An embarrassing road loss at Arkansas not only resulted in the Florida Gators’ first SEC setback, it also knocked them down five spots to No. 7 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.
It also means the Gators (19-3 overall, 9-1 in SEC play) will need a few teams ahead of them to fall id they are to get back in the conversation for a No. 1 seed come NCAA tournament time.
Indiana comes in at No. 1 followed by Duke, Miami, Michigan, Gonzaga and Syracuse as teams ranked ahead of Florida.
The only other SEC team in the Top 25 is No. 25 Kentucky. The Gators host the Wildcats (17-6, 8-2) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The battle between the top two teams in the league will air on ESPN.
Missouri and Ole Miss are the only other SEC teams receiving votes. The Tigers actually would be No. 27 and are just 18 votes behind Kentucky. They were No. 21 in last week’s AP rankings.