Florida Men’s Basketball To Open Season at No. 1
The Gator Boys are back — and this time, they’re back as the top team in the country.
As expected, the Associated Press ranked Florida at No. 1 to open the season for the first time since 2006-07, when the Gators returned as the defending national champions, in releasing its annual preseason poll Monday.
The Gators were the overwhelming media favorite after securing 47 out of 59 first-place votes to surpass No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Illinois.
Most of the anticipation and excitement comes on the heels of the announcement that four out of the five starters from last season are returning.
The trio of Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Reuben Chinyelu round out the Gators’ returning frontcourt who were key in winning the national championship the season before. After months of uncertainty and NBA draft speculation, all three chose to remain at Florida their senior year to play for one final season.
Haugh was named SEC Preseason Player of the Year after leading the Gators during the 2025-26 season with 17.1 points per game. He was given First-Team All-SEC honors at the end of the season, in addition to being named a Second-Team All-American.
Condon returns to the Gators after averaging 15.1 points during his junior campaign. The Australia native and former AP preseason All-American looks to have a dominant role this season as he prepares for the 2027 draft.
Chinyelu returns as the reigning Naismith Defensive Player of the Year — the first Gator to win the award in program history. Averaging 15.1 points and 7.5 rebounds a game last season, Chinyelu also earned the title of SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a spot on the All-SEC First-Team.
The final returning starter is point guard Boogie Fland, who enters his second season as a Gator. Fland ended last season with 11.6 points and 3.5 assists per game, in addition to a team-high average of 1.7 steals.
Florida also adds Denzel Aberdeen, who was a member of the 2025 national championship team, to the starting lineup. Aberdeen left to spend his senior season at Kentucky, where he averaged 13.5 points a game. He returns to the Gators after being granted a temporary court injunction by the NCAA to restore his fifth year of eligibility.
The Gators had a whirlwind last season, opening in the No. 3 position before falling out of the AP-poll by January. After bouncing back to win the SEC regular-season championship, the Gators secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament before being ousted in the second round by Iowa.
With a star-studded starting lineup, many of whom are entering their final season, the No. 1 ranking brings feelings of both eagerness and expectation.
But for Florida coach Todd Golden, the ranking doesn’t matter much.
“It’s cool,” Golden said. “But we’ve been No. 1 before. We won a national championship before. That’s what I want our program to expect. That’s what we want to kind of go into every season at.”
Golden, entering his fifth season at Florida, embraces the pressure to lead his team to a fourth national title in program history.
The Gators, who are scheduled to face eight teams in the rankings, including six SEC schools, with the possibility of adding two more (Houston, Kansas) in the Players Era 8, tip off the season against No. 14 Miami in Tampa on Nov. 2.
Category: College Basketball, Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Men's Basketball, NCAA Tournament
