The lyrics to Young Dolph’s 2015 hit “Cut it” ripped through the locker room as Florida players took turns parading in front of a camera in accordance with a trending TikTok dance.
They had just cut down the nets after an SEC Tournament title in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, so it was a fitting celebration.
But the Gators only let the jubilation go so far.
When star guard Alijah Martin set out searching for victory cigars, the prevailing response was to pump the brakes.
“Save ’em for the natty,” a teammate said.
“Who is Matty?” a disappointed Martin asked quizzically.
“No, the natty,” came the response. “The national championship.”
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If the past couple months are any indication, the Gators may be doing some more net-cutting in the weeks ahead. Maybe some smoking, too.
Florida rifled through the SEC Tournament with an average victory margin of 15 points and has won 12 of its past 13 games against rugged competition entering a first-round NCAA Tournament game against No. 16 seed Norfolk State on Friday.
The program’s first SEC Tournament title since 2014 was nice. But the Gators are looking like a machine that could hum through three more weekends of single-elimination basketball under third-year coach Todd Golden.
“Cutting down the nets is a great feeling,” senior guard Will Richard said. “But we want to do it in the NCAA tournament as well.”
Florida is my pick to win it all as we near the beginning of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
What makes Florida different
It’s a tale as old as time: elite guard play makes the difference in the NCAA Tournament. Florida unquestionably has that box checked with Richard, Martin and Walter Clayton Jr., who average a combined 45.6 points per game. Throw in Denzel Aberdeen off the bench and Florida arguably has the deepest backcourt in the country.
But where the Gators literally stand above the pack is on their front line, where a convoy of towering bigs create an endless cascade of mismatches on both ends of the floor.
“The fact that we can throw out five bodies, five bigs, consistently throughout the course of a 40-minute game, attrition happens,” Florida associate head coach Carlin Hartman told CBS Sports.
The Gators outscored Alabama by 20 in the second half of the SEC Tournament semifinals, holding Crimson Tide starting center Cliff Omoruyi to just one rebound for the game. The next day, they outworked Tennessee on the offensive glass by a 10-2 margin in the second half of an 86-77 title-game victory.
Florida boasts the fourth-best offensive rebounding percentage of any team in the NCAA Tournament field, which has helped propel it to a No. 1 ranking in KenPom’s offensive efficiency metric entering the Big Dance.
Looking at the Gators’ lineup, it makes perfect sense.
The first wave consists of 6-11 Alex Condon and 6-10 Rueben Chinyelu.
Chinyelu is a brute at 260 pounds but packs agility and a relentless motor into his hulking frame, which allows him to hunt rebounds and find gaps on the floor once the defense collapses. His 60.4% shooting percentage is tops on the team, and he does his work almost exclusively in the paint — sometimes after sprinting the floor in transition.
Condon is the ultimate utilitarian. He can play the four or the five and switch onto guards defensively. On offense, he can facilitate from the top of the key and even drill 3-pointers. If Chinyelu is occupying the opponent’s traditional big, Condon can crush smaller players. Or, the Gators can go small with Condon at center, draw the opposing big away from the basket and free up driving lanes for their guards.
The bench boys
But Florida’s 12-most offensively efficient five-man groupings this season have actually come with a bench big on the floor, per evanmiya.com.
Thomas Haugh is *only* 6-9 and 210 pounds, but the former three-star prospect is coming into his own as a sophomore.
“His game has taken off,” Hartman said.
Haugh is a 3-point threat and a terror in transition while also shining on the boards. His five offensive rebounds in the second half of the SEC Tournament title game helped stave off a Tennessee rally. The Vols were within seven points when corralled a missed Martin 3-pointer with 5:38 remaining and finished the possession with a pair of free throws. Florida quickly pushed its advantage to 14 and never looked back.
The Gators often rotate their bigs in four-minute intervals, and among those joining Haugh off the bench is the tallest member of the crew.
As of mid-February, Micah Handlogten is back to the mix. After breaking his leg in the 2024 SEC Tournament title game, the 7-1 junior was on track to medically redshirt this season. But he agreed to spurn that plan and return to the rotation as Condon and backup big Sam Alexis dealt with February ankle injuries (Alexis has missed the past 10 games but could still return).
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“When he decided he wanted to do it, it breathed life into our program,” Hartman said. “He was our starting center last year. Having that guy coming off the bench is such a luxury, and I don’t think there are many teams in the country that have that.”
What’s most striking is the conditioning of each. Unlike some teams that employ multiple bigs, Florida sacrifices nothing with its tempo. The Gators are 15th in the 68-team field in average possession length and rank in the 88th percentile nationally in percentage of transition possessions. Translation: they play fast.
They are also ruthlessly efficient on the break, totaling 1.212 points per possession in transition, according to Synergy. That is No. 7 among teams in the NCAA Tournament field. But none of the six ahead of Florida in transition efficiency run as frequently as the Gators. Few, if any, who run as much as Florida do it with multiple bigs on the floor.
“We’re all mobile, and we try to just get up and down as much as we can,” Handlogten said “If we can put more pressure on the rim, it gives our guards more time to shoot, more space to shoot.”
Handlogten said that returning to the arena where he suffered a gruesome injury last season and leaving as an SEC champion meant the world to him.
But, he said, “this is just scratching the surface of what we can do.”
After all, the Gators may have “cut it” with their SEC Tournament celebration. But they still have some cigars to smoke.
“We got six more games,” Handlogten said, “and we think we can win each one of them.”
Recapping Florida’ last 5 trips to the Big Dance
| Year | Seed | Reached |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 4 | Elite 8 |
| 2018 | 6 | Round of 32 |
| 2019 | 10 | Round of 32 |
| 2021 | 7 | Round of 32 |
| 2024 | 7 | Round of 64 |
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