Florida Senate Passes Resolution, Declares Seminoles As NCAA Basketball Champions

The Florida State Seminoles had quite a season on the hardwood. Heading into the ACC Tournament with a 26-5 record and ranked No. 4 in the country, the Noles were fresh off the school's first regular-season conference title. 

FSU had its sights set on an NCAA Tournament championship, but the coronavirus outbreak prevented that from taking place. The lack of March Madness didn't stop the Florida Senate from taking action, however, as lawmakers voted to declare the Noles as national champions. The resolution passed by a 37-2 vote late Friday.

I introduced a resolution today in the @FLSenate declaring the @FSUHoops Team National Champions. The cornovirus will continue to impact all areas of our life but this is Florida States year. Congratulations to our 2020 National Champions and Go Noles! #FSU pic.twitter.com/TWOswfSt5T

— Joe Gruters (@JoeGruters) March 13, 2020

Senator Joe Gruters – a Florida State alum – introduced the resolution on Friday and in it wrote that the Seminoles "were favored to challenge the top seeds in the national tournament and take home the national title" and highlighted the "tremendous skill on the court and the heart and spirit shown by the players and coaches."

This isn't the first time a Florida school has tried to pull these shenanigans. The UCF Knights went 13-0 under Scott Frost back in 2017 and capped things off with a Peach Bowl win over No. 7 Auburn. Despite finishing the season ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll, the university declared the Knights as the 2017 national champions. 

Siding with UCF over the No. 1 Crimson Tide was an easy decision. The same can't be said for the Seminoles this time around.