Florida basketball prepares for its third year under head coach Todd Golden and heading into the 2024-25 campaign, it appears that the Gators are picking up where they left off last spring.

The Orange and Blue start the season ranked No. 21 in both the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Poll, opening up the schedule in those respective top 25 rankings for the first time since 2019. They also log in at No. 28 according to the KenPom preseason rankings.

While the opening tipoff is still under two weeks away, the media has already started looking forward to the NCAA Tournament next March, including The Athletic's Joe Rexrode who released his debut bracket watch with Florida seeded fifth in the West Region (San Francisco).

That matches the Gators up with the 12-seeded McNeese State Cowboys in Cleveland, Ohio, to open up the tournament.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs are among the first four out of the bracket while South Carolina has one of the last four byes.

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