Dec. 26, 2025, 6:14 p.m. ET

Coming out of the Christmas break, Florida basketball (8-4) is ranked No. 22 overall in the NET.

A 30-point win over Colgate on Sunday led to a four-spot jump — from No. 25 to No. 21 — but other results around college basketball led to a one-spot dip ahead of the holiday. Florida has stayed inside the 20s throughout the month after debuting at No. 33 on Dec. 1.

Florida has one more non-conference game against Dartmouth on Dec. 29 before closing out the calendar year. It should be Florida’s final Quadrant 4 game, with most SEC matchups landing in Quadrants 1 and 2, starting with Missouri on Jan. 3.

It’s important to remember that while they are called “rankings,” the NET is an evaluation tool at heart — that’s what the E and T stand for. It’s a sorting tool for the selection committee to use when close decisions are needed come bracket time.

Breaking down Florida’s wins by Quadrant

Before going into Florida’s resume, it’s important to understand how the quadrants are divided. Where a game is played has as much to do with the quadrant as the quality of the opponent. As the rankings change, so does the quality of the wins.

Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353

Florida is 1-3 in Quadrant 1 games, with losses to No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Duke and No. 8 UConn. The Arizona loss looked bad when it happened, but the Wildcats have emerged as one of the best teams in the country. The Gators’ lone Q1 win comes against No. 34 Miami at a neutral site in Jacksonville. The Hurricanes remain firmly in the middle of Q1 territory, although they continue to move closer to the threshold between Q1 and Q1 — No. 50.

In Quadrant 2 games, Florida is 2-1, most recently defeating No. 80 George Washington at a neutral site. The other two results came at the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego over Thanksgiving. The loss came in the first round against No. 66 TCU, and the win came against No. 100 Providence, which is on the threshold between Q2 and Q3.

The only Quadrant 3 game Florida has played in so far was a home game against No. 129 Florida State. The Seminoles would need to climb all the way to the top 75 for that win to become a Q2 victory. Instead, FSU has slowly dropped in the NET, making the loss look worse and worse. If Florida State falls below No. 160, it becomes a Q4 win.

Florida is 4-0 against Q4 teams, beating No. 162 Colgate, No. 267 Merrimack, No. 341 North Florida and No. 359 Saint Francis by an average of 36.5 points. The only one of those that could improve to Quadrant 3 status is Colgate, which was a Q3 matchup going into the game. Colgate only needs to move up two spots for that change to occur.

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