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USA Today
3 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
You won't believe how high Florida basketball climbed in ESPN's latest preseason rankings
You won't believe how high Florida basketball climbed in ESPN's latest preseason rankings The final major deadline of college basketball's offseason — the date that players must withdraw their names from the NBA draft if they want to return to college — passed on Wednesday, May 28. With that milestone now in the rearview mirror, the rosters for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign are clearer than ever. The decisions leading up to the deadline resulted in both winners and losers, depending on who departed and who came back to school. Among those in the former category are the Florida Gators, who have already been anointed as overwhelming winners according to a trio of major publications. A little under a week after the big day passed, ESPN's basketball recruiting insider Jeff Borzello updated his men's college basketball preseason top 25 rankings, sending the Orange and Blue on a meteoric rise from No. 18 to No. 2 overall, just behind the Purdue Boilermakers, who held onto their top spot. "The debate over preseason No. 1 intensified with Milos Uzan returning to Houston and Florida adding Boogie Fland while also getting back Alex Condon," Borzello notes. "Both programs are squarely in the conversation alongside Purdue, with UConn and St. John's not far behind." Take a look below at Florida's projected starting lineup as well as ESPN's full updated rankings. Florida's 2025-26 projected starting lineup Boogie Fland (13.5 PPG at Arkansas) Xaivian Lee (16.9 PPG at Princeton) Thomas Haugh (9.8 PPG) Alex Condon (10.6 PPG) Rueben Chinyelu (6.1 PPG) ESPN's post-NBA draft withdrawal rankings Purdue Boilermakers (—) Florida Gators (+16) Houston Cougars (+1) UConn Huskies (-2) St. John's Red Storm (-2) BYU Cougars (+1) Louisville Cardinals (—) Michigan Wolverines (+1) Kentucky Wildcats (+2) Texas Tech Red Raiders (-2) Arkansas Razorbacks (-1) Duke Blue Devils (-6) Arizona Wildcats (-1) Auburn Tigers (+1) UCLA Bruins (-1) Illinois Fighting Illini (+1) Alabama Crimson Tide (+7) Iowa State Cyclones (-5) Gonzaga Bulldogs (+3) Wisconsin Badgers (-4) Kansas Jayhawks (—) Creighton Bluejays (-3) Tennessee Volunteers (-3) NC State Wolfpack (NR) North Carolina Tar Heels (—) Next in line San Diego State Aztecs Michigan State Spartans Ohio State Buckeyes Texas Longhorns USC Trojans Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Reuters
30-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
50 prospects withdraw from NBA draft
May 30 - Fifty early entry candidates withdrew from 2025 NBA Draft consideration ahead of this week's deadline, including two players returning to defending national champion Florida. In addition to forward Alex Condon and center Rueben Chinyelu of the Gators, the full list released by the league on Friday also includes a high-profile player transferring to Florida: guard Boogie Fland (Arkansas). Head coach Todd Golden's Gators finished a 36-4 season with a 65-63 win over Houston in the NCAA Tournament title game on April 7. Condon delivered 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals in the game, with fellow starter Chinyelu contributing three points, five boards and one block. Florida's other three starters -- guards Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin and Will Richard -- have exhausted their NCAA eligibility. The NBA draft is scheduled for June 25-26. The full list of players withdrawing from the draft: Chad Baker-Mazara (Auburn) Quincy Ballard (Wichita State) Nate Bittle (Oregon) John Blackwell (Wisconsin) Jaden Bradley (Arizona) Miles Byrd (San Diego State) Rueben Chinyelu (Florida) Alex Condon (Florida) Tayton Conerway (Troy) Melvin Council Jr. (St. Bonaventure) Thierry Darlan (Delaware (NBA G League) Tae Davis (Notre Dame) Silas Demary Jr. (Georgia) Jerry Deng (Florida State) Treysen Eaglestaff (North Dakota) Isaiah Evans (Duke) Elijah Fisher (Pacific) Boogie Fland (Arkansas) PJ Haggerty (Memphis) Dominick Harris (UCLA) Chris Howell (UC San Diego) Josh Hubbard (Mississippi State) Karter Knox (Arkansas) Kobe Knox (South Florida) Toibu Lawal (Virginia Tech) Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB) Brenen Lorient (North Texas) Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh) Ven-Allen Lubin (North Carolina) Nick Martinelli (Northwestern) Paul Mbiya (ASVEL, France) Camron McDowell (Northwestern Oklahoma State) Devin McGlockton (Vanderbilt) Mackenzie Mgbako (Indiana) Kebba Njie (Notre Dame) AK Okereke (Cornell) Otega Oweh (Kentucky) Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn) Labaron Philon (Alabama) Jaron Pierre Jr. (Jacksonville State) Devon Pryor (Texas) Joson Sanon (Arizona State) Raysean Seamster (UT-Arlington) Malik Thomas (San Francisco) Bruce Thornton Jr. (Ohio State) Milos Uzan (Houston) Brandon Walker (Montana State) Lamar Wilkerson (Sam Houston State) Darrion Williams (Texas Tech) Money Williams (Montana) --Field Level Media
