Florida Head Basketball Coach Todd Golden’s 12 Points with Pat Dooley

Because we still don’t know who they will be. Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard will both go through NBA evaluations before deciding whether or not to return to Florida.

UF coaches are feeling confident they’ll know a lot more when invitations to the NBA Draft Combine go out next week. But they’re on pause for now until they find out.

“A lot will depend on what they decide to do,” Golden said. “If they come back, we’ll probably look at adding a big-name player. If they don’t, we’ll look at the backcourt.”

“I’m happy with where we are right now. But we have to stay agile.”

Micah Handlogten, who broke his leg in the SEC championship game, “is probably going to redshirt this year,” Golden said.

Red T-shirt.

“It would be better for him to know that he doesn’t feel pressured to come back quickly, which is something we didn’t want him to feel anyway,” Golden said. “When we had that conversation, it was great. It gave him clarity. And in some ways, it helps us.”

Handlogten performed well after the surgery and helped Florida recruit.

With Handlogten out and Tyreese Samuel gone, Florida had to turn to the portal to continue to have four bigs — a priority with Golden trying to play with two big guys most of the time.

Florida did it with 6-foot-10 Rueben Chinyelu of Washington State and 6-foot-9 Sam Alexis of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

“Sam is a very good rim protector,” Golden said. “We think he has room to improve. He’s only 19. He’s very young, but strong, with a big body. It’s going to be a great summer for him here.”

And Chinyelu may not have had the stats last year, but his 7-foot-8 wingspan is what caught Golden’s attention.

“We feel like he’s going to take a big step forward next season,” he said.

It’s about doing better than Florida did last year after making the NCAAs for the first time in three years.

Florida hasn’t advanced past Game 2 since the Elite Eight series in 2017.

“If we can improve on defense, we can go from just being in the tournament to being a second-weekend team,” Golden said. “The goal is to get a higher seed.”

Golden mentioned he was a No. 4 seed, which Florida hadn’t been since the 2017 season.

It would be a defense issue. Florida was a bad defensive team last year and Golden himself said he needs to be a better coach.

He also hopes his players – including the new ones – will understand that it’s not just about scoring, especially when your last game ended in a 102-100 loss.

“If we can move from 93^rd “We’re going to be good enough defensively to be in the top 50 next year,” he said. “It was a little tough last year, when we were scoring all those points, to spend time on defense. We’ll get there this summer, for sure.”

How much he’ll play point guard is a question that will be answered when Clayton Jr. and Richard make their decisions.

He was a guard at Florida Atlantic, but a tough defender who averaged at least five rebounds per game in each of his last three seasons.

“I’m not sure there’s anyone like Zyon Pullin,” Golden said. “At FAU, Alijah was a guard who didn’t play the ball, but we want him to be on the ball and drive it in our offense. It’s a good marriage for both of us.”

How can you say that when Riley Kugel left for Kansas? Uh, you watched the games last year, right?

Kugel was a mystery wrapped in a riddle within a riddle.

It was important to have Alex Condon, Tommy Haugh and Denzel Aberdeen back.

“They’re a tough group to keep,” Golden said. “It was important for us to keep them because they had success last year, especially in the SEC Tournament. We think they’re all going to have a big impact next year.”

“Denzel could really take off.”

Me neither, that’s why I asked him the question: do you think your team lost a place in the rankings because of Micah’s injury?

His answer was surprising, but not surprising.

“I think they finished the bracket probably by Thursday,” he said. “The SEC Tournament games clearly didn’t matter.”

No, they didn’t, which is why Billy Donovan was pushing to move the tournament up a day.

Golden admits it’s not ideal to play four games in four days. But that’s not going to change.

Yes, he was asked about the team that reached the Final Four for the first time in its history and also lost twice to Florida by 32 points.

Golden texted Nate Oats when the Tide reached the Final Four.

“I love Nate and I told him congratulations and what a great run,” he said. “And I told him I was also happy about our program right now.”

Yes, but that brings us back to the question of ranking.

After Florida lost to Colorado, Karen was initially angry and wondered why she married a sportswriter (I wonder that every day).

But then she calmed down and said this: “Florida would have been better off losing to Texas A&M University in the semi-final.

Because they would have rested and not lost Handlogten.

“It was always a good thing for our program to make a run and play for a championship in our second year,” Golden said.

Don’t tell him, but I agree with Todd.

Oh, Olivier Rioux? The tallest teenager in the world?

He’s 7’7″ or an inch taller, depending on who you ask.

The question will be how long he plays. Or if he plays at all while Florida works on his speed and footwork.

It’s certainly a project, but it will be interesting to see where it goes.

A lot will depend on what happens with Clayton Jr. and Richard. I always have concerns about the point guard’s play in terms of getting the ball up when other teams press. That was an issue with Pullin last year.

But the bottom line is, if Florida gets those two guys back and they can get to the point of being a top-50 defense, they’re a team that can make some noise.

I don’t think Florida will be picked to finish eighth in the conference, but with the two teams added, the SEC is going to be a bear.

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