Florida basketball moves us a spot in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

The third week of the men's college basketball season is complete and the Florida Gators have continued to string together wins since their schedule-opening disappointment in Las Vegas against the Arizona Wildcats.

Since that loss, Todd Golden's gang has won four straight games — but not all in particularly impressive fashion. The nascent backcourt of Xavian Lee and Boogie Flands has floundered early on, and with some big opponents coming up on the schedule, they will need to start gelling sooner than later.

With that in mind, the latest edition of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll was released on Monday, with the Orange and Blue moving up one spot to No. 8 overall. That places Florida between the No. 7 UConn Huskies and No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide.

SEC schools in Coaches Poll top 25 after Week 3

Florida and Alabama remain the top-ranked Southeastern Conference schools in the polls this week at Nos. 8 and 9, respectively, with five other league peers joining them.

The Tennessee Volunteers check in at No. 16, followed by the Kentucky Wildcats (No. 18), Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 21), Vanderbilt Commodores (No. 23) and Auburn Tigers (No. 25). The Ole Miss Rebels (15) and Missouri Tigers (11) also received votes this week.

USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll after Week 3

Rank

Team

Record

PTS

1st

Prev

Chg

Hi/Lo

1

Purdue

6-0

764

23

1

-

1/1

2

Houston

5-0

732

2

2

-

2/2

3

Arizona

5-0

713

5

5

+2

3/13

4

Duke

7-0

686

1

4

-

4/5

5

Louisville

5-0

609

0

6

+1

5/12

6

Michigan

4-0

582

0

6

-

5/7

7

UConn

5-1

568

0

3

-4

3/7

8

Florida

4-1

501

0

9

+1

3/10

9

Alabama

3-1

497

0

11

+2

9/16

10

Gonzaga

5-0

479

0

12

+2

10/20

11

BYU

4-1

470

0

10

-1

7/11

12

Michigan State

5-0

438

0

18

+6

12/21

13

Iowa State

4-0

403

0

14

+1

13/18

14

Illinois

5-1

391

0

8

-6

8/14

15

St. John's

3-1

349

0

16

+1

6/16

16

Tennessee

5-0

313

0

17

+1

16/18

17

North Carolina

5-0

276

0

19

+2

17/25

18

Kentucky

4-2

204

0

13

-5

8/18

19

UCLA

5-1

201

0

20

+1

12/20

20

Texas Tech

4-2

177

0

15

-5

11/20

21

Arkansas

5-1

146

0

22

+1

15/22

22

North Carolina State

4-0

94

0

NR

+4

22/NR

23

Vanderbilt

5-0

81

0

24

+1

23/NR

24

Indiana

5-0

72

0

25

+1

24/NR

25

Auburn

4-1

64

0

NR

+2

22/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 21 Wisconsin; No. 23 Kansas

Others Receiving Votes

Wisconsin 51; Saint Mary's 30; Baylor 27; Oregon 23; Georgetown 23; Kansas 19; Ole Miss 15; USC 11; Missouri 11; Nebraska 9; Creighton 9; Virginia 8; Utah State 6; Ohio State 6; Iowa 6; SMU 4; Clemson 4; Saint Louis 2; Butler 1

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball moves up in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll Week 3