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Matt
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Jim Root
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Gary Parrish
Download Today before we get going on today's summer shoot around, this is my reminder that if you are a fan of a school that is not a part of our predetermined list of schools for shooter on episodes, there are three separate auctions that you can bid on to get the bonus episode for our summer shoot arounds and those episodes will publish in September. So if you're watching on YouTube, you want to go right here, top right corner of the screen right there, hit that QR code or we've got links in the description. If you are listening to the podcast, the auction links to the three separate auctions are in the description as well. They'll be in this one, they'll be in the next one, they'll be in the one after that. The deadline, this is key, is August 14th. The schools that have already been determined are St. John's Houston, BYU, Purdue, Yukon, Florida, Texas, Texas Tech, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas, Arkansas and North Carolina. So if you didn't hear your school mentioned and you want us to talk about it, you want to ask questions, you want to actually help produce a summer shoot around episode. You can be a fan of a big time program or a mid major in the middle of nowhere. If you bid the most, you will win and you will get your bonus episode dedicated to your favorite school. So go to the link, rally your friends. In about a week's time, we'll have three separate winners. Bid now, bid frequently and we'll talk to you soon. Folks, we have shifted. Gary Parrish hosted the first five episodes of Summer Shoot around. And now the boys in the Captain's chair. Our medley of guests continues with some guys who I first met in the flesh, I believe, at the 2019 Final Four where they were dressed nearly identically, all wearing backpacks like giddy boys on the first day of school. It was absolutely adorable. Never lose that spirit. I know, I try not to. I have followed their work for almost a decade. At this point, real ones know that the three Man Weave podcast is as reliable of a college hoops pod for nitty gritty analysis as literally any that you will find in the space. So the three man weave ion college basketball collab that has been literally years in the making, it's here today. Jim Root, Kai McKeon are here from Three Man Weave. Matty Cox bailed, so I'm the other Maddie. But crucially, this is still a three man weave with a mat. How about that? So yeah, I'll step into the flow as we make our way down the proverbial hardwood the we fellas not only have a terrific college hoops pod, they are also now contributing to the new independent college hoops online outlet that goes by Basket under review. There's a motley crew of metrics minded men making noise over there and the whole thing is spearheaded by a guy with a nom de plume, Trilly Donovan, if you have not heard of him. He started this whole thing and even though the site's a little more than a month old at this point, it looks really promising. They got a lot of content. The weave guys have already beaten us at CBS Way to the punch with their top 100 players list. A little early, by the way, Jim and Kai, a little early. Maybe stop those brakes a little bit. They are also in the midst of an elongated countdown of the top 50 teams heading into next season. Right now they're in the 30s. Jim, Kai, thanks for joining the show. It's great to see you guys. Appreciate it.
Kai McKeon
It's great to be here, Matt. It's good to have a third Weaver that's not Matt Cox. I feel like we've got a lot more high quality on the microphone this time, Kai. That's why we don't have guests on our show because we don't do intros like that. That's as good as it gets. And we're really excited to be here.
Matty Cox
That's right. Famously unscripted and also poor production. And we've been doing it for years too. That's how we roll. But yeah. Matt, great to be here. Appreciate you having us. Fantastic intro. You made us sound really cool.
