SAN ANTONIO — College basketball has entered an era where shiny new toys get the headlines. The programs that are able to land the top players from the transfer portal are typically viewed as big offseason winners and, as a result, generate more buzz than others entering a new season.
Heading into this season, Florida was not one of those programs that generated a ton of offseason buzz, bringing in a recruiting class that ranked outside the top 60 in the nation and a transfer class that was listed as No. 35 overall in the country. The Gators were led by Walter Clayton, one of the top returning players in the SEC, but a guy who wasn’t on anyone’s NBA Draft radar. He and Will Richard, who was Todd Golden’s first-ever recruit at Florida, would attempt to get the Gators back on the national radar.
There were more questions than answers surrounding the Gators entering the season, with the main one being simple:
Would this be the breakthrough year for Todd Golden?
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Florida went 40-29 in the first two years of Golden’s tenure, which included a first-round upset to 10th-seeded Colorado in the opening round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Without a single win in the Big Dance, but solid roster continuity, Golden’s Gators were ranked No. 21 heading into this season after returning six of their top nine scorers, adding Alijah Martin from FAU, and looking like they could take the next step.
Fast-forward to Monday night in San Antonio, where Golden and the Gators jumped for joy with blue and orange confetti flying from the rafters to celebrate a national championship. It was a scene that would have been almost unfathomable when this marathon started in March.
But Florida’s first national title since 2007 serves as a great case of what staying committed to a process looks like. Of what having an analytics-based approach and fouling earlier than anybody else would have in an NCAA Tournament game in order to extend it looks like. Of not overhauling a roster after a disappointing ending, but instead, building upon it, relying on continuity and developing an unflappable identity in any and all situations.
“We’re in this position because we retained Walter [Clayton], Will [Richard], Alex [Condon], Tommy [Haugh] and Denzel [Aberdeen],” Golden said. “We were able to fit and bring in the right pieces. Now we’re at the point in our program where we want to recruit young guys that are high-character kids that want to be Gators, regardless of whether they’re playing a lot or not as a freshman. Then retaining, retaining, retaining is going to be huge.”
Retaining, retaining, retaining. It doesn’t win headlines in the offseason, but it won every headline that ultimately mattered on Monday night.
That unflappability is why the Gators are the last team standing in men’s college basketball after a 65-63 victory over Houston. It’s why Golden and his group made no excuses when their Big Dance draw came out, with the Gators facing a challenging path through a wicked West Region.
Golden’s team came back from 10 down to beat Texas Tech in the Elite Eight. They came back from a nine-point deficit to knock out SEC foe Auburn in the Final Four. And then, 48 hours later, they came back from being 12 down to beat Houston in the national championship game.
The Gators’ run was as improbable as it was magical, but their ability to close out games against the sport’s best is a reflection of their championship through a Final Four that delivered the lowest combined margin of points (11) in three games since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
“We didn’t have to pump those guys up. [We said] ‘let’s get back to being ourselves and do what we do,'” Golden said when asked about the 12-point deficit Florida faced with just over 16 minutes left in the game. “I was definitely concerned about the deficit, but at this point in the season, my guys don’t need those words of encouragement. It’s kind of embedded in our DNA. They did what they always do. They stepped up.”
Florida won despite not having a made field goal in the final 3:13. But the Gators out-defended a program that entered the night with the No. 1-ranked defense in America. They swarmed Houston with ball pressure, forcing four turnovers on as many possessions to close the game while shooting 5-of-6 from the line to seal it.
Was it pretty? No. But if you’re going to defeat the Cougars, you have to find a way to beat them at their own game, and that’s exactly what Florida did.
“That’s been a strength of ours all year long, was winning close games, but tonight we didn’t,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Give credit to Coach Golden and Florida. They’re a very worthy champion.”
Heading into Monday night’s title game, Houston was 33-0 when holding opponents to under 70 points. There’s now a one in the loss column after this result.
“This win is just a testament to who we are as a team,” Richard said. “I feel like we’re going to fight until the end and do whatever it takes to give ourselves a chance to win. It just goes back to how connected we are as a team. We all don’t have any quit.
“I feel like as long as there’s time on the clock, if we take it possession by possession, I just like our resiliency and how we fight through adversity throughout the game.”
With both Clayton and Martin struggling on Monday night, shooting a combined 5-for-20 from the field, it was others who stepped up for the Gators.
When it was 45-39 with 12:38 left, Haugh came up with a block, transition bucket and a finish with the foul. Aberdeen and Rueben Chinyelu both knocked down big free throws before Clayton tied the game. Condon cut the lead back to one with just over five minutes on the clock. Richard rotated defensively to force the ball off Sharp’s leg in the final minute before Clayton closed out on him to avoid a game-winning shot attempt even going up.
Golden called Houston the toughest program in America in his press conference on Sunday.
That’s the only thing the young coaching star was wrong about all season. Because for his team to come back from 12 down to defeat a program that was 30-1 in its last 31 games, well, if there’s a toughness crown, that belongs in Gainesville.
“These guys around me,” Clayton said as he pointed to his teammates, “my motto is that we all can go.
“I understand that if it ain’t my night, somebody is going to pick me up,” Clayton added. “We understand we are all just picking each other up throughout the year. We’ve been doing that all year. The way we won tonight, it’s just an exclamation mark on the year.”
Perhaps we should put exclamation marks in October and November when looking at rosters that have six of their top nine scorers back. Perhaps player development and roster retention still matter in this chaotic climate. If anything, it matters more than it ever did when a lot of programs are trying to accumulate talent before figuring out how it actually fits rather than doing it the other way.
But Golden bet on a couple of kids from Belmont, Iona, Florida Atlantic, Washington State and Marshall, among others.
“We have great guys that are unselfish and enjoy playing together,” Golden said. “Our staff has done a good job of defining roles so everybody understands their job to help us win.
“This has all been three years in the works. We’re very analytical in everything we do. We try to bridge that gap also of being analytical while also using a little bit of a human element to make some certain decisions. Life is not perfect. You want to give yourself the best chance to be successful and live with the results.”
The genius of Golden, the sacrifice of his players, and the heart and connectivity as a result of knowing what you’re supposed to do to be successful has led Florida to the mountaintop of the sport.
Life can be chaotic in college basketball. But having a process and having everyone on the same page can pay off in dividends, and, as a result, the life of the Gators is about as perfect as it can be after all, and the party has only just begun in Gainesville.
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.
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