Florida Gators

ATLANTA – On Jan. 16, 2023, with his team on a 15-game winning streak, Alijah Martin and everyone on the Florida Atlantic campus celebrated the program's first basketball ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 poll. 
 

"It was huge," Martin recalled. "It was unheard of." 
 

It was also kind of fleeting. The Owls stuck around in the poll a couple more weeks, reaching 20 consecutive victories and climbing to the No. 19 spot, until a loss at Alabama-Birmingham dropped the team back to No. 25. Another loss the next week at Middle Tennessee finished off the novelty and sent FAU back to the "Also receiving votes" category.
 
The Owls, though, got a taste of the high life and used it to fuel their mission. They jumped back to No. 25 at season's end by winning the Conference USA regular-season title, rode that momentum to claim the league's postseason tournament and – the rest is history – shocked the college basketball world with a stunning, inspiring, unimaginable run to the Final Four. 
 
FAU doesn't get there without Martin and his new team, the unbeaten Florida Gators, aren't getting where they want to go without what Martin brings on the court and the wisdom he can impart on his teammates away from it relative to dealing with expectations, starting Saturday when No. 9 UF (9-0) faces Arizona State (8-1) as part of the Holiday Hoopsgiving triple-header at State Farm Arena. 
 
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
 
Being ranked, obviously, is not new to the Gators; not even to these Gators, who debuted at No. 21 in the preseason. There are seven players on the roster who were around for the four weeks last February and March when the team found its way into the AP poll for the first time since December 2021. 
 
But the Gators are in the top 10 for the first time since starting the '19-20 season at No. 6, where they lasted all of one week before two losses in the first four games sent them packing out of the poll entirely. In '21, UF opened the season with six wins, popped to No. 14, then plummeted out with back-to-back losses at Oklahoma and against (anyone remember?) winless Texas Southern at home. 
 
Florida coach Todd Golden, of course, takes pride in having gotten his third Gators team to this point, but come next spring, if reliving a few days in the top 10 ends up being the highlight of the season, everyone wearing orange and blue will to be disappointed. 
 
"It's a great honor and part of the process we're trying to complete as far as being one of the top programs in the country. We're off to a good start and starting to get some recognition for that nationally," Golden said of his first foray as a head coach into the top 10. "But, in our building, these next two games will determine a lot in terms of our non-conference and how we feel about it. [We're] grateful right now, but all that can change. We're happy in the meantime, but still very hungry and determined to make sure we keep rising and go in the right direction." 
 
As in winning. 
 
As in the challenge of beating Arizona State, one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country with one of the best freshman big men in Jayden Quaintance. And as in Tuesday night against basketball blue-blood North Carolina in a not-so-neutral-site meeting at Charlotte, N.C. 

The Gators are now under a microscope.
 
"You get the big head when everybody thinks you're this or that or whatever," Martin said. "You got to stay level-headed. Stay humble." 
 
Watching the Sun Devils on tape should have helped on that front.  Arizona State, in its first season as a member of the Big 12, has been one of the surprise teams nationally. The Sun Devils gave Gonzaga a scare in a hard-fought loss on the road, but have won six straight since, including a title in the Acrisure Classic at Palm Springs, Calif., a Thanksgiving tournament that included an upset of Saint Mary's in the title game. 
 
ASU has solid metrics on both ends of the floor (No. 59 in offensive efficiency, No. 47 on defense), with its 39.5 percent from the 3-point line extremely concerning; especially for a UF team that began the year by giving up 13 made 3s against South Florida and popped eight last game against Virginia (seven of them to two players). 
 
"They have 3 guys that really poke it," Golden said.
 
That would be Adam Miller (45.7 percent), Alston Mason (41.9) and sharp-shooting sixth man Joson Sanon (54.3). Florida's defense is allowing 30.2 percent from deep (that's 71^st nationally), but has collectively been better on the perimeter and with its close-outs at the arc the last few weeks. 
 
An absolute war-zone of a Southeastern Conference schedule awaits next month, but for now the Sun Devils will represent the best team the Gators have faced in this young season. They also have the prosperity of a perfect nine-game start to deal with, along with the expectations that come with wearing a top-10 bulls-eye on their chest.
 
"As quick as [the ranking] came, it can go. I think everybody understands that," senior point guard and scoring leader Walter Clayton Jr. said of playing the first game of his career for a top-10 team. "It's about keeping grounded, but also not being content. We're not content."

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu