Rob C. Witzel/Staff photographer/File
It turns out, Florida will be playing close to home in the NCAA Tournament after all.
The Gators (24-8) were named the No. 4 seed in the East Region and will face No. 13 East Tennessee State (27-7) on Thursday at Amway Arena in Orlando.
There was thought that Florida could slip to a five seed after losing to Vanderbilt 72-62 in overtime in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. But UF’s strong overall resume based on playing its first 11 games away from campus outweighed losing three of its last four games.