How Loss in 2024 NCAA Tournament Still Motivates Florida Two Years Later

TAMPA, Fla.-- While a year removed from a national title, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh know what it feels like to get bounced in the NCAA Tournament. And, it still motivates them.

Condon, Haugh, Micah Handlogten and walk-on Cooper Josefsberg are the only three players from the Florida Gators' 2023-24 team remaining on the roster. Entering that year's NCAA Tournament with high hopes after a surprising run to the SEC Tournament final, the Gators, instead, saw its hopes die quickly.

In an offensive shootout, seven-seed Florida fell to 10-seed Colorado, 102-100, as KJ Simpson hit a jumper with one second left to win the game. Condon, a freshman starting in place of the injured Handlogten, learned quickly about the heartbreak of losing in March.

"You lose one game and you're out, so can't take any games for granted obviously we've doing a lot of winning, we won last year. And we can't get complacent this year," Condon said. "It's a different year. We've got to be hungry every game and can't take anything for granted."

Colorado Buffaloes guard KJ Simpson (2) shoots the game-winning basket over Florida Gators guard Zyon Pullinin the 2024 NCAA — Colorado Buffaloes guard KJ Simpson (2) shoots the game-winning basket over Florida Gators guard Zyon Pullin in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. | Joe Timmerman/IndyStar/USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK

While Condon was a consistent contributor off the bench and started in place of Handlogten after his ankle injury in the SEC Tournament, Haugh's freshman year was different than his current junior campaign. Coming off the bench, he only averaged 3.9 points per game while playing in less than 15 minutes per game, quite the difference from his current average of 17.1 points in 33.7 minutes per game.

He was on the floor when Simpson hit that jumper over Zyon Pullin, and after watching Florida's season end in heartbreak fashion, he let the experience fuel him as a sophomore.

"I think we took what we learned from that Colorado loss my first year here and just built on it. You can't take any games for granted in the tournament," he said. "Every team that's here is good. They deserve to be here. That's the main thing I learned from it."

The result from that loss motivated players such as Haugh, Condon, Will Richard and Walter Clayton Jr. – who had 33 points in the loss and the game-tying 3-pointer – to make a run all the way to a national title last season. With Richard and Clayton Jr. now in the NBA, Haugh and Condon have taken on the leadership role in how to handle March Madness.

"They've experienced a wide range of experiences and emotions in the tournament," Golden said. "And I feel like they've done a really good job of kind of leading our guys over these last couple days, especially the guys that weren't in our program last year and the guys that didn't play a big role on our team, in terms of getting them prepared to compete in March."

Alex Condon helps cut down the net after the Florida Gators' win over Houston in the national championship. | Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

That's not to say the rest of the team is inexperienced, though.

Bench guard Urban Klavzar played in the early round games of last year's tournament. Handlogten, after missing the Colorado game, returned midway through last season and made an impact off the bench in the postseason. Chinyelu, of course, started every game for Florida last season and played in two tournament games at Washington State the year prior.

Newcomers Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee also add their own experience.

Fland, a transfer from Arkansas, helped the Razorbacks make it all the way to the Sweet 16 last season, where they fell to Texas Tech, who then fell to Florida in the Elite Eight. Lee, meanwhile, last played in the NCAA Tournament as a freshman at Princeton in 2023. While he was a reserve, he saw firsthand as the 15-seed Tigers made a run to the Sweet 16.

Handlogten and Chinyelu said the members of last year's title team have told the two to embrace being back in the tournament, while also giving them advice on how to make a deeper run such as staying in the moment and playing together.

"I think that just like having us there to kind of just tell them what it's like to keep playing, I think that's really helped them, just with their mentality and their focus," Handlogten said.

Boogie Fland (2) helped lead Arkansas to the Sweet 16 last season. | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Florida enters this year's tournament as the No. 1 seed in the South Region and one of the more popular picks to win a national title due to being last year's champion and its dominance in SEC play. But while the team is using lessons learned from previous tournament experiences, they are not letting it dictate what they do this year.

"I'll be really disappointed if our guys have any sort of comfort going into this tournament," Golden said. "I want our guys to be confident and go out there and compete the right way, but this is not the time of year to be comfortable or to get here and just expect things to go our way."

Florida begins play in Tampa on Friday at 9:25 p.m. against Prairie View A&M with television coverage on TNT.