Florida basketball falls from top 10 in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

The latest edition of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll for men's college basketball is out, and as expected, the Florida Gators saw a drop in the rankings after splitting their two games in the Rady Children's Invitational during the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Specifically, it was the 84-80 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs that raised concerns after the team blew a five-point halftime lead in what was an unimpressive second-half showing for the Orange and Blue. At least Todd Golden's gang bounced back with a 90-78 win over the Providence Friars in the loser's bracket, but the damage had already been done.

As a result, Florida fell to No. 14 in this week's Coaches Poll update, down six points from their previous ranking. Further, the Gators are no longer the highest-ranked program in the Southeastern Conference.

SEC schools in Coaches Poll top 25 after Week 4

With the Orange and Blue tumbling out of the top 10, the Alabama Crimson Tide are now the highest-ranked team among SEC schools at No. 12, followed by the No. 13 Tennessee Volunteers before Florida makes its appearance in the poll.

In total, the conference has seven representatives in the top 25, with the Vanderbilt Commodores (No. 16), Kentucky Wildcats (No. 18), Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 23) and Auburn Tigers (No. 24) joining the aforementioned trio. The Missouri Tigers (28), LSU Tigers (14) and Ole Miss Rebels (8) also received votes.

USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll after Week 4

Rank

Team

Record

PTS

1st

Prev

Chg

Hi/Lo

1

Purdue

7-0

762

21

1

-

1/1

2

Michigan

7-0

721

6

6

+4

2/7

3

Arizona

7-0

709

3

3

-

3/13

4

Duke

8-0

696

1

4

-

4/5

5

UConn

6-1

608

0

7

+2

3/7

6

Louisville

7-0

600

0

5

-1

5/12

7

Houston

7-1

588

0

2

-5

2/7

8

Michigan State

7-0

531

0

12

+4

8/21

9

Iowa State

7-0

502

0

13

+4

9/18

10

BYU

6-1

493

0

11

+1

7/11

11

Gonzaga

7-1

480

0

10

-1

10/20

12

Alabama

5-2

428

0

9

-3

9/16

13

Tennessee

7-1

377

0

16

+3

13/18

14

Florida

5-2

313

0

8

-6

3/14

15

Illinois

6-2

312

0

14

-1

8/15

16

Vanderbilt

8-0

268

0

23

+7

16/NR

17

North Carolina

6-1

230

0

17

-

17/25

18

Kentucky

5-2

222

0

18

-

8/18

19

Texas Tech

6-2

192

0

20

+1

11/20

19

Indiana

7-0

192

0

24

+5

19/NR

21

Kansas

6-2

154

0

NR

+10

19/NR

22

St. John's

4-3

129

0

15

-7

6/22

23

Arkansas

5-2

119

0

21

-2

15/23

24

Auburn

6-2

104

0

25

+1

22/NR

25

Iowa

7-0

69

0

NR

+13

25/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 19 UCLA; No. 22 North Carolina State

Others Receiving Votes

USC 56; UCLA 33; Nebraska 31; Missouri 28; Saint Mary's 20; Baylor 19; North Carolina State 16; Virginia 14; LSU 14; Clemson 9; Butler 9; Ole Miss 8; TCU 5; Wisconsin 4; Utah State 4; SMU 4; Oklahoma State 1; Colorado 1

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball falls from top 10 in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll