Golden unloads on the NCAA
While speaking in rather glowing terms about the development of freshman big man Jones Lay Friday morning at the Florida basketball complex, the NCAA got caught in Todd Golden's crosshairs. In the nanosecond that followed, Golden gave in to temptation. Rather than bite his tongue and remain silent about the issue of fifth-year eligibility for athletes across the country, Golden squeezed off a verbal between-the-eyes shot at the NCAA, which continues its Don Quixote-like charge up the legal hill in courtrooms across the country.
"The NCAA's argument that allowing [class of] 22s that are enrolled in school right now to play, them arguing that it would disrupt all these student athletes and that guys and gals would be getting cut off teams, it's just BS," Golden said. "It's not true. Now, that conversation back in May maybe had some legs to it, but where we are right now, it's just unequivocally false."
To backtrack just a tad, the NCAA Division I Council unanimously voted to adopt a five-year window for athletic eligibility that went into effect Aug. 1, 2026. The clock begins ticking on this five-year window of eligibility from the date of high school graduation. What left the door cracked for the lawsuits that followed was the exclusion of a fifth year for athletes who graduated in 2022 while granting a fifth year to all those in subsequent graduating classes. Judges across the country have ruled against the NCAA for the unfairness of denying last year's fourth-year seniors a fifth year while granting the extra year to those whose graduation was 2023 and after.
Golden spent six months going through the process of getting Denzel Aberdeen eligible, an ordeal that could have and should have been avoided if the NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, had applied a measure of common sense into the equation. Aberdeen, who spent three years at Florida prior to transferring to Kentucky for the 2025-26 season, went into the transfer portal in April, chose to return to UF for one last chance at championship glory, and filed for a waiver to play a fifth season. Aberdeen did everything by the book and it should have been a no-brainer to grant the fifth year since he played fewer than 41 minutes in the 2022-23 season and is on track to become the first person in his family history to earn a college degree.
Should have been a no-brainer, but nothing is simple when it comes to the NCAA, which selectively enforces its own rules.
While denying Aberdeen's waiver application back on May 29, the NCAA was busy approving a seventh season for Franck Kepnang, who spent two seasons at Oregon State and four at Washington before transferring to Kentucky. That left Aberdeen the only choice of hiring an attorney to take on the NCAA in court. A little more than a week ago in an Alachua County courtroom, Judge George Wright delivered an airtight injunction that will withstand appeal, granting Aberdeen his fifth year.
All along, the NCAA has been arguing that allowing a fifth year to last year's fourth-year seniors would cause irreparable harm to the game because it would deny scholarships to 2026 high school grads and coaches would cut underclassmen on scholarship to add fifth-year players to their rosters.
"There's no examples of that and the reality, which people are now starting to realize, is the displacement's going to happen next year," Golden said. "All these guys that are in college right now are going to have another year next year. So do you think that it's going to affect the freshmen from the '26 high school class, which they were arguing, or the '27 high school class?"
All the proof necessary to back Golden's assessment of the situation has been provided by Villanova coach Kevin Willard, who stated at Big East Conference Media Day that he will not be signing any freshmen for the 2027 recruiting class.
"Why? Because every single student athlete in college this year will be able to play next year," Golden explained, adding that the NCAA continuing to use displacement as the foundation of its legal strategy is "a misguided argument. It's not factually accurate."
The NCAA has had some victories in court cases, getting stays of temporary restraining orders in appellate courts. In most of those cases, the stay of the TRO was issued because the athletes chose to fight on the basis of antitrust laws. Aberdeen won because the NCAA failed to put things in writing.
Athletes who had their TRO stayed in appellate courts could come back at the NCAA by using the same argument that got Aberdeen his injunction.
"I think this case specifically is the best factual case for any student athlete, men or women, that are trying to get what they deserve, which is a fifth year, just like everybody else," Golden said. "They're not looking and saying, well, this kid's at 80% of progress towards a degree. That's what we expect a fifth-year student athlete to be. He was in the portal, transferred properly… They don't want him to play because they don't think 22s should be able to play. It's absurd. But he has the best factual case, so we feel really comfortable about where we're at and I think his legal team did a wonderful job of explaining that. And I think the NCAA is going to have a really hard time explaining why he shouldn't be able to play basketball this year."
Aberdeen fitting in with Boogie Fland and growth while at Kentucky
"I think him and Boogie complement each other incredibly well," Golden said. "…Kentucky got better last year when Denzel started playing on the ball primarily. I thought he did a really good job, kind of assuming that role under tough circumstances. Making that switch in the middle of conference play is not easy, and he did a really good job. And he had to shoulder a heavier load. I think he grew a lot that way, and so now coming back here, he'll start off the ball to start games, but he'll be our backup point guard, and we feel really good about the way he can command the team that way. So I think it was really, that experience I think was really beneficial for his growth as a player."
Scrimmage against North Florida notes
A closed-door scrimmage against North Florida allowed Golden to see the Gators going against someone other than themselves. The result was an outstanding first half, played mostly by starters Aberdeen, Boogie Fland, Tommy Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu, with off-the-bench contributions by Urban Klavzar, Isaiah Brown, AJ Brown and Viktor Mikic. The second half, played exclusively by non-starters, wasn't nearly as productive as the first half.
Golden said that Mikic, a third-year player whose minutes have been limited in years one and two, "has a chance to carve out a little role." Golden said Mikic is proving to be "a really good low post operator." Mikic, Arturas Butajevis and Jones Lay will be the primary backups for Haugh, Condon and Chinyelu. Domen Petrovic, a Slovenian import, is being seen as more of a perimeter player "because he shoots it so well and he's 6-8, 6-9 and can really let it fly from the perimeter."
The Gators should be a better three-point shooting team with Klavzar, Petrovic, Aberdeen and AJ Brown. Brown, the older brother of Isaiah Brown, took a redshirt last season after transferring to UF from Ohio University. His shoulder fully recovered from a surgical procedure which kept him off the court last year, AJ Brown has had good practices lately and is factoring in the reserve rotation.
"The gravity that AJ provides on the court showed up on Wednesday night [against UNF]," Golden said. "And, you know, some of our best players really benefit by floor spacers, right? Like Condo is a playmaking frontcourt player. Rueben is a great low post scorer that's now turning into a really good playmaker from down there also. And when you have other guys on the floor that the other team is afraid to leave, it provides, you know, a much easier path for those guys. And I think that's… we call it gravity. Like that's the type of gravity that AJ and Domen can provide for us on the perimeter."
Regarding Jones Lay, Golden said, "He's been a little under the weather, so he didn't play as much the other night in the second half as we would have liked. But he has all the makings of what we hoped he would. He's got great makeup. He's a great dude. He's an incredible athlete, you know, for a seven-footer. He runs really well, explosive and he has good basketball IQ."
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