Jan. 22, 2026, 4:05 p.m. ET

Florida basketball briefly moved up to No. 9 on the ESPN College Basketball Power Index, following a 79-61 win over the LSU Tigers on Tuesday, but the Gators are back at No. 10 after Wednesday’s results.

A three-spot jump by Louisville led to Florida’s one-spot drop, despite the Cardinals not playing a game since Saturday. It’s unclear why Louisville made the jump, but an overall BPI of 20.5 is 0.2 points higher than Florida’s.

However, the Gators’ overall BPI is trending up, increasing 0.3 points from the last update. A low-scoring game against LSU helped the defense jump from 9.9 (11th) to 10.4 (11th), while the offensive BPI improved by 0.1 to 9.9 (15th).

“The College Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward,” ESPN explains. “BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Strength of Record (SOR) is a measure of team accomplishment based on how difficult a team’s W-L record is to achieve. Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day’s rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections.”

ESPN projects Florida to finish the season with a 22.8-8.2 overall record and a 13.8-4.2 record in conference play. a 0.2-game improvement from the last projection.

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Florida’s odds to win the SEC also improved. The Gators had a 74.3% chance to win the conference before beating the Tigers, but ESPN now gives UF 77.1% odds to finish on top of the SEC. Florida started conference play with just a 33.8% chance. The Texas A&M Aggies (13.1%) and Alabama Crimson Tide (10.7%) are the only other SEC teams with a 10% chance or better to win the conference. Florida plays Alabama on Feb. 1 at home and heads to College Station to face Texas A&M on Feb. 7.

Florida’s remaining strength of schedule is now 18th in the country. The Gators have six Quadrant 1 or 2 games looming on the schedule before a Quadrant 3 matchup against South Carolina on Feb. 17. The Gators have a 6-4 record against quality opponents and the fifth-strongest schedule in the country.

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