College Basketball
Chomping The Hardcourt
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It’s been seven years since Florida Basketball finished with fewer than 10 losses. It’s been 11 years since the Gators won the SEC championship, and it felt like the Gators’ days as an elite basketball program were a thing of the past.
Then, Todd Golden and his Gators thumped Tennessee, 86-77, for their first SEC Championship since 2013.
UF entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the first time since Billy Donovan. It will finish with no more than five losses for only the third time in the last 50 years.
Florida went 16-17 in Golden’s first season, their second losing season since the turn of the millennium. Still, confidence in Golden’s direction never wavered despite obvious lack of experience at 36 years old. Todd Golden was six years younger than the youngest SEC coach at the time.
At the same time, Golden had three years of head coaching experience at San Francisco and had led the Dons to a 57-36 overall record (.613) before arriving in Gainesville. Golden credits Florida’s quick turnaround to acquiring talent that fit a certain strand he was developing in the halls of the O’Connell Center.
The Gators are approaching a hot stretch. They beat five top-25 teams over their last six games. Star guard Walter Clayton Jr. scored a minimum of18 points in five-straight outings, but Florida’s strengths go beyond the backcourt. This team possesses a deep and balanced roster that stands near the top of the national leaderboard in a number of statistical metrics.
Florida did not lose a non-conference game. All four of their losses were tournament-bound teams. Golden coaches a squad with a high floor and a high ceiling, which could be conducive to a deep run through the 68-team bracket.
Forwards Alex Condo. And Thomas Haugh are versatile bigs who score, rebound and pass at high levels. Center Rueben Chinyelu is part of a stout rim-protecting unit that teams struggle to score against. The Gators’ defense ranks No. 10 nationally (KenPom) in efficiency, and it surrenders 69 points per game — an impressive mark in an explosive SEC conference.
Golden has yet to advance beyond the first round of the NCAA Tournament in his three years. A deep run this postseason would be a breakthrough for the rising star on the sideline.
For the first time in more than a decade, the SEC will win the national championship on the hardwood. Florida is arguably college basketball’s hottest team and they’re coming off a tournament title in Nashville.
The Gators are playing well at the most crucial time. The Florida Gators have been one of the most consistent squads this season and their elite level of competition has paved a clear path to the Final Four. From there, it’s all about which team executes.
SEC Madness
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
March Madness is finally here! Selection Sunday just locked in the 68 teams for the 2025 NCAA Tournament, and the excitement is off the charts.
Back-to-back champ UConn is looking to make history with a three-peat, something we haven’t seen since John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty won seven straight from 1967 to 1973. But this time around, the Huskies aren’t the clear favorites after a tough regular season.
That opens the door for teams like Auburn, Duke, Florida, and Houston—powerhouses that have been rolling all year—to step up and take the crown.
Back in November, I wrote an article about the Southeastern Conference having nine ranked teams in the preseason Top 25. I wondered if it would even be possible for the 16 teams that make up the conference to end the regular season with as much fanfare as it began with.
Ever since then? The SEC has completely taken over college basketball. Coaches have been raving about just how brutal the competition has been. Coaches have called having to play within the conference everything from a gauntlet to a meat grinder. Georgia’s head coach, Mike White, summed it up by saying the SEC is “the best league in the history of college basketball.”
Turns out, they weren’t just talking. The SEC made history this year by sending 14 of those 16 teams to the NCAA Tournament—shattering the previous record of 11 set by the Big East in 2011.
With an 87.5% participation rate, it’s the highest percentage of teams from a single conference to ever make the tournament.
The only teams left out? South Carolina and my beloved LSU Tigers (at least there is always baseball!). Meanwhile, new conference members Texas and Oklahoma wasted no time proving they belong, both punching their tickets in their first year in the league.
But now, it’s time to back it up. Was this just a dominant regular season, or can the league turn this into something bigger?
Garth Glissman, the SEC’s associate commissioner for men’s basketball, knows the real challenge is just beginning. “Our regular season speaks for itself,” he told CBS Sports. “But that doesn’t guarantee anything in the postseason. We’ve got to take care of business.”
