There have been a bunch of different conversations about college basketball’s most disappointing team at various points in this season. Sometimes the label has been attached to St. John’s or Kentucky. Right now, it’s probably UCLA.
In early December, it was maybe Florida.
Yes, the reigning national champ started 5-4 (with a loss to TCU) after being ranked third in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll. Neither transfer portal addition in the backcourt was looking like money well spent. The Gators dropped to as low as 33rd in the NET and to what amounts to 35th in the AP poll.
But now look.
Since dropping four of their first nine games, the Gators have won eight of their past nine with the latest victory representing the biggest. Final score: Florida 98, Vanderbilt 94.
That was Saturday’s most notable result, I think. The Quadrant-1 win on the road inside Nashville’s Memorial Gym pushed Florida to 13-5 overall, 4-1 in the SEC and up to 14th in Sunday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Vanderbilt dropped to 16-2 overall, 3-2 in the SEC. The Commodores are 15th in the Top 25 And 1.
“I’m incredibly proud of our group,” said Florida coach Todd Golden. “I just told these guys in the locker room: this is an incredibly challenging place to play a great team that I believe plays better at home, by a wide margin, than on the road. So a little disadvantage for us, only playing them once here. And we talked about it — that if our goal of winning the league was realistic, that this would be a game that was really important to make that happen. And we got it done.”
Indeed, they did.
And, just like that, KenPom.com is now projecting Florida to finish atop the SEC with a 14-4 league record — two games ahead of Vanderbilt and Alabama. If things do unfold that way, it would be Golden’s first regular-season conference championship in a seven-year head-coaching career that already includes one NCAA Tournament championship (2025) and one SEC Tournament championship (2025).
Top 25 And 1 rankings
IN: St. John’s, GeorgiaOUT: Tennessee, Utah State
