There were so many reasons to think the Florida Gators deserved their top-10 ranking at the outset of the 2017-18 men’s college basketball season.
Florida returned Chris Chiozza and KeVaughn Allen, each spectacular in his own right in a Sweet Sixteen victory over Wisconsin last March. The Gators were adding talented transfers Jalen Hudson and Egor Koulechov to form a deep group of wing scorers. Keith Stone was set to make a jump from bit player to key contributor. Kevarrius Hayes was an energetic post player, and while Florida had missed John Egbunu down the stretch last spring, Hayes did enough as Florida’s lone center-like player to get the Gators to the Elite Eight.