Florida basketball has completed its roster ahead of the 2023-24 season by filling its final scholarship opening. According to Jacob Rudner of 247Sports, Lithuanian guard Kajus Kublickas has joined the team, making him the ninth new addition to the Florida roster this offseason. This is the second addition of an international player to the University of Florida's athletics in the past 12 hours after Billy Napier and company grabbed an offensive lineman from Germany earlier in the day, Noel Portnjagin. Under the guidance of head coach Todd Golden, the Florida Gators have undergone a significant overhaul of their depth chart, and Kublickas is a key part of this reconstruction. Since Golden took charge at UF in March 2022, he has brought in three international athletes, including Kublickas, along with forwards Aleks Szymczyk from Germany and Alex Condon from Australia. Standing at 6-foot-1, Kublickas previously played for the second-tier affiliate of Zalgiris Kaunas, the 12-time defending Lithuanian League champions. During his time with Zalgiris Kaunas II, he showcased his skills as a facilitator and perimeter scorer. In 21 appearances, Kublickas averaged 3.6 assists and 8.9 points while shooting an impressive 37.7 percent from beyond the arc. Kublickas has also proven himself on the international stage as a member of Lithuania's U18 national team. In seven contests, he demonstrated his efficiency as a guard prospect, averaging 6.9 points, shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 45.4 percent from three-point range, along with 4.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game. With his versatile playmaking abilities and scoring, Kublickas is expected to provide valuable contributions off the bench for the Gators in the upcoming season. He fills two areas of need for the team: facilitation and consistent three-point shooting. While he is set to compete for rotational minutes behind Zyon Pullin, the Gators' projected starting point guard, Kublickas brings depth and talent to the roster. The 2023-24 scholarship roster for the Gators now includes returning players Riley Kugel, Will Richard, Denzel Aberdeen, and Szymczyk, as well as transfers Zyon Pullin, Walter Clayton Jr., Julian Rishwain, EJ Jarvis, Tyrese Samuel and Micah Handlogten. Additionally, the team has added three new players through the 2023 class: Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon, and now, Kublickas. The addition of Kajus Kublickas solidifies Florida's basketball roster for the upcoming 2023-24 season, completing the team's recruitment efforts. Head coach Todd Golden and his staff have been diligent in assembling a well-rounded squad that addresses various needs and brings in talent from both local and international sources. Kublickas joins a group of nine newcomers who have joined the Gators this offseason. Coach Golden wasted no time in implementing a transformative plan to reshape the team's depth chart after assuming his role at UF just a season ago. Kublickas's arrival enhances the Gators' depth and addresses specific areas of need within the team. His ability to facilitate plays and provide consistent scoring from the perimeter will add a spark off the bench. Florida basketball is very well-positioned to make a significant improvement in the upcoming season. With a diverse and talented roster, the Gators have addressed their weaknesses, strengthened their depth and created a competitive environment that bodes well for their future success. Fans can look forward to an exciting journey as the team takes to the court in Gainesville.

While we are yet to kick off the 2023 season, the SEC announced the 2024 conference opponents this evening. As expected, it's going to be a doozy for the Orange & Blue.

