Golden, Gators begin the difficult road to repeat as NCAA champions

(Photo by Chris Spears)

A year ago Todd Golden’s sales job was to place a big enough chip on the shoulders of the Gators that nobody could knock it off. The Gators embraced it all the way to San Antonio where two stunning comeback wins gave the University of Florida its third NCAA basketball championship in school history.

The moment the clock at the Alamodome in San Antonio flatlined at 00:00, the Gators went from 2025 underdogs to the latest NCAA champ that has to deal with the great expectations of a repeat. It is such a rare feat that it has only been done three times since UCLA’s unprecedented seven straight championship years halted by North Carolina State in 1974. Since then only Duke (1991-92), Florida (2006-07) and UConn (2022-23) have gone back-to-back.

Golden and the Gators have a constant reminder of what the 2006-07 teams were able to accomplish. A few steps inside the door of the Florida practice facility is a mural of the confetti falling in Indianapolis (2006) and Atlanta (2007). They serve as proof that repeats are possible, but knowing they are possible and actually pulling it off are two different concepts.

The 2006 Gators had an advantage like no other repeat champion since UCLA because the entire starting lineup of Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey elected to come back to go for two in a row. The newest version of the Gators will return the towering frontcourt of 6-11 Alex Condon, 6-10 Rueben Chinyelu, 7-1 Micah Handlogten and 6-9 Tommy Haugh returning. For good measure there is 6-11, 260-pound redshirt freshman Viktor Mikic waiting in the wings, ready to grab any minutes that come available.  

It is the backcourt that is being revamped. Walter Clayton Jr. went first round to the Utah Jazz in the NBA Draft while Alijah Martin went second round to Toronto and Will Richard to Golden State, also in the second round, leaving a void that will be filled by transfers, a couple of holdovers and a pair of talented freshmen. There is no shortage of talent, but the shoes these guys have to fill are gigantic. Golden has 40 more days to make it all fit together before games begin for real against Arizona in Las Vegas.

“It’s tricky, because unlike 20 years ago we don’t have our whole starting five back,” Golden said Monday afternoon. “It’s a little different than just saying a blanket, ‘Okay, we’re trying to go back-to-back.’ Obviously, we have guys who played a huge role on that team and the expectation, for them, that’s the goal. At the same time, we have some transfers and young guys that we’re trying to get in there. That’s not the same expectation for them. They were not part of that team, right?

“So, on a macro level our goal is to win again, but with this team specifically we’re not talking a lot about repeating, but we are talking about doing everything we can to play deep into March.”

Minus the backcourt threesome of Clayton, Martin and Richard, who combined to average 46 points, 12.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game, Golden anticipates his frontcourt guys picking up more of the scoring slack. Instead of two big guys and three guards Golden is going to go with three bigs and two guards. Haugh was such a threat from the perimeter during Florida’s national championship run that he will start at a wing, but he’s the ultimate inside-outside hybrid.

As it stands now, the sixth man will be Handlogten, who is 100 percent healthy and in the best shape that he’s been in at Florida. Handlogten burned his redshirt to help the Gators when there were injuries in early February.

"He's playing great right now, and as healthy as he's been in a long time,” Golden said. “You can tell his confidence continues to grow. I think he's one of the best centers in America, I do. We're fortunate we have two of them. The ability to let him and Ruben compete against each other at practice, and then we're bringing Micah over and letting them play together a little bit, just trying to see what that looks like. But he was a huge reason why we won last year, him coming back, his unselfishness, his willingness to give up half of his year to be a part of it. He played such an impactful role. I think he will be even more impactful for this year's team than he was last year."

So, Golden anticipates a starting lineup of Condon, Chinyelu and Haugh with transfers Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland taking over in the backcourt. Lee averaged 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists last year at Princeton where he was a first team All-Ivy League selection for the second straight year. Fland spent his freshman year at Arkansas where he averaged 13.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists in a season married by injuries that caused him to miss 40 percent of the season.

Lee and Fland give Golden the luxury of two skilled point guards who know how to score as well as distribute. Last season the Gators finished second nationally in the kenpom.com rankings for offensive efficiency. With Lee and Fland as the primary ball handlers, Golden believes the Gators will do a good job avoiding turnovers.

“We should be able to take care of the ball better this year; we weren't always elite doing that. And I think our offensive rebounding should be a little bit better. So obviously we lost a lot of shot making. We don't have somebody that can make shots like Walt on this year's team, but not very many teams do. So we got to find different ways to kind of pick up that efficiency."

There is plenty of depth in the backcourt behind Fland and Lee. Urban Klavjar, whose shooting while coming off the bench helped lift the Gators over a midseason hump, will be one of the first off the bench along with AJ Brown and his brother, Isiaih. Freshmen CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd are serious talents who will have to fight for and make the most of limited minutes. During the summer months, Golden also picked up redshirt sophomore Alex Kovatchev, an Australian via Sacramento State.  

This is an embarrassment of riches. The Gators have size and depth which will give Golden options to play any style to either match or exceed whatever opponents throw at him. With 13 players at his disposal, it might take awhile for Golden to settle on a rotation.

One thing that hasn’t changed despite the turnover in personnel is the goal of playing big and fast. Few teams can match Florida’s size, but the Gators have the speed and quickness that will help to make up for the loss of elite backcourt scorers. The goal is to dominate the backboards, kick it out quickly and get the ball up the court in position to shoot well before the opponent has a chance to set the defense.

A year ago, the Gators wore down opponents with this style. It should be every bit as effective this season as well.

“We want to play as many possessions in transition as possible,” Golden said. “So if we can find a way to play five percent more of our possessions in transition, I think that would really help us be able to make up for some of that lost efficiency. And I keep going back to the ball handling. We haven't done nearly enough job yet taking care of the ball. But Boogie had a great assist-to-turnover ratio last year. Xaivian was fantastic, and Tommy and those guys are great for front court players in terms of taking care of it. So I think collectively, as we continue to get comfortable playing together that should be an area that - I think we're 73rd I think we're 73rd in America in turnover rate last year. My goal is to be top 25 that way with this year's teams."

A hallmark of the national championship team was the kind of team chemistry that hadn’t been seen in years. It takes time for teams to bond into championship level, but the signs are there that Golden has another team that will not lack for team chemistry.

“I'm really pleased with where we're at, but I think the main test has yet to come, right?” Golden said. “… there’s been no adversity for this team, like we haven't lost any tough games. We haven't had to deal with any injuries. So it's easy right now, because we haven't had to go through any of that for us to all get along with each other and everybody to be putting the team first. But once we deal with a little bit of that, I think we'll be, the way we react to that will be the key. But right now, I think this team has a chance to be really tight. We have really good guys. We have mature guys, and I think similar to last year, our personnel and kind of the roles that we have for specific guys fits pretty well where everybody should be able to, you know, have success with what we're trying to do.”