Boogie Fland transfer addition the latest in series of offseason power moves for reigning champion Florida
Completing the six-game gauntlet of the NCAA Tournament is the hardest feat in college basketball. The second-hardest is repeating as national champions, as only two programs have achieved this feat since the turn of the century.
Florida was the first to win back-to-back titles this century (2006-07), and UConn (2023-24) was the most recent.
Florida's addition of former Arkansas star guard Boogie Fland on Tuesday, the Gators are reloading to make another deep NCAA Tournament run in 2026. Florida has the fourth-best odds (11-1) to win the national championship behind Purdue, Duke and Houston, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. UConn opened last season as the favorite (10-1) to win the 2025 title.
The Gators lost a trio of veterans in their starting lineup (Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin), but have made smart and calculated moves to reshape the roster. Florida is expected to enter the preseason as a top-10 team and could be ranked even higher pending the draft decision of starting big man Alex Condon, a potential first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The deadline to withdraw from the NBA Draft is May 28.
Condon's starting frontcourt mate, Rueben Chinyelu, withdrew from the NBA Draft earlier this week to return to school for the 2025-26 season.
With all eyes now on Condon, here is how Florida rebuilt a roster capable of repeating as national champions.
Fland is a perfect scheme fitFland is one of Florida's three portal additions, joining Princeton's Xaivian Lee and Ohio's AJ Brown. Gators coach Todd Golden certainly has a mold of player -- Fland and Lee rank 97th and 98th percentile, respectively, in pull-up jumper volume. For context, Clayton ranked 94th percentile in volume and 89th in efficiency en route to becoming an All-American.
With Clayton and Martin off to the NBA, Fland and Lee project to start in Florida's backcourt for the 2025-26 campaign. Fland, a former blue-chip recruit, was considered a potential lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, but missed over two months in SEC play after undergoing surgery to repair an injury to his Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) on his right thumb.
Fland was able to return for the NCAA Tournament but logged only nine minutes in Arkansas' season-ending loss to Texas Tech in the Sweet 16. Florida explored adding USC transfer Desmond Claude before ultimately moving on, according to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander.
Buy stock in Thomas HaughThe strength of Florida's team last season was its frontcourt. Clayton was the head of the snake as a skilled shotmaker, but Florida overwhelmed teams in the NCAA Tournament and throughout the regular season with the sheer depth -- headlined by Condon, Haugh, Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten. If Condon withdraws from the NBA Draft, Florida's entire frontcourt will return, and that should be a scary sight for the rest of the teams in the SEC.
The biggest riser on Florida's team will be a Haugh, a skilled 6-foot-9 forward who showcased his versatility during the NCAA Tournament as arguably Florida's second-best player behind Clayton. Haugh recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds during Florida's improbable comeback win over Texas Tech in the Elite Eight.
Haugh played high school basketball with Lee at Perkiomen School in Pennsylvania. The chemistry is already in place. Haugh made had a case as a potential NBA Draft pick this year, but returning to school gives him another season to raise his draft stock.
Don't be surprised if Haugh becomes Florida's highest-drafted player during the 2026 NBA Draft.
How other reigning champions have faredUConn was the first team to repeat as champions since Florida in the mid-2000s. Success after winning the national title is rare. Only two reigning champs have made it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament (UConn and Duke).
Here is an overview of how each national champion has fared the following season.
| Year | Champion | Season After | Next season result | Record |
| 2024 | UConn | 2024-25 | Second Round | 25-12 |
| 2023 | UConn | 2023-24 | National Champion | 37-3 |
| 2022 | Kansas | 2022-23 | Second Round | 28-8 |
| 2021 | Baylor | 2021-22 | Second Round | 27-7 |
| 2020 | No Champion | N/A | Tournament Canceled | N/A |
| 2019 | Virginia | 2019-20 | First Round | 23-7 |
| 2018 | Villanova | 2018-19 | Second Round | 26-10 |
| 2017 | North Carolina | 2017-18 | Second Round | 26-11 |
| 2016 | Villanova | 2016-17 | Second Round | 32-4 |
| 2015 | Duke | 2015-16 | Sweet 16 | 25-11 |
Florida became the first team in the modern era to win a national title without a single top-100 recruit. That strategy in the transfer portal/NIL era may be hard to replicate going forward, but if anyone has the formula to do it, it's the Gators.
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