One year after reaching the pinnacle of college basketball, Florida is struggling to remain in that same conversation down the stretch of Todd Golden's fourth season. Despite being led by veterans Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Xaivian Lee, the Gators have not looked cohesive and are not in good shape as the March Madness season approaches.
Florida ended January with a 15-6 record before picking up a massive win over No. 23 Alabama to begin February. The Gators are now 11-2 in their last 13 games since getting off to a disappointing 5-4 start. Their 7-2 conference record now has them a half-game behind Texas A&M for the best in the SEC.
Florida's two SEC losses were definitely winnable games, but three of its four non-conference defeats came against teams currently ranked in the top four. They came up short against Arizona, Duke and UConn in their first nine games.
Florida and Texas A&M face off on Saturday, with the winner likely gaining sole possession of first in the conference. Should the Gators come out on top of that matchup, they will be in an excellent position to claim another regular season conference title, with just one ranked opponent in their final nine games.
In typical Todd Golden fashion, Florida is still running at one of the highest paces in college basketball and dominates with its physicality in the paint. The Gators are the best rebounding team in the country while allowing the 11th-lowest two-point field goal percentage.
Florida has seemingly turned the corner at the right time and is almost guaranteed to earn a top-three seed in the 2026 March Madness bracket. They are just not well-rounded enough and lack the starpower they had a year ago to repeat as national champions.
Florida's guards have not been what they expected
Replacing Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin was always an impossible task, but Todd Golden seemed to have a quality contingency plan in place when he added Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland in the transfer portal. Unfortunately for Florida, neither has been as advertised in the 2025-2026 college basketball season.
Fland and Lee have done a fine job of running the offense, albeit with various levels of consistency. Fland leads the team with 3.7 assists per game and is the fourth-leading scorer with 11.2 points per game. Lee is right there with him with 11.0 points and 3.4 assists per game.
The problem is that Golden's offense, like most in the sport, requires an elite guard to achieve success. Fland and Lee both arrived in Gainesville hoping to become the players the Gators need, to no avail.
Fland, a former five-star recruit, and Lee, a two-time first-team All-Ivy League point guard, were supposed to carry the torch that Clayton left behind.
The sophomore Fland is the raw talent whom many hoped would fare better in Golden's system than he did at Arkansas, while Lee looked like the next game-changing transfer after averaging 16.9 points per game in his final two years at Princeton. Instead, neither has been anything more than a role player.
Junior forward Thomas Haugh has evolved into the go-to scorer the Gators need, while Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon have formed one of the best frontcourts in America. Neither Fland nor Lee has matched the level Florida needs to sustain success in March Madness.
Inconsistent offense will prove fatal in March Madness
On paper, Florida has one of the best offenses in college basketball, with a seemingly subpar defense limiting its ceiling. The Gators have averaged 89.8 points per game while allowing 71.1 per game this year.
Florida's offense has been elite, resulting in the 14th-best offensive rating in the country according to KenPom. However, KenPom has its defense rated even higher, ranking seventh nationally.
That comes as no surprise, as defense has always been a primary focus of Todd Golden-coached teams. Florida is arguably the toughest team to score on in the paint, with Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon and Micah Handlogten combining to average 3.6 blocks per game.
Florida's defense will be there to the end, but its offense is more of a concern than it seems on paper. The issue stems from the Gators' subpar guard play, but their lack of a go-to scorer down the stretch will hurt them.
In each of their losses, Florida's lack of consistent offense was painfully obvious. As good as Thomas Haugh has been, the Gators are actually better when he is not forced to be a primary scorer — all four of Haugh's highest-scoring performances of the year have resulted in losses.
Interestingly, Florida is 9-0 when Haugh scores 17 points or fewer, and 9-6 when he scores 18 or more.
Florida is too prone to suffering through long stretches, during which Boogie Fland, Xaivian Lee and Alex Condon go ice-cold from the floor. They experienced such droughts in their losses to Duke, Auburn, Missouri and UConn.
Golden's team has proven capable of beating elite teams, but not consistently enough to trust it on the big stage. Florida will have postseason success, but it will not advance past the first weekend of the 2026 March Madness.
