{"id":380581,"date":"2025-10-31T23:42:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T23:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/380581\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T23:42:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T23:42:16","slug":"florida-looks-to-repeat-but-it-wont-be-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/380581\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida looks to repeat but it won&#8217;t be easy."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/sportstalkflorida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Florida-gators-1170x702-1.png\" data-caption=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"418\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Florida-gators-1170x702-1-696x418.png\"   alt=\"\" title=\"Florida gators-1170x702\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>UConn, Purdue, and Houston among teams ready to push Gators <\/p>\n<p>The Florida Gators stunned the college basketball world last season, edging Houston in a dramatic national championship game to claim the 2025 <a href=\"http:\/\/ncaa.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NCAA<\/a> title. Led by a balanced attack and clutch performances, Florida\u2019s run reignited SEC dominance and set a high bar for the 2025\u201326 season. With the new campaign tipping off on November 3, the Gators return as a top-three team in most polls, but face fierce competition from across the country.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/SPORTSTALKFLORIDA.COM\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SPORTS TALK FLORIDA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Teams to Watch in 2025\u201326<\/p>\n<p>This season\u2019s preseason rankings feature a stacked lineup of elite contenders:<\/p>\n<p>Purdue: Ranked No. 1 in both the AP and Coaches Polls, Braden Smith headlines a veteran squad looking to end the Big Ten\u2019s 25-year title drought.<\/p>\n<p>Houston: Still burning from last year\u2019s heartbreak, the Cougars return a deep, athletic roster and sit at No. 2 in most polls.<\/p>\n<p>UConn: With Dan Hurley back and a reloaded lineup, the Huskies are poised to reclaim Big East supremacy.<\/p>\n<p>St. John\u2019s: Rick Pitino\u2019s squad is surging, ranked No. 5 in the AP poll and No. 1 in CBS\u2019s \u201cTop 25 And 1\u201d rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Duke: Led by Cameron Boozer, the Blue Devils are a top-10 team with ACC title aspirations.<\/p>\n<p>BYU: A surprise top-10 team, BYU\u2019s blend of experience and shooting makes them a dark horse Final Four pick.<\/p>\n<p>Texas Tech and Michigan: Both programs are loaded with talent and sit comfortably in the top 10.<\/p>\n<p>Other conferences like the Big 12, SEC, and Big East dominate the preseason polls, each placing six teams in the top 25. The Mountain West and American Athletic Conference also feature rising programs like San Diego State and Memphis, expected to make noise in March.<\/p>\n<p>Projected Final Four<\/p>\n<p>Based on current rankings, roster strength, and coaching pedigree, here\u2019s a projected Final Four:<\/p>\n<p>Purdue (Big Ten)<\/p>\n<p>Houston (Big 12)<\/p>\n<p>UConn (Big East)<\/p>\n<p>Florida (SEC)<\/p>\n<p>This quartet blends experience, elite coaching, and postseason pedigree \u2014 but as always, March Madness promises surprises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UConn, Purdue, and Houston among teams ready to push Gators The Florida Gators stunned the college basketball world&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[39759,5485,7,4928,3426,7641,217,691,58809,950,2811,664,231,772,1544,8784,12513,1116,218,923],"class_list":{"0":"post-380581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-2025-2026-season","9":"tag-acc","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-big-12","12":"tag-big-east","13":"tag-big-ten","14":"tag-college-basketball","15":"tag-duke-blue-devils","16":"tag-final-four-predictions","17":"tag-florida-gators","18":"tag-houston-cougars","19":"tag-mountain-west","20":"tag-ncaa","21":"tag-ncaa-basketball","22":"tag-ncaab","23":"tag-preseason-rankings","24":"tag-purdue-boilermakers","25":"tag-sec","26":"tag-st-johns-red-storm","27":"tag-uconn-huskies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115471433533320727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}