It was not pretty but the Florida Gators earned their seventh win of the season Thursday night against the East Carolina Pirates, 70-65. In yet another matchup where the team simply could not put away an inferior squad, the game went into the final minutes before earning the victory.
The good news is that Todd Golden’s team has won three in a row and remains undefeated in December. The bad news is that despite earning the W, the objective rankings were not impressed with the results.
Florida dropped three spots from our last update in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index as a result of their effort, falling out of the top 25 to No. 28. Compare that with the NET rankings, which saw the Gators slipping four spots to No. 47 after the ECU win.
The Orange and Blue’s 8.9 BPI rating — a measurement of a team’s true strength going forward — fell by 0.2 points. This means they expected to beat average teams on a neutral court by a little less than nine points per 70 possessions.
Golden’s gang is better on offense (5.6 BPI) than it is on defense (3.4), but both numbers are good for the top 50 in college basketball. The projected record is now 20.1-10.9 with an expected mark in SEC play of 10.5-7.5, giving them a 6.6% chance of earning the conference title.
The remaining strength of schedule is ranked 52nd overall.
Next up for Florida are the Michigan Wolverines, who will face the Gators in Charlotte, North Carolina, for this year’s Jumpman Invitational on Tuesday, Dec. 19. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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