Golden embraces the large target that is now on the Gators' backs

National championship puts a target on the Gators' backs (Photo by Chris Spears)

The hunter is now the hunted. No longer can Todd Golden sell the disrespect card. He did it so well a year ago when the Florida Gators made their climb from No. 21 preseason to national champs. Now that the Gators have the nation’s longest winning streak (12 games) and a roster that oozes the confidence that comes with experience, the roles have reversed.

The boulder-sized chip that rested on the Gators’ shoulders is gone, replaced by a target on their backs. The 2025-26 season doesn’t begin until November, but most of the major media outlets rank the Gators top five. ESPN ranks UF No. 2. That means every time the Gators go on the road, the arena will be loud, hostile and aching to storm the court in the event of an upset.

The respect that comes with an NCAA title includes a schedule worthy of a team capable of going back-to-back. Besides playing 18 games in the SEC, the nation’s deepest and best conference, the Gators will play Arizona in Las Vegas, Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium and UConn in Madison Square Garden.

In Golden’s point of view, the transformation from hunter to hunted began when the Gators heated up at the end of last season, winning their last three regular season games and then blowing out three ranked teams (Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee) to win the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Once the Gators cut down the nets in Nashville, Golden couldn’t sell the disrespect card any longer.

“We win the SEC tournament and we went from a team that nobody – I don't want to say respected, but we were always kind of like, is Florida for real?” Golden said Tuesday afternoon after the Gators completed a full team workout minus only redshirt freshmen Viktor Mikic (Serbia) and Olivier Rioux (Canada), who are playing with their country’s under-19 teams in international tournaments. “Then we end up winning our last three regular season games, win the SEC tournament and then every ESPN personality was projecting us to win the national championship, and that changed over the course of like two weeks really.

“And so we kind of had that pressure on us to start the NCAA tournament. I thought we played that way the first weekend and then we kind of got through it and turned back to ourselves. So we kind of had that in real time. Now this team will have it for the whole year, and it's a different challenge, for sure, but one you have to embrace. When you're targeted every day, it's a compliment and we got to really kind of take pride in being in that position.”

The Gators are in that position because Golden returns the best frontcourt in the nation and he has replaced the best perimeter threesome in the country – Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard – with three experienced, explosive scorers from the transfer portal. Golden knows exactly what he has in 6-11 Alex Condon, 6-10 Rueben Chinyelu, 6-9 Tommy Haugh and 7-1 Micah Handlogten. Through the portal he brought in 6-4 Xaivian Lee (from Princeton), 6-1 Boogie Fland (from Arkansas) and 6-4 AJ Brown (from Ohio).

Consensus among the nation’s experts is that Todd Golden has reloaded and it’s not a reach to think of the Gators as serious contenders for a repeat performance.  Golden has talent, experience and depth. The only real questions surround the newcomers in the backcourt, leadership and the non-conference schedule.

Lee was a 2-time All-Ivy League performer who averaged 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. He is a creative with the ball in his hands, both as a scorer and as a distributor. Fland only played 21 games at Arkansas because of an injury to a finger that required surgery. Still, he averaged 13.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.

Can these two guys who are accustomed to being the lead guard share the basketball? A hallmark of Florida’s championship team was the willingness to share the ball. Golden thinks Florida’s style of play will blend in well with what these guys do best.

“If you have guys who can dribble, pass and shoot you’re going to be really hard to guard,” Golden said. “With the way we play – obviously, you have to have continuous ball-screen motion – you have to have two or three guys out there that can make a play, can attack the defense, read the ball-screen scenario. So it’s a very good issue that we have and I’m excited to see these guys play together and see how teams are going to try to guard them.” 

Golden has found great success with transfers in his three seasons at UF. Richard, who played his freshman season at Belmont, was Golden’s first recruit in 2022. Year two saw Golden bring in Zyon Pullin (UC-Riverside), Tyrese Samuel (Seton Hall), Clayton (Iona) and Handlogten (Marshall). All four were impact players on a team that made it to the SEC Tournament championship game and the NCAA Tournament. Martin (Florida Atlantic) and Chinyelu (Washington State) arrived last season and were fixtures in the starting lineup from day one to the national championship game.

If there is one thing these transfers had in common it is they blended in well from day one both culturally and on the court. Golden believes the transition for Lee and Fland will be easy.

"From a personality standpoint, I'm very confident about that,” Golden said. “I think they're both awesome young men, mature. And I think one thing, knock on wood, that we've done a good job of with transfers is we get on the same page before we bring them in to make sure that there's as little issue in that process as possible. So we recruited them both pretty intently and I say with intention for specific roles in understanding what they're going to do and their attitudes and their personalities, the people they have around them, you know, we're all good in our books. So I think from that cultural standpoint, it should be a pretty easy transition. And I think basketball wise, it might take some time for them to get comfortable in a new system, but I think they will do a really good job for us."

With Clayton, Martin and Richard, Golden had three alpha male types who led vocally and by example. Those three set the tone for the entire team. It’s not just their scoring that will be missed (combined 46.3 points per game), but their defense and above all, their leadership.

Can Lee and Fland provide leadership or will Golden have to find it from his front court guys?

"That's another thing that the summer's for,” Golden said. “We'll kind of see who kind of absorbs that leadership opportunity. I think we have a lot of guys that are capable. I think it might come from our front court a little more this year, guys that have been in the program for a couple years and just have a great understanding of what we do. I think Condo's (Alex Condon) a guy that might want to take that responsibility. I think Tommy's (Tommy Haugh) a guy that's more than capable. Rueben (Chinyelu), obviously, with the way he shows up and plays his tail off every day. I think we have a number of guys that will be able to. We'll be different that way, but I think we have a couple guys that will be willing to assume that role."

Then there is the schedule. The Southeastern Conference released each team’s opponents Wednesday and there are a few changes in store for the Gators. 

Home and home opponents: Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina

Home only opponents: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee  

Away only opponents: Ole Miss, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt

The non-conference schedule isn’t complete yet, but the Gators will open the season with Arizona in Las Vegas November 3. They will play in the Rady’s Children’s Invitational in San Diego November 27-28. The field for that tournament is Providence, TCU and Wisconsin. In the SEC/ACC Challenge, the Gators will play Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium December 2.

"Well, a lot of people talked about us not having a strong enough out of conference last year,” Golden said. “That won't be this year, and again, like, I think you get these opportunities when somebody calls and wants your team to come play on opening night against Arizona in a showcase game in Vegas, that's a compliment. You gotta really evaluate that, so we want to do that. Same thing with the opportunity to play UConn. We're not going to turn down an opportunity to play in Madison Square Garden on ESPN against one of the best programs in America. And we took it as a huge compliment that they put us against Duke in the SEC/ACC challenge. Obviously, Duke is the marquee program in the ACC right now. It's not close. And for us to be picked to go play there, we take that as another huge compliment.

“So it's a challenge, all three of those games are going to be incredibly difficult. We have other really challenging non-conference games as well. But there's different ways to do it. Last year, we went 13-0 in non-conference. I'm not sure we'll be able to do that this year. But we can still have a really, really successful non-conference because of the level of opponents that we have.”

Wherever the schedule takes the Gators, the target will be on their backs. This year there is no sneaking up on anyone and no one will disrespect them.