I’m not disappointed, just a little confused.

The men’s basketball team, finishing with a 21-12 overall record, with an SEC record identical to both Mississippi bball teams (neither of which are dancing), and with one SEC tournament win before being bounced…By Mississippi State, who then went on to take the monsters from Kentucky into overtime before losing by one little point and are now taking their 23-11 season to the NIT. Two more wins than the Gators, one less loss, and Miss St isn’t playing for the championship. The team that beat us, beat Vandy, then almost beat a Wildcat team coming off a complete demolition of 2010 SEC upstart Tennessee (beating them by almost 30) is out, we’re in.

Huh?

The brackets are a little screwy looking this year, with Duke taking their questionable #1 seeding to the strikingly easy South just the tip of the iceberg, so wondering what Florida did to deserve a 10 seed in the Syracuse topped West (out seeding teams like Minnesota, who went all the way to their conference championship against Ohio State) is like trying to wonder why Tebow’s getting knocked for his Wonderlick score (which, I’d like to state, is comparable to NFL Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and Dan Marino). I mean, UF took 24-12 and 25-11 teams to the NIT the last two years, petering out in the semi and quarters respectively, and had similar conference records both times, but something made this year different. What did Billy do this year, grease some palms? Or, did they actually do something to earn it?

Though many are scratching their heads this season when filling out brackets, there are several points to be considered that justify UF’s invitation to play with the big boys (though I still can’t really justify that #10).

First, I’m starting to think that the tournaments didn’t mean anything this year. Perhaps the committee already had an idea in their heads as to how they were going to write the teams in this season and just didn’t want to go back in the computers and change things just because of a couple games at the end of the year. Miss St is our most relevant example, taking us with little problem, then turning around and giving the tops of the SEC (Vandy 24-8 with an SEC mark of 12-4 and Kentucky 32-2 with a 14-2 SEC record) not only a run for their money, but one loss and one close call. Yeah, they’ll be given no opportunity to take that energy and talent anywhere important as they’ll be Not In the Tournament, which was nice of them, because they were supposed to take our spot in the sea of 64. The Bulldogs are out, we’re in, the tournament did nothing to change that because it really seems like it was decided before the SEC got together last weekend to play King of the Mountain. Illinois suffered a similar fate, looking like they would be on the last bubble in (something we heard up to and during selection Sunday, how Illinois, Miss St, and Minnesota were the last 3 in, leaving UF NIT bound for the third year), but ending up in an NIT after going to the semi-finals of the Big 10 with a big win over Wisconsin (their second of the year).

So, if the tournaments weren’t important, that makes me believe that strength of schedule was the deciding factor, something that completely precludes the conference play and focuses on games against outside teams. In truth, this is where Florida got it done and we can use the Miss St example again to prove it. The Bulldogs posted a 1-5 record against the top 25 teams this season, winning at Old Dominion… Sure, they had a great run at the end there, but the damage was already done and this team just couldn’t beat anyone beyond ordinary during the regular season. Virginia Tech was another one who, with a down year for the ACC, needed to see that a good out of conference schedule would have been key in keeping them out of the NIT. Meanwhile, Florida started the season with a huge win over Michigan State (a #5 seed in the tourney) and although they didn’t fare all that well against the RPI top 25 overall this season (1-9), they went out and got good games on their schedule and played them tough. They took on Syracuse (lost by 8). Although it was in conference, they beat Tennessee on their second try (75-62 in an incredible home game last month). They took on Rutgers for a win, blew out Florida State early, and beat NC State in an overtime thriller. Oh, and they beat both teams from Mississippi during the season, perhaps the edge when considering all 3 teams have the same 9-7 conference record.

Yeah, our Gators haven’t been perfect this year and we were all preparing for another NIT, but this group has managed to find a way to win several times this season against big teams (mostly in conference, to be fair). Most of us here had been told so many times about how we needed two wins in the SEC tournament to make it to the dance; no one was really getting all to excited coming in to Sunday’s selections, but what a nice surprise to end our week on. Let Miss St and Illinois and Virginia Tech complain, all of them have more bad losses than they do quality wins this season, and the NCAA isn’t rewarding come-latelys this year who wait to make their case in the tournaments before the tournament.

So, a very surprised Go Gators this week as we all try not to look this gift horse in the mouth (and pray that our great shooting night against Auburn last week can be replicated a few more times before the season’s out).

Josh Bauer is a Columnist for GatorTailgating.com