Zach Goodall
Priority 2024 Frontcourt Target Eliminates Gators from Contention
When the 2024 recruitment class began, the Florida Gators made their intentions clear. They wanted an elite point guard and an elite big man.
Emerging from the pool of candidates to take the top spots on the board at those positions were Las Vegas-based point guard product Dedan Thomas Jr. and top five overall prospect Flory Bidunga.
Thomas scorned the Gators in mid-May when he elected to stay home to attend UNLV as a legacy prospect. He has since reclassified and enrolled as a member of the 2023 cycle.
On Monday, Florida received more bad news regarding the duo of targets as it was once again overlooked when Bidunga released a top four not including the Gators. Instead, he moves forward with Auburn, Duke, Kansas and Michigan jockeying for his pledge.
Jumping into Bidunga’s recruitment process early, offering on Sept. 21, Todd Golden and Co. hoped to build a strong rapport with the Kokomo, Ind., representative that could fend off the expected addition of blue bloods for the nation’s No. 4 overall prospect as the cycle carried on.
Considerable mutual interest between the two parties arose in the early portion of the cycle, positioning the Gators firmly for Bidunga’s services when he eventually made his commitment.
It culminated in multiple visits to Gainesville for the 6-foot-9, 215-pound athlete. The latest trek came in January.
Throughout the summer AAU circuit, the major players in college basketball expectedly joined the fold and applied considerable pressure to separate themselves from the pack. Duke, offering him on June 21, has become the team to beat.
However, the preparation for the nation’s elite failed to prevail. Florida fell victim to that reality.
They’re now officially eliminated from contention.
The loss of John Bol, who joined the commitment class for 20 days before reaching a mutual agreement with the staff to part ways on June 30 due to differences in opinion on Bol’s NIL package, according to reports by 247Sports’ Jacob Rudner, worsens the blow. Florida moves forward without an adequate fix to the impending hole at center after the 2023-24 season in sight.
Orlando, Fla., guard Isaiah Brown is the lone Gators commit in the 2024 cycle as it nears the closing stretch toward National Signing Day.
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