From a Gator fan's family who has attended the game in Jax for nearly 90 years, hope springs eternal that the new stadium could make this rivalry even better. By DAN BOND, special correspondent GatorBaitMedia.com Will Jacksonville Florida lose the Florida-Georgia football series? This is a reality I've been concerned with ever since Kirby Smart started rocking the boat a few years ago. The discussion has come up in the past but mostly felt like a negotiation tactic with the city to get some extra cash. Smart’s $10M-plus a year salary and back-to-back national championships carry a lot of weight with the Bulldog faithful. Throwing in the Texas and Oklahoma announcing in 2021 they would join the SEC in 2025 for football, now 2024. Surely a shakeup in scheduling was on the horizon. This year is the 90th anniversary of Florida-Georgia being played in Jacksonville every year (Except 1994 and 1995 for stadium construction). My family is from the Jacksonville area and I have family in Savannah, GA so this was always a huge weekend in my life. I've personally been to 39 of these games. Including with with my parents' attendance and it's at least 60 of the 90. Regular season, neutral site games are rare these days. Texas and Oklahoma play in Dallas at the old Cotton Bowl, where I live now. There is never any discussion about moving or losing that annual rivalry game here locally. Perish the thought! The City of Jacksonville and the Jaguars just announced on June 7 a whole new venue that will incorporate the waterfront, the stadium and the surrounding downtown area. Price estimates for the stadium $1.9 to $2.1 billion. The new sports district surrounding it between $550 and $668M. Jaguar owner Shad Khan is quoted as saying: “This is also all happening at a fantastic time for everyone. Jacksonville is red hot. Just check out all the recent rankings- best places to live, best housing market, hottest job market, best place to start a business, jacksonville ranks within the top five in all those lists.” The updated stadium has a SoFi/Los Angeles look. The area surrounding it reminds me of Texas Live! Entertainment district next to the Rangers Globe Life Park and AT&T stadium, home of the Cowboys. There's a dozen restaurants under one roof where you can go and watch the big game in the Live! Arena. Imagine the largest wall of TV's that can play one game on the whole wall or break up to multiple games, it's something to experience. There are hotels, convention space and shopping. It’s a year-round destination bringing visitors and billions in revenue forecasted over the years. Throw in the waterfront in Jacksonville and the possibilities there. There's nothing like going to Knoxville and checking out the “Vol Navy” on a game weekend. This could be like that but much bigger. With this huge upgrade for the Jaguars, I immediately thought the Florida-Georgia series might be presevered. We are witnessing and living through the biggest change in college athletics, especially football. Definitely in my lifetime. NIL, transfer portal and new rule changes. Are we throwing the baby out with the bathwater? Hopefully not. The Bulldog fans and friends I see in Jacksonville every year don't want the game moved. The Florida fans I know don't want it moved either. If “The powers that be” want to end a fabulous tradition because they lost out on a five-star recruit that weekend or nonsense travel issues maybe they will do it for the mighty dollar. This new concept will change that weekend for the better. Florida and Georgia will profit from it. The new stadium is coming. The Bears, Bills and Titans all have new stadiums on the way, not to mention the several that have opened the last few years. Even the University of South Florida has finally decided on an on campus stadium for $340M . We found out this week about the 2024 SEC conference opponents. With Florida versus Georgia under contract until 2025, I'm feeling positive about this series surviving in Jacksonville. In a stadium that will be the crown jewel in the state of Florida. I'm just hoping the wisdom of common sense about what's best for all wins out over greed.

DJ Lagway has been the coveted five-star of the 2024 class, but add another! Xavier Filsaime was bumped up to a five-star rating on 247Sports Tuesday afternoon, bringing the five-star total for the class up to two. 247Sports, one of the four major recruiting services, updated their rankings Tuesday and it saw the Gators wide receiver commit benefit nicely. The Gators' excellent June rolls on and now we have an even better sense into how good this 2024 class really can be, led by Lagway and Filsaime. The McKinney High School (TX) product is regarded as one of the best safeties in the nation and has top-notch athleticism to back that up. In addition to being a force on the gridiron, Filsaime is an elite track and field who has put up very impressive times in both the 100 and 200 meter events. After starting his high school career on the offensive side of the ball as a wide receiver, Filsaime made the transition to safety ahead of his junior season. The transition, as expected, was not easy. However, he settled into the role very nicely using the agility and ball-hawking skills he learned on offense to become a lightning-quick member of the secondary. His coach, former four-star recruit Marcus Shavers, has been very adamant about the potential he has seen in Filsaime's play. “[He has] everything it takes to be special in college football and beyond," Shavers shared with On3. Although he does have an official visit with Georgia lined up for the upcoming weekend, the hope and expectation is that the Gators have Filsaime locked in for the class of 2024. He was in Gainesville for the first of many "June Bloom" visits, and the biggest of the bunch, back on June 2 along with fellow five-star Lagway. Although he does not quite yet have the five-star honors from other recruiting services, don't be surprised to see his stock continue to rise as he heads into his senior season and beyond.

Although it seems like we were just discussing the arrival of June, just as quickly, the end approaches. The final big visit weekend of the month is set for June 16 with 16 more prospects heading to Gainesville. To date, the month of June has already seen at least 34 athletes on campus, with the majority of them taking their official visit to campus.

