ESPN’s analytics-based power rankings were high on Florida’s football team all season despite its struggles, so I suppose it stands to reason that its basketball team would, as well. The Gators sit at 8-3, and after a hot start to the season, the team dropped games against Oklahoma, Texas Southern and Maryland, which has sent its ranking plummeting in the NET Rankings.
But ESPN’s Basketball Power Index is warmer on UF. It ranks 24th, significantly higher than its current No. 59 spot in the NET. It’s being weighed down by a strength of schedule that isn’t great, coming in at just 141st. But its strength of record is better due to victories over Florida State and Ohio State, standing 67th among Division I teams.
It’s been a frustrating couple of weeks for this team that included one of the worst losses in program history when it fell by 15 points at home against a previously winless SWAC team in Texas Southern. That was a Quadrant 4 loss at the time, but the Tigers have moved up enough in the NET for that loss to now be considered Quadrant 3. They are now 2-7 and rank 136th in the BPI.
Despite Florida doing damage to its own resume, the team is still in a solid position heading into conference play. The opening stretch in the SEC is brutal, and the Gators will play Quadrant 1 games in three of their first four matchups. UF could either rise considerably a drop off entirely depending on how it fares in those games.
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