Florida Basketball: Back to Elite Status?

Florida basketball appears to finally be back to being a national frontrunner for

the first time since the Billy Donovan era and look poised to make a deep run in the

NCAA tournament. The Gators have one of the deepest rosters in the country and with

the return of Micah Handlogten, they are only getting deeper.

Led by standout transfer guards Walter Claton Jr. and Alijah Martin, Florida can run and score with anybody. The rest of the staring lineup is rounded out by entrenched starter and key contributor Will Richard, breakout star power forward Alex Condon, and defensive stalwart Rueben Chinyelu at Center.

These pieces allow the Gators to not only run you out of the building

but also, completely shut down anything you try to do offensively as well. Add in

consistent solid performances off the bench from players like Thomas Haugh, Denzel

Aberdeen, and Sam Alexis and you have arguably the best team in all of College

Basketball.

That is not to say that Florida is a team without flaw as the have had a game

each where they have been outscored in a shootout and a game where they were held

to only 44 points and completely stymied on the offensive end. The common

denominator with all three of their losses however, is that they all feel like one offs that

won’t happen again (their third loss being an uncharacteristic slow start that they

weren’t able to overcome against Missouri).

They have even shown to be capable of winning when put in all of these scenarios at other points during the season. With arguably the best resume of any team in the country, the Gators should be able to at minimum make a run to the Final Four and are potentially in a position to be the overall favorites to win the entire tournament come selection Sunday.