Gators’ Basketball Looking Towards the Future During Fall Camp

The defending national champions are back in action this week as fall camp tipped off Monday for the Florida men’s basketball team. 

This season, the Gators are looking to join UCLA as the only programs to ever win back-to-back championships multiple times. 

Despite cutting down the nets in April, Gators coach Todd Golden hasn’t made the prospect of repeating the main focus for the program this season. 

“With this team specifically we’re not talking a lot about repeating,” Golden said. “But we are talking about doing everything we can to play deep into March.”

A big reason for the broader focus is due to the new faces on campus this season for the Gators, most notably with transfer guards Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland. The Gators posted a top six transfer class, according to 247 Sports, which looks to help in replacing the lost backcourt production from last season. 

“Xaivian is an excellent passer,” Gators forward Alex Condon said. “One of the best passers I’ve ever played with.” 

Lee comes to Gainesville from Princeton, where he was a First-Team All-Ivy League player for the past two seasons.

Both Thomas Haugh and Golden praised the defensive ability of Fland. 

“Boogie has shown to be one of the better on-ball defenders we’ve been around in a while,” Golden said. 

Fland was the sixth-rated prospect coming out of the transfer portal this offseason and the highest-rated acquisition for the Gators going into the 2025-26 season. 

The Gators will also be led by an experienced frontcourt, headlined by Haugh, Condon, Reuben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten. 

“I think all four of those guys are doing a great job from a leadership perspective,”  Golden said.

Florida cannot afford to look too far ahead of their gauntlet of a non-conference slate. They match up with ranked teams such as Duke, UConn and have their season opener against Arizona on November 3rd. Haugh talked about the schedule as he noted. 

“It’s going to be crazy going into Duke, going into UConn,” Haugh said. “Playing in Vegas against Arizona that excites me so much.”

The Gators are not hung up on last season’s success and have their sights set on the upcoming season. The work toward another title is already beginning.

“I feel like this gym is never empty … everybody is always working,” Haugh said.

Category: Gator Sports, Gators Men's Basketball