Joe Lunardi explains scenario for UConn to surpass Florida as No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament

College basketball’s final Saturday of the regular season went off without a hitch for the Florida Gators. The same can’t be said for the UConn Huskies.

Entering the day as the top-rated projected No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament, Florida easily dispatched of the Kentucky Wildcats on the road despite a late rally. For UConn, they were preparing for a then 11-win Marquette team — an outcome that seemed almost academic. Only, Marquette came out and held the Huskies to its lowest point total of the season (62) en route to the biggest win of the season for the Golden Eagles.

As a result — Florida and UConn have swapped placed on ESPN anaylst Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology. With Florida now among the No. 1 seeds, Lunardi explained what the Huskies need to do to get themselves back on the one-seed line before selection Sunday.

“Absolutely,” Lunardi said during an appearance on the halftime show of the ASUN Championship. “But they’re going to need some help now from the Gators, just as Florida needed UConn to lose to pass the Huskies.

“The scenario goes like this: UConn runs the table in the Big East, presumably beats St. John’s in the rubber game at Madison Square Garden, and Florida doesn’t make the final of the SEC on Sunday, then we have a conversation again. Because then they’ll be about even from a resume standpoint. And I’d probably give more credence than the committee on head-to-head results. UConn did beat Florida in, I’ll call it a semi neutral floor in New York City, but Florida definitely has a leg up on UConn from both a resume and an eye test perspective.”

Both Florida and UConn will receive byes into the quarterfinals of their respective conference tournaments. That means both the Gators and Huskies will have to win at least two games over the next week to solidify their seeding in tournament.

Florida won the SEC by 3.0 games, while the UConn split the season series against St. John’s, the outright Big East Champion. Still, there’s a lot of basketball to be played out during conference championship week — but there’s a window for the Huskies to surpass the Gators if Lunardi’s scenario plays out.