Two members of the Florida Gators' baseball team have officially entered the NCAA transfer portal for spring sports. Freshman right-handed pitcher Yoel Tejada and sophomore left-handed pitcher Carsten Finnvold have made the decision to explore new opportunities, according to the D1Baseball transfer tracker.

Billy Napier and company have finally cashed in on a commitment from one of the many recruits who took an official visit over the course of the past few weeks. Mike Williams, a three-star offensive tackle from Maryland, announced his commitment to Florida Monday evening on his social media pages. Williams was among the prospects on campus this past weekend and was extremely satisfied with the visit. The former South Carolina commit had never been in Gainesville for a visit before, but finally was able to take an official visit and was able to spend more time touring the campus, facilities and speaking with coaches. Although the Gamecocks remained a significant player in his recruitment even after his decision to decommit, the Gators quickly surged towards the favorites to land Williams. After his visit, 247Sports entered a crystal ball prediction for Williams to choose the Orange & Blue, with On3 similarly following suit with a prediction of their own. Along with his commitment announcement, Williams also said that his recruitment is closed. He was planned to make three more official visits throughout the rest of June, but will likely no longer be doing so. "My recruitment is officially shutdown, I’m 100% locked in," he added on Twitter. "Thank you to all the coaches who recruited me." Florida should be thrilled to beat out their SEC-foes and land a very talented offensive front man for the class of 2024. Williams becomes the eighth commit in the class after the recent flip of Chauncey Bowens, which returned the class back to seven commits. However, Williams bumps the total back up and becomes the first offensive lineman of the 2024 class. Napier and the rest of the program will be thrilled as they land a pledge from the 6-foot-5, 310 pound tackle to protect the coveted DJ Lagway.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: In a couple more weeks or whenever Florida’s baseball season ends, BT Riopelle will hang up his cleats and take off a baseball uniform for the last time. He made a decision in the offseason that he’s not going to pursue a professional baseball career. He has a degree from the University of Florida and a job already lined up in the financial services industry. The real world awaits, but for at least two more games – he would prefer it to be five, all of them wins at the College World Series in Omaha – he gets to play baseball for the love of the game. Watch BT Riopelle behind the plate where he routinely catches fast balls of 98-99 miles per hour from the likes of Brandon Sproat, Hurston Waldrep and Jac Caglianone, not to mention foul balls that ricochet off his mask or bruised body. You have to love the game to do what he does. This is a very tough guy and yet, there is this soft side most will never see. This love of the game bit is exaggerated by some guys who talk a good game, but BT Riopelle lives it. All you had to do was watch the end of Saturday night’s 4-0 Gainesville Super Regional clinching win over South Carolina. The former quarterback and punter from Marietta (GA) Lassiter felt like he was a sixth grader all over again as he bolted from behind home plate to tackle Brandon Neely to start the celebratory dogpile just to the right pitcher’s mound. “I was number two … from the bottom, on top of (Brandon) Neely,” Riopelle said. “So I was screaming to get off, but it was worth it.” Ask BT Riopelle and the entire journey from Lassiter to Coastal Carolina and then to the University of Florida has been worth it. The answer won’t surprise you. It’s yes. A resounding yes. He was asked about his personal journey when answering media questions at Condron Family Ballpark for one last time Saturday night. A couple of sentences into his response, he had to take a couple of deep breaths to maintain his composure, but he managed to hold back tears that will probably let loose like a river at some point if they haven’t already. Leaving a game you love so dearly eventually will sink in. It will be emotional. BT was a lightly recruited catcher when he began his college baseball. Now he is proclaimed as Mr. Clutch after a postseason at UF in which six of his seven hits have left the yard, nearly everyone in a critical situation. Saturday night, Mr. Clutch thanked so many of the folks who never stopped believing in him. He thanked the coaches. He thanked his teammates. He thanked the University of Florida. He is all Gator all the time. He also understands there is a responsibility when you suit up to play for the Florida Gators. Championships are expected here, but where there are championships there is adversity that must be dealt with. There are relationships that are