Prior to Tuesday, I would have had to really squint to find significant flaws with Florida Basketball. The Gators were just ranked 5th in the AP Poll and had a historic beatdown of Tennessee the previous week. But Missouri turned into the Splash Bros for 15 minutes, and Florida lost despite being a double-digit favorite.
Florida is once again a double-digit favorite at home today against Texas, and the outcome of today's 4 PM contest will dictate some key narratives moving forward for the Gators.
Florida Basketball: Back At It
With the loss to Missouri, Florida is now 2-2 in SEC play. Given the strength of the conference in 2025, Florida could probably go 8-10 or even 7-11 and still make it into the NCAA Tournament.
But Florida isn't trying to just make it to the Big Dance this year. After years of doing that with Mike White but only making it out of opening weekend once, expectations are higher. It is not unreasonable to state that Florida is a Final Four team if they reach their full potential.
As we wrote after the Missouri loss, Florida didn't play as poorly as one may think. Missouri hits some shots, but they probably won't hit consistently for the rest of the season.
But the loss to Missouri raised eyebrows as the Gators struggled at times with their halfcourt offense, and the Tigers collected more offensive rebounds than Florida.
It makes today's game against Texas a chance to showcase the Missouri loss was more of a blip rather than a trend. Beat the Longhorns by double digits, and it is full steam ahead.
But a loss today would start to raise some significant flashing red flags as to what the actual ceiling for Florida is and whether this squad is Final Four bound or if they are looking like a one-and-done squad once again.