Former Florida Star Taurean Green’s Take on Florida Men’s Basketball
Former Florida basketball star Taurean Green sat down on Tuesday with WRUF’s Steve Russell on his show, Sports Scene, discussing the state of Gator men’s basketball heading into the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Green is a three-time national champion, twice as a point guard in the 2006 and 2007 seasons under iconic head coach Billy Donovan, and once as an assistant coach with Todd Golden in 2024.
Green opened by discussing the overall state of the team. He talked about how adversity is what’s led Florida to play as well as they are now.
One of these adversities was an upset 76-67 loss to Auburn at home on Jan. 24.
Green hinted that loss was a catalyst for the Gators’ current 11-game win streak.
“It made us more hungry. It re-focused us,” Green said. “Every loss isn’t the end of the world. You’re gonna lose games, but it’s how you respond.”
That focus carried all the way into Florida’s regular season finale against Kentucky, when Florida found issues in the last few minutes. He mentioned how games like Auburn help you improve in tight contests.
“You always try to find something to motivate your team. Even when we win, we try to find things we can improve on.”
Greens says another aspect of this season’s turnaround came from players accepting their roles, especially point guard Boogie Fland.
The former 5-star recruit and standout at Arkansas took more of a backseat this season, which he says inspired the rest of the team to buy into each of their roles.
Fland has worked especially well with guard Xavian Lee. He thinks both have played confidently, shoot the ball well and play with a good pace.
When asked what they can improve, Green answered, “If I have to nitpick, I think it would just be cutting down on silly turnovers. I mean, that would be my main thing.”
Green reflected on the similarities between being coached by Billy Donavan to working with Todd Golden, mainly claiming both to be “players coaches.” Golden and Donovan give the team “a great amount of freedom” and “breathe confidence into players.”
He says confidence and freedom will be fundamental for securing wins going into March Madness, even against small, but successful programs like Miami (Ohio).
These teams play with so much confidence and freedom because they have a “what do we have to lose” mentality. By developing the confidence in the Gators, they have a better chance of fighting against the confidence of the better teams in college basketball.
“Our guys don’t wanna go home. Our staff doesn’t want to go home.”
Green mentioned that with back-to-back national championships, he would feel comfortable placing this Gators squad amongst the best in program history.
When asked what Florida’s motivation is, Green answered “to win.”
“We’re never gonna get tired of winning.”
Category: Basketball, College Basketball, Former Gators, Gators Men's Basketball, SEC
