Image Credit: Maddie Washburn, UAA
Florida Gators basketball moved to 13-1 in Year 3 under head coach Todd Golden with the program still off to its best start in two decade despite dropping its first game of the season on Saturday. Florida has now won 12 of 14 games by double digits, but it fell on its biggest stage of the season thus far.
Expectations have been raised for the Gators as this extremely talented roster has started the season hotter than any version of this team since the first that won a national championship.
Florida maintained another high mark Monday when the latest college basketball rankings were announced. It only ticked down two spots to No. 8 in the AP Top 25, falling three to No. 8 in the Coaches Poll. This after UF opened the campaign ranked in the preseason polls for the first time since 2019-20.
The 2024-25 squad was the first in program history to win 10 straight games by double digits to start a season.
Florida moved down four spots to No. 8 in the NET Rankings with a 1-1 record against Quadrant 1 opponents. The NCAA Selection Committee uses those rankings — which largely evaluate quality of wins and losses — as part of their process in choosing the NCAA Tournament field.
The Gators follow a top-10 loss to Kentucky by facing No. 1 Tennessee on Tuesday night.
Florida is set to play the top two teams, four of the top six and five of the top 10 teams in this week’s rankings — a total of seven times — over the remainder of the season along with eight of the top 25 teams overall.
1. Tennessee (45)
2. Auburn (15)
3. Iowa State
4. Duke
5. Alabama
6. Kentucky
7. Marquette
8. Florida
9. UConn
10. Texas A&M
11. Kansas
12. Houston
13. Illinois
14. Mississippi State
15. Oregon
16. Michigan State
17. Oklahoma
18. Gonzaga
19. Memphis
20. Purdue
21. West Virginia
22. UCLA
23. Ole Miss
24. Michigan
25. Utah State
