It’s early, but Florida has plenty of work to do to build its NCAA Tournament resume.
The Gators (3-3) enter Friday night’s matchup with Kansas with an RPI of 108, according to CBSSports.com’s latest rankings. The RPI measures a team’s win-loss record as it relates to its strength of schedule.
Florida’s strength of schedule ranks 44th in the country. The Gators are 0-3 against team in the RPI Top 100, with losses to No. 6 Miami (69-67), No. 12 North Carolina (75-64) and No. 81 Georgetown (66-65, OT). The Gators are 3-0 vs. teams with an RPI of 119 or less with wins over No. 119 William & Mary (68-43), No. 293 UAB (56-47) and No. 341 Louisiana-Monroe (61-56, OT).
Florida can receive a boost to its RPI with an upset win Friday at the Jayhawks (13 RPI), a win over Yale on Dec. 8 at the O’Connell Center (36 RPI) and a win at home Jan. 3 against Connecticut (39 RPI).
Other notes:
– Had a chance to talk with former Gator center Patric Young, who was
waived by the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday. Young is back in his native Jacksonville. Young played throughout the preseason for New Orleans but was not made active for a regular season game. “It came is a surprise,” Young said. “I never got the opportunity to get on the court (in a regular season game) which is kind of unfair. When management called me in, they said it was one of the toughest decisions they had to make. They said they want to keep track of my progress.” Young said his agent is looking into other basketball opportunities for him, either in the NBA, NBDL or overseas: “It’s part of my journey,” Young said. “My goal is one day to be an NBA All-Star and if that means I have to go play overseas for a year and come back, that’s what I’m going to do.”
