College basketball rankings: Florida Gators bumped behind Duke despite two dominant wins

Basketball

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Image Credit: Maddie Washburn, UAA

Florida Gators basketball moved to 24-3 (11-3 SEC) on Saturday in Year 3 under head coach Todd Golden coming off another pair of dominant victories. The Gators continue to make headlines and program history across the 2024-25 season with their mark through 27 games standing as the third best at this juncture in a season.

Expectations have now been raised for Florida, which is being projected as a No. 1 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The Gators have the best win in the nation this season (at No. 1 Auburn) and a tremendous resume, though they remain third fiddle to the team they beat by nine points earlier this month and a Duke program that got boosted following a 43-point win over the weekend.

Florida fell one spot in the college basketball rankings on Monday when it moved to No. 3 in the AP Top 25, losing the lone one first-place vote it received last week. UF has been ranked among the top six for seven straight weeks with its No. 2 ranking from last week the highest it has placed in the AP Top 25 since March 17, 2014, the final poll of that regular season.

UF similarly lost one spot moving to No. 3 in the Coaches Poll while remaining No. 4 in the NET Rankings with a 5-3 record against Quadrant 1 opponents, 14-3 against the first two quadrants. Comparatively, AU is 14-2 against Q1 and 19-2 against the top quadrants. 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.

Florida is playing three of the top six and seven of the top 25 teams in this week’s rankings — a total of eight times — this season.

AP Top 25 — Feb. 24

1. Auburn (59) — [W 90-81]
2. Duke
3. Florida (1)
4. Houston
5. Tennessee — [W 73-43, L 44-64]
6. Alabama — [March 5]
7. St. John’s
8. Michigan State
9. Iowa State
10. Texas Tech
11. Wisconsin
12. Texas A&M — [March 1]
13. Clemson
14. Missouri — [L 82-83]
15. Michigan
16. Maryland
17. Kentucky — [L 100-106]
18. Memphis
19. Louisville
20. Purdue
21. Marquette
22. Arizona
23. Saint Mary’s
24. Mississippi State — [W 81-68]
25. BYU

Ole Miss, which Florida will play before the season is out, dropped out of the rankings.