11. Florida (8-0)
One thing we know and continue to learn early this year is that the SEC is very talented. Florida is slowly jumping up these rankings and their performance on the court certainly defends that, with outstanding offense in the opening weeks of the season. They haven’t quite matched the level of opposition they’ll regularly face in SEC play, but they were in fine form away from home again this week.
The Gators took on the ESPN Events Invitational with style, starting with a 75-58 win over Wake Forest on Thursday. Walter Clayton Jr. led Florida to another nice win with a 21-point performance, with the Gators coasting to the title game. This team was emphatic against Wichita State, securing an 88-51 victory that wasn’t very close, led again by Clayton who had19 points while Rueben Chinyelu added 14 points and 11 rebounds.
There’s a lot of good to behold with this lineup and the work they’ve done in the first month of the season. This team isn’t going to blow you away with fancy shooting, but their defense has been firm and the interior scoring has been more than enough to get eight straight wins to kick off the season. They’ll have to wait a few more weeks for their major tests to begin, as next week is just a beatable Virginia squad during the ACC/SEC Challenge.