Is Florida basketball elite? We may not find out until January

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Florida basketball is bringing back visions of its past championship glory under former head coach Billy Donovan.

At 9-0, the No. 7 Florida Gators are off to their best start since the 2005-06 team began 17-0 on the way to its first national title in school history. In year three under head coach Todd Golden, UF is deep and balanced, having won its first nine games by an average margin of 19.9 points

Yet the true test to determine whether Florida is a Final Four contender or pretender lies a few weeks ahead.

The SEC dominated the ACC in the second version of the ACC-SEC Challenge last week, going 14-2 in the 16 head-to-head matchups. That included UF overcoming an early nine-point deficit to beat Virginia, 87-69, last week at the O’Connell Center behind 27 points and four assists from senior guard Walter Clayton Jr.

Florida is No. 7 in this week’s NCAA NET rankings, which takes into account record compared to strength of schedule. UF is one of five SEC teams in the NET Top 10 and 12 SEC teams in the NET Top 50, a list that also includes Tennessee (1), Auburn (2), Kentucky (5), Alabama (10), Mississippi State (20), Georgia (22), Ole Miss (29), Missouri (31), Texas A&M (32), Oklahoma (44) and Arkansas (49).

“There’s no running from it,” Golden said. “This is the best conference in college basketball and it’s not particularly close right now.

“We’ve got four more games in the non-conference we’ve got to worry about before we get to league play, but there’s no doubt that the SEC is the best conference in college basketball right now and every night is going to be an absolute battle once we get to league play.”

How prepared is Florida basketball heading into SEC play?

Per KenPom, Florida sits at No. 8, but its strength of schedule (208) has been impacted by beating three ACC teams (Florida State, Wake Forest and Virginia) that have been up-and-down early this season. UF has faced a number of offensively challenged teams early this season, as the average…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/florida-basketball-elite-may-not-090434070.html

Author : The Gainesville Sun

Publish date : 2024-12-10 09:04:00

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