Where Florida Ranks After Winning NCAA Championship in Early Top 25 Rankings

Where Florida Ranks After Winning NCAA Championship in Early Top 25 Rankings originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The 2024-25 season was one that Florida Gators basketball fans will never forget. A 36-4 record, an SEC title and the ultimate prize, the third national championship in program history.

Now, head coach Todd Golden and the Gators are looking for a repeat performance next season, as Florida tries to win back-to-back titles for the second time. However, with the departure of UF's three leading scorers from last year, it will be a tall task for the defending champions.

On Tuesday, USA Today released its Too-Early Top 25 for the 2025-26 season, in which Florida is ranked near the top, but may not be where Gators fans expect.

The national publication ranked Florida No. 5 in its preseason rankings, landing behind a pair of teams the Gators went through en route to the title. 

"All-America guard and Final Four MVP Walter Clayton will be hard to replace," USA Today said. "Backcourt mate Elijah Martin and Will Richard are also gone, but the Gators will defend their title with most of their inside players returning." 

Florida's backcourt trio of Clayton, Martin and Richard will be big losses for Florida. Because of this, Golden hit the transfer portal with a big emphasis on the perimeter. He brought in a pair of guards in Boogie Fland from Arkansas and Princeton's Xaivian Lee.

Fland scored 13.5 points to go with 5.1 assists and over one steal per game as a freshman in 2024 under John Calipari. Lee, who spent the past three seasons with the Tigers, is coming off an impressive year in which he averaged just under 17 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists per contest.

Outside of Florida in the top five, USA Today's experts ranked the defending runner-up Houston Cougars No. 1, the Duke Blue Devils second, UConn Huskies No. 3 and Purdue Boilermakers one spot ahead of UF at No. 4.

The Gators took down the two-time defending champion Huskies in the second round of last season's NCAA Tournament and the Cougars in the national championship game.

While the expectations for Golden and Florida from around the country are sky-high going into next season, it won't be easy to repeat as national champions.

Related: Florida Trending for No. 22 College Basketball Recruit

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 8, 2025, where it first appeared.