Still trying to ease the pain of an early exit

If anyone is up to the challenge of constructing a contender for next season, it's Todd Golden.

By CARLTON REESE

GatorBaitMedia.com

I must admit the difficulty of watching the NCAA Tournament since last week’s heartbreak at the hands of the Iowa Hawkeyes. We shouldn’t be here, yet here we are… mired in a deluge of “what if?” and “why didn’t we?” A week has passed and the moments still replay in my mind, an attempt to alter a reality that is more of a poison pill.

This all started in Nashville. Tampa smelled like Nashville, even during moments of the Prairie View A&M game which ended in a false flag Gator victory. Make no mistake about it: this Florida basketball team was good enough to win another national championship and before the SEC Tournament, it seemed likely to do so. That all caved in during a gruesome win over Kentucky and a humbling slaughter at the hands of Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament.

Was the Kentucky victory a cautionary tale? Sure seems so. Did the Vanderbilt loss expose critical weaknesses of this team? Looks that way.

For as great as Todd Golden has been at pressing buttons and pulling levers during his short tenure as UF head coach – this season may have been his best right up to the end – the final four games this season were likely his worst moments.  Strategies that may have seemed reasonable just did not work. Every decision made in 2025’s run to the title seemed laced with fairy dust, destined to deliver only moments of serendipity and glory. This season, what looked to be a successful building project ceased with two weeks to go and now we’re left looking at an unfinished Taj Mahal that looks as though it could be grand, but inside are unfurnished rooms and non-functional plumbing.

Starting in Nashville, the Kentucky win came despite poor shooting and just about poor everything else. The defense was good, but Kentucky still missed a ton of open shots from 3-point range that saved the Gators. The loss to Vandy was a case of not standing up physically to the Commodores while at the same time conceding the long-range shots of their big men. Those concessions were intentional and blew up in Golden’s face as Vandy’s big men connected on 7 of 10 attempts from 3-point range.

Even the first five minutes of the Prairie View game showed a strategy exploited by the opponent. Again, Florida decided intentionally to leave the 3-point shots unguarded and found themselves tied at 15-15 when the Gators decided to play the type of defense they had exhibited most of the year.

In the end, the domination of Prairie View signaled nothing – wins over teams seeded 16^th rarely draw bona fide conclusions. Iowa presented a real challenge, whether the orchestrator of seeds believed such or not. They had bodies that weren’t afraid to take on Florida much like Vanderbilt did, and despite putting their own foul situation in jeopardy, the Hawkeyes actually tested Florida’s front court depth. As such, Rueben Chinyelu became a non-factor with foul trouble and seemed ineffective most of the time on the floor.

Through it all, though, the Gators managed to actually take a 4-point lead late in the game and was up by three with possession and just over a minute to play. With the chance to go up by five and virtually salt the game away, Boogie Fland lost control on a drive leading to a turnover. Thirteen seconds later, Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz scored to take what could have been a comfortable situation for the Gators to a tight one.

We all know what happened in the last nine seconds, and here is where playing Monday morning quarterback is easy as opposed to calling plays in the huddle. Was there anyone in the world who thought Iowa wasn’t gunning for an open 3-point attempt on their last possession? I know I was, and in that situation I was even comfortable giving up a contested 2 or even fouling to have one last chance and at least an overtime session where Florida would have clearly had the advantage. Instead, Florida left its side of the court with two defenders to cover three players while everyone else was pressuring up front.

One might claim that if Fland did not get beat by his man then there never would have been an open 3-point attempt at the other end, but why risk that? Two, or even one player, can apply pressure on the ball so that Iowa is forced into at least something frenetic while everyone else is positioned. Why not pick them up near half court after two seconds have already elapsed and force something contested?

Iowa had thrown over the Florida pressure the entire second half, and although it looked risky and nearly turned into turnovers, it never did. Those long passes over the press worked, and in the most critical time, Florida went to that same well again. And, again, Iowa threw over the press and this time found a man wide open for what was essentially a long free-throw attempt in terms of percentages.

As you can tell, this loss is rather difficult to swallow – and if it is such for me, then the pain must be especially excruciating for Golden and his players. It’s hard to let it go and that is why we are analyzing this thing and questioning decisions, and deriding bad calls, and wondering “what if?” The sting hurts because this team, by the time March rolled around, looked to have blossomed into one that might win another championship. But championships are extremely difficult to win, especially in a tournament format where one false move and you’re gone.

Todd Golden has been a dream come true for the Florida Gators and he will continue to win. Our most recent memory of things going south can lead us into a dark place, but we cannot let it. To play your way into a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament after a 5-4 start is a remarkable feat and that is all credit to Golden and his staff.

As good as Florida was, the odds were still against them winning it all this year, but once again they were more than just in the conversation – they had played themselves into the position as a favorite once again. The opportunities to be in that conversation do not come around too often.

So, while I, like all other Gator fans, am despondent about what happened last Sunday and will find it difficult to watch the rest of this tournament, I take solace in knowing Gator basketball is in a good place. Golden is a great coach who recognizes talent where others don’t and is a master at putting the pieces of a puzzle together. Next year’s team will look different than those of the last two seasons, but there is still promise, still a chance to be in the conversation. Fland is returning, Urban Klavzar is returning, and we may get more of our frontcourt back than we figured a month ago.

Now, we are dealing with teams like North Carolina and Kansas coming after Golden – we always knew this was in the cards. My hope is that Golden realizes he already resides in greener pastures – he can win championships in Gainesville just as he could in Lawrence or Chapel Hill. Lon Kruger led Florida to a Final Four and left not long after, realizing basketball to be a second-class citizen here to football. But this place has evolved since then – I know I feel it, and I hope Golden does too.

We close the book on what has been an interesting and fun season despite the early exit from the tournament. Watching this team grow during the year was astounding and might have even built a confidence too great for its merit, but here we are. And where we are is not a mediocre team vying for respectability, but one that is still master of the best conference in the country and has three national championships to its brand.

Today, we mourn. Tomorrow we build.