Assessing the 10 top storylines of the college basketball offseason, ESPN basketball recruiting insider Jeff Borzello shared his belief that Florida “has the talent” necessary to contend for another national championship during the 2025-26 season.

While Florida lost three star players to the 2025 NBA Draft this offseason — guards Walter Clayton Jr. (Utah Jazz, first round), Alijah Martin (Toronto Raptors, second round) and Will Richard (Golden State Warriors, second round) — Gators head coach Todd Golden was quick to reload the roster through the NCAA transfer portal between April and May.

UF landed former Arkansas guard Boogie Fland, Princeton guard Xaivian Lee and Ohio guard AJ Brown in that timeframe. It later added former Sacramento State guard Alex Kovatchev. These acquisitions pair with Florida’s two class of 2025 high school signings, with CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd having joined the program this summer.

And of course, Florida held on to its frontcourt trio: Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu, with the latter two players ultimately withdrawing from the 2025 NBA Draft pool. After largely operating as the program’s sixth-man last year, Haugh is expected to start at the three in 2025-26. 

“Florida has the talent to make another title run,” Borzello wrote. 

“Before UConn won the national championships in 2023 and 2024, men’s college basketball hadn’t seen a repeat title winner since Florida in 2006 and 2007 — but Todd Golden’s Gators have the players to make it a trend. Alex Condon withdrew from the NBA draft to return to Florida; Rueben Chinyelu and Thomas Haugh are also back; and top transfers Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee were added in the portal.”

Fland, who originally entered the draft pool before transferring to Florida, and Lee headline UF’s transfer class and are projected to assume starting roles in the Gators’ backcourt. 

Fland averaged 13.5 points per game while shooting 37.9 percent from the field and 34 percent from three-point range during the 2024-25 campaign; Lee averaged 16.9 points with 43.9 percent field goal and 36.6 percent three-point clips.

Fland’s 5.1 assists per game last season ranked tied for the second-most in the Southeastern Conference. Lee posted 5.5 assists per game for Princeton last year, good for the second-most in the Ivy League. Each player owned a 2.5-to-1 or better assist-to-turnover ratio.

Additionally, Lee recorded 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals per contest, while Fland averaged 3.2 and 1.5, respectively.

Brown, the older brother of Florida rising sophomore guard Isaiah Brown, averaged 13.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.1 assists per game over 29 contests in 2024-25, his third season in a multi-game starting role for the Bobcats.

Brown’s three-point percentage jumped 10 points from the year prior, in which he played nine games before suffering a season-ending injury and redshirted, to 38.8 percent from 28.6 percent. 

As a freshman during the 2023-24 season, Kovatchev appeared in 33 games at Sacramento State, averaging 5.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per contest. 

Kovatchev appeared in just four games as a sophomore during the 2024-25 campaign, all starts, where he averaged 8.5 points and 5.0 rebounds before a leg injury ended his season.