Everything Todd Golden said at SEC Media Days about 2023-24 Gators

Florida‘s Todd Golden was the first coach to take the podium Wednesday for SEC Tipoff ’24, which concludes on Thursday. Junior guard Will Richard and graduate transfer forward Tyrese Samuel joined Golden at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama.

Sophomore guard Riley Kugel was voted a preseason All-SEC selection for the 2023-24 Gators, who were picked to finish eighth in the conference this season by the media. 

That’s where Florida placed in the 2023 SEC standings, posting a 16-17 record with a 9-9 mark in league play. UF missed the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.

Todd Golden and the Gators open their 2023-24 season at home against Loyola Maryland on Monday, Nov. 6 at 8 p.m.

Here is everything Golden said from the podium at SEC Media Days.

On signing a great transfer class and what each guy brings:

Golden: “I think we did. Part of it was we signed a lot of them. We have five transfers coming in.

We knew we needed to replace a lot of production as Colin left our program. I feel like we did a really good job of getting a good balance in the front court and backcourt, starting with Tyrese Samuel. Averaged double figures, did a really good job at Seton Hall last year, coming down to play his fifth year with us.

A really talented young one in Micah Handlogten, who will be a sophomore for us, was at Marshall, Sun Belt Freshman of the Year last year. Really, really good shot-blocker, rebounder, a great presence at the rim.

In the backcourt, Zyon Pullin, a fifth-year transfer from UC Riverside. I think he averaged like 18 points, five assists, five rebounds, something along those lines, last year on the West Coast.

Walter Clayton from Iona, I think he’ll be one of the best shooters in the league, three level scorer for us, averaged close to 18 a game last year as well.

Julian Rishwain was a fifth-year we brought from San Francisco, my old job, a guy that can stretch the floor for us.

Those guys can help us in different ways. To get guys that have performed and been efficient and done well at their previous stops will really help us this coming year.”

On how he would compare the league from when he was an assistant coach to now:

Golden: “I mean, this league is way better than it was when I was here as an assistant. But you look back at when I first got to Auburn, I think it was 2016, the league was trying to find ways to get basketball at the same level that football was, whether it was creative scheduling, there were a lot of different initiatives they were taking on.

When you look at it, I really think the coaches hired during that stretch were a huge reason the league is at the level it is now. You can argue it’s the best league in America.

As you said, you said five or six teams getting in the top 25, four other teams getting votes, that’s more than half the league that some people consider to be top 25. When you put that together, it’s going to be really tough.”

On the emergence of international prospects and what has made him add them to his rosters:

Golden: “I think they’re more interested simply because they’ve seen guys come before them and have success. It’s been going on for a while. Now you see more and more guys coming over and having really good careers that lead them for the opportunity to play in the NBA. I think that’s number one.

As coaches, we see guys when we go recruit internationally that are really ready to go. They’ve kind of come up through clubs or different organizations where transparently they get to train more than our young men and women do.

These international prospects that are coming over generally don’t have a lot of baggage with them, they’re coming over to play basketball, go to class, do the best they can to prepare themselves to become pros. You have guys that are really focused and have a great understanding of why they’re coming over.

I think when you put those things together, it explains a lot. International players have done really well in our programs. We obviously added a couple more this year. It’s a space that we’ll continue to recruit really hard as long as we’re at Florida.

On the drop in Power Five freshmen and whether it’s a side effect with the extra COVID year:

Golden: “Yeah, absolutely. You hit it on the head. It’s funny because someone driving us over here in the car asked a similar question.

The two things that clearly have led to left freshmen being in the mix, number one, the COVID year. It’s just math. Every year that played in that season got an extra year of eligibility. A fifth class in there jumbling it up.

Every student-athlete can take advantage of the one-time transfer exception. You have freshmen coming in, especially at our level, most of the freshmen that are recruited have a lot of options. They’re highly decorated players, guys that have been on different campuses and have been wined and dined in terms of being recruited to the different institutions.

When they get there and it doesn’t necessarily work out the way they want it to in year one, it’s easier for them to leave. When you have that potential in the equation, it makes it even more difficult to invest in young freshmen bringing them on campus.

It’s something that I think will continue to turn as these COVID players graduate, then everything kind of evens out. I think it might sway back to more freshmen being recruited and involved in these programs.

It’s tricky because there are a lot of talented freshmen out there that deserve these opportunities, are loyal and will be in your program. We as coaches and staff members have to do a really good job figuring out which ones are the right ones to bring in.”

