Making a Case for Florida Being the No. 1 Team in College Basketball

By Trevor Lowry
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Florida Gators came into the week by being ranked No. 2 team in the nation. So, all the Gators had to do was beat the Arkansas Razorbacks on the road and hope for the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers to lose and then Florida would be at the top of the rankings next week. However, only one of those things happened, with Indiana going down against Illinois, but the Gators still can make a case for being the No. 1 team in college basketball.

Florida does not have the resume that the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils have, but they have been the most dominant team all season long. The Gators beat the Wisconsin Badgers by 18 points, the Marquette Golden Eagles by 33 points and Florida State by 25 points. Until losing to Arkansas, Florida was beating SEC teams on average of 26.5 points per game. This included a 31-point victory over the Missouri Tigers. I think you get the point.

No team has been as good as the Gators this season in terms of how the game was played. Florida’s offense has been amazing, but its defense has been just as good. That was, of course, until the Gators got beat by the Razorbacks earlier in the week. That 11-point loss aside, Florida’s only other two losses came against the No. 8 Arizona Wildcats (at the time) on the road and against the Kansas State Wildcats, which was practically played on the road for Florida, despite being played on a “neutral” court. Billy Donovan‘s team lost those two games by an average of 3.5 points.

People can say what they want about how easy the SEC is this year, but the Gators have still been getting the job done, just like last year’s national champions got it done last season in the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Gators practically have five players averaging 10 points or more per game–Scottie Wilbekin is averaging 9.5 points per game–and this includes Kenny Boynton (13.2 PPG), who is one of the best shooting guards in the country and Patric Young (11 PPG), who will likely be a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

Florida has been dominating its competition. Sure, teams like Duke may have a tougher schedule, but the Gators cannot help that. What they can do is continue to blow away competition like they have been all season long, which is why they make a great case for being the No. 1 team in the nation.

 

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