Really?

You give Murray State (a midmajor with an unimpressive resume aside from the 30-1 record) a 6, Florida State (who we beat by ~20 with almost identical records) a 3, and you give Florida a 7?

Come on now.

Maybe this is compensation to the Gatorhater nation for seeding UF as the #2 team in the South a year ago.

I thought the NCAA Selection Committee wasn't supposed to work that way....

But whatever, it did, and the Gators need to deal with it.

In fact, the sooner Gator Nation accepts this seemingly unfair fate, the sooner we can realize just how lucky we are.

We didn't draw a single dominant team in our region, just a bunch of average, run of the mill teams and a couple of good but not great teams. Florida falls under that good but not great label, which means they have as much of a shot at the Final Four as anybody in the West region.

A number 1 seed is supposed to be an aura of invincibility, royalty and dominance. A number 2 seed conveys the message of "we're the only ones that have a shot at taking down #1. So get out of the way and let us have our shot." In other words, equal condescendance over early round opponents. Number 3 represents the just-below kingship status, and number 4 represents a dark horse Final Four candidate.

That's how the Committee wants it to look.

The #1 seed in the West (Michigan State) was up for grabs the entire last few weeks. The Spartans beat Ohio State- the same Buckeyes the Gators played tough til the very end on the Bucks' home floor- for the Big 10 title and that final #1 seed. But Sparty's 27-7 record, including embarrassing losses to Northwestern and Illinois, raises some questions about just how dominant they really are, especially when fellow #1 seeds Syracuse (East) and Kentucky (South) are a combined 63-4. Even the third #1 seed, North Carolina, was 29-5, including a blowout win on a jet carrier ship over... Michigan State. The Spartans don't particularly impress as the #1.

Missouri, the Gators's future SEC East (for football, anyway) rival, is the #2. They appear slightly more impressive than MSU. At least they won their conference. They are 30-4, but their schedule- and three of their losses- were humiliating. A sweep at the hands of Kansas State paired with an inexplicable loss to Oklahoma State makes their upset chances real. They're certainly beatable- and the Gators wouldn't have to wait long to find out. All they have to do is beat UVA, and barring a first round shocker at the hands of Norfolk State, the Gators and the third set of Tigers in the SEC will square off.

Marquette is the 3 seed, and they would be a problem for the Gators on a good day. The only thing wrong with that from their perspective is that a good day against the Gators has to mean that Florida is having a bad day from beyond the arc. For Florida, it's great. Marquette is a great team, no doubt- but they've been beaten up all year with an admittedly grueling Big East schedule. Big East teams generally don't do well in the Big Dance- they couldn't put a single team in the finals for 7 years before last year.

The team that frightens me the most is the 4 seed, Louisville, but the Gators wouldn't face them until the Elite 8. Like Marquette, they are a Big East team, but unlike Marquette, they are on a hot streak, coming off a conference tournament title. They clearly are not feeling the effects of fatigue that the rest of the league is. They also play like the Gators- relying heavily on the three- which means whoever does what they're comfortable with better will win. That could be a problem.

But forget that for now. It's all irrelevant right now because if Florida loses to Virginia they won't be playing any of these teams.

Virginia is another good, but not great team that sort of slipped off as the season progressed. It's just so hard to say what will happen against them because the Gators don't really have a backup plan in place if their threes don't fall. Patric Young will not be able to take on the whole UVA team.

There's no in depth analysis needed here. No detailed projections, keys or secrets. It's all quite simple. Does Florida make their threes at a clip of at least 1/3, and do they rebound at least half of their misses?

If yes, then bring it, Mizzou. Walker, Boynton, Murphy and Beal have a surprise in store for Pressey and co.

If not, then there's always next year...

With Texas A&M and Missouri both joining the SEC next season, we knew there would be some sort of change in the scheduling.

But we just didn't know what.

Various rumors have swirled that Florida will be going to College Station to play Texas A&M, and will be playing host to Missouri.

Texas A&M will also visit Missouri, its new permanent interdivisional rival.

Each team will have 6 games against its division mates if you will, one permanent inter division rival and one instead of two rotating.

Texas A&M has to play somebody from the East as its rotating opponent for two years (and at home, since home and homes, which is how SEC East and SEC West teams play each other every few years) and apparently it's going to be Florida. Lucky us, I guess.

But the problem (or at least what we don't know yet) comes when you realize that Florida is scheduled to complete the back end of the home and home with Auburn, and also that there's been no mention of postponing the front end of the home and home with Ole Miss, who we are scheduled to pay a visit to next year.

LSU is going to remain our permanent SEC West rival. However, again, instead of having two rotating SEC West opponents, there will only be one, which means that it will have to be an 8 game conference schedule like it's always been. But this could still really mess up the dates with our nonconference opponents.

Everything appears to have a tentative date, except for October 13th. That's the only date without a set game, and one of the rumored games will take place then.

My guess is that the Ole Miss game will be pushed back, even though nobody has ever said anything about that, because there has been talk of playing Auburn again. But then again, that's just talk.

