Florida hoops crack AP's top ten

When Florida jumped into the polls, Billy Donovan could understand and thought it was earned after beating Florida State, Rutgers and Michigan State in one stretch.

But Monday brought a different outlook. The Gators, 8-0 for just the third time in school history and the first since 2005, were ranked 10th in the Associated Press poll and No. 11 in the USA Today voting. The Gators went to the NIT the last two years, after winning back-to-back national titles.

They can make another statement at 9 p.m. Thursday against Syracuse in the Big East-SEC Invitational in Tampa (ESPN). The Orange are also 8-0 and ranked seventh in AP, sixth in the USA Today poll.

"Probably our climb into the polls now has less to do with what we've done and maybe a lot more to do with what some other people have done or people losing,'' Donovan said. "All this is very, very fragile. Winning is very fragile, success is very fragile and I think if you embrace it or think you have it figured out or think that it's easy I think that is when you really put yourself in a position to be extremely vulnerable.''

Donovan maintains he still isn't sure how good this team is.

"There is a factor of a lack of depth in our backcourt and how emotionally, mentally drained our team was playing eight games in 17 days,'' he said. "We feel good about ourselves. There's a fine line there. I don't have the answer to that and I think going forward here we'll find out a little bit more.''

Donovan said he has seen a "lot of slippage'' in the team's defense recently, compared to the start of the season. Another concern is the injuries to 6-foot-5 guard Ray Shipman (foot sprain) and 6-10 center Kenny Kadji (lower back), both backups. Donovan said both could miss the Syracuse game.

Both have had MRIs done.

"Right now we've got to get better, that's my main focus,'' Donovan said. "Our team has got to get better. We're in December right now . . . we've got to get better to take on a team like Syracuse.''