Today at 4:10 p.m. ET, No. 16 Albany (19-14, 9-7 AE) and No. 1 Florida (32-2, 18-0 SEC) tipoff in the South Region bracket as part of the NCAA March Madness tournament in Round 2 action live from the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. The game can be live streamed for free here and also viewed on TBS. Albany fans can hear all of the action on 104.5 The Team while Florida fans can do the same on WRUF 850.
Florida enters the game as 21 1/2-point favorites over Albany after rattling off a 26-game winning streak, but coach Billy Donovan doesn't want the team to take the Great Danes lightly after tough games against Tennessee and Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference tournament.
"Coach D does a good job reminding us that no matter what the rankings are every year, there are upsets," guard Scottie Wilbekin said, according to ESPN "So it really doesn't matter once the ball goes up. Anything can happen. Anybody can beat anybody, so we've got to be on our toes."
No. 1 seeds are 116-0 in opening games since the tournament expanded to a field of 64 in 1985, according to ESPN. Coach Will Brown knows his Great Danes team is in for a test, and talked about his 11-year-old son asking him about the tough matchup.
"Within 15 minutes after the game, he said, 'Dad, do we play Florida now?' I said yes. He goes, 'Are we going to get killed?' Brown said via ESPN. "I looked at him, smiled and said, 'We'll be OK, buddy. I'll watch some film, but I'll let you know how we're going to do.""
While seemingly everyone thinks the Gators will go over easily, the team isn't buying into being the heavy favorites.
"They definitely can beat us,' forward Casey Prather told ESPN. "Anybody can beat us in this tournament, so we got to be ready from the get go."
While a 16 seed has never knocked off the top seed, senior Albany guard Peter Hooley believes his team has what it takes to be the first to do it.
"We've been playing great basketball the last three weeks," Hooley said per ESPN. "We've been a resilient group. Every time our back is against the wall, we've managed to keep fighting and staying together and coming out with some good results. We know that all of us are going to be prepared well and we're going to be staying together and really believe that anything can happen."
A lopsided matchup is expected, but anything can happen when Albany and Florida take the court today in Florida for the NCAA March Madness tournament.
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