Thomas Haugh calls modern era of college basketball 'golden time' for players

Despite projections as a potential lottery pick in the NBA Draft, Thomas Haugh opted to run it back at Florida this year. It was a notable move in the NIL era, and he could reportedly be in for a big payday, too.

Haugh cited unfinished business as a major reason he chose to come back, and he also had a conversation with Draymond Green about why he should head back to UF. But as he assessed the college landscape, Haugh called it a “golden time” for players since they can cash in off their name, image and likeness.

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Haugh compared the state of college basketball to the NBA as NIL and the transfer portal have become such important parts of the landscape. While there are efforts to settle the space, notably with the Protect College Sports Act on track for the Senate floor after a markup, he sees positives for the athletes.

“I think it’s just the amount of money that these guys are getting, we’re getting, it’s kind of like a pro league,” Haugh told Jeff Goodman on The Field of 68. “If you look at the pros, you get trades. It’s kind of like how the transfer portal works. It’s like everything the pros have, but dumbed down a little bit into college. I think that’s kind of how it is. I think it’s a good thing – I do think some laws and stuff will probably come into play here soon with the NCAA.

“But for us as players, I think it’s the golden time to be in college basketball. I think all these guys, especially at the University of Florida with our collective, we’re going to take advantage of that. It’s been great so far, to me, but I do think there will be some laws and stuff that go in place here soon.”

Thomas Haugh: ‘I want to go do this thing again’

After emerging as a key part of Florida’s 2025 national title team, Thomas Haugh continued to flourish under Todd Golden. He averaged 17.1 points and 6.1 rebounds across 34 games to help the Gators to a No. 1 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.

But following the early exit in an upset loss to Iowa, Haugh said he reflected on what his future could hold. He also had conversations with players such as Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu, who also opted to return. From there, he decided he wanted to chase a title and put his NBA aspirations on hold.

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“For me … it was how it ended, too. I don’t know. I felt like I didn’t give everything I could to this university yet. Like, I wanted to bring another championship and wanted to be that team that went back-to-back. That was just sitting in my head the whole time I was in L.A. working out. And then, also [Condon], [Chinyelu], all those guys started coming back, too. Talking to them, talking to Golden, I was like, I’m with it – I want to go do this thing again. I don’t think we went out the way we wanted to go out last year. … [I] put the NBA on pause a little bit and go try to get another one.

“Obviously, the opportunity I put myself in, a lot of kids would make the decision to go to the NBA. I don’t know. I just sat down, talked to my parents, talked about it prayed on it and then just came up to my decision there.”