So, what does “taking care of business” actually look like? Do a certain number of SEC teams need to reach the Sweet 16? Does the conference need multiple Final Four teams? According to Glissman, there’s only one real goal: winning it all.
Of course, March Madness is unpredictable. Anything can happen. But for a conference that dominates in almost every other sport—football, women’s basketball, baseball—winning big in men’s hoops is the one thing that’s been missing. The last SEC team to cut down the nets? Kentucky, back in 2012.
“I’ll be the first to admit that in the SEC, ultimately, we’re measured by national championships,” Glissman said.
There are plenty of SEC teams capable of making a deep run. Auburn, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee are legit contenders, while a few others could sneak into the Final Four.
No matter what happens, the SEC owned the regular season. A 14-2 record in the ACC-SEC Challenge and a 59-19 record against high-major teams prove just how dominant the conference was this year.
Not long ago, the SEC was considered a football-first conference, with basketball playing second fiddle. From 2013 to 2016, the league had multiple seasons where only three teams made the tournament. But that’s changed in a big way. The SEC sent eight teams dancing in both 2023 and 2024, setting the stage for this year’s historic breakthrough.
Now, there’s only one thing left to prove. Can the SEC finish the job and bring home a national title? March Madness is about to give us the answer.
FSU Loucks
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After being formally introduced as Florida State’s men’s basketball head coach, Luke Loucks expressed pride and appreciation as he stood before a packed auditorium at Moore Athletic Center this Monday.
“It’s good to be home,” Loucks said at the start of his press conference.
Luke Loucks, a self-described storyteller, spoke about being a ‘part’ of Florida State. He and his wife, Stevi, were both student-athletes who met at FSU.
Loucks spoke about flying back into Tallahassee late Sunday night with their three young children. While Stevi was tearing up over returning ‘home’, her husband-FSU’s new head basketball coach- was welcoming his three children into the FSU lifestyle and continuing the legacy from a full time student to a full time employee.
This family remained attached to FSU before this career decision, they would return during NBA All-Star breaks and sometimes in the summer during Louck’s NBA coaching career. A permanent relocation marks a new chapter and endeavor for him and his family.
Loucks is excited to be coaching his alma mater at 34 years old, and understands this dream doesn’t happen to everyone. He does not take this opportunity for granted.
In reflecting on the hiring process and a series of interviews, or conversations, with Director of Athletics Michael Alford and FSU President Richard McCullough, he concluded each meeting with a career defining question – ‘Why?’ .
Why did Luke Loucks want to depart from a rising career as an NBA assistant to return to the college ranks and coach at Florida State?
“No. 1, there’s an emotional connection to Florida State,” Loucks said. “This place holds so many special memories for me.”
He is one of multiple members of his family with ties to FSU. He recalled as a little kid a family gathering for FSU football’s 1993 national championship victory. A core memory for any Nole fan at that age.
As a young man and a player at FSU, he spoke of meeting his wife ’40 feet’ to the right of the podium where addressed a gathering of media, administration, and others with ties to FSU.
He obviously had a great deal of success on the court along with his teammates.
He spoke of the school’s most recent football national championship and the pride it brought him after having played his career there (2008-12).
After a handful of years playing professionally, and it taking him around the world, he entered into coaching.
His laundry list of basketball coaching influences includes plenty from -Steve Kerr, Mike Brown and Leonard Hamilton to name a few. It’s clear many of the influences trace back to his time as a Seminole. As a young coach, he leaned on those who guided him in that same role during his time at FSU. He brought up folks behind the scenes tied to FSU hoops instrumental in his basketball coaching journey.
Present day as a young parent, he said that he and his wife have spoken to their children about ‘how cool it is to be a part of the Florida State community’. This is while putting them to bed wearing FSU pajamas.
For the entirety of his 34 years, FSU has played a role in Loucks life. It is part of every bit of his being and every chapter of his story.
That all being said, the other portion of his ‘Why’ is because at his core, he is someone who loves a challenge and believes he can succeed in things he is passionate about.
“I’m pretty competitive. I can’t turn it off. I want to win. I want to win everywhere I go,” Loucks said, adding that the personality trait goes well beyond the basketball court.
