College basketball coaches, whether they are toiling in NAIA or filling arenas in Power 4 conferences, will tell you that the absolute best time to have their team playing their absolute best basketball is now.
March is almost here.
The Madness is right around the corner.
And in Gainesville, the defending champs are showing precisely zero signs of surrendering their crowns anytime soon.
The Florida Gators are most definitely on a heater, a roll, a hot streak, or whatever phrase you want to use to describe their current college basketball trajectory. Winners of 8 straight, Todd Golden’s team has rocketed up to No. 7 in the national rankings and is sending Bracketology nerds scrambling to recalibrate after every one-sided victory.
There have been plenty of those in this torrid stretch that began with a 95-48 pasting of South Carolina in Columbia on Jan. 28. There was the 23-point destruction of Alabama the next time out on Feb. 1. There was the 19-point takedown of Texas A&M in College Station on Feb. 7 and the 20-point thrashing of Georgia in Athens on Feb. 11.
After a 9-point win against then-No. 25 Kentucky on Feb. 14, the Gators got back on the double-digit win train with a 14-point win against the Gamecocks at home on Feb. 17, a 19-point decimation of Ole Miss in Oxford on Feb. 21 and a 13-point triumph at Texas on Wednesday night.
Will Florida win the national title for a second year in a row? Check out the latest probabilities on Kalshi:
Prediction Markets 2026 College Basketball Champion? Learn more about Prediction Markets Kalshi Michigan 22% Duke 17% Arizona 14% Florida 9% UConn 8% Houston 8% Illinois 6% Iowa St. 5% Kansas 4% Purdue 3% PredictThose aren’t the East Popcorn States and Western North Podunks of the world, either. That’s the Southeastern By-God Conference we are talking about, which is in line for anywhere between 9-11 teams earning bids the 68-team NCAA Tournament. And Florida is mowing through the SEC like Indiana did in its march to the College Football Playoff national title.
This dominant streak is due to be tested again Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) by a very testy Arkansas Razorbacks team that ventures to the O’Connell Center with a No. 20 ranking and designs on a late push to the SEC regular-season title.
The Razorbacks are good, no doubt, with a 21-7 overall record and an 11-4 mark in conference play that means winning out will be a must. But just like Florida, Arkansas doesn’t have designs on a regular-season title but instead the Big Enchilada – a long road trip to the Final Four and a short trip up a customized ladder in Indianapolis to cut down the nets and take a star turn in One Shining Moment.
Ah yes, the NCAA Tournament. Here is where teams like Arkansas and Florida diverge. Yes, the Hogs are mentored by coach John Calipari – who has taken 6 teams to the Final Four in his Hall of Fame career (though the 1996 run with UMass and 2008 march with Memphis were later vacated…) and knows the route all too well. But Golden and Florida know it better, having first romped through the SEC Tournament before running the magical 6-game gauntlet to cut down the nets just last year.
Last year’s Florida team was different than this year’s Florida team in a couple different aspects. For starters, the 2024-25 Gators were unblemished through their nonconference agenda but fell 4 times in SEC play before figuring it all out in March. This season, Florida lost 4 of its 6 nonconference games against Power 4 competition – tumbling to then-No. 13 Arizona in the opener, to unranked TCU, then-No. 4 Duke and then-No. 5 UConn all before Santa Claus came to town.
Since then, however, it has only been a shocking 76-74 loss to Mizzou on Jan. 3 and a 76-67 home loss to Auburn. The rest are straight Ws – all with a varying cast of superstars sharing the spotlight on any given night.
It may be junior forward Alex Condon, who delivers 14.3 points per game but has popped for 23, 24 and 20 in Florida’s last 3 outings. It may be guard Xaivian Lee, who goes for 11.4 points per game but was an offensive standout in late-December and also the Gators’ leading scorer against Georgia and Kentucky. Or it may be forward Thomas Haugh, who leads the way at 16.9 points per outing and has led the team in scoring 6 times in SEC games.
One cannot overlook guard Boogie Fland, who transferred from Arkansas for a reported $2 million-plus NIL deal that was one of the largest in the sport at the time. The point guard has been a steady influence on a Gators team that lost stars Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard to the NBA.
The Gators spent big in the portal, between Fland’s $2 million-plus and Lee’s multi-year deal to transfer from Princeton that is said to be over $6 million. They spent big to win big – which is precisely what is happening right now. The growing pains and speed bumps in the nonconference have been soothed and softened, and what remains is a peak-horsepower winning machine.
Will the Gators win it all again in 2026? Will Golden climb that ladder and cut those nets the same way Billy Donovan did during Florida’s back-to-back title runs in 2006 and 2007? Anyone who strolls out on that limb and proclaims “Yes!” would also like to sell you some prime beachfront property in Montana.
That said, Golden’s Gators are looking mighty golden yet again – at the very perfect time. Florida is not only the team to beat in the SEC, but the Gators should be on any ball-knower’s short list of teams that can beat any team in the country on any given night in any given arena or converted football stadium.
After all, why be great in December when there is precisely nothing to win when you can play the long game and wait until (checks calendar…) now to hit top speed and maximum horsepower?
Todd Golden’s Florida Gators are playing their best basketball at perfect time Saturday Down South.
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