Florida basketball had the impossible task of replacing senior guards Walter Clayton Jr., Alijjah Martin, and Will Richard, a trio that proved to be one of the best backcourts in all of college basketball while bringing the Gators’ program its third National Championship.
“We’re going to miss all three of those guys. You can’t replace them,” head coach Todd Golden said on the senior trio. “I think that’s the one thing that we’ve been talking about as a staff a lot. You’re not going to find somebody that’s Walter Clayton. You’re not going to find somebody that’s Alijah Martin. Those guys are all unique and really dynamic players and were all really impactful in different ways. But I do think the guys we brought in, they’ll be different, but they have great characteristics as well.”
The Gators got off to a hot start in the portal, landing a commitment from star Princeton guard Xavian Lee. Florida followed that up with Ohio guard AJ Brown, the brother of current Gator Isaiah Brown. Most recently, Golden brought on Arkansas guard Boogie Fland, who ranked as the 4th best guard in the transfer portal, according to 247Sports.
“Everybody knew we needed another perimeter player to add to the mix. We wanted to be really thorough in kind of evaluating the options out there and seeing what guys we thought would fit. Getting Boogie to join us was really important,” Golden said.
After a promising freshman campaign where he averaged 13.5 points and 5.1 assists, Fland entered his name into the NBA Draft while maintaining his collegiate eligibility. Fland withdrew his name from consideration on May 13th, and from there on the 6’2, 175-pound guard became a top priority for Florida’s staff.
“Once Boogie kind of felt like college was something that he was kind of looking more towards doing than staying in the draft, he became a guy that we focused on, and thought he’d be a great fit with Xaivian and the rest of the pieces in our program, so it fit really well,” Golden said on Fland. “The best part was he thought the same about us, and when we kind of had that agreement, it being a good match, it was kind of downhill from there in a good way. We’re excited to get him here a couple weeks.”
While the majority of people will talk about Fland’s play making ability and shot creation, Golden shared high praise for his defense, which Walter Clayton Jr, the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament, also highlighted in conversation with Golden.
“I think he’s outstanding defender,” Golden said. “When I was talking to Walt about him, one of the things that Walt said was he thought Boogie was one of the better defenders he went up against last year. And that says a lot as he was a freshman last year.”
Bringing Fland on board did raise some questions relative to team fit as both Fland and Xaivian Lee played primarily with the ball in their hands last season. Golden plans on using both of them at point guard next season.
“I see it working really, really well. I’m excited about it,” Golden said on Fland and Lee. “To have two guys that can play so well with the ball in their hands, they make plays for themselves but also for others really, really well. They both have great assist rates. They both take care of the ball really well. When you have two point guards that are out there making plays, I think it makes your offense really dynamic. So we’re excited. I think you can have both those guys start the offense. They’re both going to have the ball in their hands a ton, being able to play out of the ball screen, being able to push in transition, weapons that teams are going to have to account for.”
“I think the combination of those two guys in the backcourt gives us the play-making, the leadership, the ability to attack offensively that we need to pair with, obviously, the really talented and deep front court that we have coming back. Both those guys are great additions for us,” Golden added.
While Florida’s roster is mostly set in stone, they are still waiting on a decision from forward Alex Condon, who is currently working through the NBA Draft process. If Condon returns, the Gators will have one scholarship spot open, which they plan to use for a developmental type player.