By: Nick Marcinko -- May 28, 2025 The return of rising junior forward Alex Condon was huge for Florida basketball, who’s looking to maintain success after claiming the programs third National Championship last season. Condon’s return also means his teammate and best friend, Thomas Haugh, will start at the three next season, a switch head coach Todd Golden has been echoing in the offseason. “We’re going to play Tommy at the three,” Golden said in an interview with local media. “Definitely start him there and see how it goes, and he’s going to be on the floor a ton, as you can imagine.” “We’re going to play Tommy at the three”: Florida looking to capitalize on size advantage in 2025-26 | GatorCountry.com
If working the ball into the block is going to be a point of emphasis next season, I gotta believe developing some reliable post moves is going to be a huge point of emphasis with Coach Hartman this summer. Healthy or hurting, Condon, Chinyelu and Handlogten all seemed to have some hesitancy in taking advantage of shooting opportunities. It's a lot different to be an offensive weapon than to keep possessions alive on the glass.
Our bigs were exceptionally good at sealing off their guys and creating an open path to the hoop for the guards. Fland and Lee are going to love this. I never saw a CMW team execute that. Also, expect Haugh, Handlogten, and Condon all to be a little bit stronger this season. We'll be even better equipped to body up and rebound.
And the bigs will love the easy buckets out of pick-and-roll passes from our two starting point guards.
That's what I'm saying. Watching highlights of Lee, Condon is going to get a lot of easy looks if he keeps his eyes open and head up. Lee will find him.
Chim seems to have a couple of post up moves that can result in baskets. Handy needs to develop his moves. After he came back this season, his mindset seemed to be “pass first,” and he wouldn’t look to the basket. With his size, his look to the basket should be before he looks to pass. Chim and Handy could be real threats with off-season development.
Yep. And one poster here pointed out the season-long improvement of Chinyelu in this area. Early in the season, he was either not ready for a pass or was fumbling it away whenever he got one. Terrible hands. By midseason he was vastly improved in this regard. It seemed to me that his fouling was down by the end of the season as well. If he continues his progress, he could be a walking double-double. Condon too.
I am excited about everyone but the one I am most excited about is Haugh. He showed flashes of being a star toward the end of the season. With the expected improvement, think we have another All-American. It is looking good for another fun season.
I think this upcoming year's team will resemble more like the repeat teams - dominant front court with effective facilitating guard play as opposed to this year's guard dominant championship team
Chiny was the only one who got better as the year progressed. He made a ton of shots that weren't very smooth in appearance, but they went in. Condo regressed from year one, where he showed some nice footwork. He looked very uncomfortable last year. Hando was a small sample size. Defensively, this group is formidable. Offensively, they need to find a post-up game that gives them confidence.
Your 1st sentence is way off. Chiny may have improved the most, but I can't think how you wrote that in the daytime, I'd let it go if it was 2am with whiskey bottles around your computer.
No, I stand by that. Chiny went from awkward in the paint to putting his head down and scoring the ball. It still looked a little awkward, but the ball went in at a high rate. He purposefully and aggressively tried to score the ball in the paint. Condon could score all day on the run or by grabbing an offensive board, but he could not back you down and score. He got his shot blocked quite often and looked very uncomfortable.
Condo was coming along nicely from his freshman year, until he injured his ankle the first time. I expect further improvement from the entire frontcourt including Tommy, who was a terrific surprise during SEC season.
Condon regressed? Seriously? I guess he should have entered the draft after his freshman season then?
Injuries to Condo played no part in his stepping back a little in effectiveness? I don’t believe that. his skills didn’t diminish ..his injuries grew. And he fought thorough it. Nobody could fill what he DID bring to the table. Jmhfo.
I'm sure it did. He had a hard time with his back to the rim all year. I'm only talking about him posting up. It's the weakest part of his game, and he gets his shot blocked often when a big is up on him. Now he scored most of his points in the paint. Scoring in the paint on the run, alley oops, off offensive boards, or uncontested shots is where he got all his points. He's a machine and can get his points. He just struggles one-on-one with his back to the basket. His footwork in his freshman year was promising for a raw, almost 7-foot guy. He didn't bring that to his 2nd year.
Regressed? No way. As a freshman, he played the 5 exclusively, so the paint wasn’t nearly as congested on his post attempts. Yet his 2pt % last year was higher and his turnover rate down (and those turnovers as a freshman were disproportionately in the paint). Don’t have access to Synergy, but I’d be willing to bet his post up efficiency was solidly better, and I know his ppp were solidly better and his offensive rtg substantially better. Condon was inconsistent, sure, but his conference play—despite the injury—was dominant (by far the best numbers is his career and against the best competition).
Who was the last D1 player in the country with the ball in his hands to end the season? (Rhetorical question).
Condon was better this season than last, but in the last five games he performed worse than last year.
