The Athletic's 2026 too early Top 25 has Gators in the top 10
With Tuesday being the first day players can officially enter the transfer portal, basketball rosters for next season aren’t anywhere near complete. But that hasn’t stopped media outlets from making early projections. Among them is The Athletic, which is very high on the Florida Gators, putting them at No. 4 in its 2026 men’s college basketball too early Top 25.
Here’s what CJ Moore wrote about Todd Golden’s program:
4. Florida Gators
Starters: Boogie Fland, Urban Klavzar, Isaiah Brown, Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu
Notable returners: CJ Ingram, Alex Lloyd, Alex Kovatchev, AJ Brown
Other newcomers: Jones Lay (UR, 7-0 C)
The Gators will likely add some portal help and one or two of those additions could be starter-level guards, along with some added depth to the frontcourt. Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu are projected back because they can likely make more next year at Florida than the NBA. Condon is probably more up in the air than Chinyelu. If they’re both back, that’ll likely be the best starting frontcourt in the country. The Gators could roll this roster out and likely be preseason top 10 without any additions, and that has to be a great feeling for coach Todd Golden. They’re in an excellent starting spot.
The complete top 10 looks like this:
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Arizona
- Florida
- Duke
- UConn
- Michigan State
- Iowa State
- Arkansas
- Nebraska
The Florida Gators went 27-8, won the SEC championship and were the top seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament this past season. However, they lost to Iowa in the second round in one of the event’s biggest upsets.
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- 2
Ranking the recruitments
Florida fans should feel best about these targets
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Trending Florida
Inside Florida’s latest recruiting swings, surges, and setbacks
- 4
Where is UF football strongest?
Power rankings of Florida's position groups
- 5
Gators baseball wins
Gators beat Vandy to advance to SEC tourney quarterfinals
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Monday, On3’s Joe Tipton reported that backup Florida center Micah Handlogten is expected to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. Meantime, the futures of three key starters —Condon, Chinyelu and forward Thomas Haugh— remains unclear.
Numerous NBA mock drafts list Haugh as a likely first-round pick. He led Florida in scoring (17.1 points per game last season). Condon and Chinyelu, should they declare for the draft, seem more likely to be selected in later rounds, per most mocks.