The post Insiders boost Florida basketball’s repeat chances after NBA Draft decisions appeared first on ClutchPoints.
The Florida basketball team just won the national championship last month, and now the Gators are thinking about how they can do it again next season. There were a lot of question marks regarding what kind of talent Florida would get back for next season, and after the NBA Draft withdraw deadline, the team appears to be in great shape.
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From big-time transfers choosing the Florida basketball team to guys like Alex Condon deciding to return, the offseason is off to a great start. In fact, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello tabbed the Gators as one of the biggest winners from the NBA Draft withdraw deadline.
“Florida was one,” Borzello said. “There were other winners, certainly — including Houston (Milos Uzan), Michigan (Lendeborg), Auburn (Tahaad Pettiford) and Kentucky (Otega Oweh) — but the Gators went from a borderline top-20 team to a legitimate contender to open the season as the No. 1 team with a real chance to win back-to-back titles. Florida was the beneficiary of Fland’s withdrawal, as the Arkansas transfer ultimately committed to the Gators a week after making his decision. Then Alex Condon, a fringe first-round pick, also withdrew to return to Gainesville. With both officially in the fold, coach Todd Golden has as good a starting five as there is in college basketball.”
This Florida basketball team isn’t going to be the same as it was last year, and other players are going to have to step up. However, the pieces are there for the Gators to once again contend for a national championship.
“As I mentioned above, Florida ascends into the preseason No. 1 conversation as a result of their decisions. The Gators have a different roster construction from a year ago, when there were more clearly defined roles and arguably better balance and depth throughout the roster. But now Golden has two shot creators and shotmakers in [Boogie] Fland and Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee in the backcourt, and one of the best — certainly the biggest — frontcourt in the country with 6-11 Condon, 6-9 Thomas Haugh, 6-10 Rueben Chinyeluand 7-1 Micah Handlogten handling the lion’s share of minutes.”
It can be hard to keep players around after winning it all as some guys like to go out on top, but Florida has done a great job getting some of its best talent to return to Gainesville. On top of that, the Gators landed a couple of the best players in the transfer portal. All in all, it has been a successful offseason so far, and Florida has the talent to win another national championship.