“So career-wise I want to be around the best. The reality is Florida State in the athletic community is one of the best brands in the world. Again, I’ve seen what it feels like to win at Florida State and I want to be a part of that. I want to lead.”
The 34-year old first-time collegiate head coach didn’t shy away from the idea of success. As the press conference winded down after more than 50 minutes at the podium for Loucks, he was asked about his playing days and those FSU teams he was a part of exceeding expectations – blowing out North Carolina, winning at Duke, earning an ACC Championship, NCAA Tournament bids, etc. He is familiar with his new territory. He knows the gold standards in the ACC on the hardwood.
He knows the tough task of turning FSU into more than expected in basketball. He isn’t shying away from it, because he simply can’t. He isn’t wired that way. That isn’t who he is or what he is.
Luke Louchs is a Basketball junky. Let’s see how he fills the shoes that Coach Hamilton left him.
SEC Survival Time
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The last time an SEC team won the men’s college basketball national championship was Kentucky in 2012.
The last team to play in the national championship game was Kentucky in 2014.
Obviously, the Wildcats are the most successful program in the conference. This season the SEC has been the best basketball conference in the nation. Let’s take a look at the top teams as they head into the SEC Tournament.
# 3 Auburn: The Tigers (27-4) lost their season finale to archrival #5 Alabama 93-91 over the weekend.
They also lost to Texas A&M before that so they are on a two-game losing streak.
Despite that, they are still the top seed in the SEC Tournament. The top four seeds have a bye for the first two rounds of the tournament.
They are led by veteran head coach Bruce Pearl. Pearl was the head coach at Tennessee from 2005-11. He took over at Auburn in 2014 and they did reach the Final Four once in the 2018-19 season. They are led by senior forward Johni Broome. He averages 18.6 points per game and 10.6 assists per game.
They will face the winner of Ole Miss and South Carolina/Arkansas.
# 4 Florida: The Gators (27-4) are the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Head coach Todd Golden is in his third season in Gainesville and they have improved every year. Last year they made it to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed and lost in the round of 64.
This season they have a chance to be a No. 1 seed, which would make the path to the Final Four much easier.
The team’s leading scorer is senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. with 17.2 ppg. Sophomore forward Alex Condon leads the team with 8 rpg and 11.4 ppg.
They will face the winner of Mizzou and LSU/Miss State.
# 5 Alabama: The Crimson Tide (24-7) have been good at basketball for the last few years. That’s because of head coach Nate Oats, who was hired in 2019.
They made it to the NCAA Tournament in four of the last five seasons. They went to the Final Four last year and the Sweet 16 twice.
Senior guard Mark Sears averages 19.2 ppg and 5 apg. Senior forward Grant Nelson averages 12.1 ppg and 7.9 rpg. Bama is the third seed so they will play the winner of Kentucky and Oklahoma/Georgia.
# 8 Tennessee: The Vols (25-6) are the fourth SEC team ranked in the top ten. They are a very good team but they are inconsistent. They have been swept by Kentucky and have lost to Vanderbilt and Ole Miss. Florida beat them by 30 points in early January. They got revenge in February when they beat them by 20.
Head coach Rick Barnes has been in Knoxville since 2015. He’s led the Vols to the NCAA Tournament six times. They advanced the Elite Eight last season and they have been to the Sweet 16 twice.
Senior guard Chaz Lanier averages 17.9 ppg. Senior guard Zakai Zeigler is the second leading scorer with 13.1 ppg. Tennessee is the fourth seed and they will face Texas A&M or Texas/Vanderbilt.
# 15 Texas A&M: The Aggies (22-9) had a four-game losing streak before winning the final two games of the season. One of those wins was against Auburn. They are the fifth seed and will play the winner of Vandy/Texas.
The New Chief?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Florida State men’s basketball head coach Leonard Hamilton made the announcement earlier in the month that his long career at FSU will officially conclude with the end of the 2024-25 season.
FSU is now in search of the program’s eighth head basketball coach after the head of their dynasty resigns.
While I don’t consider the below a hot board, I do believe several of these names mentioned could be near the top of the list as the hiring process begins:
The first name played for Hamilton and helped the program win an ACC Championship in 2012, former guard Luke Loucks.
Loucks is currently an assistant with the Sacramento Kings. Loucks has worked in the NBA for several years also having stints with the Suns and Warriors doing a variety of jobs as he has worked his way up the ranks. He was a part of multiple NBA Championship squads as a coach with the Warriors.
He has worked on the international basketball scene as well, most recently with Nigeria.
He played internationally in Germany, Belgium, Cypress, and Latvia, as well as spending some time in the NBA Developmental League.
He is a Florida native and has a good understanding of the current environment surrounding the program.
The second name is a former Seminole and member of the FSU Hall of Fame, Sam Cassell. Cassell was drafted 24th overall in the 1993 NBA Draft out of FSU. He played for eight different teams during his 15-year career. He was selected to the NBA All-Star Game and All-NBA Team once, both in the 2003–04 season.
The former NBA point guard, who is originally from Baltimore, is currently an assistant coach for the Celtics. He has also had extended coaching stints with the Wizards Clippers and 76ers.
Cassell has won NBA Championships as a player, multiple times, and as an assistant coach.
Both former players have been around FSU in recent years and have connected with current Athletics.
Third on my list, a huge piece of FSU’s best years under Hamilton, former assistant coach Dennis Gates.
While Alan Huss is only in his second season as the head coach of High Point, he could be a very intriguing option. He led the Panthers to a regular season conference title and the championship game of the CBI during his first year.
In year two, he’s got his team in second place in the Big South. While he can improve as a coach on the defensive end, Huss’ squad currently ranks No. 27 in adjusted offensive efficiency on KenPom after rating among the top 40 last season.
No, he’s not recruited to the ACC before, but Huss was known as an ace recruiter during his time as an assistant at Creighton. Additionally, he knows the landscape of the loaded prep academies as well as any coach out there after helping to build La Lumiere (Ind.) into a national power.
There are definitely more candidates than I’ve listed above. Hamilton constructed five straight, NCAA Tournament teams from 2016-21.
In my opinion, he is the best basketball coach in FSU history, leaving big shoes to fill for his successor.
Leaving The Tribe
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Florida State men’s basketball coach Leonard Hamilton is resigning after the Seminoles’ season, ending one of the winningest tenures in ACC history.
Hamilton’s 434 wins over 22+ seasons are the most in program history and the fifth ever in ACC records.
The only four ahead of Hamilton: Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Dean Smith and Roy Williams and Maryland’s Gary Williams.
Hamilton, 76, took over the Seminoles in March 2002 after stints as the head coach at Miami, Oklahoma State and the Washington Wizards.
His Florida State career includes a dozen 20-win seasons, eight NCAA Tournament appearances and three ACC coach of the year awards.
He peaked late in his tenure. His 2018 team went to the Elite Eight. The next season, Hamilton led the Seminoles to a school-record 29 games and the Sweet 16 — only the second time ever that Florida State had back-to-back Tournament runs that deep.
Hamilton’s 2020 team was even better; they won the ACC’s regular season title and, at 26-5, was expected to be a national championship contender before March Madness was canceled due to COVID-19.
The program has slipped since 2020. The Seminoles are 56-62 since the start of the 2021-22 season.
On Saturday, Florida State blew an 8-point lead in the final minute to lose 77-76 at Boston College. It was the Eagles’ second conference victory and dropped Florida State to 13-9 overall (4-7 ACC).
University president Richard McCullough called Hamilton “one of the most respected and beloved ambassadors of FSU.”
Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said, “Coach Hamilton’s personal character and integrity, and his leadership, set a tremendous standard for all of FSU Athletics Few people have been as important in building the positive reputation of Seminole Athletics. FSU’s stature as one of the leading brands in college sports has been possible, in part, to his leadership of our men’s basketball program. He steadily developed a culture of excellence that reflects his personal values: commitment to academic success, competitive success, community service, leadership, and ongoing personal excellence. The success of the men who have been part of our basketball program is proof of that legacy.”
In late December, six former players sued Hamilton in Leon County circuit court, saying he failed to fulfill $250,000 in promised name, image and likeness money per player. Hamilton has not yet filed a response in court.
