Florida basketball ranks 3rd in AP Top 25 ahead of NCAA Tournament start

[ASFN Admin]

The Florida Gators will start the NCAA Tournament ranked third in the nation according to the AP Top 25 released on Monday. Entering the SEC Tournament, the Orange and Blue had been ranked third, but its conference tournament crown was enough to bump the Auburn Tigers down to fourth to take their place.

The Duke Blue Devils remain the top-ranked team with 49 first-place votes, followed by the Houston Cougars and their six top votes. Florida and Auburn also pulled in a pair while the St. John's Red Storm rounded out the top five without one.

A total of seven SEC schools cracked the top 25 headlined by the Gators and Tigers, followed by the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers, No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide, No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats, No. 19 Texas A&M Aggies and No. 23 Missouri Tigers. The Ole Miss Rebels missed the cut but still earned 13 votes this week.

Take a look below at the full AP Top 25 rankings as March Madness kicks off.

AP Top 25 Rankings​

Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Duke(49)	31-3	1463
2	Houston(6)	30-4	1394
3	Florida(2)	30-4	1370
4	Auburn(2)	28-5	1291
5	St. John's	30-4	1225
6	Tennessee	27-7	1174
7	Alabama	25-8	1120
8	Michigan State	27-6	1080
9	Texas Tech	25-8	926
10	Louisville	27-7	809
11	Maryland	25-8	764
12	Clemson	27-6	746
13	Wisconsin	26-9	732
14	Michigan	25-9	681
15	Iowa State	24-9	641
16	Memphis	29-5	636
17	BYU	24-9	563
18	Kentucky	22-11	511
19	Texas A&M	22-10	457
20	Saint Mary's	28-5	306
21	Arizona	22-12	253
22	Purdue	22-11	227
23	Missouri	22-11	159
24	Gonzaga	25-8	151
25	Oregon	24-9	115

Dropped from rankings:

Illinois 24, Marquette 25

Others receiving votes:

Drake 107, Marquette 69, UC San Diego 57, Illinois 55, VCU 28, Creighton 28, Ole Miss 13, McNeese 4, UConn 4, Colorado State 4, Kansas 3, High Point 3, Akron 3, UCLA 3

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball ranking AP Top 25 ahead of NCAA Tournament

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