It has not been the easiest season for the Florida Gators men’s basketball team, but despite many hurdles, this team has proven that it will not quit this past week, notching a huge win against the top-10 ranked Tennessee Volunteers as well as the Georgia Bulldogs to claim their first winning streak since the start of league play.
Before the tides turned and the Gators returned to their winning ways, things were looking very grim in the NCAA’s NET rankings for UF, who dropped as far as No. 55. In the third iteration of the rankings, Florida began inching its way back up thanks to a win against the Ole Miss Rebels — though the following loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs did little to help their cause.
So where do the Gators stand in the fourth NCAA NET ratings of the 2020-21 season? The answer is at No. 26, just four spots below where the team was in the initial release. The rebound is an extremely encouraging sign for a program that has been without its two star players in Keyontae Johnson and Scottie Lewis, as well as lost time for transfer Colin Castleton, who earned Co-SEC Player of the Week recently.
The Gators will host the Vanderbilt Commodores on Wednesday before taking on the West Virginia Mountaineers in the SEC-Big East Challenge Saturday. Vandy should pose few problems for Florida while the Mountaineers might give the Gators some trouble. If UF can pull out both wins, expect to see a much more bullish outlook from the numbers and the media next week.
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