With Hamilton’s pending resignation, the ACC’s old guard is officially gone.
Add Hamilton — the oldest active coach in men’s college basketball — to the storied list of coaches who have retired from the ACC since the end of the 2020-21 season: Roy Williams, Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Mike Brey, Tony Bennett, and Jim Larrañaga. That doesn’t even include Hall of Famer Rick Pitino, who was fired by Louisville a month before the start of the 2017-18 season.
Hamilton’s departure means that the longest-tenured coach in the league is now Clemson’s Brad Brownell, who is midway through his 15th season with the Tigers. Is Hamilton’s retirement the nail in the coffin for how College Basketball used to be? Is this the dawn of a new era?
While Hamilton never reached the Final Four in 37 seasons as a head coach, he did take the Seminoles to only their third Elite Eight in program history, while also establishing Tallahassee as a legitimate professional breeding ground.
From 2016 to 2021, Hamilton had six players selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, including top-10 selections Jonathan Isaac (No. 6 in 2017), Patrick Williams (No. 4 in 2020), and Scottie Barnes (No. 4 in 2021).
This announcement leaves a lot of questions that will hopefully be answered soon.
Not Just For Football
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Preseason chatter suggested that as many as 11 SEC schools could make the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
While it’s too early to confirm or dispute that bold prediction, recent rankings hint at the conference’s strength.
Currently, nine SEC programs are listed in the latest NCAA Men’s Top 25 basketball rankings:
No. 4 Auburn
No. 7 Tennessee
No. 8 Kentucky
No. 9 Alabama
No. 18 Florida
No. 19 Arkansas
No. 20 Texas A&M
No. 23 Ole Miss
No. 25 Mississippi State
No other conference boasts more than six teams in the Top 25, underlining the SEC’s depth. Still, claiming it as the strongest league isn’t a given.
The Big 12, while having fewer ranked teams, features three in the top seven: No. 1 Kansas, No. 5 Iowa State, and No. 6 Houston.
As the season unfolds, on-court performances will ultimately determine which conference reigns supreme.
So far, though, the SEC has been dominant, posting a collective 77-10 record with notable wins over powerhouses like Houston, Baylor, Duke, Ohio State, and Illinois.
While this doesn’t guarantee Final Four representation in April, it underscores the league’s potential to send teams deep into the tournament.
The red-hot Kentucky Wildcats are off to a 5-0 start, jumping three spots to No. 8 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
While they haven’t received first-place votes, they’re building momentum after commanding wins over Lipscomb and Jackson State. The Wildcats now prepare for tougher opponents, with matchups against Western Kentucky, Georgia State, Clemson, Ohio State, and Gonzaga in the weeks ahead.
Auburn remains the SEC’s top-ranked team at No. 4, followed by Tennessee at No. 7, making Kentucky the conference’s third highest-ranked squad. Overall, the SEC has an impressive four teams in the Top 10, part of the nine in the Top 25.
Closer to home, the Georgia Bulldogs rebounded from a tough loss to No. 15 Marquette with a thrilling 66-63 victory over No. 22 St. John’s at the Imperial Arena in Nassau, Bahamas.
This marked Georgia’s first win against a ranked opponent since January 2023, when they defeated No. 22 Auburn, and their first ranked non-conference win since December 2021 against No. 18 Memphis.
Freshman standout Asa Newell led the Bulldogs with 18 points and five rebounds, while sophomore guard Silas Demary Jr. added 15 points, including two clutch free throws to seal the win.
Graduate guard Tyrin Lawrence contributed 11 points and a season-high nine rebounds, nearly achieving a double-double.
The Bulldogs return to Athens to host Jacksonville on Saturday, Nov. 30, at Stegeman Coliseum, tipping off at 7 p.m.
As the season progresses, the SEC’s early success suggests it will be a league to watch when March rolls around.
Hardcourt Sting
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The college basketball season just started so I suppose anything can happen the remainder of the season.
We’re only five games in for Georgia Tech but I do have to wonder, are they cooked? If you are not aware that’s slang to say “struggling” or “done for”. Why would I pose that question so early on?
