Opening night for Florida Basketball could have gone better, as the Gators lost to Arizona to open the season. Florida had an early lead it let slip away, and then still made a furious comeback that just fell short. The Gators followed up their loss by eviscerating UNF later in the week.
But according to AP voters, Florida's loss to Arizona was worthy of a massive drop in the polls that makes no sense.
Florida ranked No. 10 in AP Top 25
Florida came in at No. 10 in the latest AP Top 25 poll, a fall from being preseason No. 3.
When one considers that Arizona rose up to No. 5 in the poll, and Florida had a shot with under a minute to play to tie the game, a seven spot drop seems rather harsh.
It's not say that Florida doesn't have real concerns when it comes to three point shooting, but if these same voters thought Florida was No. 3 before the loss to Arizona, let's take a glance at what teams six through nine did to leapfrog Florida:
No. 6 Michigan - Beat Oakland 121-78. Congrats on also beating up a cupcake.
No. 7 BYU - Barely got by unranked Villanova before beating up on Holy Cross. But sure Jan, that's better than a close loss to No. 5 Arizona.
No. 8 Alabama - To be fair, they did beat No. 13 St John's, so there is at least some justification here.
No. 9 Kentucky - Beat up on two cupcakes. Great work team.
Yes, at the end of the day, all these rankings are pure semantics, and Florida will get a chance to prove itself as the season marches on, starting tonight against FSU.
But one has to wonder whether or not the people who vote on this sport, and who will hand out postseason awards that do have value, actually pay attention to the sport they are paid to write about.