Iowa State crashed the top five of the latest College Basketball Power Rankings this week for the first time and Florida moved to its highest ranking (No. 3) of the season after high profile flops from UCLA and Kentucky last week in the CBS Sports Classic.

Florida basketball is off to a torrid start to the 2024-25 campaign having won its first dozen games — and nearly all of them coming in convincing style. As a result, the Gators have climbed up the polls and rankings into the upper echelon of the sport this season.

Florida continued its winning way this week, beating North Florida by more than 50 points to improve to 12-0 overall and move up to No. 13 on the ESPN Basketball Power Index. ESPN says Florida jumped three spots on its Christmas Eve update,