John Romano: Florida has a new look and style but a similar path toward NCAA glory

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on Mar 21, 2026

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TAMPA, Fla. — Perhaps this is a good time to pause. Somewhere between hope and reality.

Chances are, the Florida basketball team will fall heartbreakingly short of a national championship this month. Not that the Gators aren’t capable of winning the grand prize, but the odds are stacked against any single team versus the field.

And that’s sort of the point.

Before the Sweet 16, before the Elite Eight, before the Final Four, it’s impressive we’re even seriously discussing a Florida repeat.

The Gators, as you probably know, are the defending national champions and the No. 1 seed in the South regional. Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there have been 14 teams that won a national title and came back the following year as a No. 1 seed. And only three of those repeated as champions.

Fairly rare, right?

But here’s what makes UF’s bid so special:

It’s a vastly different team from last season. Florida’s top three scorers from 2025 are all gone. And the Gators have morphed from a backcourt-driven, outside-shooting team to a roster built around the frontcourt with 6-foot-9 and 6-11 leading scorers.

Or, here’s another way of looking at it:

When UCLA won back-to-back titles in 1972 and ’73, the Bruins returned 80.1% of their scoring from one year to the next. When Duke won consecutive titles in 1991 and ’92, they returned 79.1% of their scoring. When the Gators were repeat champions in 2006 and ’07, they had 93.8% of their scoring back.

The current Florida team? Only 38.6% of its scoring has returned from last season.

“I would say defending champion, that’s history,” said center Rueben Chinyelu. “Everybody could be on the same page as me (saying) that we don’t care about that one. That one is gone. This is a new team, so we’re just going out there because the championship is right there to grab.”

This is not an unusual circumstance in today’s college game, where underclassmen can leap to the NBA and anyone is eligible for the transfer portal. The last repeat winner in the NCAA Tournament — Connecticut in 2023 and ’24 — went through a similar rebuild.

The fascinating part of Florida’s journey is the way the team evolved. Chinyelu, Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon were all in the regular rotation last season, but their main assignment was to rebound and defend. They averaged 17.7 shots from the field and 9.9 free throws per game between them. This season, the three combined for 29.2 shots and 14.8 free throws.

The entire offense is predicated on working the ball inside and getting offensive rebounds. Not surprisingly, the Gators are the No. 1 rebounding team in the nation.

“Last year, we were so offensive-focused. We had Walter (Clayton), Will (Richard) and Alijah (Martin), just a dynamic trio of offensive weapons, and we were winning games by outshooting the other team,” said backup center Micah Handlogten. “This year, we have shooters, but they’re not necessarily the same caliber as last year. So I think we really embraced playing good defense and using that to get out in transition.”

Want to talk about good defense? You can start with the 114-55 obliteration of Prairie View A&M in the first round on Friday. Florida’s frontcourt was so dominant and so imposing that Prairie View did not score a field goal — other than 3-pointers — for the game’s first 13 minutes. The Gators outscored the Panthers 64-10 in the paint.

“I just think the amount of depth that we have in this frontcourt is pretty special,” Condon said. “There’s not a lot of teams in the country that can do that.”

This didn’t just randomly happen. Florida struggled with its new look against a strong schedule early in the season and had a 5-4 record in early December. The Gators had to adjust their mindset and find their identity. Since that start, Florida is 22-3.

There are still some holes. UF’s 3-point shooting has dropped from 35.6% last season to 31.2%, which was at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference. The Gators were also 209th in the nation in turnovers, which cost them against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament.

But the point is, Florida has accepted its shortcomings and leaned into its strengths. It’s a different team from a year ago but potentially just as potent.

“This team is more defense-oriented. We play from within, handle business in the paint, which makes teams collapse more and gives us some opportunities from the 3-point line,” said guard Isaiah Brown. “Everybody had expectations for us, but it takes some time to build chemistry and jell and figure out our identity.

“This team is just special. If we keep playing the way we’ve been playing and dominating on defense and on rebounds, this can be a great team.”

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