From the opponent to the TV network, it's all quite tentative and nothing more than unconfirmed rumors, but this is my projection of what our schedule will look like in 2012 (*= subject for removal from schedule in lieu of game at Texas A&M, home game against Missouri, or home game against Auburn).

September 1: BOWLING GREEN FALCONS* (SUN SPORTS/PPV)

September 8: LOUISIANA RAJIN CAJUNS* (ESPNU)

September 15: @Tennessee Volunteers (CBS)

September 22: KENTUCKY WILDCATS (SEC Network)

September 29: @Mississippi Rebels* (ESPN2)

October 6: LOUISIANA STATE TIGERS (CBS)

October 13: AUBURN/@Texas A&M/MISSOURI

October 20: Bye week

October 27: vs. Georgia Bulldogs (CBS)

November 3: @Vanderbilt Commodores (ESPN2)

November 10: SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS (CBS)

November 17: JACKSONVILLE STATE GAMECOCKS* (SEC Network)

November 24: @Florida State Seminoles (ESPN)

From the nanosecond the Big 10 made the announcement that it was including Nebraska, I knew the SEC would go to 16 teams. Not 14, but 16. Think: would the commissioner of a league that won (at the time) four straight BCS Championships just sit back and allow this? When Auburn won the SEC's fifth straight, it became official: the SEC was going to go to 16 teams.

Now, these are just rumors, albeit strong ones. But let's just say it's true, and official.

What does it mean to the Gators?

Let's go negatives first, and save the positives for last.

1) Recruiting in the state of Florida

This is a gigantic blow for the Gators' in state recruiting. Often, a decision for an uncommitted 17 year old kid from the Sunshine State comes down to wanting to play in the ACC or SEC, and of course the bigger stage is in the SEC. And Urban Meyer took advantage of that, pounding the Seminoles 5 straight times and then hitting the recruits with "do you want to play on the big stage?" Combine that with the bludgeonings Tim Tebow handed Bobby Bowden and it was an easy call.

Now, though, Florida will HAVE to beat FSU to get recruits. The line "it was a bad year and now we're starting over" might work this year and maybe next year but not for long. With the conference advantage now gone, the only way to really show recruits that Florida is better is to hammer Florida State with regularity. And that won't be easy.

2) More of a year long grind/injury risk

You'll never hear me saying what a tough out of conference schedule Florida has. Jeremy Foley is a wimp and will never schedule anybody not named Florida State (and Miami once) that's any good. Now, though, the Gators will likely have to play 10 conference games, as opposed to the 8 plus Florida State. As we saw in 2008, any one conference game could turn into a loss. The addition of an extra game increases the risk of a loss, decreases the chance of an unbeaten national champion, and increases the injury risk.

3) End of the Florida-Auburn and Florida-Miami rivalries

Once upon a time, Florida vs. Auburn was one of the fiercest and most evenly matched rivalries in the nation. The Tigers hold a 42-38 lead and many of those games hurt more than just one loss. The Tigers had a knack of beating the Gators by a field goal, as recently as 2007. But after 2002, these teams stopped playing each other every year and just played twice every five years.

The Gators and the Hurricanes also had an annual (but meaner) rivalry that was destroyed when the Gators got weak with their schedule and replaced the U with Montana State (shameful, nothing less). Steve Spurrier wanted them back but it could not be done with the SEC expanding to 12 teams. The two teams met sporadically (twice in bowl games, twice in the Swamp, and once in the Orange Bowl, and are scheduled to meet again in 2013... but who knows?)

Now, with the new additions, instead of the teams playing more often, they will play even less often, since the division alignments likely will not pair the Gators and Auburn together. The teams might play once every eight years or so. It also means the definite end of Florida-Miami unless they both make it to a bowl game. It's a shame, really as these used to be intense matchups and now they will be defunct.

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But there are positives, too:

1) Out of state recruiting

The Gators already had a strong hold on Texas since Will Muschamp signed with Florida. But now they will get their hands on the St. Louis area, one of the hottest big cities in the Midwest along with Chicago. Kids in St. Louis will now have a lot more access to watch SEC games, which gives Muschamp and the Gators a bigger audience to impress. And of course South Carolina has the same problem with Clemson that Florida has with FSU joining the conference, which can work to everybody else's advantage.

2) Florida-FSU rivalry will become more intense

Aside from in state bragging rights and recruiting, this rivalry means nothing. It doesn't determine which team will play for the SEC Championship, it doesn't determine bowl games, or anything like that. This is why I consider Florida-Georgia to be a bigger rivalry. Now, Florida-FSU will be even nastier. Watch out for plenty of the chippy behavior that has caused enough flags to cover a field during Florida-Georgia games.

3) More firepower, more BCS champions

These are four historically good, but not fantastic teams joining the conference. Winning a 16 team conference will have even more power with the pollsters, who cannot turn away a one loss team from the SEC even with 12 teams. That power grows a lot with each team in, and more conference games means more chances to impress the pollsters as well.