Gators Have 'Embarrassment of Riches' in Frontcourt for Next Season

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The Florida Gators men's basketball team is doing something that doesn't happen that often nowadays: running out the same frontcourt from its national championship team from last season.

With Alex Condon returning and only losing one forward to the portal in reserve Sam Alexis, the Gators will have its same core-four frontcourt from last season in Condon, Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten.

"To be able to retain those four guys, it's almost like an embarrassment of riches, quite frankly," Associate Head Coach Carlin Hartman said while appearing on former Gators quarterback Shane Matthew's podcast. 

With this core group of players returning for another season under head coach Todd Golden, there is a growing sense that Florida can achieve what the 2006 and 2007 teams did. 

However, how the Gators managed it back then versus how they are doing it now are two different things. 

A reason why Florida will see a high number of familiar faces is because of NIL, and its ability to sway players away from the professional route.

"We are in a whole new era of college athletics with the NIL and the portal and freedom of movement and so forth," Hartman said. 

That is not the main factor in why they came back, though. These players also took in feedback from the scouts in pre-draft workouts as they prepared for the upcoming NBA Draft. These conversations led to their eventual returns. 

Haugh and Handlogten never declared for the draft, while Chinyelu and Condon returned after receiving feedback in the draft process.

Hartman also shared what he saw in these workouts for some of the frontcourt players. 

"Based off of what I've seen with Alex and Thomas when I went to their workouts, a ton of shooting from both of those guys," Hartman said. "Perimeter shots, being able to make those on a consistent basis."

This is an important area for both. While the duo improved upon their freshmen-year percentages from deep, they still will need to take another step forward as 3-point shooters. Condon ended last year as a 32.2 percent 3-point shooter, and Haugh was 33.3 percent from deep. 

In addition to becoming a better shooter, Hartman also mentioned Condon is working on his inside game. 

"For Alex, finishing in and around the rim," Hartman said. "Just having the confidence to finish through contact and finish off plays." 

The most notable thing about getting all of these guys back in the fold is that it allows Golden to continue to run his team how he likes to. Florida will play big and try to dominate the glass on both ends of the court.

Florida opens the 2025-26 season in Las Vegas on Nov. 3 against Arizona.

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