Todd Golden previews Florida's first NCAA Tournament since 2021

Florida returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021 and for the first time under second-year head coach Todd Golden, who becomes the fifth head coach in school history to lead UF to an NCAA berth.

The Gators will face Colorado or Boise State, which will be the first meeting ever vs. either opponent. Those two teams face off on Wednesday at 9:10 p.m.

Here’s everything Golden said about March Madness, Florida’s Big Dance bid, the SEC Tournament run, Micah Handlogten, Riley Kugel and more.

Todd Golden Q&A

On the boost from Handlogten being in Indianapolis:

Golden: “It was a great job by Lynda Tealer, just helping us manage that whole situation. Obviously, a very unique situation, one you can’t really plan for and really, I’m grateful for our administration and the way they’ve supported Micah and his family. To come up with that idea and the plan, he was originally supposed to fly back here yesterday but that would have prevented him from being at our game but now he’s staying there recovering and he’ll drive up to Indianapolis and meet us and the team. I think it’ll be a huge lift for him and kind of get his spirits back. He’s honestly in great spirits, all things considered. Way better spirits than I’d be in, to be honest. But it’s going to be a huge lift for the team also. It obviously shook everybody up a lot. I think we’re still feeling it a little bit. But it gives us a great thing to rally around in the tournament. Everybody really respects Micah. Everybody loves him as a teammate. He’s one of, if not the best, teammates that we have and to have him there I think will bring joy to everybody. My hope is that the guys want to do everything they can to play their butts off for him on Friday.”

On the emotion of the situation:

Golden: “I just think kind of the manner in which it happened, the environment which it happened in, the second minute of our SEC Championship game to lose a guy that’s started every game this season for us when he’s been healthy. It’s a tough thing to play through and a tough thing to handle in the moment. To be there with him and see his eyes while he’s going through that, it was very emotional for me. It was tough. Coming back to the bench and seeing the guys with some of them having tears in their eyes and the emotion our whole program had was really tough to deal with in that moment. We were trying to win a very competitive basketball game against one of the top five teams in America. That was just a tough thing to handle. I think it would be for any of our guys in that moment but for Micah, especially, just because he’s such a great young man and has been such a huge part of our success this year.”

On what lies ahead of Handlogten:

Golden: “I don’t know exactly. He had a really good surgery. I think it went about as well as anyone could have hoped for. But I don’t know the exact timetable. Obviously it’s a pretty severe injury so it’s going to take a little bit. We’ll have his back and whatever he needs from us, Duke and our staff. I’m really happy Dr. Farmer was there. I think that helped. I was grateful for the SEC and their staff. I thought the response was really good in the moment. You don’t really plan for those types of situations but whether it was our team doctors, Duke and his staff, the SEC and even Auburn’s staff was quick on the floor to support him. I thought it was handled very well by everyone in the moment.”

On the timetable for his recovery:

Golden: “I don’t know exactly. He had a really good surgery. I think it went about as well as anybody could hope for. I don’t really know the exact timetable. Obviously, it’s a pretty severe injury, so it’s gonna take a little bit. But we’ll have his back and whatever he needs from us and Duke and our staff. Really happy Dr. Farmer was there. I think that helped, obviously. I was grateful for the SEC and their staff. I thought the response was really good in the moment. Again, you don’t really plan for those types of situations. Whether it was our team doctors, Duke and his staff, SEC, even Auburn’s staff was quick on the floor to support him. I thought it was handled very well by everybody in the moment.”

On if their Nashville run can be a catalyst:

Golden: “I think it should be a catalyst for us moving forward. It was one of the situations where we had a feeling our first game would be really challenging, and it was tough. We didn’t play our best, but we got through it and we kind of incrementally played better as the week went on. Played a very good game against Bama, controlled it after the first two minutes again, start to finish. It was never really close in the second half. And then A&M, talk about playing through some adversity and showing some resilience. Down 18 in the first half, that wasn’t on my bingo card for that game. But just the way we came back, cut it to eight and then controlled the second half was awesome. And A&M was playing about as well as anybody in America at that time. They had won five games in a row, had played like a top-five team analytically over that stretch. So that was a huge win. We’re gonna have to compensate for Micah being out, but we’ve dealt with some injuries all year and I think our guys are ready to step up and head to Indy and see what we can do.”

