No. 3 Florida Men’s Basketball To Open Season with No. 13 Arizona
For the defending national champion Florida men’s basketball team, a weaker non-conference schedule almost cost them a No. 1 seed in the 2025 NCAA tournament.
This year, No. 3 Florida is turning up the heat. The Gators will play No. 13 Arizona as its season opener in the Hall of Fame series Nov. 3 in Las Vegas. This is one of three top-15 matchups Florida has scheduled in its non-conference, along with No. 6 Duke and No. 4 UConn.
The Wildcats lost to Duke in last March’s Sweet 16, but the team is coming back this season with loads of young talent. The Wildcats have the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation, according to 247Sports, only behind the same team that knocked them out of the 2025 tournament.
Like many teams in the college basketball landscape, Arizona has a completely different roster than last year. The Wildcats lost their leading scorer Caleb Love, rim protector Henri Veesaar and best perimeter defender KJ Lewis. Senior guards Jaden Bradley and Anthony Dell’Orso will take over as the leaders as the only returning starters. Bradley has the explosive scoring qualities of Love, averaging 12.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game last year.
Wildcat coach Tommy Llyod praised Bradley’s leadership on the “Sideline” podcast with Andy Katz.
“He never complained. He continued to work. Any role he was asked to play, he played it to the best of his abilities,” he said. “He’s earned an opportunity to be the leader on a really good team and so I’m thankful that we have him here.”
Despite Bradley and Dell’Orso’s return, Arizona still has some major holes. Unlike Florida, who replaced missing pieces through the transfer portal, LLyod signed seven freshman recruits, including two five stars in Koa Peat and Brayden Burries.
Peat is a 6-foot-8, 235-pound power forward with a football player’s build. He is no stranger to success either. Peat is the most decorated player in USA Basketball men’s junior national team history with a record four gold medals. He will add strength and physicality to a roster that desperately needs it with the absence of Veesaar.
“He’s a heat-seeking missile,” Lloyd said. “This dude is seeking contact and playing through contact.”
Burries has the potential to add Love-level scoring ability to the roster. The No. 1 player from California, according to 247Sports, averaged 27.2 points per game, 8.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.8 steals while shooting 55.1 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from 3 as a junior and senior – video game numbers.
Four-star freshman forward Dwayne Aristode and Harvard transfer point guard Evan Nelson will also get minutes in the rotation.
With so many new faces on the Arizona roster, there will certainly be questions as to whether Lloyd can get this team polished enough to face the 2025 national champions in the season opener.
On the other hand, Florida could get complacent fresh off the championship and get punched in the mouth. The Gators certainly have fewer variables, with all four major pieces of their frontcourt returning (Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten) and experienced transfers that have already shown what they can do at the collegiate level (Xaivian Lee, Boogie Fland and AJ Brown).
Category: College Basketball, Gator Sports, Gators Men's Basketball, NCAA
