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Look of a champion?
Florida 'stayed the course' after early losses and is rolling toward favorite status next month. Plus: A big night for bubble teams, Michigan rallies, Maryland pulls off a stunner, a peek at the Big 12's fancy tourney floor and more from Wednesday.
Samuel Lance
February 12, 2026
Good morning! As a reminder, Valentines’ Day is Saturday. It’s probably not too late to make a reservation with your special someone at a sports bar to watch college hoops all day.
Right?
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1. Florida’s repeat chances seemingly growing
Florida hasn’t just won nine of 10 games after Tuesday’s dominant 86-66 win at Georgia, they’ve covered the spread in 9 of 10 games and have beaten teams by an average of 20.8 points.
Tournament teams like Tennessee, Alabama and Texas A&M have all fallen victim to Gator blowouts. Florida’s looking every bit of the title contender it was projected to be.
“I think a lot of people wanted to count us out and say, ‘You’re not last year’s team,’” coach Todd Golden said. “And we handled that the right way. We didn’t point fingers. We weren’t blaming each other for the lack of success. We just stayed the course.”
Wednesday also marked a game where its backcourt thrived. Xavian Lee scored a game-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while Boogie Fland added 15 points on 13 shots. It marked their best combined effort since a Jan. 10 blowout of Tennessee.
On Saturday, the first-place Gators (18-6, 9-2 SEC) will have a chance to chomp another red-hot team in Kentucky (17-7, 8-3) in the swamp. The game will have major implications on the SEC regular-season title race.
2. A big night for the bubble
As March creeps closer, every night becomes more and more meaningful in regards to the NCAA Tournament. For bubble teams, any result can swing you in or out of the field in an instant.
Wednesday was a great night for those teams, though, and it may end up being the bubble’s best showing all season long.
Here were the notable results:
In our latest bracket projection, USC (18-7, 7-7 Big Ten) was a 10 seed and Santa Clara (22-5, 13-1 WCC) was an 11 seed. Missouri (17-7, 7-4 SEC) and Cal (17-8, 5-7 ACC) were two of the last four teams in the field. New Mexico (19-6, 10-4 MW) and Ohio State (16-8, 8-6 Big Ten) were in the first four out, and Virginia Tech (17-8, 6-6 ACC) was in the next four out.
There’s bound to be a ton of shakeup on Friday because of Wednesday’s action. You can watch the update at 5 pm ET during Fielding the 68.
3. Michigan’s comeback shows the ‘look’ of a contender
Earlier this season, Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland told his good friend Dusty May the Wolverines just had that “look.”
