UF climbs to No. 1, where it spent a week last season, but isn't gloating.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published December 9, 2003
GAINESVILLE - The last time the Florida men's basketball team was No. 1 in the nation, its stay at the top lasted all of one week.
This time, the Gators are hoping to hold on a little longer.
Florida moved up one spot into the No. 1 position in the Associated Press poll Monday, the second time in school history the Gators have been No. 1.
The Gators took over the top spot after then No. 1 Kansas lost to Stanford on Saturday. Florida (5-0) received 46 first-place votes and 1,732 points from the national media panel. The Gators are the third No. 1 team in three weeks this season.
Florida coach Billy Donovan, admittedly not a fan of the polls, is approaching the new ranking philosophically.
"I almost liken it to the Tour de France, getting a chance to wear the yellow shirt for a while," Donovan said Monday afternoon. "There's a lot of different legs to our season; you've got your nonconference games, you've got your conference games, you've got your conference tournament, you've got your postseason play. So really, in the middle of our nonconference leg we've been given the yellow shirt to wear."
So are the Gators the best team in the country? The poll says yes; the Gators say, Who cares.
"I think it isn't even (worth) thinking about it," sophomore guard Anthony Roberson said. "You're going to have three or four teams be No. 1 before it's all said and done. I think the biggest thing right now is playing for ourselves and not get mixed up in these rankings too much because they come and go. We've got to take it game by game. If we do that, we'll be fine as a team."
Donovan said he doesn't expect the players to get caught up in the hype surrounding the new ranking, saying they've shown a knack for staying focused on what's important.
"Who's No. 1 right now?" Donovan said, "Who knows. This has been bestowed upon us by things that have happened in front of us, by some teams getting knocked off and losing. I'm not going to sit here and say we do deserve it or we don't deserve it. That's the way it's dealt."
Florida will put its No. 1 ranking on the line for the first time Wednesday night when it hosts Maryland at 7 at the O'Connell Center. The Florida players insisted Monday they are keeping things in perspective.
"It's not like we went out and beat Kansas and they were No. 1 and we were No. 2 and we moved ahead of them," junior forward David Lee said. "It was just kind of a No. 1 by default almost. So it just really feels the same as being No. 2. But right now, I'm not too concerned about it, to be quite honest with you."
Florida received a No. 1 ranking for the first time last season, but the following day it lost 70-55 at Kentucky. Donovan and the players said there is little correlation between last year and today.
"I don't think it was a matter of not being equipped to handle it (last year); I think it was just when we hit No. 1, we happened to be going to play the hottest team in the country and the hardest team to play in the country," sophomore guard Matt Walsh said. "I think we're equipped to handle it this year."