USA Today
29-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
NBA draft 2025: Winners and losers after landscape-shifting college withdrawal deadline
NBA draft 2025: Winners and losers after landscape-shifting college withdrawal deadline Show Caption Hide Caption 2025 NBA Draft Combine winners: Raynaud, Lendeborg and Byrd These 2025 NBA draft prospects are the biggest winners from the NBA Draft Combine An NBA draft decision had to be made on Wednesday by 11:59 p.m. for college basketball players looking to retain their remaining eligibility, and this year it was tougher than ever before. The deadline to withdraw from the 2025 NBA draft and play college basketball this season came and went, and more of the still-nascent effects from all the money being introduced into the environment are beginning to come into focus. There were still surprising calls made to stay in the NBA draft (or stay in school for another year), and now they came with the additional pressure of millions of dollars in potential name, image and likeness compensation and the expected implementation of revenue sharing looming over everything. From all this, notable developments and trends appear to be emerging. College leagues and teams brought back or lost potential star players. The NBA, meanwhile, now knows exactly what players are available to be taken in next month's draft class, and what might be looming in years to come with all the change occurring in college basketball. There's a lot to sort through, with the NBA draft looming as another flash point during a landscape-shifting offseason in college basketball. Here's a breakdown of all the winners and losers coming out of the college withdrawal deadline for the 2025 NBA draft: OPINION: No one will stop the Thunder from winning NBA championship Winners: SEC basketball The SEC is coming off a season in which it got a record 14 teams into the NCAA Tournament and produced the national champion (Florida), and the league is going to be loaded again after some of the decisions made over the past week. The Gators will be threats to repeat after adding Arkansas transfer Boogie Fland and bringing back center Alex Condon from the draft pool. Auburn also got guard Tahaad Pettiford back in the fold after he impressed NBA scouts and Kentucky got late word that guard Otega Oweh would be returning to school. Alabama then pulled off a last-minute surprise Wednesday night when guard Labaron Philon elected to return to college for another year despite being a potential first-round pick. Loser: Arkansas Arkansas is about the only SEC team that can complain about how this all went down. John Calipari's roster took a hit over the past few weeks. Boogie Fland transferred to SEC rival Florida and then Adou Thiero elected to stay in the draft. Calipari's streak of first-round picks could be in jeopardy of coming to an end, though Thiero's decision suggests he could go among the first 30 picks. Calipari has produced a player selected in the first round during every NBA draft since Derrick Rose in 2008. Arkansas did get Karter Knox back after he tested the draft waters and should still be an SEC title contender, but the loss of Thiero and Fland are blows to the Razorbacks' chances in Calipari's second season. Winners: Cedric Coward and Yanic Konan Niederhauser Coward played just six games at Washington State this past season after transferring from Eastern Washington and is still coming back from a shoulder injury. The 6-foot-6 wing transferred to Duke this offseason, only to improve his draft stock so much after an impressive showing in front of NBA scouts that the promise of being a first-round pick was too good to pass up. Penn State's Yanic Konan Niederhauser, meanwhile, turned down the chance to be the best player on a Big Ten team to stay in the draft after an impressive showing at the G League Elite Camp led to an invite to the NBA draft combine earlier this month. The 7-foot center from Switzerland began his college career at Northern Illinois before transferring to Penn State and averaging 12.9 points and 6.3 rebounds during his lone season in Happy Valley. He and Coward will both be interesting