After winning a National Championship the Florida Gators had the luxury of returning their core frontcourt rotation which focused their roster building on two things: bringing in high-usage guards to take over from the departures to the NBA, and acquire some size at the wing that they didn’t have the prior year (despite it not really slowing them down on the way to a Championship).
On the first task there was clear success with the Gators pulling in Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee to handle backcourt and ball handling duties. As they were two of the most sought after players in the portal, it looked like the Gators nailed this part of their recruiting strategy.
However, when it came to bringing in true wings–things weren’t as easy. There simply aren’t a lot of quality wings in college basketball with so many of them going pro early, even with the lure of NIL not being enough to keep them. The ones that were available went for extremely high dollar amounts which wasn’t something the Gators were looking to do after prioritizing retaining their frontcourt as well as landing studs in the backcourt to replace Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin, and Will Richard.
This left the Gators without many traditional wings on the roster, which was also evidenced when Todd Golden came out and said that Thomas Haugh would be starting at the “3” in a perimeter role.
While Florida is more than comfortable putting a ton of size on the floor it is possible that Haugh will still play a good chunk of his minutes at the “4,” and even if he doesn’t, there are going to be a lot of minutes available at the guard/wing spots with a few less proven names competing for those opportunities. Alongside younger players in Isaiah Brown, Alex Lloyd, and CJ Ingram, Florida’s less heralded transfer portal addition will try to make his presence felt–AJ Brown.
Brown, the older brother of AJ, just spent his last three seasons at Ohio, though his sophomore year was largely lost due to the injury. Listed at 6’4” and 210 pounds he might be most prototypically suited for the shooting guard position, though on Florida’s roster he could also compete for some minutes at the 3. While he doesn’t have the same hype out of high school that his brother did, or that incoming freshmen Alex Lloyd and CJ Ingram have, he’s the older, more experienced player who will try to use that seasoning to push for a consistent role.
It’s pretty clear what value Brown is looking to bring–shooting. Brown had a defined role at Ohio that didn’t require him to do much handling of the ball, instead he was on the weak side constantly looking to find open windows where he could catch and shoot. With the Gators having two ball dominant guards in Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee already on the roster, it stands to reason why a third complementary guard that doesn’t want the ball and is only there to space the floor and shoot when open could be the right piece.
Last season Brown hit 41% of his catch and shoot threes, a number that would have led the Gators last season. For reference, Walter Clayton and Denzel Aberdeen both shot 40% on catch and shoot threes, Will Richard shot 35%, and Alijah Martin shot 34%. Richard and Martin’s catch and shoot abilities were certainly enough to help provide space for Walter Clayton as well as the frontcourt players, so with Brown shooting a significantly higher percentage he could be even more deadly. Brown isn’t a great athlete and isn’t looking to drive much, but he is very capable of recognizing a bad closeout when a defender is selling out to take away the jumper, and he shot 58% from two when driving to the rim in spot up situations.
Offensively, it’s easy to see why having Brown and his excellent off-ball abilities working well around Fland, Lee, Condon, and Haugh, but the big issue for Brown is on the defensive end. Looking at Brown, you’d think he’d be a decent defender with his solid frame and length, but that wasn’t the case at all. Brown was slow-footed in closeouts, he was easy to screen in pick and rolls, and he didn’t show much anticipation when it came to rotating on drives or participating as a help defender. There is some thought that he played with a bit of an injury last year that hindered him, but it’s hard to find any film in Brown’s career when he didn’t look like a negative on the defensive end.
Plus, let’s remember–this was bad defensive film in the MAC, a league that was the 23rd ranked league in the country according to KenPom. It’s also worth noting that Ohio was a favorite to win the league going into the season with a strong class of returners and a decent transfer portal haul, and they started the season ranked 118th in KenPom and totally underachieved, finishing 195th. A huge part of the reason was their defense that was ranked 223rd in the country. This isn’t to suggest that Ohio’s poor defense was all because of Brown, though he certainly played a role in it–though it seemed each one of his defensive mistakes were amplified due to not having a great defensive structure around him. Struggling defensively in the MAC does not project well for Brown having to now go against SEC athletes, but now in his fourth season of college basketball he will hopefully have made strides in the offseason to be ready for it. Todd Golden is all about defense first, and if Brown isn’t able to compete on that end he could see himself falling behind some of the younger wings who are more gifted athletically and can hang more naturally with SEC scorers.
The extremes of Brown’s game make him an interesting projection when it comes to Florida’s wing rotation. On one hand, his offensive skillset is exactly what the Gators want around their returning frontcourt and star backcourt. However, his defensive skillset is extremely lacking, and at a position where the Gators would prefer to have a much stronger defensive player. Just how much Brown plays is one of the biggest questions entering the 2025-26 season, and it will be a storyline to watch for in early games.