Year one of the Todd Golden era in Gainesville didn’t go according to plan.
After a whirlwind media tour where Golden professed confidence in the roster he built, the Gators struggled to score for much of the season and limped their way to a 16-17 season and a first round exit from the NIT. The losing season was just the second for the Gators this century and 3rd in 30 years for the state’s winningest basketball program and the last college program to win back-to-back national championships.
What went wrong?
Yes, Florida lost All-SEC and eventual SEC Defensive Player of the Year Colin Castleton to a season-ending wrist injury early in February. But the Gators were just 14-12 when Castleton was lost for the season, teetering on the wrong side of the bubble thanks to an offense that lacked rhythm and the shooters (the Gators shot a woeful 31.2% from deep a season ago) necessary to capitalize on the post talents of Castleton.
Todd Golden brought a continuity ball screen heavy offense from San Francisco and the WCC to the SEC, and found the style a tough way to attack SEC defenses. Predictable and stagnant offensively, the Gators limped to a 139th finish in KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency, the program’s worst mark in the KenPom era and over 50 spots worse than any of the program’s 7 seasons under the man Golden replaced, Mike White.
Despite the year one growing pains, expectations are high in Gainesville for Golden in season number two.
Florida landed a universally acclaimed, top 10 (number 1 at well-respected Evan Miya) transfer portal haul, led by Iona guard Walter Clayton Jr. and UC Riverside guard Zyon Pullin, who add instant offense to a team that packed zero bench punch a season ago. The Gators are also bullish on freshman Thomas Haugh, a 6’9 jack-of-all-trades who can guard 4 positions, play 3 comfortably, and gives the Gators a mismatch wing they lacked a season ago.
Most importantly, though, the Gators have a bona fide star in the making in Riley Kugel. The former top 50 recruit and Orlando native was marvelous for Florida down the stretch, averaging 17 points and 4 rebounds in Florida’s last 10 games and shooting over 50% from the field and 40% from distance in the process.
Kugel was named preseason All-SEC first team by the coaches and second team by the media, and is considered one of 3 national breakout player of the year candidates from the state of Florida, along with Miami’s Wooga Poplar and Florida State’s Baba Miller.
With Kugel as the lead guard and scoring balance from wing Will Richard (40% 3 point percentage in 2022-23), Pullin, and Clayton, the Gators expect to be far more balanced offensively this season and all the better for it.”We believe we have a good team,” Todd Golden told the media at SEC Media Days. “We are definitely deeper and more balanced than we were a season ago. We had a successful off-season. But until you play someone, you never know.”
Early returns have been positive.
The Gators beat Miami in Coral Gables in a secret scrimmage behind huge performances from Kugel and Pullin. Tyrese Samuel, a Power 6 starter at Seton Hall who may have been the gem of Florida’s transfer class, was also outstanding in a matchup with Norchad Omier, scoring 19 points, grabbing 6 rebounds, and blocking 2 shots. A win– even in a scrimmage– on the road against a Miami program that won the ACC’s Regular Season title and made the Final Four a season ago should provide this young Florida team confidence.
There are questions, of course.
The Gators frontcourt is thin, especially if 7 footer Micah Handlogten, the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year who transferred in from Marshall, can’t reduce his propensity to foul. Handlogten committed a Marshall high 3.5 fouls per 40 minutes a season ago and that must get better for the Gators to avoid playing with small lineups early and often in 2023-24. The loss of powerful rebounder Edge Jarvis, an All-Ivy league performer who transferred in from Yale, before the season even began, is also a tough blow. A boost from Alex Condon, an Australian international who had a massive preseason camp, would help the frontcourt immensely.
As usual, the Gators have a difficult schedule. That said, it is somewhat more forgiving than in years past, especially if Florida can beat Virginia, who is starting its first new point guard in 5 seasons, in Charlotte on November 10. Win that game, and steal one at Wake Forest in late November or win a pair at the Preseason NIT event in Brooklyn during Feast Week, and the Gators will have plenty on their resume before they begin the grind of SEC play with a visit from Kentucky on January 6th. The Gators do have to travel to league favorites Texas A&M and Tennessee, as well as Kentucky, and Alabama in league play, but the Crimson Tide make a return trip to Gainesville. All told, it’s a schedule with plenty of opportunities for what will be one of the more veteran basketball teams in the Power 6.
Florida hasn’t suffered back-to-back losing seasons since 1989-1990, an era marked by NCAA sanctions that limited scholarships. Todd Golden’s second team should avoid that fate, and will have a strong chance, if Kugel is as good as advertised, to return Florida to the NCAA Tournament after a 2 year hiatus.
The Florida Squeeze 