Fresh off the programs third National Championship, head coach Todd Golden, junior forward Thomas Haugh, junior forward Alex Condon, and junior center Rueben Chinyleu took the stand at the 2025 SEC Media Days in Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday afternoon.
Gator Country provides you key quotes from Florida’s 2025 SEC Media Days.
Head Coach Todd Golden
Was it Thomas Haugh’s desire to play the three or was it the depth that created an opportunity?
“I think it’s a little bit of both. Obviously Tommy did a great job kind of backing up Condo at the four but also playing 25-27 minutes a game down the stretch for us, becoming one of our best players. Like Condo, Tommy had a decision, he could have been in the NBA this year, getting drafted. For him to come back and give us another opportunity to coach him and lead him, we wanted to provide him another opportunity for him to elevate his game and create an opportunity to become a more complete prospect before going to the NBA. And to your next point, we have Alex, we have Tommy, we have Rueben who’s here with us today, we have Micah Handlogten, it’s my job to find a way to get our best players on the floor, and we wanted to make sure that Tommy and the three other guys were out there as much as possible, so playing a little bit bigger, giving him an opportunity to get out on the wing, I think it’s going to give us an opportunity to be the best team we can be all year.”
What are you telling your guys to get them prepared for being such a huge target this year?
“The reality of it for our group this year is that it’s going to be a lot harder than it was last year, that’s just the bottom line. For a lack of a better term, I think we kind of snuck up on people last year, especially in the beginning of SEC play. After we had some really good road wins like at Auburn, at Bama, I think people realized what our team was capable of. Last year we went into the season ranked 24th preseason, whereas this year I haven’t seen a publication where we’re lower than 5th. We do have that target on our back. I think one of the things that’s been really good so far is that these guys understand that. We have talked about it a lot. I know our staff makes sure they understand like last year we were kind of the fun, underdog team. That’s not going to be the case this year. We’re coming in with a lot of expectations, but we think of that pressure as a privilege. We’d rather have the target on our back.”
You’ll be successful if…
“For me it’s pretty simple, if we’re able to stay healthy, I think we’ll be in good shape. As Tommy said, we have a really mature group, similar as last year. We have guys that understand their role and job within the team. We haven’t seen any selfishness or anybody kind of pulling away from the group, which I think is really important. It’s my job as a head coach, but it’s also Tommy, Condon, Rueben, and Micah’s job to make sure that we don’t have any of that issue inside the program as well. We’re going to look a lot different this year at times than we did last year, but kind of that toughness, grit, and togetherness that I thought allowed us to be the best team in America last year, I see a lot of those same qualities in this group this year as well.’
On how Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland share ball handling responsibilities, how will they work together:
“The great thing about basketball is that you need five guys on the court at all times. We play with multiple ball handlers, we always have. You go back to our San Francisco days with Jamaree Bouyea and Khalil Shabazz, we’re going to always try play two guys that can make plays. The way we play multiple guys, we’ll play with the ball screen, we’ll be able to call and run different actions in the half court to get Xaivian downhill using ball screen. Boogie’s going to start at the point for us but Xaivian will be a second side play maker and then will play point when Boog’s out of the game. I think they’re both going to have really good seasons. They have really kind of come into their own over the last couple of weeks. I feel like they are getting really comfortable with the way we play.”
Aside from the starting five and Micah, who’s separating themselves in that second wave?
“I’m glad you mentioned Micah, honestly I wanted to bring him also today, he lost a coin toss between the other three guys that made it…Micah deserves to be here today. He’s one of the most unselfish humans I’ve ever been around. For him to give up his year to come back last year, we don’t win the National Championship without him, that’s just the bottom line. I’m really glad that worked out the way it did for him. He’s like a sixth starter for us, so I’d throw him in that mix. Looking at the rest of the roster, we have a great opportunity for a couple guys to step up and earn some big minutes. Urban Klavzar will be a guy that’s a rotational player for us. CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd are two freshman that have done a great job. Usually it’s hard for freshman to play in our program, but I think both those guys have a chance to earn roles, and Isiah Brown and his brother AJ are guys that can play roles as well.”
Junior forward Thomas Haugh
On what Florida Gator fans expect differently from you this season:
“Just be out on the wing a little bit more, I’ve been practicing out there, I’ve worked really hard at it this summer, just being a consistent jump shot, being able to come off a little bit of ball screens and stuff like that, making the right passes, making the right plays.”
On how you fight complacency after winning the National Championship?
“I think our teammates are super mature. I think some other teams, they see that success and they come back, they’re gonna like still be kind of lingering off that…we know what it takes to get to that spot, and I think this team is mature enough to go out there and get back to that spot.”
Junior forward Alex Condon
On Micah Handlogten handling everything as a teammate:
“I think Micah has done an excellent job. He faced a lot of adversity, I think it was his sophomore year, just having that big injury and he’s just coming back. Been working really hard with the coaches all the time, I feel like Micah is never a guy to complain or anything like that. He’s coming off the white team in practice, like the second team, but he doesn’t really care. He’s just going to put his best foot forward and he’s a really unselfish guy too off the court.”
On having the best front line in the country:
“Carlin Hartman tells us that we are, since last year he was telling us that we’re the best front line in the country. I don’t know if he’s delusional, but he’s been saying that since day one. I think we believe that more this year, and we kind of expect us to build on that from last year.”