Golden has put the band back together again!

Rueben Chinyelu is back along with Alex Condon and Tommy Haugh (Photo by Chris Spears)

“We’re putting the band back together … we’re on a mission from God.” – Jake and Elwood Blues, from “The Blues Brothers”

Todd Golden’s band is back together for one more mission, this one to win a second NCAA basketball championship in three years. Prior to Thursday, the only question mark was Rueben Chinyelu, but the big man who led the Southeastern Conference in rebounding last season, announced that he will forego the NBA Draft to return to the University of Florida for a run at another championship.

Chinyelu was an outstanding performer at last week’s NBA Draft Combine where he had one scrimmage in which he scored 14 points while grabbing 15 rebounds. Most projections had him going in the first third of the second round but Adam Finkelstein of CBS had Chinyelu going No. 25 to the Los Angeles Lakers. All speculation was put to rest Thursday with the announcement that Chinyelu will be back for his senior year at Florida.

Chinyelu hinted that he would return last week at the combine, offering the temptation of another championship as his motivation.

“If I go back, I’m not settling for less,” Chinyelu said last week in Chicago at the combine.

On the Field of 68 podcast with Jeff Goodman Wednesday, Golden said the loss to Iowa in the second round of the NCAA Tournament back in March provided motivation for Haugh and Condon to announce their return. The same motivation, Golden insisted applied to Chinyelu.

“It (Iowa loss) gave us an opportunity to light a fire under these guys moving forward for next year,” Golden said.

Chinyelu’s return completes the most formidable front line in all of college basketball. At 6-10, 260, Chinyelu is the defensive anchor in the middle He was the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year last season while averaging 10.9 points and 11.2 rebounds alongside second team All-American Tommy Haugh (17.1 points, 6.1 rebounds) and All-SEC Alex Condon (15.1 points, 7.5 rebounds). The Gators led the nation in rebounding (45.1 per game), rebounding margin (+14 per game) and offensive rebounds (15.91).

With Chinyelu, Condon (6-11, 236) and Haugh (6-9, 215) the Gators can overwhelm opponents with size and athletic ability. To boost lost depth from the departure of 7-1 Micah Handlogten, Golden signed international bigs Arturas Butajevas (6-11, 220, from Lithuania) and Domen Petrovic (6-9, 225, from Slovenia) to go with returning junior Viktor Mikic (6-11, 260) and incoming freshman Jones Lay (7-0, 240).

Completing what should be the nation’s most talented and experienced starting lineup will be point guard Boogie Fland (11.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists) and Denzel Aberdeen, back after a year in exile at Kentucky where he averaged 13.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists. Aberdeen was a key reserve at Florida when the Gators won the 2025 NCAA title. Aberdeen is waiting on a waiver from the NCAA that will grant him a fifth season, but considering the NCAA approved what will be a seventh season for Franck Kepnang, who transferred to Kentucky from Washington, approval for Aberdeen seems a formality.

There will be no shortage of capable perimeter guys off the bench as the Gators return SEC Sixth Man of the Year Urban Klavzar, Isaiah Brown, Alex Kovatchev and last year’s freshmen CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd. Klavzar averaged 9.6 points and hit 40.6 percent of his threes a season ago, while Brown averaged nearly 13 minutes per game and was quite impactful on both ends of the floor. Ingram came on strong at the end of the year while Lloyd had Golden speaking in glowing terms at a press conference a few weeks ago.

Also back is AJ Brown, who took a redshirt season last year to rehab a shoulder after transferring in from Ohio University. The older brother of Isaiah Brown, AJ is an outstanding shooter who scored 13.2 points while knocking down 38.8 percent of his threes at Ohio in 2025.

The combination of senior experience, winning championships and unprecedented depth are the reasons why Florida is going to be the consensus No. 1 preseason team when the 2026-27 season cranks up in November. Already, ESPN, CBS, The Athletic, Sports Illustrated and On3 have Florida as the clearcut No. 1.

A season ago, the Gators averaged 87.1 points per game while yielding 71.54. In the kenpom.com analytics, the Gators finished 9^th nationally in offensive efficiency and 6^th in defensive efficiency. For the 2026-27 season, Golden expects the Gators to continue to play at breakneck speed, dominate the paint and backboards, plus limit opponents to mostly one-and-done possessions with smothering defense.

If there is an area of concern that seems to have been addressed, it is 3-point shooting. Klavzar was the only Gator who played consistent minutes to shoot better than 34.6 percent from the 3-point line. Opponents packed the paint regularly, daring the Gators to beat them from the perimeter, a strategy that met with mixed results.

This season, the Gators have the ingredients of an exceptional shooting team from the outside, which should create a dilemma for opposing coaches trying to find a way to neutralize Florida offensively. The additions of Aberdeen, who shot 36.3 percent from three last year at Kentucky and 35 percent during Florida’s 2025 championship run, AJ Brown, and Domen Petrovic 36.6 percent in the Slovenian league should give the Gators the ability to stretch defenses. In 2024 Butajevas made 45.5 percent of his threes.

The schedule is still being put together, but the Gators will play Notre Dame in Las Vegas in the three-day Players Era Tournament at Mandalay Bay Resort starting November 17,

The Florida roster as of May 21, 2026:

Bigs (7): Alex Condon (6-11, 236, SR); Tommy Haugh (6-9, 215, SR); Rueben Chinyelu (6-10, 260, SR); Viktor Mikic (6-11, 260, JR); Domen Petrovic (6-9, 225, SR); Arturas Butajevas (6-11, 220, SO); Jones Lay (7-0, 240, FR)

Perimeter (8): Denzel Aberdeen (6-5, 200, SR); Urban Klavzar (6-1, 195, SR); AJ Brown (6-5, 210, RJR); Alex Kovatchev (6-5, 195, RJR); Boogie Fland (6-3, 185, JR); Isaiah Brown (6-5, 210, JR); CJ Ingram (6-7, 210, SO); Alex Lloyd (6-3, 180, SO)