Florida Basketball Shocks Fans with Unbelievable ESPN Report Card for 2024-25 Season

You know, college athletes are players on the court but, at the core, they’re students too. So, what better way to sum up a season full of sweat, hustle, and triumphs than by slapping on a grade? That’s exactly what ESPN’s Myron Metcalf did — he took a magnifying glass to the 2024-25 college basketball landscape and handed out report cards to all 16 SEC teams. Spoiler alert: the champions snagged an A, no surprises there. But what’s intriguing is just how stacked the SEC was, with seven teams earning that elite mark — a feat unmatched by any other conference Metcalf reviewed. There’s grit, strategy, and a dash of wizardry behind Florida’s rise — led by Walter Clayton Jr.’s savvy return from the NBA draft and Todd Golden’s masterstroke lineup tweaks — culminating in a hard-earned national championship. While the grade scale keeps it simple — no pluses or minuses — there’s a lot to unpack about who soared, who stumbled, and what made the SEC a powerhouse this season. Ready to dive into the full breakdown and see how your squad fared? LEARN MOREFollow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.Florida isn’t the only SEC team to earn that coveted top grade, though. The SEC earned seven A grades from Metcalf, which is easily the most of any conference Metcalf has covered. He released the same list for the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 earlier in the month.Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are the other programs from the conference with an A. In the B tier are Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. That’s 13 out of 16 teams with a strong grade. LSU, South Carolina and Texas underperformed this year, earning Ds all around, but it’s no surprise to see the SEC finish without a single F in the conference.What did the conference and national champions get?It’s a shame that Metcalf didn’t break the no plus or minus rule for this breakdown, though. Florida wasn’t taken seriously as a title contender until the final days of the regular season. Even then, a No. 1 seed was not guaranteed. Golden built the perfect beast, and that kind of planning and execution deserves a bit more praise than the rest.

That’s the approach ESPN took on Wednesday when college basketball writer Myron Metcalf took one last look at the 2024-25 college basketball season. Metcalf rounded out his series of conference breakdowns by assigning all 16 SEC teams a grade between A and F.College athletes are still technically students, so what better way to assess a team’s season than by giving them a grade?

“Last summer, Walter Clayton Jr. withdrew from the NBA draft to return to Florida after a season worthy of an All-SEC first-team selection,” Metcalf wrote. “He wanted to prepare for the pros while helping the Gators win at the highest level in college basketball. Todd Golden had the solution: He moved Clayton to point guard and added talent like Florida Atlantic transfer Alijah Martin, which helped the Gators capture their third national championship (and their first since 2007).”

An A, naturally. No, plus and minus grades are not a part of this system. We checked.