Fueling the Fire for Next Year: Early Rankings

Andy Katz usually hates the Gators. He is a big Duke fanboy and probably have hated us a lot since 2000.

 

Some of you guys and ur underdog mentality.. i want Florida to be the best and prove they are the best start #1 Finish #1. This is Florida not Florida State.

 

#1 to start the season, #1 to end the season……been there, done that.

 

Keep the main thing the main thing. Preseason trinkets and baubles from pundits are as worthless as glass beads for currency; they might be valued by some but not by those whose goal is the ultimate prize. They amuse the savages but gain nothing.

 

With the addition of Fland and Condon returning, how well are the Gators set up to defend their title?

Borzello: As I mentioned above, Florida ascends into the preseason No. 1 conversation as a result of their decisions. The Gators have a different roster construction from a year ago, when there were more clearly defined roles and arguably better balance and depth throughout the roster. But now Golden has two shot creators and shotmakers in Fland and Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee in the backcourt, and one of the best -- certainly the biggest -- frontcourt in the country with 6-11 Condon, 6-9 Thomas Haugh, 6-10 Rueben Chinyelu and 7-1 Micah Handlogten handling the lion's share of minutes.

They'll have to figure out how everything fits, but there should be more optimism in Gainesville about a repeat than there was earlier this offseason.

Givony: Defend they will, as they are set up very well, with likely the best frontcourt in college basketball. There is plenty of shooting in the backcourt, with Fland, Lee, Ohio transfer AJ Brown and Urban Klavzar, who should be ready to step into a bigger role in his second season in Gainesville. Figuring out the shot-creation hierarchy between Lee and Fland will be important, and there are question marks to answer on the wing, but the bones are in place for a Final Four-contending team.

I would still rank Purdue No. 1 on my preseason ballot because of the certainty of returning two preseason All-Americans in Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn, but reasonable minds can differ here.

NBA draft withdrawal deadline: NIL's impact, Florida's gain, the 2026 draft, more2025 NBA draft withdrawal deadline questions: NIL, Florida, Danny Wolf - ESPN

 

I'm just excited we are going to be an elite team this coming year and realize how hard it is to win a Championship. Clayton was a unique player that made so many clutch plays for us to come out on top that I don't think you can just replicate that.

 

Yep. We had the best team in America in 2006, but needed a little good fortune--I refuse to call it "luck"--vs. Georgetown (whom we were also clearly better than). We were easily the best team the next year and didn't even need good fortune, other than staying healthy. In 2014, we were the best again... but lost in the semifinals.
This year's team may have even been better than any of those three teams, but we needed things to go our way in the NCAAT for us to win. The field we faced was extremely tough.
It's always a crapshoot. No guarantees. We are well-positioned to repeat, but it will again be fraught with peril.

 

I am going to have to disagree with you a bit here. I do think that this team might have beaten the 2014 team, but no guaranty on that one. That team went 21-0 in the SEC, and the whole was much greater than its parts. As for the 2006 and 2007 championship teams, I think that they would have easily beaten this year's team. Those teams had very good guards, and one of the best frontcourts in the history of college basketball. Johnni Broome, the runner-up this year for national P.O.Y, would not have started on those 2 Gator teams. Clayton would have gotten his points, but this year's team would not have scored at the rim, and Brewer would have locked up whoever he guarded.

 

Well, I didn't say this year's team was better than those teams. I said "may have been better" because there's really no way to know for certain. The SEC was good in 06 and 07, but not nearly as good as it was this year. In 06, we went 10-6 and won the SECT. In 07 we went 13-3 and won the SECT. This year we went 14-4 and won the SECT against an historically strong conference. So it's really hard to judge. Those two teams rolled through the NCAAT without much trouble, certainly.

 

It'll be interesting how the sports world views these teams in another decade or two.

The oh-fours don't seem to get the respect we think they deserve. So far anyway...

That '14 team is an afterthought to the larger CBB consciousness.

This years squad though - can't know what the viewpoint will be in the future, but in a year that was hyped to be chock full of good teams, this squad battles through it all and laid waste to the field.

Right or wrong, this years squad could end up being viewed as our best.

Doesn't mean that they are. Or that they'd beat other great UF teams. Just that that the perception may be different.

#remindme10years

 

It would be an interesting matchup. Obviously solid clubs all around, comparing complete teams. Clayton and Martin were explosive. Usually backcourt wins, but hard to argue against THREE lottery picks the 04’s had up front.

 

I think it’s fair to expect top 10 based on who is returning. On paper im sure everyone will have us up there, some maybe even #1. But any time you replace 3 starters you need to wait and see how everything gels, so I don’t view this like the 04’s returning which was truly championship or bust. Expectations should be slightly tempered. Esp considering how much of the scoring load the guards carried. Clayton especially just had that “it” factor in the last few minutes of games that felt like it was worth +5 wins. Never seen anything like it in CBB. The comparisons to Curry I thought were silly at first, but the way he closed out games was sort of uncanny.

 

We saw all season long that we were a 2nd-half team. Zeroing in a bit more, I'd say we were an even better last-5-minutes team. What we could pull off in crunch time was a thing to behold.

 

Eh, for me the 04s are only challenged by the duke and Connecticut repeat champs since they are the only ones in the modern era to do so.

The 04s answered every challenge when the chips were on the table and never lost a tournament game of any kind in two seasons. They beat guard heavy Villanova teams and they beat tall bruising plodders like Georgetown. They beat defensive juggernauts like UCLA, cinderellas and star power teams like OSU eith Oden and Conley. Add to all of that is that the games were rarely close, at least not really nailbiters other than Georgetown.

As for this year, I trust in Golden but will reserve any expectations until its seen how thr pieces fit together as a team. Just like our 06 football team, if we lost any individual player at any number of positions we likely wouldnt have won it all as everyone contributed. The basketball team had more depth in that comparison however how many times did someone step up and keep us in games? Richard, Aberdeen, and obviously Martin and Clayton all had moments that were integral in pulling off comeback victories. Maybe another year together with our front court will take off some burden from the guard play but until we see it who knows...

 

Spot on

 

SI projects the Gators at #2, just behind Houston.

2. Florida Gators
Florida is among the biggest winners of the offseason after getting Alex Condon back from testing the draft waters and adding a pair of top-ranked portal guards in Boogie Fland (Arkansas) and Xaivian Lee (Princeton). The Gators will miss the defensive edge that Alijah Martin brought to their backcourt as well as Walter Clayton Jr.’s clutch instincts, but the talent here is title-caliber yet again ... especially if Thomas Haugh takes well to playing on the wing to get him on the floor next to Condon and Rueben Chinyelu more.​

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