prospects to monitor given their unorthodox rise up draft boards. Loser: NBA rookie contracts The allure of being picked in the NBA draft just isn't the same in 2025, not when colleges are doling out millions in NIL packages to prospects and revenue sharing is expected to go into effect this fall. Players such as Yaxel Landeborg (Michigan), Darrion Williams (North Carolina State) and PJ Haggerty (Kansas State) all eschewed the NBA for the transfer portal, while potential picks like Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn), guard Milos Uzan (Houston) and Miles Byrd (San Diego State) chose to return to their previous destination with the guaranteed money waiting for them in college. The NBA's G League rosters will be most affected by this change. Winners: International prospects It's a good time to be an international basketball prospect. More are coming to the United States to play college basketball because of the money associated with NIL deals. And more are likely to be selected in this year's NBA draft, especially in the second round when the pool of prospects thinned out by the number of veteran college players who decided to stay in college with NIL compensation and revenue sharing set to begin this season. They also have until June 15 to withdraw from the NBA draft and can still go the college route. Losers: College teams still looking for a transfer portal star College teams still in search of an impact player for their roster are going to have to look a little harder after this week. St. John's guard R.J. Luis and Florida State wing Jamir Watkins, considered the two best remaining uncommitted transfer portal options, both elected to stay in the NBA draft late Wednesday night. It means, of the top 50 players on the transfer portal rankings, just two players are still available.
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Florida's Alex Condon is staying in school, boosting the chances of the NCAA champs repeating
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida forward Alex Condon has withdrawn from the NBA draft and will return to school for his junior season, significantly boosting the Gators' chances of repeating as national champions. Coach Todd Golden said last week he was 'cautiously optimistic' the 6-foot-11, 230-pound Australian would be back for another season. He got the news Tuesday, a day before the deadline for players to withdraw from draft consideration. Condon averaged 10.6 points and a team-leading 7.5 rebounds last season. He also blocked 49 shots. He notched seven double-doubles, scored in double figures 18 times and grabbed at least 10 boards 10 times. Condon previously said he planned to stay in the NBA draft if it looked like he would be selected between 20th and 35th overall in the two-round draft. His return nearly completes Golden's revamped roster, which includes replacing its top three guards: Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard. Golden landed Princeton's Xaivian Lee, a 6-foot-4 Toronto native who averaged 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists a game last season. He added guard AJ Brown from Ohio University a week later. But the biggest addition came last week, when former Arkansas guard Boogie Fland signed to play for the Gators. Fland averaged 13.5 points, 5.1 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals as a freshman with the Razorbacks last season. Now, Lee and Fland will be paired together in a backcourt that could be even more explosive than the one that set the top two scoring marks in school history the last two years behind Clayton. Condon was considered the final piece of the puzzle. He joins Rueben Chinyelu, Micah Handlogten and Thomas Haugh in what is expected to be one of the deepest frontcourts in the country. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: and
Washington Post
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Florida coach Todd Golden reaps rewards of national title, including reloading his roster
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It would be tough to top the month Florida coach Todd Golden has enjoyed since winning the national championship. Golden and the Gators visited the White House on Wednesday , a trip that included an invitation to the Oval Office. He landed one of the top guards in the transfer portal, Arkansas' Boogie Fland . He threw out the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game . He received the Winged Foot Award at the New York Athletic Club — along with a yearlong membership to the famed golf club. And he signed a six-year, $40.5 million contract extension .
