Todd Golden calls regular-season SEC title ‘really important’ for Florida
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Todd Golden woke up on Saturday with his Florida team 2 games ahead of Alabama and Arkansas for the SEC lead with 3 games to go. With a win at home over the Razorbacks, the Gators can clinch at least a share of the regular-season conference title, their first since 2014.
Granted, things went pretty well for the Gators despite not winning it last year. They ultimately won the SEC Tournament en route to a first national championship in 18 years.
That doesn’t mean the regular-season crown isn’t relevant to Golden, though.
“Winning a regular-season championship, I think, is really important, and something that talks about how good your team was for an extended period of time,” Golden said on ESPN’s College GameDay, from the O’Connell Center on Saturday morning. “Last year, we won the SEC tournament championship (and that) was a huge moment for us and was great for our program.
“But to me, winning the regular-season championship wins a little bit more because you’re doing it over a two-month period.”
Kalshi considers Florida a near-lock to wrap up the regular-season crown.
From a wider-lens view, finishing atop the league standings — while repeating as conference tournament champions — could keep Florida in the hunt for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. According to Joe Lunardi’s updated bracketology on Friday morning, the Gators currently project as a No. 2 seed in the South region.
For now, they’ll need to take care of business on Saturday against the Razorbacks.
“We talked a lot about it with our team over the last couple months, and now we’re at the point where we’re playing a game that could secure at least a part of that title, and this is a big game,” Golden said.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
