I hope this is the year that they finally break though and win it all. Good luck to our Lady Gator Lacrosse team.
Official answer: The selection committee put an emphasis on RPI and conference affiliation. Maryland pre-tournament was 6th in RPI. UF 15th. UF had a pretty competitive non-conference schedule but its affiliation with the AAC brought their RPI down with the exception of perhaps playing JMU twice. Snarky answer: It's because UF is not located in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic or Midwest. A bit tongue in cheek, but not entirely. Yes, the AAC was not the most competitive league, but UF was drilling all comers in conference and out after a rough start to the season. They certainly passed the eyeball test as one of the top teams in the country. And I do not care who you are playing, winning at the time of tourney selection 17 straight games, should have factored more heavily.
Pretty sure that is the seeding for the tournament. I've seen UF ranked about 9th or 10th in the lacrosse rankings. In the tournament, there is a top 8 that is seeded and the other 8 are sent to the top 8 and then they go from there as the field narrows. UF was an automatic qualifier because they won the conference they are in, but the committee didn't seed them in the top 8. Speaking of conferences, the Gators will be leaving the AAC conference to go to the new Big 12 women's lacrosse conference for next season. They will join Arizona St, Cincinnati, Colorado, SDSU, and UC Davis.