forged. Good teams go their separate ways. Great teams – championship teams – are your band of brothers and friends for life. This band of brothers has come a long way, but they believe in each other and believe they are on a collision course with a dream of a lifetime. “Well, it’s a testament to our character,” Riopelle said. “There’s a bunch of high character guys on this team. I’m a firm, firm believer in that if you have a bunch of really good guys in that locker room, upstairs in the office and stuff like that, that all really buy into being good people, good servants of their community … and being willing to sign autographs for little kids out there at the end of the game, like good things will happen to you. I mean the fact we do those things, that’s why we had a record-breaking crowd. I thoroughly believe that.” The crowds were outstanding all year. They were unbelievable those two games against South Carolina. Florida fans obviously embrace all that this team is. They appreciate the guys like Brandon Sproat, Josh Rivera and BT Riopelle who came back to Florida because the way the 2022 season ended with a regional championship loss to Oklahoma they felt a need to finish their careers in a positive way. Now they’ve earned that shot at Omaha where they will be one of the last eight teams standing with a chance to walk away with a memory that will last a lifetime. BT Riopelle can almost taste another championship, but no matter what happens in Omaha, he will be able to walk away knowing that he’s been good for the Gators, good for the University of Florida, good for the game of baseball. There is still a place and will always be a place for those who do it for the love of the game, the love of their school and the love of their coaches and teammates. There will also always be a place in the hearts of Gator fans for BT Riopelle. He's earned their respect and earned their love. For a lifetime. Super regional results Gainesville: FLORIDA 5, South Carolina 4; FLORIDA 4, South Carolina 0; FLORIDA (50-15) wins series, 2-0 Winston-Salem: Wake Forest 5, Alabama 4; Wake Forest 22, Alabama 5; Wake Forest (52-10) wins series, 2-0 Baton Rouge: LSU 14, Kentucky 0; LSU 8, Kentucky 3; LSU (47-15) wins series, 2-0 Eugene: Oregon 9, Oral Roberts 8; Oral Roberts 7, Oregon 6; Oral Roberts 11, Oregon 6; Oral Roberts (51-12), wins series 2-1 Charlottesville: Duke 5, Virginia 4; Virginia 14, Duke 4; Virginia 12, Duke 2; Virginia (50-13) wins series, 2-1 Fort Worth: TCU 4, Indiana State 1; TCU 5, Indiana State 4; TCU (42-22) wins series, 2-0 Stanford: Texas 7, Stanford 5; Stanford 8, Texas 3; Series tied 1-1. Hattiesburg: Southern Miss 5, Tennessee 3; Tennessee 8, Southern Miss 4; Series tied 1-1 The Mouse that roared! Lucky 13 for Mike Holloway Mike (Mouse) Holloway is the undisputed king when it comes to bringing home national championships at the University of Florida after the Gator men won the NCAA outdoor track and field championship on the final race of the night Friday night in Austin, Texas. When the Gators captured the 4X400 relay, they moved past Arkansas for the 13th national championship in Holloway’s incredible career at UF. Saturday night, Holloway’s UF women’s team finished second to Texas. What makes Holloway so successful is his ability to understand how to score points at the final event of the year, whether it’s the NCAA indoor championships or outdoor. This year, for example, the Gator men loaded up on the sprints and relays where they scored 47 of their 52 points. In previous years, Holloway loaded up on jumpers to bring home titles. It’s a successful strategy because since 2010, no one has won more NCAA track championships than Mike Holloway. Here is the breakdown of Holloway’s NCAA titles: Men’s indoor (5): 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019 Men’s outdoor (6): 2012, 2013 2016 2017, 2022, 2023) Women’s outdoor (1): 2022 Women’s indoor (1): 2022 Additionally, the Florida men have finished NCAA runner-up 14 times (both indoor and outdoor) while the women have one NCAA runner-up. Since 2009, the Florida men have never finished outside the top four in the outdoor championships. At the NCAA championships in Austin, the Gators got gold medal performances from Emanuel Bamidele (men’s 400), men’s 4X400 relay (Bamidele, Jacory Patterson, Jevaughn Powell, Ryan Willie), Jasmine Moore (women’s triple jump) and Parker Valby (women’s 5,000). The week that was for Todd Golden It started when Golden landed UC-Riverside’s Zyon Pullin a scorer who’s as comfortable playing the point as he is the wing. Pullin was one of the most sought guards in the transfer portal. Now he joins a Florida perimeter that has both size and the ability to put the ball in the basket. He averaged 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists while making first team All-Big West Conference at Riverside. Add Pullin to Riley Kugel, Will Richard and Iona transfer Walter Clayton and the Gators have the