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Florida women's basketball earns No. 5 seed in 2016 NCAA Tournament

Florida's women will have to rule the Empire State to make the Sweet Sixteen.

By Andy Hutchins
Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Florida's women's basketball team will play as a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, taking on No. 12 seed Albany in Syracuse.

Florida and Albany will play at noon on Friday, March 18, in one of the four Friday noon games that tip off the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

The Gators would have been in line to host subregional play with a No. 4 seed or better — one they arguably deserved, given that they own wins over a number of teams at and above their seed line.

But the O'Connell Center renovations that are displacing their male brethren in the Postseason NIT would have made that impossible for the Gators this year, and giving Florida a trip to Syracuse, where fans don't exactly turn out in droves, might be the kindest thing that could be done for it as a No. 5 seed. (Though, uh, No. 4 seed Michigan State is playing its first two games in Starkville, home of No. 5 seed Mississippi State, so maybe not?)

If Florida escapes that first weekend and makes the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in almost two decades, it would seem likely that No. 1 seed South Carolina would await them — in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And with Tennessee lurking as the No. 7 seed in the same bracket, it could be a SEC reunion in the Badlands State.