It was a slow week of men’s college basketball as schools took some time off to celebrate the winter holidays, which explains why there were not many changes in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll this time around.

Among those unmoved were the Florida Gators, who held onto their No. 22 ranking after sitting the week out. Their most recent matchup came against the Colgate Raiders in Gainesville two Sundays ago, in which they prevailed, 90-60. Next up are the Dartmouth Big Green, who arrive at the O’Connell Center on Monday night for the final matchup of the 2025 calendar year.

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Only four teams saw movement in the updated Coaches Poll — all changing one spot — with the Duke Blue Devils and Purdue Boilermakers swapping the Nos. 5 and 6 positions, respectively. The Louisville Cardinals moved up one spot to No. 13 while the St. John’s Red Storm re-entered the top 25 at No. 25.

SEC schools in Coaches Poll top 25 after Week 8

For the fourth straight week, the Southeastern Conference is represented by six schools in the Coaches Poll, with zero among the top 10; however, not a single team changed its ranking. The Vanderbilt Commodores come in again at No. 11 to lead the league, followed by the Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 15), Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 18), Tennessee Volunteers (No. 20), Florida (No. 22) and the Georgia Bulldogs (No. 24).

Meanwhile, the Kentucky Wildcats moved up to the de facto No. 26 ranking with 35 votes, while the Auburn Tigers are No. 29 with seven votes tallied; the LSU Tigers are the other SEC program earning votes, with just three this week.

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USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll top 25 after Week 8

Rank

Team

Record

PTS

1st

Prev

Chg

Hi/Lo

1

Michigan

11-0

764

20

1

–

1/7

2

Arizona

12-0

753

11

2

–

2/13

3

Iowa State

12-0

700

0

3

–

3/18

4

UConn

12-1

670

0

4

–

3/7

5

Duke

11-1

611

0

6

+1

3/6

6

Purdue

11-1

605

0

5

-1

1/6

7

Gonzaga

13-1

584

0

7

–

7/20

8

Houston

11-1

570

0

8

–

2/8

9

Michigan State

11-1

527

0

9

–

8/21

10

BYU

12-1

521

0

10

–

7/11

11

Vanderbilt

12-0

423

0

11

–

11/NR

12

North Carolina

12-1

401

0

12

–

12/25

13

Nebraska

12-0

357

0

13

–

13/NR

13

Louisville

10-2

357

0

14

+1

5/14

15

Alabama

9-3

315

0

15

–

9/16

16

Texas Tech

10-3

305

0

16

–

11/20

17

Kansas

10-3

281

0

17

–

17/NR

18

Arkansas

9-3

240

0

18

–

14/23

19

Illinois

9-3

237

0

19

–

8/19

20

Tennessee

9-3

219

0

20

–

13/23

21

Virginia

11-1

175

0

21

–

21/NR

22

Florida

8-4

143

0

22

–

3/22

23

Iowa

10-2

91

0

23

–

23/NR

24

Georgia

11-1

65

0

24

–

24/NR

25

St. John’s

8-4

38

0

NR

+1

6/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 25 USC

Others Receiving Votes

Kentucky 35; USC 25; Utah State 14; Auburn 7; Saint Louis 6; Clemson 6; Seton Hall 5; Oklahoma State 5; Yale 4; UCLA 4; Saint Mary’s 4; LSU 3; California 2; Villanova 1; Miami (OH) 1; Indiana 1

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball spot in final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll of 2025