Gators Frontcourt Taking Leadership Reins for Title Defense Season

For the Florida Gators, they largely relied upon the experience and maturity of Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard last season to help guide them to their first national championship since 2007. 

However, all three were out of eligibility following the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, meaning they had to pack their bags and head to the next level. With that, it left a seismic void for Florida to fill in the leadership department this summer. 

Fortunately for the Gators, they have a strong returning group of frontcourt players for the 2025-26 season that are proving to be steady replacements for this trio. 

"As those guys are maturing into this role, all four of those guys – specifically, Tommy (Haugh), Condo (Alex Condon), Rueben (Chinyelu) and Micah (Handlogten) – are doing a great job from a leadership perspective," Gators head coach Todd Golden said Monday. "My expectation and the rest of the staff’s 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.”

Florida is very fortunate to see both Haugh and Condon back in the Orange and Blue for another year. 

Both looked like they were league-bound after their individual sophomore breakout campaigns. Condon played himself into first-round discussions up until the postseason, while the buzz around Haugh only grew louder as the NCAA Tournament went on. 

As for Chinyelu and Handlogten, the view from the outside was always that they would return to Gainesville for the 2025-26 season, even with Chinyelu initially declaring for the draft. These two returnees should not be taken for granted, though, as each has taken positive strides in their development this offseason. 

"He's playing great right now, and as healthy as he's been in a long time," Golden said of Handlogten. "You can tell his confidence continues to grow. I think he's one of the best centers in America, I do."

In Chinyelu's case, it has been multiple areas of offensive game that have improved since the end of last year that have been turning heads. 

"I just see him getting more and more confident on the court and making quicker decisions on the block," Golden said. "His left shoulder jump hook has gotten close to the point of automatic. He's starting to counter a little more, but his passing and decision-making has really gone up a lot from last year." 

There is also a new wrinkle to how the Gators will be deploying Haugh.  

To start the year, Haugh is taking up a larger role on the wing compared to his work with bigs down low and in the middle of the court as the trailer in 2024-25. 

"Tommy is one of our best players," Golden said. "I think Tommy has the ability to go back and forth a little bit from playing on the wing or playing in the middle of the floor in the trail, and there's a lot of really positive tradeoffs for playing him in that spot."

With these four back in the mix and the new ideas being implemented, it is hard to imagine a stronger frontcourt rotation in the country based on experience and production. 

This core will have the chance to reintroduce themselves in the first game of the season against the Arizona Wildcats on Nov. 3 in Las Vegas.