It’s less often than ever that freshmen can come into college and have a big impact at the high-major level, and it’s even less common when players that do so hardly had high-major offers coming out of high school. That’s what happened with Alex Condon, who committed to the Gators at a time he didn’t have much high-major interest outside of Utah, a team that historically has had interest in Australian players. Florida loved Condon’s game but expected there to be a steep learning curve, particularly since he had just decided in the recent calendar year to stop playing Australian Rules Football (a game similar to rugby) and focus full time on basketball. However, that wasn’t the case–and as soon as Condon got to campus the staff knew they had someone special. His energy level was constantly high, his touch around the rim was remarkably precise, and his desire for physicality matched what was needed in the SEC.
Ultimately Condon played 20.3 minutes per game averaging 7.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game, coming off the bench until Florida’s NCAA Tournament game against Colorado when he got the start due to the injury to Micah Handlogten. In a lot of ways, Condon’s box score numbers don’t tell the whole story of how important he was to the team.
First of all, it has to be noted that not all minutes are the same. Playing in tight games isn’t the same as playing in blowouts, and playing from the 16:00 to 12:00 minute mark of the first half isn’t the same as playing as the final minutes of crunch time in a close game. When you look at the advanced numbers Condon jumps off the page as someone who played much of Florida’s high leverage minutes–late in games when the score was close, and pulled into action earlier in games when Florida was on the wrong side of a run and needed to turn things around. While Florida used the combination of Tyrese Samuel and Micah Handlogten to start games–it was clear who they really trusted in the big moments, and that was Alex Condon on the floor. His twenty minutes per game weren’t highway miles, they were city miles–and that’s something important to note when you look at his production as a freshman and how he projects forward. He not only played a lot more minutes than the average freshman but also played a lot more intense minutes against better competition than most freshmen and that means he’s prepared for whatever comes next as a sophomore.
What’s coming next is likely starting every single game and increasing his minutes total. Florida’s staff has said the plan is to start him at power forward next to Rueben Chinyelu, and while some people like myself expect Sam Alexis to find a way to battle for a starters role–it would likely be Chinyelu who was usurped. In this role as starting power forward, Condon is set to increase his scoring load by taking on some easier matchups. Last season he played a lot of his minutes at center next to Thomas Haugh as a bench unit, and when he played crunch time alongside Tyrese Samuel it was often the guards who were taking the bulk of the plays offensively. Now that he’s starting at the four, look for the Gators to try and take advantage of mismatches by throwing the ball into the 6’11”, 230 pound Condon who will almost certainly be guarded by a smaller player. Think about last year when Florida took Tyrese Samuel, a player who played center for Seton Hall, and played him at the power forward spot in the SEC. He instantly saw his scoring increase, and it was largely due to the easier matchups with smaller defenders that was manufactured by playing him at power forward. You can expect the same with Condon, who will almost certainly see his scoring numbers go comfortably into the double figures now that he’s starting. Condon was in the 65th percentile nationally as a post up player according to Synergy Sports, an impressive mark for a freshman, and now that he’ll get opportunities to be featured in a bully ball setting he’ll be able to take advantage of his size and see that number get even more efficient.
Condon also showed flashes of being a three-point shooter, something Florida’s staff has already encouraged to do and something that will be even more important with him as a power forward. Last season he shot 11-38 from three (29%), but he improved in the later stages of the season shooting 6-16 (38%) in SEC play. He was also one of Florida’s better free throw shooting bigs (which, admittedly, was a low bar) at 67% from the charity stripe and while that number isn’t great by any means, it’s not a number that would see teams openly looking to foul him to send him to the line.
A focus of Florida’s defense this year will be improving defensive rebounding and having Condon on the floor more often will certainly help. Condon was by far and away Florida’s best defensive rebounder posting a defensive rebounding percentage of 22.5%, good for 114th in the country. He was also Florida’s best shot blocker with a 5.8% (124th nationally), which looks good on paper but looks even more impressive when you see the film. These were not little swats around the rim on putback attempts, these were plays where Condon was flying over from the weak side to deny a layup, or a number of highlight plays where offensive players were trying to throw down aggressive dunks only to be met at the summit by Condon and turned away.
Whether it’s the film or the advanced numbers, everything suggests that Condon’s freshman season was even better than perception–and that’s saying a lot since perception was still really good. Looking at a lot of Florida’s returning players there is a lot to be excited about regarding their profiles but also some notable holes–but that isn’t really the case with Condon. He excels at the things big men need to be good at such as rebounding, blocking shots, and finishing inside, but he doesn’t have glaring holes. Condon is set to be one of Florida’s most important players and a fixture of their frontcourt.