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Florida basketball made a rapid rise to the top off the sport in 2024-25, taking over the SEC, winning the conference tournament and then making a run all the way to the national championship.
Despite dominating the best conference in college basketball in the conference tournament, Florida had far from an easy time navigating the NCAA Tournament on the way to the championship. The Gators had to recover from second-half deficits in four of its final five games — in the second round against UConn, the Elite Eight against Texas Tech, the Final Four against Auburn and the National Championship against Houston — in order to remain unscathed.
Walter Clayton Jr. became a legend with his incredible tournament run, and now this Florida team will go down in history as champions. While Clayton and many of his teammates are off to the NBA, Todd Golden and the rest of his staff are back to work as they try to build a team that can repeat and hang another banner next season.
Here is Florida's roster outlook heading into the offseason and what it needs to do to get back on the big stage next April.
Who is returning, departing for Florida?
Key departures: G Walter Clayton Jr., G Alijah Martin, G Will Richard,
Likely rotation returners: G Denzel Aberdeen, C Rueben Chinyelu, C Micah Handlogten
Unsure about: F Thomas Haugh, C Alex Condon
Florida has a chance to return over half of its rotation from the title team, but Todd Golden and his staff will still have a lot of work to do to replace the backcourt trio that carried Florida on offense for so much of the year.
Clayton, Richard and Martin were all very talented scorers who did most of the shot creating for the Gators this season. They were the team's three leading scorers and averaged 46 points per game combined. All three had big moments in the tournament as well: Clayton led the Big Dance in scoring, Martin consistently produced throughout the run and Richard's huge first half in the title game kept Florida in it against Houston.
The lone returning guard from Golden's rotation is Denzel Aberdeen, who came off the bench for Florida but is definitely a starter-level player. Aberdeen can play either guard spot and showed the ability to knock down shots off the catch and create off the dribble this season.
Florida's behemoth rotation of four big men could be the inflection point of the offseason. Tournament standout Thomas Haugh and big man Alex Condon could both be intriguing as NBA prospects, but there is a world where both could come back to school and improve their draft stock next season. Haugh is an especially intriguing prospect that flashed defensive versatility along with some creation skills in the tournament to go along with his great shooting stroke as a big man.
If one or both of Condon and Haugh return, they should find Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten alongside them in the front court. Chinyelu and Handlogten don't have the same skills on offense that Haugh and Condon do, but they provide experience and physicality on the interior.
Offseason additions
Transfer portal additions: N/A
Incoming freshmen: 4-star G Alex Lloyd, 4-star F CJ Ingram
The backcourt is unquestionably the biggest area of need for this Florida squad heading into next season. Golden has yet to land anybody in the transfer portal, but the Gators are one of the finalists for star Princeton guard Xaivien Lee.
Lee is reportedly choosing between Florida and St. John's, per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, so the Gators could be landing a big difference maker in the versatile scorer.
Even if Lee does pick the Red Storm or someone else over Florida, Golden and company did very well in the transfer portal last offseason with the additions of Chinyelu and Martin after getting Clayton the year before from Iona. After winning the national title, Florida should have no problem finding key contributors in the portal again.
Of course, if Condon and Haugh are off to the NBA, Florida will have to add some portal bigs to the shopping list. If it is just Chinyelu and Handlogten back in the front court, Golden should be looking for bigs that can shoot and score the ball inside to complement the skill sets that are already there in Gainesville.
The Gators do have a pair of four-star commits coming next season that will have a chance to immediately contribute. Florida products Alex Lloyd, a combo guard, and CJ Ingram, a wing, should both fill immediate needs for Golden and company. It wouldn't be at all surprising to see the two of them have an impact next season.
Florida's outlook for 2025-26
In truth, Florida has a lot of work to do to get back to the top of the SEC and become true national title contenders for next season. There is still plenty of time for it to do work in the transfer portal, and winning the sweepstakes for Lee would be a huge win for Golden and company.
However, Clayton, Martin and Richard provided almost all of the shot creation for this Florida team. If Haugh and Condon come back, the Gators will have some ways to use their versatility to score on the interior and Haugh's spacing will help open the floor up for everyone else.
Golden is a very good offensive coach, as evidenced by his ability to help his team find solutions down the stretch in the title game against an elite Houston defense. Schematically, Florida will have a floor on that end of the court, but it needs more talent on that side at the guard spots in order to fully realize a high ceiling.
It had that talent last year, and it could certainly get it again next season. However, it isn't there right now. As a result, Florida has to be pegged as a team that should be in the top 25 and in the mix to reach the second weekend, but doesn't sit among the top title contenders at the moment.
