Florida ranked No. 13 in ESPN Basketball Power Index before SEC play

The Florida Gators sit at No. 13 on the ESPN College Basketball Power Index as non-conference play comes to a close despite riding a four-game win streak.

Last ranked No. 12 following a win over Colgate, Florida fell one spot after defeating Dartmouth by 22 points on Monday.

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The Gators have an 18.7 overall BPI, down 0.3 from 19.0 on Dec. 26. The offense dropped to 8.7 (20th) from 8.8 (20th) a week ago, while the defense dipped to 9.9 (13th) from 10.2 (T-10th). ESPN projects Florida to go 21.2-9.8 overall and 12.2-5.8 in conference play, a 0.3-game decrease in both projections.

“The College Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward,” ESPN explains. “BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Strength of Record (SOR) is a measure of team accomplishment based on how difficult a team’s W-L record is to achieve. Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day’s rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections.”

Florida remains the favorite to win the SEC, with 33.8% odds — down from 41% last week. The Vanderbilt Commodores (33.3%) and Tennessee Volunteers (26%) continue to gain ground on the Orange and Blue. The Gators play the Volunteers at home on Jan. 10 and travel to Nashville to face the 'Dores on Jan. 16. The Alabama Crimson Tide (15.1%) and Kentucky Wildcats (11.1%) are the other two SEC teams with a 10% chance or better to win the conference.

Florida's remaining strength of schedule is now 12th in the country, up from 24th five days ago. Florida still has Dartmouth on the schedule, and then it's all SEC from there. The Gators' strength of record ranks 40th, while the overall strength of schedule (to date) ranks 23rd in the country. The non-conference slate ranks 21st nationally.

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida Gators basketball ESPN BPI rankings Dec. 26