As the giants of college basketball fall and the defending national champions keep winning, the nation has no choice but to take notice.
After beginning the season unranked for the second time in three years, the UF men's basketball team has cracked the rankings at No. 25 in The Associated Press Poll and No. 24 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll after four impressive wins to start the season.
The news came as a surprise to freshman guard Jai Lucas.
"Oh, I didn't know that," he said. "That's a step. We're making progress, but you really don't want to look at it like that. We're not happy yet."
Lucas said he felt the Gators deserve the recognition.
"I feel we're one of the 25 best teams in the country. Being here every day with the guys, we work hard. It's an accomplishment, but it's nothing big."
The newly ranked Gators will look to continue their early season success tonight at 8 when they host North Florida. The two teams met last season, with UF winning 86-40.
The Gators are coming off a big 88-63 win against Rutgers on Saturday, and they are outscoring opponents by an average of almost 30 points per game so far this season.
UF coach Billy Donovan said he hopes the success won't lead to complacency as the season moves forward.
"We are not talented enough that we can get by without coming and playing with great energy and great passion," he said. "This will be, I think, for us tomorrow, a different challenge in a way of, how will we respond to what happened Saturday?"
Donovan said he has been discouraged with his team in the past few days, singling out fatigue and mental errors.
"We've got so many games that I'm starting to see significant slippage in execution right now," he said.
Donovan said he felt the ranking was due to the many upsets throughout college basketball.
Among the early season shockers is Gardner-Webb stunning then-No. 20 Kentucky, Mercer toppling then-No. 18 Southern California and Belmont knocking off Cincinnati in the Bearcats' home opener.
Donovan said his team has shown consistency - something he feels may have caught the attention of voters.
"I think probably with what's happened with some of the upsets and teams being knocked off and early losses, we've been a team that has gone through this part of our season unblemished," he said. "To me, any of that stuff is maybe some writers or people saying, 'Hey, they're the defending national champions and until somebody beats them, they should be ranked.'"
Lucas said the Gators will use the ranking as motivation and continue to improve as they aim to move up the list.
"I think with the ranking coming out it will energize some of the guys in the right way and keep us focused," he said. "I know we still want to climb. Twenty-five is almost like being last - you always want to move up."