On whether it helps that UF has played without him already:

Golden: “A little bit. I think it kind of gives us a good understanding of what worked, what didn’t and kind of some different things we can try with him not being out there.”

On rallying from an 18-point deficit against Texas A&M:

Golden: “It was more of just kind of the continued kind of belief of our guys. That’s a pretty tough circumstance to overcome against a team that was playing really, really well. But our guys did a good job of kind of staying the course and not obviously getting too down or just trying to be heroes and make every winning play and not staying with what we do. We just chipped away at it. It took us probably about 15 minutes to get the lead from that point or whatever. But once we did, we didn’t let it go. To do it against them as well was really impressive. They’re a very physical team. They had been playing really well. And they’re veterans. They have really good guards. They have a physical frontcourt. We just went out there and kept going and did our job.”

On Riley Kugel’s lack of minutes in the SEC tourney:

Golden: “A combination of I think some other guys just stepping up. You look at what Denzel has been able to do for us over the last couple of weeks, and he’s a guy that’s super consistent and has a great attitude and regardless of his playing time brings the same approach on a day-to-day basis. He had been playing better for the last couple weeks. I thought Denzel played great at home against Bama, thought he gave us a big lift in the Bama game in Nashville, and then it’s just kind of a decision that we’ve made to go with him for the Texas A&M game and he made me look smart. He played his tail off, had 20 points in 22 minutes, guarded really, really well. The reality is basketball is a team game and sometimes different guys are needed for different circumstances. For that specific moment in the tournament we thought Denzel and his ball handling and his defense would give us a big lift and he stepped up for us. I hope Riley will give us a big lift in this tournament. We are down one obviously, and could really use him in a lot of different ways. So I expect him to have really good practices today, tomorrow and Thursday, and then my hope is that he gives us a good lift on Friday in the games.”

On the challenge of having so many X factors:

Golden: “I think every team does. We have some guys that we’ll count on every game to perform at a high level and then certain guys will step up on different nights. Riley has given us huge lifts throughout the year. Tommy he’s done the same. Denzel’s really coming on. Obviously, we would love everybody to be at their best every game, but that’s just not how this works. We’ll try to keep going and like I said we need all those guys, especially without Micah this weekend.”

On what this run could do for recruiting transfers:

Golden: “We’re not going to worry about the portal until our season’s over. I’ve been pretty, pretty transparent with my staff in terms of where it is right now, we have great guys in our program. We will recruit out of the portal. I’m not saying we won’t, but I’m not going to even address that until our season’s over. I think the guys within our program will be the same way.”

On how this year’s success helps recruiting:

Golden: “It’s great. More guys to play here. A couple of things, obviously the success we’ve had on the court, as well as our style of play. We’re sixth in America in scoring. So, when guys want to really look at programs and evaluate can they go there and have success think we have some really good proof of concept with Tyrese and ZP, that guys that want to come in, maybe for one year and be a part of something and have success – check, check on both those guys. And so, it’s really good, it’s good and my hope it will continue to get better and better as years go along.”

On the portal being open while teams are still playing:

Golden: “Yeah, I don’t think there’s a good solution, though, because there’s a lot of teams that aren’t playing right now. Is it fair to expect them to wait until everybody’s done to get going. We’re usually pretty good at figuring this stuff out, and I don’t think myself or even Jonathan Safir has a good explanation the way to do this. It’s not good. It’s not healthy. Are we going to miss out on some guys because we’re waiting? Probably. But it is what it is. I’d rather have a healthy program and guys understanding that we’re rocking with them and not worrying about who’s gonna replace him next year, especially as we go into the NCAA Tournament.”

On what a Sweet 16 run could do for the program:

Golden: “Yeah, I mean, my hope is regardless of what happens in the tournament – obviously we want to make a deep run, but I think it’s pretty clear where we’re headed and that we’re on the right path. First time, I think in what – eight or nine years – that we played an SEC Championship Game. Ten years maybe? I’d say that’s a pretty good sign and the tournament, it’s one of those things where we could get really hot and make a deep, deep run, or maybe we could not play well on Friday night and lose. You know I don’t really think that changes a whole lot in regard to where this program is headed. Obviously, it will be just like the tournament, though, in the sense that if we do well, it’s going to be easier to continue to sell our story. But these tournaments, you know, we just won three games in three days. You know, this team obviously has a good understanding of how to do it, but every team we play now is really, really good. You know, Colorado, I think they’re 24 or 25 on KenPom, as a 10 seed, so they’re obviously a little under-seeded and Boise State is really dang good. I’ve known Leon Rice since I played at Saint Mary’s. He was an assistant at Gonzaga when I played there and they’re one of the greatest teams in America. So, we’re gonna have to be ready regardless of who we face, but I would love to make a deep run and continue to sell our story.”

