Here at Gator Country we love the relationships we have with our members and the regular dialogue we can have on the message boards. At different points throughout the year, I will request questions from our Full Court Press basketball board and answer them–in however many parts it takes to get through all the questions.
Let’s get into part one of this Summer Q&A!
Gatordave96: “Will the SEC continue its dominance during the 2025-2026 season? It’s hard to believe the SEC can be as dominant this next year as it was last year, but I am curious to know what the other leagues have done to try to catch up.”
I do believe the SEC will repeat as the best conference in college basketball, though I do not believe that it will match last season’s 14 bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Make no mistake about it, the SEC’s dominance has been due to the dollars and cents available to these programs, and that isn’t really changing going into 2025-26. It definitely seemed like the entire league lucked out when it came to chemistry and the high levels of talent coming together which doesn’t always happen and perhaps there are a couple teams with top 25 talent that don’t end up playing as well as they should, but on the whole I would expect the SEC to dominate again with how they dominated the portal.
The reason I think they won’t get 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament again is because, while the SEC truly was amazing, it took a lot of other leagues being really, really bad to open up bids around the bubble that the SEC swallowed completely up. The ACC was a complete and utter disaster last season, and while I do think the league will be bad once again it should be improved with the addition of Will Wade at NC State and the absolute fortune that Virginia was able to put together for players in the portal, and a couple more of those teams should get into the tournament at the expense of SEC teams like last year’s Texas and Oklahoma that really shouldn’t have had any business being there.
I also look at a league like the Atlantic Ten, a league that used to have multiple bids but had been just one recently, taking a massive leap. Revenue share being implemented by leagues will have different effects at different levels, and in my opinion no league has benefited more from it in these early stages than the Atlantic Ten. With a solid TV deal and no football, these A10 schools got an absolutely gigantic influx of NIL dollars, and most of the schools were able to spend three to four times more this season than they did the prior year, with many of the schools having NIL resources equivalent to bottom end high-major programs. That’s another league that I see taking another bid or two from the bottom of the field that the SEC took last season, meaning the SEC could be more like a 10 bid league than a 14 bid league.
At this point–let’s remember that 10 bids is still absolutely incredible, and the fact the SEC got 14 this season is just preposterous and not something that should be seen as a target moving forward.
The original question was about the SEC’s dominance and I did take it in the direction of overall bids to the Dance and didn’t really talk about where these teams actually were seeded, but if you’re looking for reason to believe that the league could be better at the top–I truly think Texas could explode onto the scene this year with the Sean Miller hire. I also think Texas A&M hired a tremendous coach in Bucky McMillan who could eventually get the Aggies to an elite level, but with the coaching change happening late in the cycle he wasn’t able to put together all that great of a roster in my opinion. Look for TAMU to have a quieter, but solid season and then be set up to take a huge leap in 2026-27.
CandymanfromGC: “Who were the winners and losers in the portal?”
Some notable teams with portal classes that I think are really good:
St. John’s, bringing in Ian Jackson from North Carolina, Bryce Hopkins from Providence, and Dillon Mitchell from Cincinnati–among several other notable players. Look for most people to suggest they had the best portal class in the country.
Michigan might be right behind them with Aday Mara, a massive skilled center from UCLA, Yaxel Lendeborg from UAB (one of the best mid-major players available), Morez Johnson Jr. from Illinois and Elliot Cadeau from North Carolina. Even as I write this, I realize I might like this group more than St. John’s, even.
SEC wise, I think Kentucky had the biggest haul with their seemingly unlimited resources to get players. Jayden Quaintence (Arizona State), Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), Kam Williams (Tulane), and Denzel Aberdeen (you know who) among others make for a very deep class, though to be honest with you I don’t necessarily love the top end talent here. It kind of seems like they tried to hit seven doubles and singles instead of hitting a true home run, but with so many options there likely will be a player or two that really goes off.
Auburn’s class of Kevin Overton (Texas Tech), KeShawn Murphy (Mississippi State), Keyshawn Hall (UCF), and Elyjah Freeman (LMU) also deserves some acclaim.
Of course, Florida was a major winner in the portal. Personally, I hate the idea of evaluating portal classes because it misses the important context of who is already back and you end up comparing Florida’s two new backcourt players to a school that subbed out a seven-man rotation which is a tough thing to do–but however you want to look at it, Florida was definitely one of the major winners.
In terms of losers, I’ll just talk about the SEC and not nationally. I think Arkansas had the ability to do just about whatever they wanted in the portal if they wanted, and instead chose to take Malique Ewin from Florida State and Nick Pringle from South Carolina. Both of these players…are fine, but this is just not much insertion of talent and seems completely underwhelming.
Mississippi State’s class is also one that I’m not sure I love, as they are gambling on a bunch of players that were inefficient last year at places that did not win games such as Quincy Ballard from Wichita State, Jayden Epps from Georgetown, Amier Ali from Arizona State, and others. It could work around some returning players that I think are quite good, but it’s not a portal class that excites.
Gatordave96: “Team leadership. How does it change from last year into the new year?”
Florida definitely graduated a lot of leadership last year with Will Richard being there since day one of the Todd Golden area and someone known as one of the galvanizing forces, as well as Alijah Martin who was a known vocal leader of the group.
What Martin did to come in right away and be one of the main voices is hard to do. It’s often difficult to import culture into a basketball team, and you need guys that have been around for a couple of seasons to really help lead the way with a familiar group. Martin showed that it is possible and that perhaps Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland will jump into that role right away, but I think it is more likely that Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh, now in their third year with the program, will take over the leadership void. Both are players that have let their work rate do the talking to set an example for their teammates, but they’ll likely have to step up the vocal leadership this upcoming season, and I’m guessing it’s a challenge they’ll be happy to take on.
TheGator: “What’s the story with Ben Henshall?”
For those of you who might now know, Ben Henshall is a very talented player from Australia that the Gators, among others, have been recruiting.
Henshall actually still has another two weeks to decide if he is entering the NBA Draft, as international players have a bit more time to make the decision. There is still some thought that he was waiting until the last possible moment to make his move, which has made recruiting him a challenge for American college programs.
There is also a lot talk around the idea that academically he may not be able to qualify, and I suppose I should choose to believe the many credible sources that say this–but it just seems like it’s been a long time since a very talented player that wants to come to college hasn’t been able to find their way into school somewhere. Could it be a hurdle at Florida? Certainly possible.
Henshall is also going to command a large NIL figure as someone with high-level pro experience and someone that, if he does end up in the NCAA, should be a very, very good starter immediately. I’m not sure Florida has the money for that now, and I’m also not sure they really would have the role Henshall would want. A 6’5” ball handler, Henshall could play any perimeter position, but the Gators have been saying that they want Haugh to start at the three. I’d personally prefer a Lee-Fland-Henshall-Haugh-Condon lineup to one that doesn’t have Henshall and plays three forwards, so we’ll see if things change.
That is all for now, but you can still post questions on the Full Court Press message board and I will continue to answer them in the upcoming weeks.