Gary Parrish
You are. You guys are really cool. By the way, if you're watching on YouTube, you see Jim set up. He's a disgusting packers fan. And thankfully the QR code to go bid on the auctions is blocking the packers helmet before we were getting ready to go. I usually save my Bears stuff for when we get to like September, but he forced me. So I got the Bears football behind me there. I got the mini helmet there. I may or may not have Jim put on the packers helmet before we get to the end. So we'll see on that. By the way, Kai is rocking the three man weave custom vinyl backdrop, which I appreciate. I will just say this, be happy that it's me and not Parrish because the fact that the. That the vinyl backdrop is not cleanly in the shot you got a little bit of it would drive Parrish nuts. Like it would drive me nuts. The wall. He might not have even started recording the show if he saw that. So count your blessings that it's me and, and not him. But I appreciate you guys coming on and also to everyone that's watching the show or listening that normally, you know, follows everything we've. I appreciate you guys stopping by. Feel free to take a tour around the shooter, run episodes. There's plenty of college hoops podcast love to satisfy everyone across the. This great landscape of ours. So. So let's get it rolling here. Let's go. Let's talk Florida. I'm actually in particularly excited to have these guys on to talk the reigning national champions because there's a lot of very. There's a lot of intriguing stuff happening here with what Todd Golden's working with and the guys that he lost. What he brings back. I'm just fascinated to see what these two in particular think is fair to expect. They haven't revealed yet where they have Florida. Whether they want to or not is up to you guys. Maybe you guys haven't even gotten to that point, but we can get to just a little bit. Let me, let me run down the roster stuff first. Let's just get a. Let's get a quick reset on. On Florida. We know they won the national title, but quick reset for Mayan and then we're gonna let Kai and Jim for the most part dominate this pod. They beat Houston 6563 in the national title game. They were 1C. They're coming off a record setting 14 bit sec obviously remember Florida narrowly escaped. They had a couple of amazing games I think start to finish. I think the Yukon game was their best game and their biggest test of the whole thing. In fact I asked, I want to say ask Carlin Hartman. I was fortunate enough to be on like with the team after they won I went on the bus for the post championship celebration. I asked Carlin Hartman what was the toughest test of them all and he was like well they're all tough but if you like made me pick one pretty sure he told me that the Yukon one was indeed it. While giving plenty of obviously respect to the Houston team that they barely just narrowly escaped. Yukon was was a thriller start to finish. No doubt about it. They and by the way if you have not listened to the shoot around with Parrish and Rob Doster, please go do that. That's just a couple episodes back. They bounced Maryland in the Sweet 16 and then they overcame a nine point deficit with less than three minutes to go against Texas Tech. Texas Tech had a double digit lead in that game for a good portion of the second half. I just rewatched it. The Walter Clayton Jr. Casual I'm amongst the tall trees. I'm going to jog out to the three point line and casually hit a turnaround fade away to give my team the lead for the first time in ages. Remains insane. And part of an 18:4 run. They get out of there, they beat Tech, they make the final four, then they beat Auburn by six, get to Houston, the title game and now Todd golden. He's now 40 but he won it at the time when he was 39. He was the youngest coach to win a national title. Guys. Since Valvano was 37 in 83 with NC State. But we have a trivia time. Trivia time. You ready?
Matty Cox
Yes.
Kai McKeon
Let's do it.
Gary Parrish
If you're curious, who do you think the youngest coach ever is to win a men's NCAA championship? Who was it? How old? What year?
Kai McKeon
Oh boy, this came up.
Gary Parrish
I feel like this came up once or twice just in general college basketball media as Florida was doing it because golden was getting a little bit of run for being a coach that could win it in his 30s.
Matty Cox
Are we gonna know this guy's name matters?
Gary Parrish
I don't know if you'll know his name. Color TV was not around when he did it.
Kai McKeon
Yeah, I Mean, I guess we know that it's the context clues is it's before Valvano did it. So how old was Don Haskins when he did it? I don't know.
Gary Parrish
I want to say Haskins was like mid-30s. He's not the answer, but that's a good call.
Kai McKeon
I don't think I have it dumping me.
Matty Cox
No, no, I don't either. Yeah, you lose.
Gary Parrish
Rance McCracken, Indiana.
Matty Cox
Oh, yeah, old Branch, a fresh 31.
Gary Parrish
Years old when the Hoosier did this is probably never gonna get one. 31 and closer to 32 than 31. They wanted the second ever NCAA tournament. 1940, Indiana, Branch McCracken, 31. I had to drop a trivia time on you before we actually, you know, before we get to the. Get to the break and, and get to a roster rundown and stuff. We're talking Florida, we're talking sec. You guys are doing a whole series where you're going to rank coaches like in every conference. Right. So you have a list of sec. Can you, can we get a little like, can we go cross posting, so to speak, here? Can I get. Can I get your list and what the. I don't know what, what the criteria was for assembling said list for all 16 coaches in this league.
Kai McKeon
Yeah, yeah, I'll fire it off here. And, and for those listening, they're lucky that Kai is not at Costco answering this because a summer ago, Kai answered his ACC coach rankings while shopping at Costco and it didn't turn out well.
