Last season, UF was crushed by the weight of its own success.
After starting 18-3 and climbing back into the Top 25 with a 22-point blowout win at home against No. 13 Vanderbilt, UF imploded, losing its next two games (Arkansas 80-61 and Tennessee 104-82) and eight of its final 11.
The Gators went on to get steamrolled in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament by Alabama and wound up missing out on the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998.
Now, as the team prepares for its second SEC road test tonight at South Carolina (12-4, 1-2 SEC), UF will try to learn from the mistakes of the past.
The Gators (16-2, 3-0 SEC), who are currently riding a 10-game winning streak, checked back into the national rankings this week at No. 24, and this time around, they are looking at things with a bit more perspective.
"It's kind of scary - kind of the same situation as last year," forward Dan Werner said. "I'm excited, but I'm also kind of nervous. Hopefully we don't follow that path. We had some early success and we let it get to us a little bit."
UF re-entered the rankings for the first time since their 57-55 loss to Florida State on Dec. 7.
"After that Vanderbilt win, I think we got kind of big-headed," guard Nick Calathes said. "We let a couple games slip away, and we weren't focused. We thought we were already in the NCAA Tournament and had it all figured out."
The next two weeks should provide a clearer picture of how this season will be painted.
UF will play three of its next four games on the road, including nationally televised contests against Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
The Gators' three conference victories this season have come against Mississippi, Auburn and Arkansas, who are a combined 2-7 in the SEC - one of which came when Mississippi beat Arkansas at home in Oxford last week.
The players are saying all the right things, but how the Gators will handle success is yet to be seen.
In the eyes of UF coach Billy Donovan, concerns over rankings aren't representative of the program he has built in Gainesville.
"Duke, North Carolina and UCLA, I don't think they ever talk about their program being ranked. They think it is something that is supposed to happen," Donovan said. "I think with our team right now, they should expect that and it should have no bearing on how we perform, prepare or practice."
RESUME BUILDING: UF is 27th in the most recent RPI rankings but has the 105th-ranked strength of schedule (out of 343 teams). The SEC is sixth in the RPI and is currently sitting behind the Pacific-10 Conference. The Gators' opponents have the most combined losses of any team currently ranked in the Top 25 with 146.
UF is currently tied at the top of the SEC East standings with Kentucky (14-4, 3-0 SEC), who dropped Tennessee from this week's Top 25 poll with an 18-point road victory courtesy of junior Jodie Meeks and his school-record 54 points.