On what it means to him personally:

Golden: “Obviously it was a great honor for Scott [Stricklin] and Linda [Tealer] to believing in what we’re doing, and obviously, the results speak for themselves, you know. I don’t think we would have been able to get that if it wasn’t for the success we’ve had, but, you know, knock on wood, our program’s healthy, man. We have really great guys in our program. I have a really good staff. We’re on the right track. We’re in where I feel like we have a lot of room to grow still. So, yeah, we’ll just try to keep going and keep chopping wood. This league is really, really good, though. We’re going up against the best every day whether it’s competing on the floor or recruiting and so the bar is really high. But, we’ve done a good job this year, proving that we can compete and beat pretty much everybody in the league with the exception of Tennessee this year … that we knocked off most of the top teams. So, we’ll just keep going and keep building and seeing where we can take it.”

On having to prepare for two teams before Friday:

Golden: “It ends up being a little bit of a break even because I think we do have a little bit of an advantage because the teams play on Wednesday night. I think we’re at a little bit of a disadvantage because we can’t truly prepare for anybody until, you know, late Wednesday night. You know, it all works itself out at the end of the day. I’m really glad we’re playing on Friday. You know, I think this team was about as fatigued as you can be coming off four games in four days and obviously with the emotion of what happened to Micah. So, we needed some time to kind of get our legs back under us and now it’s everything we’ve got to get ourselves revved up and back ready to go for Friday.”

On if he’s talked to Kyle Smith because WSU played Boise State and Colorado:

Golden: “I’ve not talked to Randy (Bennett) or Kyle yet. I think Kyle definitely played Boise. John Andrzejek will have that scout because they played Boise the last couple of years, so I think he has a good pulse on them. I’ve texted with both of them. I think it’s pretty neat that all of our programs are in the NCAA Tournament. Washington State got a 7-seed as well, Saint Mary’s got a 5. Obviously good for our tree and good for our family that we’re having this type of success. You gave me a good idea, though. I should reach out to Kyle and see if he’s got any notes on Boise he wants to share with me.”

On if Aleks Szymczyk will be available for the NCAA Tournament:

Golden: “Yeah. He’s ready to go. I think it’d be a lot to ask of him to step up. But after Micah went down, I did go down and say, ‘Hey, you better be ready to go’ and his eyes got about that wide. I’m not sure if he knew I was serious. But yeah, we need everybody. And he’s capable, man, he’s a capable player. He’s obviously not in great shape right now, hasn’t played in game minutes. But I believe and trust in him in a pinch that he can give us a good effort if we need it.”

On Riley Kugel’s confidence and stayed engaged:

Golden: “I have faith that he will respond the right way. Obviously he was disappointed, I would have been if I was him too. But again, there’s a new opportunity this week is the best way I can say it. And you know, nothing that’s happened in the past will prevent him from getting on the court if he deserves to be there this week. So I expect and anticipate him having a great week and understanding this is another great opportunity to play in the best event in college sports, in my opinion. I assume a lot of the football people wouldn’t agree with me on that, but March Madness is amazing and I think he’ll be geared up and ready to go.”

On more minutes for Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh:

Golden: “They’ve been great all year. You know, it wasn’t my hope to have to throw more on their plate this late in the season. But we’ll start Alex Condon on Friday next to Tyrese, and Tommy will play even more than he’s been playing. We might play some four-guard lineups on Friday, still trying to kind of dig in and figure that stuff out. But the great thing about both of those guys is everything we’ve thrown at them, they’ve done a good job handling it. And I was thinking about it in the middle of the game on Sunday, I was looking out there and Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams were both running around out there against our two freshman posts and they were hanging. You know, they were battling, they were doing a good job. And you know, the great thing is they’re gonna become even better as they grow in the program. But I couldn’t ask any more of those guys in terms of how hard they played, their willingness to do whatever the program asks of them during competition.”