by David Jones, USA TODAY Sports

GAINESVILLE — Florida moved up two No. 2 in both men’s basketball polls on Monday, its highest ranking since March 12, 2007 in both final regular season polls headed into the NCAA tournament, as the Gators went on to win their second of back-to-back national titles.

Florida received six first-place votes in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and also got seven in the AP Top 25 poll voting. Florida was ranked 10th in both polls in the preseason, but fell out of the top 10 in December with a couple of road losses.

Is such a high ranking deserved?

Put it this way, the Gators (18-2 overall, 8-0 in SEC play) still have 10 conference games left in the regular season — starting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday on ESPNU. Florida coach Billy Donovan has never been one to even contemplate the numbers this time of year.

Arkansas (13-8, 4-4) will make sure the players aren’t thinking about it, either. The Hogs are 13-1 at home this season.

“I think now for sure every team is going to give us their best shot,” Gators center Patric Young said. “Getting more recognition means that we have to be ready for everybody bringing their best shot at us. Saying that we’re this or we’re that. None of that stuff really matters. We’ve just got to take care of what we can control coming in and trying to get better each and every day.”

Donovan certainly has made it a point to his team that, no matter what the record or ranking, this isn’t a finished product.

“We have plenty of stuff to work on, that’s never a problem,” he said. “I just think it’s a constant every single day … you have a choice to make every day you walk out there. You can either get better or work to get better, or you can come in with the attitude of. …it’s always human nature to want to be … [For more on Donovan, No. 2 Florida trying to avoid complacency atop SEC, click here.]