The theme of the 2024-25 college basketball season is pretty clear at this point: The cannibalization of the SEC.
The most stacked conference in the nation came into the week with four of the top six teams in the AP Top 25 and two of the top three. After Tuesday's results, the latter is going to have to change.
The No. 3 Florida Gators traveled to face the Georgia Bulldogs and couldn't avoid the upset bid like Auburn did on Saturday. How will the voters punish the Gators for that one?
Predicted college basketball top 25 after Georgia stuns Florida
- Auburn Tigers
- Duke Blue Devils
- Houston Cougars
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Florida Gators
- St. John's Red Storm
- Michigan State Spartans
- Iowa State Cyclones
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Wisconsin Badgers
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Clemson Tigers
- Missouri Tigers
- Michigan Wolverines
- Maryland Terrapins
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Memphis Tigers
- Louisville Cardinals
- Purdue Boilermakers
- Marquette Golden Eagles
- Arizona Wildcats
- Saint Mary's Gaels
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- BYU Cougars
I'm hitting Florida with a relatively steep drop. There's a reason for that. The Gators still have a better record than Tennessee and Alabama, but those teams have better Quad 1 records. The Vols and Crimson Tide are 9-5 in Quad 1 games. Florida is now 5-4.
The Gators will always be able to point to wins over Auburn and Tennessee. And I wouldn't be surprised if voters don't punish Florida as much as I'm inclined to. At the very least, expect the Gators to fall behind Houston, fresh off their win over Texas Tech.
Florida ultimately lost by five points but it wasn't even that close for much of the game. The Bulldogs had a commanding 51-35 lead at the half. They led by as many as 26 points.
Will Richard tried to put the team on his back with 30 points, five rebounds and three assists. It couldn't make up for just one other Gator managing to score in the double-digits. That was Walter Clayton Jr.