Florida Takes No. 1 Spot in AP Poll

 

by Bill DiFilippo / @bflip33

One of the biggest questions in college basketball this week was who was going to replace Syracuse as the No. 1 team in America, No. 2 Florida or No. 3 Wichita State?

In Monday’s Associated Press poll, Florida took the spot with authority, as the Gators received 47 of a possible 65 first place votes. The Shockers received 14 first place votes and are second in the poll. The only other team to receive first place votes is No. 3 Arizona, who received four.

From ESPN:

“Although it’s a nice honor and it’s great, if you really want to break it down, what does it mean?”  Donovan told ESPN.com. “It means that some teams in front of us lost. It means that we obviously were given that ranking. But whether we’re 15, 2, 1, not ranked, we’ve got to play [Tuesday] against Vanderbilt. To me, the ranking doesn’t do anything for us, it doesn’t give us anything. It doesn’t.”

Florida senior forward Will Yeguete thinks the Gators will handle the challenge well.

“Our lives aren’t really changing,” Yeguete said. “We’re No. 1. That’s a really good accomplishment, especially for us being No. 1. But I think Coach D will use that to motivate us. We’ve been No. 2 before. We know what it is to be ranked really high. We know you just take one game at a time.”

This is the first time Florida has been the top team in America since its last National Championship in 2007. Syracuse, meanwhile, fell to the 4th ranked team in America, while Kansas rose three spots to round out the top five.