On how much more important player retention is now:

Golden: “I think it’s really, really important. I think the key to that also is you have to get your program to a spot where you want to retain everybody and make sure that those guys are on board with what you’re doing.

I like at our program going from last year to this year, we did not have a lot of retention. We highlighted and found a lot of great guys that were fits in our program and to take the next step.

After this coming season, from years two to three, I think retention will be a key part of our program. We have nine guys potentially that have the ability to come back. We want all nine of them back, and we want to build with that group. And I think that will be an opportunity for us to take another step up.

Once you get your program healthy and once you get it right, I think retention is a great way to separate yourself and give yourself a competitive advantage against your peers.”

On what he learned in his first year at Florida and coaching against SEC competition:

Golden: “Yeah, obviously year one, a great experience. We didn’t finish the way we wanted to, but we had some really good moments. I thought towards the middle of conference play we kind of figured ourselves out. We were 6-3, playing really good. Colin goes down. We just didn’t have enough behind him to weather that storm.

But I wouldn’t say there was a lot of new things that I learned, but a lot of my thoughts were affirmed based on my time with Bruce at Auburn. It’s one of if not the best league in America. Every night you’re going up against NBA players on the other side. If you don’t put your best foot forward, if you’re not competitive, physical, ready to go, you’re going to get popped.

It’s always good to remember that. Then coaching against these guys as a coach, a young coach, this is something you aspire to do. You aspire to coach against Rick Barnes, against John Calipari, these different guys that have a lot of success over their career.

Obviously there’s a bunch more great coaches. Those are just two that I named.

Being in that arena with these guys, it’s an honor and something that I look forward to competing against every night.”

On whether he knows new Ole Miss coach Chris Beard or Arkansas coach Eric Musselman:

Golden: “I don’t know Chris personally, but obviously he’s a coach that’s had a lot of success in his career. Just like every other great coach, he’s just going to continue to raise the level of our league with what he will do at Ole Miss.

Muss is someone I’ve known for a long time. I had an opportunity to go work a must in the G League 2010 when he was coach of the Reno Bighorns. He played at San Francisco for Randy Bennett and Kyle Smith, guys that coached me at St. Mary’s.

We do go way back to when I was 20, 21 years old. Actually, Muss was a guy that when I graduated from St. Mary’s and decided am I going to go try to play professionally or get into coaching, I asked Muss what I should do. He said, You definitely should go play. I went and played overseas.

It’s kind of funny how small of a world basketball is, how everything comes full circle. We competed against him at Reno. Now fast forward five years, head coach at Arkansas, done a wonderful job there. I’m at Florida competing against him on a yearly basis, so it’s neat.”

On any good Muss stories that he has:

Golden: “None that I’m necessarily ready to share right now (smiling).”

On what he looks for from mid-major stars to know they can play in the SEC:

Golden: “Yeah, obviously a lot of it is analytically driven, guys that have had a lot of success, whether it be low or mid-major level. You look at a couple different things, their efficiency, usage, how many possessions do they use, how do they fare against tier A and B competition.

I think that’s something that’s important to look at to see if their numbers are — they do really, really well against the low-major teams but they don’t have as much success when they get the opportunity to compete against better teams.

Like everything else, you can’t say certain they’re going to do really well or not do well, but you want to give yourself the best chance to figure it out.

We’re diving into a lot of data that way, watching film, just trying to sort it out that way.”

On Eric Musselman making a successful transition from the NBA to college:

Golden: “You hit it a little bit right there. I think Muss, his experience across the NBA and the CBA, going back to his early days professionally, because he did take kind of that mentality to college. Going to Reno, his first Division I job, he did kind of create the new wave of the transfer portal. You look at the Martin twins when they first got to Reno, Jordan Caroline, they had a really strong team.

A big part of it was the way he built his roster. That was really unique across college basketball at that time. Now it’s really prevalent where teams are building their roster out of the portal.

That pro experience, bringing in a new way to think about college rosters to college basketball, was something that kind of gave him a head start and made him unique and gave him an opportunity to be really good really fast at Nevada Reno. I think he’s done a very similar thing at Arkansas, as well.”

On Muss going from an NBA coach to a college assistant:

Golden: “Yeah, I mean, I think it says a lot about him, that he was willing to do it. I think he was also smart and knew if he did it for a year or two, he would get a head job in college, as well.

Yeah, I think it does say a lot of about his personality that he’s willing to do that.”