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2014 NCAA Tournament: 16 reasons to like Florida's South Region bracket

There are a lot of good reasons to like Florida's bracket. There are also good glib ones.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

I will have more substantive analysis of Florida's South Region bracket on Wednesday, when we have a full one. For now, here are 16 Twitter-sized — all of these are 140-character (or shorter) assessments — reasons to like Florida's positioning.

  1. Florida's the No. 1 overall team in the Tournament, and got treated like it, with flawed No. 2, 3, and 4 seeds. Its path to Dallas is clear.
  2. Kansas has a porous perimeter D and a gimpy Joel Embiid. Also, Florida beat Kansas with a healthy Embiid ... and a white-hot Andrew Wiggins.
  3. Syracuse is 2-3 in its last five games. None of the last 10 NCAA Tournament champs were under .500 in their last five pre-Tournament games.
  4. UCLA is coached by Steve Alford, who has zero trips to the Sweet Sixteen in the 21st century.
  5. Where do you think VCU coach and former Florida assistant Shaka Smart got most of his inspiration for the vaunted HAVOC system?
  6. Ha, right, like I'm supposed to be worried about Ohio State beating Florida in a postseason game. Or Ohio State scoring.
  7. New Mexico probably has to play Kansas, and will probably not see Florida.
  8. Colorado isn't the same sans Spencer Dinwiddie, and has only won consecutive games in 2014 when Wazzu or USC is involved.
  9. Pittsburgh is coached by Jamie Dixon, who has three trips to the Sweet Sixteen in the 21st century. The last one came in 2009.
  10. Stanford has to play New Mexico, then probably Kansas, then probably Syracuse, before seeing Florida. WE'LL GET YOU YET, NERDS.
  11. Dayton has to play Ohio State, then probably Syracuse, then probably Kansas, before potentially seeing Florida.
  12. Stephen F. Austin is a really good mid-major playing a graduated mid-major in VCU. The NCAA is mean.
  13. Tulsa is a year away, and UCLA has a lot more talent.
  14. Western Michigan's only win over a top-100 KenPom team came in its season opener.
  15. Eastern Kentucky ain't beating Kansas.
  16. No No. 16 seed has ever beaten a No. 1 seed. 18-14 Albany and 16-16 Mount St. Mary's will not be pioneers.