As the college basketball world whirls its way towards the four-week dervish that is March Madness, few states know the peaks and valleys of the sport’s maddest month quite like Florida. Hopefully, this time next year, Florida sports betting will be live in time for the tournament.
Between true upstarts like Andy Enfield’s Florida Golf Coast team in 2011 and the state’s Power Five programs that entered the Big Dance off disappointing seasons like Florida State in 2011 and Miami in 2022, Florida has seen its fair share of teams that can wear the title of Cinderella pretty well.
This year, ESPN bracket guru Joe Lunardi lists USF (13th seed), and Florida (8th seed) in the field of 68, while FAU (6th seed) is firmly in the bracket as of now.
With the college basketball season heating up and March Madness fast approaching, many bettors are turning their attention to who will be this year’s Cinderella team. If history tells us anything, that team will come from one of the following states.
Every Double-Digit Seed to Make the Sweet 16 Since 2000
States With Most Double-Digit Seeds Reaching Sweet 16
Where Florida Ranks In Terms Of NCAA Tournament Cinderella Teams
Since 2000, three Florida teams, in the Seminoles of 2011, along with the Eagles in 2013 and the Hurricanes of 2022, have reached the third round of the tournament as a double-digit seed.
Of that trio, only the Hurricanes made it to the Elite Eight, with UM falling to No. 1 seed Kansas, 76-50, while the Seminoles fell to VCU (72-71 in OT) and the Eagles lost their third-round clash against Florida, 62-50.
Nationally, Florida’s Cinderella count ranks in a tie with Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon for fifth nationally, behind Ohio (five teams), California, New York and Washington, who had four teams apiece.
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