One of the key reasons the Florida Gators were able to march their way through March Madness, beyond Walter Clayton Jr. becoming immortal, was their depth of size that few other teams in college basketball could match. Even when shots weren't falling at the rate Todd Golden and company would have liked, the Gators always had an inside presence they could lean on until the guards got into gear.
It turns out the blueprint Golden built this past season translates to the NBA as well, and the new NBA champion OKC Thunder has a roster construction that looks similar to what Florida has built.
Florida and Oklahoma City are built on size inside
In modern basketball, the prototypical lumbering center has lost favor in exchange for a slightly smaller but more nimble guy who can also knock down a three-point shot at times.
Both Florida and OKC bucked that trend in 2024-25 with their roster construction, and both ended their season with a title.
For Florida, it was the rotation of Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten at the five/center and the rotation of Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh at the four that ensured Florida always had two big men on the court at all times.
It's not an accident that Florida finished 5th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage.
For OKC, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets all their headlines, but it was the addition of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein that gave the Thunder an identity that few other teams could match.
Both Holgren and Hartenstein come in at 7'1" and 7'0", respectively. During the playoff run for the Thunder, Indiana and Denver didn't have a single player 7'0" or taller. Minnesota had Rudy Gobert but no one else to back him up.
Memphis did have size but had too many other problems to keep up.
And if you are keeping score at home, OKC was 1st in the NBA in opponent shooting percentage inside
So, having big men doesn't automatically guarantee your season will end in a title, but Florida and OKC just provided a blueprint that having a cache of big men has value in the modern game.