![Florida head coach Todd Golden celebrates his 100th win and beating Mississippi State 108-77 with Florida center Rueben Chinyelu (9) and the rest of the team after an NCAA mens basketball game at Steven C. O'Connell Center Exactek arena in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_195,w_2666,h_1499/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01kkxzvkh2v7kz3v539q.jpg "Florida head coach Todd Golden celebrates his 100th win and beating Mississippi State 108-77 with Florida center Rueben Chinyelu (9) and the rest of the team after an NCAA mens basketball game at Steven C. O'Connell Center Exactek arena in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
The beauty of March Madness is that it gains the attention of Florida Gator fans everywhere who may not have followed the ins and outs of the regular season. While Florida sold out the O’Dome all season long, there are sure to be plenty of fans who may be tuning in for the first time this season.
We here at Hail Florida Hail are here to welcome everyone who wants to jump aboard and highlight some things that have changed with Florida since winning the national title last season.
So, Florida is pretty good again this season?
They are, though it has not been as dominant a regular season as they had last year. Florida is a No. 1 seed, and they did win the regular season title in the SEC, something they hadn’t done since 2014. But the Gators dropped three high-profile non-conference games and dropped a couple of other head scratchers throughout the year (Auburn, Missouri, and TCU).
How is Walter Clayton Jr. doing this season?
Well, he is gone, as are the other three main guards Florida had last year (Will Richard, Alijah Martin, and Denzel Aberdeen). Florida replaced them in the offseason with transfers Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee, as well as Urban Klavzar and Isaiah Brown getting expanded roles.
Fland and Lee struggled quite a bit during the non-conference, but their game has come around over the last six weeks and was a big reason why Florida surged into a No. 1 seed.
What is Florida’s strength this year?
The good news for Florida, and big reason why they are still national title contenders, is that all their big men from last year returned.Â
Thomas Haugh has morphed into a 1st round pick in the NBA Draft, Alex Condon has started to look like a star over the last few weeks, and Rueben Chinyelu has entered the conversation for best defensive player in all of college basketball.
One of the reasons why the floor for Florida is so high is that they are on pace to be an all-time rebounding team. The Gators are the second-best offensive rebounding team in the country and the 8th best defensive rebounding team.
Didn’t Florida just lose, though, in the SEC Tournament?
They did to Vanderbilt, but that might not mean as much as one thinks. Five of the last ten national champions lost in the semifinal round of their respective conference tournament.
If I want to sound smart, who is the X-Factor name I should bring up?
Urban Klavzar has a solid chance of saving the day for Florida at some point in this tournament. After essentially getting benched in the tournament last season, Klavzar has morphed into a three-point machine this year and is shooting 40.2% from three.
The Gators are going to need him to step up at some point because Florida as a whole is shooting just 30.8% from three, which is 324th in the country.
What are Florida’s biggest roadblocks to going back to the Final Four?
The Gators will open play in Tampa on Friday. They will first face the winner of Lehigh and Prairie View A&M, who face each other on Wednesday in the First Four. Barring an all-time upset, Florida would then face the winner of Clemson vs. Iowa. Both of those teams can create resistance, but it would still require a huge upset for Florida to lose.
The Sweet 16 is where things start to get interesting. Barring upsets, Florida would take on either Nebraska or Vanderbilt. The Cornhuskers have been a bit of a surprise this season, but they struggle to defend the paint, and they aren’t a great rebounding team. Vanderbilt has been a thorn in Florida’s side this season, and the Gators would probably prefer not to face them again.
If the Gators make it to the Elite Eight, they would face either Houston or Illinois, barring upsets. Both of those would present their own set of challenges and are seen as the biggest threats to knock off Florida in the South Region.
Wait, isn’t the South Region in Houston?
It is.
And they would have to play Houston in Houston?
Yeah.... That’s just how things broke this season. But the good news is that Vegas odds still favor the Gators to make it out of the region and back to the Final Four.
Well, when does March Madness start for Florida?
The Gators will get a late start, and their opening tip-off is at 9:25 PM on Friday in Tampa.