Last season was Damon Stoudamire’s first season as the head coach in Atlanta. If you are not aware he’s a former NBA player. He played at Arizona from 1991-95 where he was a consensus First-Team All-American (1995), Pac-10 Player of the Year (1995) and three-time First-Team All-Pac-10 (1993-95). He was drafted 7th overall in the 1995 NBA Draft and he’s the first pick in the Toronto Raptors franchise history. He was NBA Rookie of the Year (1996) and he played in the NBA from 1995-2008.
I love to see former players become coaches. He was an assistant coach in the NBA for many years and he was also an assistant at Arizona. He got his first head coaching job at Pacific in 2016 and coached there until 2021.
During his time there he had one winning season and a 71-77 overall record. He returned to the NBA to be an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics from 2021-23.
That is a lot of basketball knowledge and experience that he can pass on to players. Also, it should help with recruiting since he played and coached at the highest level. So, has it translated thus far? Last season the Yellow Jackets were 14-18. So far they are 2-3. It does not look like this is resonating.
All of their games so far have been at home at McCamish Pavilion.
The season started with an 85-62 win over West Georgia. They lost the second game to North Florida 105-93. Losing to the Ospreys is not a great look.
They followed it up by beating Texas Southern 81-62. Tech has lost their last two games to Georgia and #18 Cincinnati. The most recent game against the Bearcats was an 81-58 blowout. Cincy had a 45-29 lead going into halftime.
“From the jump Cincinnati just did a good job of bringing the game to us. I didn’t think that we matched any of their energy on the initial,” said Stoudamire. “A lot of the execution you can’t get to in a game because of the way the game was being played on the initial. I thought we played hard in the first half in spurts, but we couldn’t put enough good minutes together. And every time we would get things withing striking distance, something would happen. We turned the ball over. A lot of live-ball turnovers, a lot of indecision. Things that we had talked about, but you’ve got to give them (Cincinnati) credit as well.”
Tech has four players that average double digits in scoring; Baye Ndongo, Javian McCollum, Lance Terry and Kowacie Reeves Jr.
They have two more home games against Charleston Southern and Central Arkansas. On paper those should be easy wins but I’m sure they thought that about North Florida.
In December they play at Oklahoma, at #12 North Carolina, Northwestern (neutral site), UMBC, #11 Duke, Alabama A&M and Boston College. In these next nine games I think the Yellow Jackets have to go 7-2 in order to set themselves in the mix to make the NCAA tournament.
I’m not sure they will do that but we will see.
Golden Future
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
With the 2023-24 basketball season in the rear view, Florida coach Todd Golden and his assistants will now turn their attention to the transfer portal and adding more pieces to the roster for next year.
The Gators must replace graduate transfers Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel and will have at least one more scholarship opening to fill. Here’s a look at UF’s returning roster and recruiting needs for 2024-25.
Priority No. 1 for Golden is recruiting Walter Clayton Jr. back to Florida for his senior year. He was the team’s top playmaker this season, hitting several clutch 3-pointers and leading the Gators in scoring at 17.6 points per game, ranked No. 5 in the SEC.
Clayton also had the fifth-best single-season scoring total (633 points) in Gator history. His return for 2024-25 would help maintain Florida’s high-powered offense and give Coach Golden a dynamic shooter to attract a top point guard in the portal.
Clayton plans to make a decision on his future after taking some time to weigh his options on declaring early for the 2024 NBA Draft or returning to UF.
Will Richard returns at the 3-spot as a senior, which will be his third year in the starting lineup for Florida. He averaged 11.4 points in 2023-24 up from 10.4 a year ago and had a few standout performances, including a pair of 23-point games in home wins over Alabama and Mississippi State.
Florida’s backcourt could also bring back Denzel Aberdeen and Riley Kugel for their junior years and Kajus Kublickas as a sophomore. Kugel has decided to transfer, no surprise especially after Kugel was relegated from a starting job to a backup position.
The Gators lose one of their two starters in Samuel, but sophomore center Micah Handlogten has a long rehab process ahead of him. He will spend the offseason recovering from a fractured lower left leg in the SEC Tournament final.
Golden didn’t have a timetable on Handlogten’s return after his injury.
