SAN FRANCISCO — When Dusty May left FAU to take the vacant job at Michigan last offseason, it seemed logical for some of his players to follow him to Ann Arbor. One of the players May coached at FAU was current Florida star Alijah Martin, who entered the transfer portal weeks after May left the program.
When Martin entered the portal, he did so with a “do not contact” tag, which designates a player or his representatives already have a shortlist of preferred destinations.
It certainly would have made sense for Martin to follow the coach he referred to as a “father figure,” but that wasn’t the case. Martin took official visits to Ole Miss, which is located less than 200 miles from his hometown of Summit, Mississippi, and Florida.
Martin’s representatives had talks with May about a potential transfer to Michigan, he told CBS Sports, but he ultimately elected to finish his college career at Florida.
“Coach May, he definitely reached out to my people,” Martin told CBS Sports. “He kinda knew I was going to try and spread my wings and get some new coaching and learn some new things from different coaches because I had been with him for four years. He is a father figure to me. It wasn’t no love lost.”
How the SEC grabbed control of the NCAA Tournament and became the best college basketball conference ever
Dennis Dodd
That tough decision paid dividends for Martin. When Martin and No. 1 seed Florida take the court against No. 3 seed Texas Tech on Saturday, it will mark the first time a player has started in the Elite Eight for multiple teams.
Martin transferred to play for Todd Golden’s Gators this past offseason and has become an integral part of the program’s turnaround. After missing the NCAA Tournament in 2023 during Golden’s first season with UF and getting knocked out in the first round of the Big Dance last spring, the Gators are just one win away from reaching the Final Four for the first time since 2014.
Martin is on the verge of becoming the third player in college basketball history to reach the Final Four with two different programs. The last player to do that was former North Carolina center Steve Krafcisin, who reached the Final Four with the Tar Heels in 1977 and Iowa in 1980. Bob Bender won a national title at Indiana as a freshman in 1976 and then reached the Final Four again with Duke in 1978.
Martin is one of four players currently in the NCAA Tournament eyeing history. Kentucky’s Lamont Butler, Duke’s Mason Gillis and Michigan’s Vlad Goldin can join the list as players to play in the Final Four with two different programs.
After FAU went to the Final Four in 2023, Goldin, Martin, Johnell Davis and Nick Boyd were among the key players who returned for another season. FAU finished the 2023-24 campaign 25-9 and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Northwestern.
“We all sacrificed,” Martin said. “After that Final Four year, we decided to come back and do it all again. We all could’ve spread our wings and went other (places) and got more money. We all stuck together because we believed in something greater. … That group, they’re forever family to me.”
Martin has started 33 games for the Gators this season and is averaging career-highs in points (14.6) and assists (2.3). He is one of three players on the Florida roster to start at least 100 games in his college career.
Despite not coaching Davis or Martin anymore, May still keeps tabs on his former players.
“Obviously Alijah and Nelly and Vlad, they’re such competitors that impact winning and make those around them better,” May said on Thursday at his news conference. “Just them being in new situations, it’s been fun to watch. We stay in close contact and we’re in group chats and follow each other closely. So it’s been a lot of fun.”
Davis would have joined his former FAU teammate as the only college basketball player to start an Elite Eight game for two programs. Davis scored 30 points in an 85-83 overtime loss to the Red Raiders, a game in which his team led by as many as 16 points in the second half.
The fact that two former mid-major stars were on the verge of making history highlights how this could soon become the norm in the transfer portal era. Martin will be known as the first player to accomplish the feat, and his decision to come to Florida over Michigan and Ole Miss is why.
Read the full article here
