Florida closes January at No. 9 in ESPN Basketball Power Index
Florida closes January at No. 9 in ESPN Basketball Power Index
Florida continued its climb up the ESPN Basketball Power Index on Thursday, moving up one spot to No. 9 overall through 20 games of the 2024-25 season.
Since Gators Wire last checked in with the BPI on Jan. 24, the Orange and Blue have only played one game — a 30-point win over Georgia in Gainesville. Now 5-2 in SEC play, the Gators are cementing themselves as one of the top teams in the country. A big matchup with BPI No. 5 Tennessee looms on the schedule, but Florida should hold at No. 9 until Saturday.
Florida's BPI is 18.1, further broken down as 9.9 (ninth) on offense and 8.2 (17th) on defense. Compared to last week's numbers — 17.4, 9.5 and 7.8 — UF's offensive rating is up significantly by 0.7 and the defense is also up a good 0.4 on the Index. Those changes are good for a two-spot jump into the top 10 on offense and a five-spot incerase on defense.
Note: The BPI is updated daily; however Gators Wire provides weekly updates so as not to overwhelm fans with constant changes. We took two weeks this time.
'The College Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward,' ESPN explains. 'BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Strength of Record (SOR) is a measure of team accomplishment based on how difficult a team's W-L record is to achieve. Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day's rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections.'
ESPN BPI Projections
ESPN now projects Florida to finish the season with a 24.7-6.3 overall record and an 11.7-6.3 record in conference play — 0.5 more than last week — based on results to date and BPI-based projections for remaining scheduled games. With only conference games left on the schedule, those projections will continue changing by an identical amount.
The Gators have 7.5% odds to win the conference, up 2.2% from two last week. Florida faces the 18th-toughest schedule moving forward with eight Quadrant 1 matchups ahead against SEC programs.
NCAA Tournament Resume
Florida's 18-2 record has the program ranked seventh overall in strength of record, which translates to a No. 2 seed. The Gators continue a slight downward trend in seeding projections, and SEC is to blame. That matchup with Tennessee carries a lot of weight. A loss means falling to a No. 3 seed but a win could mean getting back into the No. 1 conversation.
Florida's overall strength of schedule is now ranked No. 55, down seven spots from a week ago, and its non-conference strength of schedule is down four to No. 119. The Gators are 4-2 in 'quality matchups' (against the top 50 in BPI), with wins over No. 5 Tennessee, No. 30 North Carolina, No. 40 Georgia and No. 26 Texas.
ESPN gives Florida 2.2% odds of winning the NCAA Tournament and 6.2% odds of making it to the championship game. A Final Four appearance (14.1%) or Elite Eight appearance (29.1%) continue to see increased odds, as do the chances of a Sweet 16 (56.1%) and Round of 32 appearance (88.5%).
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
15 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Dick Vitale has an extension with ESPN - and a college basketball event in his honor
Dick Vitale is inextricably intertwined with college basketball, with his iconic voice, exuberant style and enthusiastic catchphrases melding into a soundtrack for nearly five decades of the sport's history. And the broadcasting great's influence is sticking around next season, too, both in person on game days and through an addition to the college basketball calendar named in his honor. ESPN announced Monday that Vitale has signed a contract through the 2027-28 season, while ESPN Events is launching the Dick Vitale Invitational — the first matchup coming with a season-opening tilt between Duke and Texas on Nov. 4 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Fittingly, the announcement comes on Vitale's 86th birthday, and months after he returned to the airwaves after being gone for two years amid a fourth battle with cancer . The Basketball Hall of Famer, also a former college and NBA coach, has been with ESPN since it launched in 1979 and called the network's first college basketball broadcast. 'So many times, awards and honors come to people after they're long gone,' Vitale said of the Invitational's birth in an interview with The Associated Press. 'And to get it while you're living is just a great, great feeling.' ___ AP college basketball: and
NBC Sports
18 minutes ago
- NBC Sports
Nate Schmidt surprisingly leads Panthers in scoring in the Stanley Cup Final
