New Florida head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] earned his first significant victory when he convinced center [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] to return for a fifth season. He was Florida’s leading scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker last season.
However, Golden still has a lot of recruiting left to do with three spots left on the Gators’ 2022-23 roster. The Athletic spoke with Golden about Castleton’s return while breaking down the state of Florida’s current roster.
Gators Online reported that the Gator Collective played a factor in Castleton’s decision to return. However, Golden also pitched that he would build the team around the big man and that the team would be good enough to make the NCAA tournament.
“That’s similar to Colin, where my thought was if he came back and bought into what we were doing, it would be much easier to build an NCAA Tournament roster around him,” Golden said. “That’s something he’s really passionate about accomplishing, after having a sour taste in his mouth last season.”
Golden added that he wanted to develop Castleton’s touch from deep because it’s a critical part of the offense.
The former San Francisco head coach spent a lot of energy and time on recruiting guard [autotag]Myreon Jones[/autotag] to come back for another season. After transferring from Penn State, Jones struggled mightily to find his footing with the team. Golden believes the key to getting Jones back to the sniper he was with the Nittany Lions is rebuilding his confidence.
Another recruiting victory Florida and Golden earned was when Belmont guard [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] chose to transfer to Gainesville. He should immediately slot in as a starter or as the team’s sixth man.
The Gators will also return [autotag]Kowacie Reeves[/autotag], [autotag]CJ Felder[/autotag], [autotag]Jason Jitoboh[/autotag], [autotag]Niels Lane[/autotag] and [autotag]Elijah Kennedy[/autotag] while adding high school recruits [autotag]Denzel Aberdeen[/autotag] and [autotag]Jalen Reed[/autotag].
Reeves picked up his scoring quite a bit later in the season, averaging 16.3 points per game in the team’s final three contests after only scoring 5.5 earlier in the year. Felder had one of the team’s best plus-minus but only tallied the ninth-most minutes on the team. He should play a lot more next season given Golden’s emphasis on analytics.
Then The Athletic wrote that the Gators want to add a point guard or two and frontcourt depth. Florida’s targets in the backcourt include Bradley’s Terry Roberts, SMU’s Kendric Davis, Charlotte’s Jahmir Young and VMI’s Trey Bonham. Then its frontcourt prospects are LSU‘s Alex Fudge, Morehead State’s Johni Broome and Nevada’s Warren Washington.
Golden has made quite a bit of progress in retooling the Florida roster, so it can get back to the NCAA tournament next season.
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