WATCH: Todd Golden talks UF's first practice, returning bigs, new guards

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The championship banner is hanging in the O’Dome. Preseason camp has officially started. And in just over 40 days, Todd Golden and the Florida Gators will begin the quest to defend their 2025 title.

Only six programs have repeated as national champs, including UF (2006-07). The Gators will play two of those schools — Duke (1991-92) and UConn (2023-24) — in non-conference play along with Kentucky (1948-49).

While the goal is to go back-to-back, Golden isn’t emphasizing that with this year’s team.

“We don’t have our whole starting five back,” Golden said. “Obviously, we have guys who played a huge role on that team and the expectation, for them, that’s the goal. At the same time, we have some transfers and young guys that we’re trying to get in there. That’s not the same expectation for them. They were not part of that team, right? So, on a macro level our goal is to win again, but with this team specifically we’re not talking a lot about repeating, but we are talking about doing everything we can to play deep into March.”

The Gators return their top frontcourt players in Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu, Thomas Haugh and Micah Handlogten. Starting bigs Condon and Chinyelu withdrew from the 2025 NBA Draft to return to school. Condon will become more of stretch 4 this season and shoot 3-pointers, while Chinyelu wants to expand his offensive game and Golden said his “left shoulder jump hook has gotten close to the point of automatic.”

Haugh will be starting at the 3 and Golden said he “has proven the ability to be a good wing” offensively and boasts “incredible length and athleticism” to play defense. After coming off a leg injury last year, Handlogten is in the best shape of his life and Golden called him one of the top centers in America. “He is the best I’ve ever seen him,” Condon said of Handlogten.

“The four big guys coming back I like a lot,” Golden said. “It’s kind of the maturation of this group. Last year, everybody knows, our backcourt – Walt, Will and Alijah – were kind of the heartbeat. They were tough, mature and they led us. But our frontcourt was fantastic all last year and kind of flew under the radar as impact scorers and such great players. But now, as those guys are maturing into this role.

“All four of those guys – specifically, Tommy, Condo, Rueben and Micah – are doing a great job from a leadership perspective. Their energy and enthusiasm has been great. Even at the beginning of the summer, they came back with an awesome mentality. So, my expectation is for them to lead the way for the rest of the guys in terms of the work ethic and what the expectation is for practice every day.”

The Gators revamped their backcourt with the addition of top-100 transfer guards Boogie Fland, Xaivian Lee and AJ Brown, the older brother of UF guard Isaiah Brown. Florida also signed a pair of top-40 overall recruits in CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd, who “has been a bright spot” according to Golden. He also revealed how Fland and Lee will split ball-handling duties.

“Off misses, we don’t really care. They both have the freedom if they get the rebound to bring it. Off dead balls, we’ll probably have Boogie bring it to start, just from an organizational standpoint, but when he’s not in the game, Xaivian will bring it,” Golden said. “It’s the benefit of having two guys that can play the position.

“I think Boogie will trigger a lot of our dead ball or half-court stuff, but Xaivian is more than capable. Honestly, having him off the ball to start and running different things for him out of the corner like we would do for Alijah last year, getting him downhill, going right, I think will really be good for our team. That’s where we’re at right now, but we got 42 days to see where it is before we play Arizona.”

The Gators open their 2025-26 season in Las Vegas on Nov. 3 against Arizona.