Where Did Florida Gators Basketball Land in Preseason AP Poll?

The Florida Gators reloaded its roster after winning a national championship last season.

Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden is coming off his first national championship as a head coach. | Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

Fresh off winning a national championship in the previous campaign, the Florida Gators debuted at No. 3 in the AP Top 25 that was released on Monday. Purdue and Houston are the only two teams ahead in the rankings. 

🚨PRESEASON AP TOP 25🚨

1. Purdue
2. Houston
3. Florida
4. UConn
5. St. John's
6. Duke
7. Michigan
8. BYU
9. Kentucky
10. Texas Tech
11. Louisville
12. UCLA
13. Arizona
14. Arkansas
15. Alabama
16. Iowa State
17. Illinois
18. Tennessee
19. Kansas
20. Auburn
21. Gonzaga
22.…

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) October 13, 2025

Leading the Gators on the hardwood and entering his fourth year with the program is head coach Todd Golden. He is 76-33 across the three previous seasons and is 50-16 over the last two campaigns. That includes his 2024-25 squad going 36-4 last year.

Golden had a tough task this offseason, having to replace nearly his entire backcourt from that title-winning roster. The veteran guard trio of Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard each departed for the NBA while Denzel Aberdeen decided to transfer to conference rival Kentucky.

To replace these four, he brought in Boogie Fland from Arkansas, Xaivian Lee from Princeton, AJ Brown from Ohio and signed Alex Lloyd, 247Sports’ No. 41 overall prospect in the class of 2025. 

Stepping for Clayton Jr. and Martin is going to be Fland and Lee. Fland, who also was voted Second Team All-SEC on Monday, will handle much of the ball-handling responsibilities, with Lee being deployed much like Martin was a year ago.

“Off dead balls, we’ll probably have Boogie (Fland) bring it to start, just from an organizational standpoint, but when he's not in the game, Xaivian (Lee) will bring it,” Golden said. “It’s the benefit of having two guys that can play the position.”

Urban Klavzar, Isaiah Brown and Alex Kovatchev are three other guards who are at Golden’s disposal off the bench with AJ Brown and Alex Lloyd. 

The main selling point of the Gators for the 2025-26 season, though, is going to be their frontcourt. Florida returns their entire frontcourt from last season, which played a vital role in them winning it all. 

Highlighting the returnees are projected first-round picks Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh. Joining these two for another year in Gainesville are Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten. Haugh, Condon and Chinyelu are expected to start, with Handlogten assuming a bench role to begin the season. 

Florida Gators forwards Alex Condon (21) and Thomas Haugh (10) headline the team's returning players. | Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

There is one slight change for Haugh entering his junior year with Florida. Instead of playing as the four for the Gators, he will be used more on the perimeter. It is a change that allows the Gators to continue playing how they want, and lets them have one of their best players on the court more often, Golden said. 

“My goal as a head coach is to get my best players on the court as much as we can. And Tommy is one of our best players,” he said. “My hope is, offensively, we'll take care of the ball really well this year with this group, and we should be elite on the offensive glass. He just allows us to continue to raise our floor with this specific team.”

Rounding out the frontcourt for the Gators are centers Viktor Mikic and Olivier Rioux and forward CJ Ingram, 247Sports’ No. 19 overall prospect in the 2025 cycle. 

Florida's first game of the season takes place on Nov. 3 against the Arizona Wildcats in the Hall of Fame Series in Las Vegas. Tip for this game is at 7 p.m. and it will be broadcast on TNT.