF meets No. 6 Louisville on Friday in Buffalo.
USF will also serve as the host school for the games in Tampa.
Tickets are available through NCAATickets.com.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
