Typically, when we think of roster building in the modern era, the transfer portal is a tool that can quickly fix any gaps in the roster. Todd Golden, for the most part, has been a master at navigating the portal, and it paid off with a national title in 2025 and an SEC regular-season title in 2026.
But one of the underrated components of roster building in 2026 is roster retention, and on Thursday, the Gators were able to retain two key cornerstones for the 2026-27 season before any transfer portal madness happens.
Florida retains Urban Klavzar and Boogie Fland
On Thursday, Florida announced that both Urban Klavzar and Boogie Fland would be returning for next season. When we highlighted who would and wouldn’t come back for Florida next year, we mentioned that Klavzar felt like a candidate who could get poached in the portal Denzel Aberdeen style, while Fland was a complete wildcard who could have gone a million different directions.
SEC Sixth Man of the Year Urban Klavžar will return to Florida next season.
— Florida Basketball Hour (@FloridaBBHour) March 26, 2026
He announced on his Instagram.
Big time retention day for the SEC Champions. pic.twitter.com/tySfSuO0ir
Running it back 🐊https://t.co/ClMFbnNvb1 pic.twitter.com/hBAr8dGN2a
— Boogie Fland (@BoogieFland) March 26, 2026
Retaining Fland and Klavzar basically ensures that Florida has three of its four main guards for next season, assuming Isaiah Brown also comes back, and that Golden just needs to find one elite guard in the portal to round out his backcourt.
Also, if you want to put on your Brian Windhorst hat, why would Klavzar and Fland announce so soon they are coming back with all the Golden rumors to UNC or Kansas floating around unless it means...
Klavzar, in particular, will be an interesting topic of conversation all offseason in terms of whether he is ready for starter’s minutes or not. Unless somehow Thomas Haugh returns for one last run, it’s doubtful we would see the Gators start just two guards, and they probably revert back to the three-guard look they had last season. But even with Fland, Klavzar, and Brown, Florida is still going to want a primary ball handler to run the offense.
The two biggest unknowns that remain for Florida are Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu, and Florida probably won’t get official answers on them until May, as we would assume both are going to go through the NBA Draft process and decide from there. That could also complicate Golden’s portal approach for the frontcourt.
But assuming Golden is staying, he at least has a starting point for what his 2026-27 roster is going to look like.