Nearly one year after winning the college basketball national title, Florida is poised to enter the 2026 SEC Tournament in a similar position to begin a repeat. Back-to-back titles would be a huge feather in Todd Golden's cap and further cement his case as one of the best coaches in the sport.
Having won its last five games and posting a stellar 10-2 record to begin 2026, Florida looks like a completely different team from the one that began the year at 5-4. The Gators seemed to be almost completely out of the title picture in mid-December, only to force their way back into the mix two months later.
But before Florida can begin making NCAA Tournament preparations, it must defend its 2025 SEC Tournament title. The Gators, then led by eventual Final Four MVP Walter Clayton Jr., blitzed past Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee in 2025 to claim their first conference title since 2014 before reaching the pinnacle three weeks later.
With a 19-6 record through its first 25 games, Florida already has more losses than it had a year ago, putting itself in a position where it might need to win the SEC Tournament to have a shot at winning another national title. Golden's team will earn a March Madness bid regardless, but its path to the top could be a bumpy road without a conference championship, considering the rough terrain in the South region.
The Gators have improved immensely over the last two months to put themselves in position to potentially repeat as national champions. But if Florida is going to defend its pair of postseason titles, it has to address a few fatal flaws before the 2026 SEC Tournament begins.
Todd Golden's guards are too inconsistent
Florida's guards have been criticized all year, with most of the team's struggles falling on their shoulders. Their cohesive improvement has been a big part of the Gators' resurgence, but their performances are still too inconsistent to feel confident in entering March.
Florida has a pair of studs leading its backcourt, with former five-star recruit Boogie Fland running point and former Ivy League star Xaivian Lee as Todd Golden's secondary ballhandler. Fland's numbers are down overall from his freshman season at Arkansas, but he continues to be the team's engine.
Through 25 games, Fland is averaging 11.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists, his numbers down across the board from. Fland's biggest regression comes from behind the arc. After shooting a respectable 34 percent from deep as a freshman, his three-point accuracy has plummeted to 18.1 percent in 2025-2026.
Despite his pre-college expectations, Fland has settled into a role as Golden's floor general with pesky on-ball defense. Fland is who he is at this point, but Lee has picked up the slack offensively in the last month.
After averaging just 8.8 points per game in January, Lee already has 56 points through four games in February. He has led the team in scoring in two consecutive outings, going a combined 7-for-16 from three against Georgia and Kentucky.
Gators fans hope Lee's recent hot streak is a step in the right direction, but he has struggled with consistency all year. Lee's 180-pound frame has struggled with the physicality in the SEC at times, leading to prolonged stretches where he is almost invisible on the court.
When he is on his game, Lee can beat teams by himself as the streakiest scorer on Florida's offense. Those moments are just few and far in between. The Gators just have to hope he is on one of those runs in March.
Florida struggles against teams that slow the pace
With Florida's backcourt varying from game to game, physical frontcourt play has been its identity throughout the 2025-2026 college basketball season. The championship experience and physicality of Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Thomas Haugh is a combination few teams are equipped to handle.
Todd Golden-led teams consistently pride themselves on their paint presence, and this Florida squad is no exception. The Gators lead the country with 46.0 rebounds per game and rank fourth with 43.5 points in the paint, per CBB Analytics.
But despite that advantage on paper, Florida tends to struggle against teams that match their energy inside. They are just 134th in opponent points in the paint, a recurring theme in each of their six losses — four of the six teams that beat the Gators outscored them in the paint.
Of those six teams, four also play at a slow pace, emphasizing the physical battle down low. Duke, UConn, TCU, Auburn and Missouri each play at a sub-100 pace and beat the Gators without needing to score many points.
For an experienced team coming off a national championship, Florida does not respond well when it gets punched in the mouth and beaten at its own game.
With championship tournaments just around the corner, Golden has to quickly figure out how to address that issue. If not, Florida is in danger of suffering an embarrassing early exit in the SEC Tournament and the ensuing NCAA Tournament.
