It’s been more than seven months since Arizona’s season ended with another trip to the Sweet 16. It was the third time in four years under Tommy Lloyd the Wildcats made it that far, but like the previous
NCAA tournaments that was as far as they went.
Among those that kept playing after the UA was done was Florida, which went on to win its third national title and first since going back-to-back in 2006 and 2007. The Gators are among the favorites to win it all this season, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, their +1700 odds sixth-best in the country (Arizona is at +3500).
That quest for another title begins in Las Vegas against Arizona on Monday, the first day of the 2025-26 season. At No. 3 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25, Florida is first ranked opponent Arizona has begun the season against since 2016 and highest-ranked since beating No. 2 Maryland in 2001.
To better understand the Gators, we reached out to Eric Fawcett of Gator Country for some insight and a score prediction. Below are his exuberant answers to our gloomy questions:
AZ Desert Swarm: Florida has its highest preseason ranking since 2006-07 when it was the defending national champions. How realistic is a repeat performance?
Eric Fawcett: “Given the randomness of the NCAA Tournament it would be a challenge to confidently predict a repeat champion in any season (even with UConn showing recently that it can be done), but this team should have a great chance to do it. This also doesn’t seem like something particularly unique to this year’s Florida team: from now on, whoever cuts down nets is going to have the opportunity to instantly reload and that’s what the Gators did. While neither of Boogie Fland or Xaivian Lee is likely to replace Walter Clayton straight across, they will bring a lot more ball handling across the backcourt, and Fland gives much more of a defensive presence. Plus, if you talk to a lot of opposing coaching staffs, they’ll say the frontcourt was just as much a factor if not more of a factor than the backcourt–and those guys are all back.”
The Gators lost three starters from their title team, but it could have been worse had Alex Condon not withdrawn from the NBA Draft. What does his return mean to this team, and how will his role change this season with those seniors gone?
“His return is massive, and I think a lot of people aren’t realizing just how huge this is for the Gators because the last look they had at Condon was him playing wounded in the NCAA Tournament. Throughout the regular season Condon was one of Florida’s best players until an ankle injury slowed him down, and he didn’t play his best basketball in March. Now that he’s going to be back at full strength he’s going to bring a presence offensively and defensively in the paint while setting a tone with his effort level, and I expect him to be among Florida’s best and most important players this season.”
Florida landed some nice transfers in guards Boogie Fland, AJ Brown and Xaivian Lee, the last two of which have NCAA Tournament experience against Arizona. What do they bring to the mix?
“For Boogie Fland, his ability to get hot from deep and provide the occasional offensive highlight might lead the narrative since he was a 5-star recruit, but really where he’s at his best is on the defensive end where he is an absolute pest. Fland is one of the best ball screen-defending guards in the country, and even if he doesn’t end up scoring in the high teens he’s going to have a huge impact with his defense. Xaivian Lee is all about spurtability offensively. There is serious flash in the way Lee plays, and he is constantly in attack mode trying to break down defenders and create space for his stepback jumper. He’ll be Florida’s late clock option to try and get a bucket. AJ Brown is a pretty pure catch and shoot player who has a chance to earn minutes spacing the floor for the heralded transfer guards and established frontcourt, though he’ll need to improve his defense to see a regular shift.”
Who is a player that is either new to the program or was on the 2024-25 team that is expected to take a big leap this season?
“Remember the name Urban Klavzar. Klavzar was an under-the-radar European pickup last season who played a number of years of pro basketball in excellent leagues in Spain, and he didn’t get a ton of opportunities due to Florida’s crowded backcourt last season. Obviously, that backcourt is crowded once again but he continues to ‘wow’ the coaching staff in practices and scrimmages with his high intelligence and lethal shotmaking.”
Are there any notable areas of concern for this team heading into the title defense? Is there somewhere Florida could be vulnerable?
“The Gators lost a lot of shooting with Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin and Will Richard graduating, and while they did replace them with capable shooters it won’t be the same level. In addition to a drop in shooting percentages across the board with the incoming players, Fland and Lee are somewhat streaky shooters whose percentages are solid in the end, but they can have some ice cold nights and if those two end up being cold in the same game things could get challenging for the Gators offensively. This is also where it should be noted that 6-foot-10 Thomas Haugh, who played essentially all his minutes at the 4 last season, will be starting at the 3 this year. He proved himself capable of shooting a decent percentage on low volume, but he’ll need to scale that number up if the Gators are going to be a quality shooting team.”
Prediction time. Do the Gators pick up where they left off and leave Las Vegas with a nice season-opening win or does Arizona knock off the defending champs? Give us a score pick.
“Many matchups in college basketball are a clash of styles, but that is not the case with this marquee game to kick off the season. Both Arizona and Florida are teams that have tremendous frontcourts and play with size and physicality, but they also play with incredible pace. Of course, Todd Golden picked up this style while at San Francisco playing against Gonzaga, so it’s a bit of a fun matchup of two coaches who picked up this philosophy in different ways. Given that it’s strength on strength, I do think the Gators have the advantage with more continuity of key players in the frontcourt, and I like Florida’s guards to be a bit more ready on night one of the season. I am quite high on Arizona this year and I think if this game was played in late November it might be a different story, but kicking off the season I see the Gators with the advantage. I also think this game is going to be played with a ton of pace, and I see the scoreboard buzzing. I’ll predict a 92-86 Florida win.”
