Last year, as Florida marched its way to a national title, one of the key glue guys on the team was Alijah Martin. In various behind-the-scenes looks of the Gators, most Florida players seemed to have a mindset of “Man, it sure is neat we are winning,” whereas Martin had a mindset of “Why are we happy? We haven’t accomplished anything yet.” Martin’s previous Final Four experience proved invaluable as Florida had to grind out multiple razor-close finishes to ultimately cut down the nets.
Martin and the rest of Florida’s guards from last year are gone, but the frontcourt is back and the expirence they gained last year is evident in their mindset this year.
Rueben Chinyelu isn’t thinking about last year
Florida made light work of Prairie View A&M for the second-largest beatdown in NCAA Tournament history. After the game, Rueben Chinyelu was asked whether he felt Florida made a statement on Friday night and whether he buys into the notion Florida is “the team to beat,” given the Gators are defending champions.
Chinyelu is trying to take things one game at a time:
"I would say defending champion, that's history. I would say like everybody could be on the same page as me telling that we don't care about that one. That one is gone. This is a new team, so we're just going out there because the championship is right there to grab.
So we're just taking each game at a time, going out there, knowing we need to step out there, play your game, enjoy each moment. And it's one game at a time, so we just take it one game at a time. Baby step, move, move, so once you step, you move. That's I think our mindset.
Past championship is back in history, so we're trying to do something, play together, enjoy the moment, create memories, and I think our mindset is just take it a game at a time."
To Chinyelu’s point, only two teams since 1993 have gone back-to-back in March Madness (Florida in 2007 and UConn in 2024). And while Florida’s blowout win was impressive and 58% of teams that have won a game by at least 40 points in the NCAA Tournament have gone on to make the Final Four, there are other famous examples like Kansas in 1998, winning by 58 points in their opening game only to turn around and lose to Rhode Island.
And this is a new team because of the replacement of the guards. Even for guys like Chinyelu and Thomas Haugh, they are now the driving forces for the team rather than being complementary pieces.
Florida is five wins away from another national title, but they are also one loss away from the dream of going back-to-back disappearing. And as long as they keep their eyes on the present rather than the past, Gator fans should have confidence this squad is going to be locked in until the final buzzer goes off.