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.

''It's been great,'' Golden said Thursday. ''It's been really awesome getting a lot of these rewards and opportunities because we won. We want to take advantage of it. There's no guarantee that you'll ever get this opportunity again. We're very mindful of that, how hard it is.''

The whirlwind started when Florida rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to shock Houston 65-63 in San Antonio on April 7. Golden quickly started to reshape Florida's roster to replace his entire starting backcourt: Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard.

He 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 Tuesday, when Fland signed paperwork to play for the Gators. Fland essentially replaces Denzel Aberdeen, who was expected to step into a starting role but left Florida for Kentucky.

Fland averaged 13.5 points, 5.1 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals for the Razorbacks last season. The freshman from New York averaged nearly 32 minutes a game.

Now, Lee and Fland will be paired together in an offense that could be even more diverse than the one that set the top two scoring marks in school history the last two years behind Clayton.

''I see it working really, really well,'' Golden said. ''When you have two point guards that are out there making plays, I think it makes your offense really dynamic. So we're excited. … They're both going to have the ball in their hands a ton, being able to play out of the ball screen, being able to push in transition, weapons that teams are going to have to account for.''

With most of Florida's frontcourt returning — Golden is ''cautiously optimistic'' Alex Condon will be back after going through the NBA's pre-draft process — the Gators should be a popular pick to repeat as champs.

''Once we get this new group together, we'll obviously kind of keep this past season's success in the equation because we want to try to continue our program at that level,'' Golden said. ''But this new group will have a lot to live up to.''

The Gators will reconvene in Gainesville for summer workouts beginning June 9.

Their trip to the White House was the final gathering for the group. Florida flew players, coaches and staff on a 30-person charter to Washington, D.C., and arranged to have everyone else meet them in the nation's capital.

Clayton traveled from California. Olivier Rioux, the world's tallest teenager at 7 feet, 9 inches, made the trip from Canada. Both guys who transferred — Aberdeen and Indiana's Sam Alexis — also rejoined the team along with former assistant coaches Kevin Hovde (now Columbia's head coach) and John Andrzejek (now Campbell's head coach). Each of them got their picture taken with President Trump.

''That was something, again, that these guys will have the rest of their lives,'' Golden said.

The 39-year-old Golden probably won't be in Gainesville for the rest of his career, but he made it clear he has no plans to leave for the NBA ''anytime soon'' despite his new contract including a much lower buyout if he leaves for the pros.

''I think it's more of just kind of keeping that opportunity potentially available down the road,'' he said. ''These contracts, it's like real-life stuff, so you got to make sure that you give yourself a little bit of opportunity.

''In terms of the college game, I'm here at Florida for a long time. It's everything I need, everything my family needs.''

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