The final major deadline of college basketball’s offseason — the date that players must withdraw their names from the NBA draft if they want to return to college — passed on Wednesday, May 28. With that milestone now in the rearview mirror, the rosters for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign are clearer than ever.
The decisions leading up to the deadline resulted in both winners and losers, depending on who departed and who came back to school. Among those in the former category are the Florida Gators, who have already been anointed as overwhelming winners according to a trio of major publications.
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A little under a week after the big day passed, ESPN’s basketball recruiting insider Jeff Borzello updated his men’s college basketball preseason top 25 rankings, sending the Orange and Blue on a meteoric rise from No. 18 to No. 2 overall, just behind the Purdue Boilermakers, who held onto their top spot.
“The debate over preseason No. 1 intensified with Milos Uzan returning to Houston and Florida adding Boogie Fland while also getting back Alex Condon,” Borzello notes. “Both programs are squarely in the conversation alongside Purdue, with UConn and St. John’s not far behind.”
Take a look below at Florida’s projected starting lineup as well as ESPN’s full updated rankings.
Florida’s 2025-26 projected starting lineup
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Boogie Fland (13.5 PPG at Arkansas)
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Xaivian Lee (16.9 PPG at Princeton)
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Rueben Chinyelu (6.1 PPG)
ESPN’s post-NBA draft withdrawal rankings
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Purdue Boilermakers (—)
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St. John’s Red Storm (-2)
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Louisville Cardinals (—)
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Texas Tech Red Raiders (-2)
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Illinois Fighting Illini (+1)
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Alabama Crimson Tide (+7)
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Tennessee Volunteers (-3)
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North Carolina Tar Heels (—)
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida Basketball: ESPN’s updated rankings have Gators near top
