For the first time since their repeat national championship season in 2007, the Florida Gators sit atop The Associated Press rankings as the No. 1 team in college basketball.
After Syracuse dropped two games in a row last week, including one to unranked Boston College, Florida (25-2, 14-0 Southeastern Conference) jumped from the No. 2 ranking to take the nation’s top spot Monday with 47 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel.
Florida also moved to the No. 1 spot in the USA Today coaches poll, receiving 24 of the 32 first-place votes.
Wichita State and Arizona are now the second- and third-ranked teams in the AP poll, respectively, with Syracuse falling to fourth.
Although UF coach Billy Donovan said he and his squad are honored by the new poll results, he added the rankings have no impact on the Gators’ remaining schedule that includes a road matchup with Vanderbilt (15-11, 7-7 SEC) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“I don’t think (it means) a whole lot,” Donovan said. “I think rankings are a revolving door. Every week they change. When teams lose in front of you and you win, you move up. Certainly that’s probably a good conversational piece, having that. But that really means nothing to do with what we are trying to do. I think during course of the season our guys never really had a goal of, ‘Hey let’s try to be No. 1 in the country.’ ”
The Gators, who were ranked No. 10 in the preseason AP poll, fell as low as No. 19 on Dec. 9 following a 6-2 start to the season. But a school-record 19-game winning streak has catapulted UF all the way to the top.
The last time Florida held the No. 1 ranking in the AP poll — which isn’t compiled once the NCAA tournament begins — was a five-week run beginning Jan. 15, 2007.
And which team knocked the Gators off their pedestal only weeks before the postseason?
Vanderbilt. The Commodores sent Joakim Noah and company back down to the No. 3 ranking after an 83-70 win in Memorial Gym on Feb. 17, 2007.
Seven years later, Donovan doesn’t want his players to fall into the same trap this time around in Nashville, Tenn.
“A lot of times when you get that ranking, a lot of times it has nothing to do with about what you do,” Donovan said. “It has to do with what other people do. When you start to be affected by what happens to other people, you get focused on the wrong things and … (you) need to narrow your focus in terms of what we do need to do.”
With the likely distraction of an SEC regular-season title also approaching for Florida, Donovan’s players are echoing his message of focus and determination.
“We know that teams are going to probably give us their best shots,” senior forward Will Yeguete said. “It’s obviously something that we need to respond (to) and try to keep calm as well. Whether we’re No. 1, I think every team wants to beat us — especially because we’re undefeated in the SEC.”
As the No. 2 team in the nation last week, the Gators needed last-minute free throws and a little luck to get past Auburn and Ole Miss and stay in contention for the top spot. Even with the new ranking, Donovan said things wouldn’t change too much.
“We’ve been given a number,” Donovan said. “That’s about the extent of it.”
