The Gators basketball team received fantastic news on Sunday afternoon. Center Colin Castleton announced that he has withdrawn from consideration in the 2021 NBA draft and will return to the school for another season. He emerged from the transfer portal to become a big part of Florida’s identity last season, but many of the other centerpieces of last year’s squad will be missing.
Tre Mann, who was the team’s best player, entered the NBA draft and will not be returning. Noah Locke, who was a deadly catch-and-shoot weapon, transferred to Louisville. The Keyontae Johnson/Scottie Lewis duo is broken up as well; Lewis went pro and Johnson may not play basketball competitively again.
Head coach Mike White did the hard work in the transfer portal over the offseason to bring together a team that has a real chance to outperform the 2020-21 squad. Now that Castleton’s back, we’re ready to make an early projection at who will take the floor next season as Gators starters.