Gators Men’s Basketball, Todd Golden Eye Present Over Future
Florida men’s basketball has an opportunity to secure back-to-back national titles. Todd Golden and Co. eye the final stretch of games ahead of the postseason, but repeating isn’t what the Gators’ coach is focused on — at least for now.
The No. 7 Gators (21-6, 12-2 SEC) take on the Texas Longhorns (17-10, 8-6) at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN2, WRUF’s 103.7-FM) with four games remaining in the regular season slate. Following the finale in Lexington on March 7, Florida will call Nashville home for the SEC tournament. Then, it’s on to the NCAA tournament.
But before any of that can happen, Golden has his eyes on a different challenge: Tonight.
“Last year, it was kind of new to us being in that position,” he said. “I think we were top five at that point and we still hadn’t won an SEC tournament championship, we still hadn’t won a tournament game. We’re relatively brand new in regards to being in that moment.”
Florida entered last season’s NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West Region, defeating Norfolk State, Connecticut, Maryland, Texas Tech, Auburn and Houston on its way to hoisting the championship trophy.
The Gators entered the 2025 SEC tournament as the No. 2 seed, riding a three-game winning streak. The squad took down Tennessee to claim its fifth SEC Tournament title and its first since 2014. Florida boasted a 27-4 record ahead of the conference tournament.
Golden became the youngest coach at 39 years old to earn a national championship since Jim Valvano in 1983. Now in his fourth season with the Gators, the 40-year-old said the team is ready to take on the new challenges that will be handed to them.
“This year, as a staff, we’re more prepared to take on these next couple weeks,” Golden said. “I think a lot of the guys in our program that were here last year are able to process what’s going on and how to attack these next couple weeks the right way.”
The Gators saw three major pieces selected in the NBA Draft in April. Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard each contributed significantly to Florida’s postseason run. Clayton Jr. averaged 22.3 points per game in the NCAA tournament, earning 2025 consensus first-team All-American and Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
While the Gators look vastly different in the backcourt, the team retained nine pieces who have all contributed to its success.
“There’s definitely a benefit of having that experience from last year,” Golden said. “But it is a different team and guys are in different roles, so there’s still a lot of newness to that. But there’s no doubt that last year’s experience will help us over these next couple weeks.”
Among last season’s group is Alex Condon. The 6-foot-11 forward is averaging 14 points and eight rebounds in his junior campaign. Similar to Golden, Condon said there is plenty of basketball to play before the team can think about winning back-to-back titles.
“We just got to take one game at a time. We know when March comes around, we’re going to be in the right place. We’re playing the right way of basketball right now,” he said. “We really found our groove, getting back to what our team was like last year at this time and I think we’re really almost there.”
The Gators are slated to take on Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Kentucky across the final two weeks of the regular season. With the NCAA tournament right around the corner, Florida has been in the conversation for a possible top seed.
The latest bracket predictions have the Gators sitting as a No. 3 seed, alongside Kansas, Nebraska and Gonzaga. Golden’s program jumped five spots in this Monday’s edition of the Associated Press Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Poll.
“I think we’re probably two right now if I was doing the bracket, but I’m not,” Golden said with a slight laugh. “It’s all really close. These next couple weeks are going to really determine who slides up and who drops down.”
Duke, Connecticut and Arizona join Michigan as the projected No. 1 seeds. The first three programs all defeated Florida in the opening month of the regular season. Despite significant improvement across the last 18 games — the Gators have lost just twice — Golden said the only thing that matters is what’s happening right now.
“Our goal at the moment is do what we need to do, take care of business day by day to win the league, and then work to play to the highest seed possible for March,” Golden said.
Category: College Basketball, Feature Sports News, Gators Men's Basketball
