If you need an excuse today to change the conversation with relatives you awkwardly see once a year, the Florida Gators will take on TCU at 3 PM in San Diego as part of the Rady Children's Invitational. The winner of this game will take on the winner of Providence vs. Wisconsin on Friday.
Florida should be the favorite to go 2-0 and walk away with the title, but all three other teams are top 80 KenPom teams, with Wisconsin coming in at No. 24.
And given some question marks continuing to follow Florida, these are the three biggest storylines to follow.
How long of a leash will Xaivian Lee get?
Even though Florida is No. 10 in the polls and No. 6 in KenPom, there is this lingering feeling that the Gators are a flawed team because of their guard play. Boogie Fland has at least shown flashes here and there of why he was such a highly coveted player out of the transfer portal, but there is no getting around the fact that Xaivian Lee has been a massive disappointment.
At the core of his struggles has been his inability to shoot from deep. Throw in that he seems to want to add one too many skill move attempts when he dribbles, and he has just adjusted to the SEC out of the Ivy League.
With Urban Klavzar's shooting starting to come around, one has to wonder how much more runway Lee is going to get before the plug gets pulled.
Will Wisconsin serve as a matchup problem for Florida?
Florida is 4-1 despite the shaky guard play because none of their last four opponents have been able to match their size. Florida is once again a dominant rebounding team and is 2nd in the country in offensive rebounding percentage, collecting an astounding 46.1% of their own misses.
Should Florida and Wisconsin both win (or lose) and meet up on Friday, the Badgers are one of the few teams in the country that have the size to potentially match the Gators.
And while Wisconsin isn't an elite rebounding team, they are still top 50 in both offensive and defensive rebounding.
How might the back-to-back games impact Thomas Haugh?
The early-season MVP for Florida has been Thomas Haugh, and there is a reason why he is being viewed as a potential lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
But one thing to consider is that these two games in San Diego will be on back-to-back days, and Haugh has played some massive minutes this season.
He played 38 minutes against Arizona and FSU, and he played 36 minutes against Miami.
36+ minutes on back-to-back days might be a tough ask and will be something worth keeping an eye on in the Friday game.