How Florida's Todd Golden constructed a perfect roster in an era of chaos

SAN ANTONIO — College basketball has entered an era where shiny new toys get the headlines. The programs that are able to land the top players from the transfer portal are typically viewed as big offseason winners and, as a result, generate more buzz than others entering a new season.

Heading into this season, Florida was not one of those programs that generated a ton of offseason buzz, bringing in a recruiting class that ranked outside the top 60 in the nation and a transfer class that was listed as No. 35 overall in the country. The Gators were led by Walter Clayton, one of the top returning players in the SEC, but a guy who wasn't on anyone's NBA Draft radar. He and Will Richard, who was Todd Golden's first-ever recruit at Florida, would attempt to get the Gators back on the national radar.

There were more questions than answers surrounding the Gators entering the season, with the main one being simple:

Would this be the breakthrough year for Todd Golden? 

Florida went 40-29 in the first two years of Golden's tenure, which included a first-round upset to 10th-seeded Colorado in the opening round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Without a single win in the Big Dance, but solid roster continuity, Golden's Gators were ranked No. 21 heading into this season after returning six of their top nine scorers, adding Alijah Martin from FAU, and looking like they could take the next step.

Fast-forward to Monday night in San Antonio, where Golden and the Gators jumped for joy with blue and orange confetti flying from the rafters to celebrate a national championship. It was a scene that would have been almost unfathomable when this marathon started in March.

But Florida's first national title since 2007 serves as a great case of what