Swampcast breaks down Florida basketball players in 2025 NBA Draft, Florida football
The Sun’s Kevin Brockway and Noah Ram discuss Florida football, Florida basketball and where Walter Clayton Jr. could go in the NBA Draft
March Madness is nine months away. But at least one ESPN personality is high on the prospects of Florida basketball for the 2025-26 season.
ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi has the Florida Gators as the top overall seed in the 2026 Tournament in his latest bracketology projections released June 24.
Lunardi has Florda as the No. 1 seed in the East Region facing 16-seed Southeast Missouri State in Tampa, as Amalie Arena in Tampa will serve as a region host site in 2026. Florida has won eight straight NCAA Tournament games in its home state, with its last loss coming to Michigan State in Tampa on March 23, 2023 (68-46).
Florida returns two starters (forward Alex Condon and center Rueben Chinyelu) and standout sixth man forward Thomas Haugh from a team that went 36-4 and won its third national championship in school history. In addition, UF was active in the transfer portal, replenishing its backcourt by adding Arkansas transfer point guard Boogie Fland, Princeton transfer point guard Xaivian Lee and Ohio shooting guard A.J. Brown.
UConn is the last program to repeat as national champions in 2023 and 2024. Florida pulled it off with national championships in 2006 and 2007 after all five of UF’s starters chose to return to defend their crown.
It’s a different scenario this time for UF with only two starters and a key bench piece back. Florida basketball coach Todd Golden said the focus in the 2025-26 season will be to play up to the standard the program has set in his three seasons at the helm.
“We have a standard in our program now, and we have enough guys back that they know what it is,” Golden said, “I think they have enough ownership to have the desire to hold other guys to it.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com