Who? The Gators of Florida.
What? Marketing works. I'm not sure if Albert and Alberta are named after Albert Murphree or if they're just names that shorten to Al. (At least they have full first names instead of just being Al E. Gator and Ally Gator.)
Where? Gainesville, Florida, one of the meanest cities in the USA.
When? March 18th, in Bowling Green, Ohio.
How? They were an at-large selection.
Surprise? Not the strongest resume in the field, but .500 in a power conference, with a good strength of schedule, is usually enough.
RPI: 41
SOS: 14
Record: 19-12 (8-8 SEC)
Good wins: Florida State looked better at the start of the season; a sweep of LSU is pretty sweet, though.
Bad losses: At Pacific.
Who's running this show? Amanda Butler, since 2007; she was a star guard at Florida.
Extra, Extra! The Gainesville Sun.
My completely subjective opinion of Florida, having seen them this year at LIU's tournament, is that they have a tendency to play down to the opposition; La Salle definitely should not have been as close as they were, and I'm not so sure about Charlotte either.
Junior forward Jennifer George leads the team in scoring with 13 points per game and in rebounding with 9.0. She can be a force in the middle if she stays out of foul trouble. Senior guard Jordan Jones loves the outside shot, and if I were hitting them at close to 35%, I would too; she's the other double-digit scorer for the Gators, putting in 11.6 per game. Senior Lanita Bartley and sophomore Jaterra Bonds are also scoring threats, though if they do go off, it'll be on volume.