Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Tim Tebow took over SportsCenter today. So, rightly, here is your Daily Tebow.

America's favorite pro athlete
In the 18 years of the ESPN Sports Poll, there have been just 11 different athletes crowned as America’s favorite active pro athlete (by month). With Tebow leading the December 2011 poll, he becomes the fastest and earliest any athlete has assumed the top position since the inception of the poll in 1994.

Cross-Sport Power rankings
The winner is ... duh.

Top Ten Tebow Tidbits
ESPN Stats & Information recaps the amazing numbers from Tebow's big playoff win last weekend.

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RecruitingNation airs at 3 p.m. ET today on ESPNU, and national analyst Craig Haubert and senior national analyst Tom Luginbill will discuss the new No. 1 team in the class rankings.

That team?

The Alabama Crimson Tide.

After landing five-star safety Landon Collins and four-star athlete Cyrus Jones at the Under Armour All-America Game last week, the Tide leaped ahead of Texas to become the nation’s No. 1 class.

Haubert and Luginbill will discuss other movers and shakers in the top 25 and reflect on recent commitments from players like Channing Ward, Barry Sanders Jr. and Jordan Jenkins. The analysts will also take a look at players whose stock increased after the recent national and regional all-star games.

RecruitingNation writers will contribute with a look at what's still on the board at Michigan and how USC is dealing with sanctions.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- With college football's bowl season in the rear-view mirror, it's full-time hoops, right? Well, not yet. We've still got football recruiting in peak season and there's always plenty of football to kick around. Oh, and that Tebow guy is still on everyone's minds. But yes, we are subtly shifting into basketball season, so here are your latest Gator-related links on ESPN.com (basketball edition):

Experts: Revised Final Four picks (Insider)
Jay Bilas, Fran Fraschilla, Doug Gottlieb and Joe Lunardi revisit their preseason Final Four predictions and update their picks, with Syracuse gaining momentum, while Florida and Louisville are falling off.

The nation’s top 25 freshmen (Insider)
John Gasaway unveils his top 25 freshmen in college hoops based on their performance thus far. Kentucky’s Anthony Davis tops the list, which includes two of his teammates and a number of other SEC youngsters like Florida's Bradley Beal.

SEC Power Rankings
Andy Katz has Florida down to No. 5, saying the Gators keep finding ways to lose on the road. Can't argue that.

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In case you missed today's chat with GatorNation recruiting expert Derek Tyson, you can read the complete transcript here. Tyson will do a live chat every Wednesday leading up to National Signing Day, so come back next week with fresh questions!

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida coach Billy Donovan enjoyed watching his team rout Georgia on Tuesday night, but there was a part of him that wished he were 1,000 miles away.

Donovan would have liked to have been in Providence, R.I., so he could take part in a ceremony honoring the 25th anniversary of the 1987 Providence College basketball team's Final Four berth. The school had a ceremony at halftime of the Friars' Tuesday night game against Louisville, and coach Rick Pitino, who first made a name for himself by taking Providence to the Final Four that was played in Louisville's Freedom Hall.

"It would have been awesome [to be there]," Donovan said after UF's 70-48 victory.

Donovan sent a video message that was played during the halftime ceremony. He was one of three players who were unable to make the trip -- Brian Benham and David Snedeker are the others -- but he still was able to hook up with his former teammates via phone on Monday night and Tuesday.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida coach Billy Donovan said freshman Bradley Beal needed to find a way to work through the struggles that had plagued him the past month, but he was confident Beal would eventually figure it out.

Looks like he did on Tuesday night in Florida's 70-48 win over Georgia.

The 6-foot-3 guard from St. Louis scored 17 points and tied his career high with 10 rebounds. It was his best performance since he scored 21 points in UF's 82-64 victory over Florida State on Dec. 22. Beal went 7-for-15 from the floor -- including 4-for-8 from 3-point range -- against the Seminoles, but since then had made just 14-of-47 shots from the floor and 2-of-16 shots from 3-point range.

On Tuesday he went 4-for-8 from the field, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range, and went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line. Beal went 4-for-5 from 3-point range in the first half. His double-double was the third of his career.

Player of the game: Beal delivered his best game of 2012. He said on Monday that he was not losing confidence in his offensive game despite shooting just 29.8 percent from the floor in his last four games. That included a stretch in which he missed seven 3-point attempts in a row over the four games, including an 0-for-2 performance against Yale and an 0-for-3 performance against UAB. He made his first 3-point attempt against Georgia, missed the next, and didn't miss until he had a desperation 3-pointer blocked as the shot clock was expiring with five minutes remaining in the game.

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