potential to avoid some of those lengthy scoring droughts of a Golden’s first season on the Florida bench. But there was more. Julian Rishwain (6-5, 190) transferred in from San Francisco. He’s not going to wow you with his scoring, but he’s a good shooter and a piranha of a defender, the kind of guy who can come off the bench to throw ice water on an opponent’s hot shooter or nail a big shot. Rishwain won’t have to learn the system since he played for Golden at San Francisco prior to Golden leaving to become the coach at UF. Now all of a sudden Florida has a roster that looks very capable of finishing in the upper echelons of the Southeastern Conference. The Gators have the size that was missing last year and now they have big guards who can score on the perimeter. And, there’s still one open scholarship. The exclamation point on an already successful week came Saturday when John Bol (7-1, 190, Boma, South Sudan/Bel Aire, KS Sunrise Christian Academy), the nation’s No. 24 prep prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, chose the Gators and Golden over UConn, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Southern Cal and Wake Forest. A consensus 4-star recruit, Bol is an elite rim protector who also has a soft feathery touch around the rim. He has a developing jump shot that is good from the foul line on in, but he’s trying to add range so he can stretch defenses. Bol has a 4.0 GPA and is fluent in English, Swahili and Arabic. . Bol joins Isaiah Brown (6-4, 180, Orlando, FL Orlando Christian Prep), a 4-star wing guard/small forward who plays for one of the state’s most successful prep programs, in the 2023 Florida recruiting class. 2023-2024 roster Big guys (6): Tyreese Samuel (6-10, 235, GR/TR from Seton Hall); EJ Jarvis (6-8, 220, GR/TR from Yale); Aleks Szymczyk (6-10, 240, SO); Micah Handlogten (7-1, 227, SO/TR from Marshall); Thomas Haugh (6-9, 200, FR); Alex Condon (6-11, 230, FR) Points and wings (6): Zyon Pullin (6-4, 195, GR/TR); Julian Rishwain (6-5, 190, GR/TR); Will Richard (6-4, 206, JR); Walter Clayton (6-2, 195, JR/TR from Iona); Riley Kugel (6-5, 210, SO); Denzel Aberdeen (6-5, 189, SO) Haven’t we heard this before? The president of Washington State University,Kirk Schultz, says he expects the Pac-12 to sign a media rights deal next month. Yawn. We’ve heard that how many times in the past 18 months? Back on April 6, several presidents in the league crowed that a new deal was “imminent.” We’re still holding our collective breath on that one. Should Georgie Kliavkov actually get a deal it’s not going to be worth the $32.1 million per school it distributed this past year, nor will it be worth the guaranteed $31.7 million the Big 12 will get from its new media deal with ESPN and Fox. That one has flexibility to add more money if the league expands to 16 schools, which is likely and perhaps sooner than later. Meanwhile, both Colorado and Arizona are actively involved in talks with Big 12 commish Brett Yormack. If Colorado and Arizona are talking, then you know that Utah and Arizona State are poised and ready to bolt as well. If there is no Pac-12 deal by July 1, then expect Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to secede and sign on with the Big 12. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Take a moment and digest this. Since the 2008-09 athletic year, the Florida Gators have won 26 national team championships in 12 different sports and at least one team title every year since. Stanford and UCLA have also won national championships in 12 different sports, but it should be noted, UF doesn’t have sports such as field hockey, water polo, synchronized swimming, rowing, beach volleyball or fencing and who knows what else. Overall, Florida has won 47 national championships in 16 different sports. The Gators have won , at least one team title every single year. Florida has won 47 national championships in 16 different sports. Only three other athletic programs have won national championships in more sports than UF, and none, of course, from the Southeastern Conference. Florida has won two national championships so far this year – men’s golf and men’s track. The gymnastics and women’s track teams have posted second place finishes. It’s entirely possible that baseball will hoist the championship trophy in Omaha in a couple more weeks. Talking to people who were shoehorned into Condron Family Ballpark this weekend, so many said they feel some sort of momentum ever since Trinity Thomas nearly helped the Gators pull out the NCAA gymnastics championship on a bum leg back in April. One longtime Gator booster told me Saturday during the rain delay, “There is something special going on right now in our athletic department. You can feel it. There is energy like I haven’t felt in more than 10 years. It’s contagious. It’s going to carry over to football and basketball, maybe not this year, but soon. Winning begats winning and we’re winning big these days.”