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla — The Florida Panthers' leading scorer through two games of the Stanley Cup Final is not Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov or Sam Reinhart. It's Nate Schmidt. Yes, the journeyman defenseman who was bought out last summer and is playing for just above the NHL veteran minimum. Schmidt has four points, three of them primary assists, against the Edmonton Oilers. 'He's been great,' teammate Gustav Forsling said. 'He's been playing unreal, making some huge, huge plays for us in key moments.' Schmidt is 33 and seven years removed from his first trip to the final, losing with Vegas in the Golden Knights' inaugural season to the Washington Capitals, who he broke into the league. He is one of the newcomers who were not part of Florida's title run last year and are looking to hoist the Cup for the first time. 'It's incredibly hard to get back to this stage, and this time I'm just trying to slow it down and enjoy it,' said Schmidt, who has gone from fresh faced with floppy hair to a shaved head and full beard. 'This is the pinnacle of our sport, and be able to be here at the end is special.' Schmidt said it's 'kind of reminding yourself that you have that game in you and you're just unlocking it.' He has reminded coach Paul Maurice of the player he was earlier in his career. 'He's getting up the ice, and he looks like he did when he was a kid when he first came into the league in Washington,' Maurice said. 'He was dynamic with the way he'd get up the ice. And then coaches beat that out of you and take the fun out of the game for you, but it looks like he's found his fun again.' Oilers changes At their practice in Sunrise, the Oilers unveiled defense pairs that were all different from the first two games. Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard were put together, Swedes Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg, and Brett Kulak with Jake Walman. They quickly downplayed the impact, saying assistant Paul Coffey, a Hall of Fame defenseman as a player, has been changing things up like this all season. 'Our D corps all year long, it depends on sometimes what day of the week, we could be playing with someone new,' Nurse said. 'Even over the course of a game, you'll be playing with three or four different people, so there's a comfort level everyone has with whoever you're out there playing with.' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins did not skate, with healthy scratch Jeff Skinner taking his place on the top line. Coach Kris Knoblauch started to say he thinks Nugent-Hopkins will be in for Game 3 before calling Edmonton's longest-tenured player a game-time decision. Ekblad is fine Florida's Aaron Ekblad took a puck off his left hand in the second overtime of Game 2 on a shot by Nurse and was writhing in pain on the bench. He missed one shift before returning, practiced and declared himself good to go. 'It's just a routine blocked shot,' Ekblad said. 'Stick your hand out for it and try and get it knocked down and get off the ice as quickly as possible, because when you get that stinger you can't really grip for a second. But all good now.' McDavid's assist Connor McDavid wowed in Game 2 when he deked around Barkov and Ekblad and passed the puck to Leon Draisaitl for a one-timer power-play goal that was still getting talked about two days later. 'That was pretty routine in Erie back in the day,' said Oilers winger Connor Brown, who was junior teammates there with McDavid more than a decade ago. 'To do what he's doing (on) the stage that he doing it at, we're lucky to have him.' Ekblad said McDavid having multiple options is the biggest challenge in defending the undisputed best hockey player in the world with otherworldly abilities. 'You're trying to block a shot, you're trying to block a low pass, a backdoor pass and a walk-on-water toe drag,' Ekblad said. 'So, yeah, McJesus.' McDavid blushed when asked about what it takes to make that kind of play, fumbling over words like opponents fumble to try to contain him before coming up with, 'A lot goes into that.' Draisaitl, sitting beside him, chimed in: 'You can't learn that. Let me answer it for you. I'll answer it for him.'
San Francisco Chronicle
22 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Dick Vitale has an extension with ESPN — and a college basketball event in his honor
Dick Vitale is inextricably intertwined with college basketball, with his iconic voice, exuberant style and enthusiastic catchphrases melding into a soundtrack for nearly five decades of the sport's history. And the broadcasting great's influence is sticking around next season, too, both in person on game days and through an addition to the college basketball calendar named in his honor. ESPN announced Monday that Vitale has signed a contract through the 2027-28 season, while ESPN Events is launching the Dick Vitale Invitational — the first matchup coming with a season-opening tilt between Duke and Texas on Nov. 4 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Fittingly, the announcement comes on Vitale's 86th birthday, and months after he returned to the airwaves after being gone for two years amid a fourth battle with cancer. The Basketball Hall of Famer, also a former college and NBA coach, has been with ESPN since it launched in 1979 and called the network's first college basketball broadcast. 'So many times, awards and honors come to people after they're long gone,' Vitale said of the Invitational's birth in an interview with The Associated Press. 'And to get it while you're living is just a great, great feeling.'