The 7-foot-1 Handlogten was one of the best rebounders in the country this season, ranking in the top five nationally for offensive rebounding percentage (17.8%). He had four double-doubles, including a 23-point, 17-rebound performance vs. Georgia, and averaged 3.5 points and 6.9 rebounds.
Florida’s frontcourt returns Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh. They outperformed their recruiting rankings (although On3 did rate Condon as a four-star and the nation’s No. 124 overall prospect).
Condon, an SEC-All Freshman selection, led the league’s freshmen in rebounding (6.4) and blocked shots (45). He also averaged twice as many points (7.7) as Handlogten and more minutes played (20.3). Haugh averaged 3.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 14.7 minutes.
.The Gators lose at least three scholarship players in seniors Pullin, Samuel and Julian Rishwain. One of those scholarships goes to 2024 signee Isaiah Brown, a four-star shooting guard.
Golden and the coaching staff will look to fill the other two roster openings with a point guard and big man from the portal. Finding a replacement for Pullin will be another top priority.
Given the uncertainty of Handlogten’s status and when he’ll be available, it’s also important for UF to land an impact power forward to join the frontcourt of Condon, Haugh and Szymczyk.
After Pullin posted one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the nation and Samuel led the SEC in field goal percentage, Florida will be able to sell point production on the transfer market.
The Gators also need to improve defensively, so it will be key for Golden and his staff to add some transfers who are strong defenders and can make a difference on that end of the court.
Coach Golden has built a culture that players like and a style of basketball fans enjoy watching. He has the Gators on the right path to be top program in the SEC and the country.
Gator Basketball fans: the future is Golden.
Final Four
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The college basketball season will be over by next week. The 2024 Final Four is this weekend in Glendale, Arizona and we are going to take a look at those matchups.
The first game is No. 11 NC State vs No. 1 Purdue. This is a matchup of a Cinderella team versus a dominant team that’s expected to be here.
The Wolfpack (26-14) are the lowest seed remaining and this is their first Final Four since 1983. They would not have advanced this far if they did not win the ACC Tournament.
They beat Duke 76-64 in the Elite Eight to get here.
The 6-foot-9, 275-pound DJ Burns scored a season-high 29 points on 13-of-19 shooting and DJ Horne had 20 points.
“These guys are so special,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Nine elimination games or you go home.”
“I’ll say like I’ve been saying the whole tournament. When I stop having fun with basketball, I’ll stop playing,” said Burns, who was voted the South Region’s most outstanding player. “There’s just been a total switch in our commitment. Nobody’s being late to things. Nobody’s being a problem on the court. Everybody’s come together.”
They head to Glendale with the most losses ever for a Final Four team. Now they will face 7-foot-4 All-American Zach Edey and the Boilermakers (33-4). He averages 25 points per game and 12.2 rebounds per game.
NC State is a great story but I believe their run will end in this game.
The game is No. 4 Alabama (25-11) against No. 1 UConn (35-3). This is the Crimson Tide’s first Final Four appearance in program history. This is very impressive because they beat top seed North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen, 89-87.
They beat 6 seed Clemson 89-82 to get here. Mark Sears made seven 3-pointers in the game and the team made a total of 16 threes.
“Man, just feeling a lot of emotion,” said Sears, the only Alabama native on the team. “Being from the state of Alabama and to do it with this group of guys, it’s amazing.”
He finished with 23 points and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region.
Freshman Jarin Stevenson airballed a couple of 3s in the first half and Alabama missed 12 of its first 13 from downtown. He ended up making a career-high five 3s and had 19 points off the bench.
“We don’t win this game without him,” Sears said. “Jarin hit 3 after 3 after 3 and kept us in this ballgame. He was huge.”
“I live for those moments. This is what March Madness is about,” Sears said. “When you’re a kid, you want to be in these moments. It feels like my dream came true today. My dream definitely came true today.”
The Huskies have been steamrolling through teams in the tournament and they have not lost a game since February 20. The closest margin of victory was 17 points against No. 9 Northwestern.
UConn is looking to repeat as champions and the media has already crowned them. They are very good but any team can be defeated. With that said, I do expect the Huskies to win and advance to the championship game.