Despite a big night from Moore and Valby, the Gator women fall short. The Florida Gator women’s track team arrived at the NCAA Outdoor track and field championship in Austin, Texas, poised to make a serious defense of the title that it won in dominant fashion a year ago. With 18 event entries, the women’s team entered the meet with the second most of any team in the country. The Gators also returned three athletes who finished first or second in their events last year and were looking to repeat those feats this year. On the way to the national title in 2022 Jasmine Moore won both the long jump and triple jump, Talitha Diggs was first in the 400 meter dash, and Parker Valby returned as national runner-up in the 5000 meter Run. With a group that looked ready to go many had the Gators poised to win it all again. Unfortunately the meet did not start the way the Gators would have liked. They failed to make the finals of the 4x100 meter relay despite running .5 seconds faster than the team ran in the eastern preliminaries two weeks ago. The Gator entries in the 1500 (Gabby Wilkinson), 100 meter dash (Kynnedy Flannel), and 800 meter run (Imogen Barrett) would also fall short of Saturday’s final putting the Gator women’s title hopes in jeopardy as the meet progressed. In the 400 meter hurdles, the Gators would suffer another setback before the race ever started. Vanessa Watson, who finished seventh at the national championships in 2022 was disqualified for an infraction of not coming to the “set” position on command. Despite a protest from the Florida coaches the Gators would miss an opportunity for possible points in Saturday’s finals. In the long jump the Gator would get ten points from the duo of Jasmine Moore and Claire Bryant who finished third and fifth, respectfully. This would be the first time that Jasmine Moore would be defeated in the long jump at the championship level since transferring to Florida from Georgia. For Moore, the defeat of Thursday night would be more than enough motivation to turn in a historical performance in the triple jump. On her second jump of the competition, Moore would take a monstrous leap into the history books with a collegiate record jump of 48’6 inches eclipsing the mark of 47’11 inches set by Georgia’s Keturah Orji in 2018. The win by Moore would give the Gators ten points and gave Moore a bit of revenge on Ackelia Smith of Texas who bested her in Thursday’s long jump competition. “Definitely couldn’t feel sorry for myself,” said Moore when talking of Thursday’s defeat. “Remaining calm and confident today is what helped.” "Very happy that it all came together.” As the night progressed, the Gators would continue to get All-American performances in both the sprint and field events. Defending 400 meter champion Talitha Diggs would finish fifth in Saturday’s final while finishing seventh in the 200 meter dash. Diggs was a member of the World Championship 4x400 Relay team for the United States last August and it is possible an extended season affected here performance this year. National Champions Parker Valby (left) and Jasmine Moore (right) UAA Photo The second National Champion for the women would be Parker Valby in the 5000 Meters. Valby, who missed the indoor season with injury, began to reestablish herself with a win in this event at the SEC Championships in May and would proceed to obliterate the field by over 50 meters on Saturday. Valby has now finished first or second in every championship race including Cross Country since the spring of 2022. In speaking of her resurgence, Valby stated: “This is probably the most unconfident I’ve been going into a race in my career, ever. I trusted my coach and I trusted that everything works out.” Valby would then confidently give John Anderson of ESPN an impromptu review of the best the city of Austin, Texas has to offer. The win by Valby would allow the Gators to end the evening on a high note as the 4x400 meter relay team failed to make tonight’s final. An additional six points would come from freshman Alida Van Daalan in the discus giving the Gators 51 points and a Runner-Up finish to Texas who would win the title with 83 points. The performances of Moore and Valby, however, allow the Gators to look optimistically to 2024 and a return to prominence.

Official visit weekend number two wrapped up on Sunday and again resulted in a lot of optimism from those inside the program. The Gators appeared to make a strong impression on several key recruits who were in Gainesville this past weekend and now are leaning towards their top school preferences.