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2014 NCAA Tournament South Region: Instant Analysis

gators

Getty Images

gators

Getty Images

RELATED: East Region | West Region | Midwest Region

It should come as no surprise that Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators are the top seed in the South Region, as they challenged themselves in non-conference play and went undefeated in 21 games (18-0 regular season) against conference opponents. Their efforts landed the Gators the top overall seed in the 2014 NCAA tournament, and they’ll begin their quest for a third national title in school history in Orlando.

Awaiting Florida in their second game will be the winner of eight-seed Colorado and nine-seed Pittsburgh. As for the rest of this region, there’s a lot of intrigue beginning with two-seed Kansas, which may be without Joel Embiid for the first weekend. Rounding out the top four seeds are three-seed Syracuse and four-seed UCLA, with the latter coming off of a win over No. 4 Arizona.
MORE: Read through all of our bracket analysis here

Looking for a possible Cinderella? That could be 12-seed Stephen F. Austin, which has won 28 straight games. But Brad Underwood’s half-court style will meet the ultimate test in the form of five-seed VCU, whose “Havoc” system has forced more than 19 turnovers per game. Ohio State will take on Dayton in the 6/11 matchup, and Mountain West tournament champion New Mexico is the seven-seed.

There are some very good match ups in this region, but the possible games moving forward are even more enticing. Aaron Craft vs. Tyler Ennis, Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams against VCU’s pressure and possible rematches (Kansas vs. New Mexico and Kansas vs. Florida) will be fun to watch if they come to fruition.

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