As Todd Golden looks to assemble his roster for the 2025/26 season to defend Florida's national title, there has been one spot of intrigue when mapping out a potential starting five. This season, Florida leaned on three guards who rotated for each other, along with Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh playing the 4, with Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten playing the 5.
There are still some NBA Draft things that need to be cleared up with Condon and Chinyelu, and Florida has been scouring the transfer portal to replace their guards, but Golden this week hinted at a role for Haugh that many had wondered if he would take on.
Florida could have an NBA lineup with Haugh
Appearing on The Field of 68 podcast, Golden talked about the potential makeup of Florida's lineup in 2025/26 and when talking about Haugh he hinted at a new role for him:
"But he's a guy that's really maturing into a complete player, you know, has the ability to score obviously both inside and he's stretching it out from three. He play makes well, he can really pass for a frontcourt player, and we're going to play him more at the three this year."
"Xaivian Lee is an elite offensive player. He performs equally well against every level of competition... We'll play him on the ball quite a bit this year"
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) April 29, 2025
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In layman's terms, the "three" in the NBA is traditionally your "small forward." In the NBA, these guys are usually 6'7", but since most college teams don't have enough depth of size to pull that off, you tend to see lineups closer to what Florida ran with three guards and two forwards.
We had predicted last week after AJ Brown signed with the Gators that playing Haugh at the three, with Condon at the four and Chinyelu/Handlogten at the five/center, was definitely a possibility for the Gators:
"But if Golden wanted to mimic an NBA lineup, this is where Thomas Haugh could make a bid to play the three spot if Golden feels he can slot into those demands."
This plan is contingent on whether or not Condon comes back or stays in the NBA Draft, but if he does come back, the Gators could resemble an NBA squad as they look to defend their national title.