Matty Cox
No, no, no.
Gary Parrish
So it does. It does make sense on that. I, I wanted to bring up in particular because I'm fascinated to see where golden falls in line with everything here.
Kai McKeon
Yep. So criteria wise, I, I kind of mostly excluded player acquisition because I think that's so heavily based on nil budgets right now. And it's just harder for me to, to factor in and totally put my mind around. So there's a lot more X and O talent maximization type thing approach to the game. I ended up with golden second in the sec. I think he's way up there. We've kind of gone to bat for him for a couple off seasons and maybe should have gone to bed for him a little more last off season after falling off the train a little bit. Do you want him 1 through 16? Let's go.
Gary Parrish
16. 1.
Kai McKeon
16. 1. Matt McMahon, LSU 16. Mike White of Georgia. 15.
Matty Cox
Same.
Kai McKeon
Lamont Paris of South Carolina.
Gary Parrish
Same.
Kai McKeon
Dennis Gates of Missouri. I'm a Mizzou alum, so.
Gary Parrish
Wow. Gates got 13, by the way. This is for anyone listening. This is Jim talking and Kai just echoing same.
Kai McKeon
Yes, yes, good. Now we'll differ surely. We will shortly here. Bucky McMillan, Texas A M. How are.
Gary Parrish
You going him that high when he hasn't coached a game in the sec? Yeah, I'm sorry to interject real quick, but that's like. I think Dennis Gates kind of objectively has to be above Bucky at this stage.
Matty Cox
I appreciate that that's biased.
Kai McKeon
Yeah. Dennis Gates also has an Owen 19 season on his. On his resume. But hey, maybe. Maybe that's what Bucky will do his first year. I doubt it. But yeah, I. Maybe there's some anti homerism in my. In my rankings there. At 11, I have Sean Miller of Texas, man, same Porter Moser, 10th from Oklahoma.
Gary Parrish
Whoa, you've got Sean Miller at 11.
Kai McKeon
I do.
Gary Parrish
You know, there's time. This is turning into more of a segment than I thought it would be. There was a time not so long ago when Sean Miller was not near universally but widely in the very short top two, top three list of best coaches in the sport not to make a final four. And now you've got him 11 out of 16 in the SEC.
Kai McKeon
It's a really good conference of coaches. I'll try that little caveat sweetener for Texas fans, but yeah, I didn't love the last couple of years at Xavier. Number 10, I supported Moser, Oklahoma. Number nine, John Calipari of Arkansas, wondering where he was gonna come up.
Gary Parrish
Jim, we're exactly the same. The engagement farming right now is way beyond anything I thought I could have dreamed of happening on this episode.
Matty Cox
Jim and I are 16 to 9 exactly the same, which.
Gary Parrish
That's crazy.
Matty Cox
Absolutely wild.
Gary Parrish
Yeah.
Kai McKeon
Number eight, Mark Byington of Vanderbilt. Number seven, Chris Chance, Mississippi State.
Matty Cox
Yeah.
Kai McKeon
Number six, Bruce Pearl of Auburn.
Matty Cox
Oh, now we go.
Kai McKeon
We got a difference.
Matty Cox
Now we're different. Okay.
Kai McKeon
Number five, Mark. Mark Pope of Kentucky. Four, Chris Beard, Ole Miss. Three, Rick Barnes, Tennessee. Two, Todd Golden, Florida. And number one, Nate Oates, Alabama. Kai, give me your top six since we know seven.
Matty Cox
Yeah, I went six, Beard, five, Pope, four, Barnes, three, Golden. Two, Bruce Pearl. Number one, NATO's.
Gary Parrish
Broadly speaking. Can you put Nate Oats ahead of Bruce Pearl when Bruce Pearl has made the Final Four twice and Nate Oats can't claim that it's tougher to do.
Kai McKeon
I mean, Pearl's been there longer and been a coach longer, so that's part of it, I guess. For me, I think Oats will get a second one, but yeah, it's it's not as much accomplishments, historical resume based as it is. Like, if I gave all 16 coaches the same roster for next season, what order do I think they'd finish? That's maybe one way to summarize it.
Gary Parrish
Barnes is fascinating because he's the longest tenured. He is. Is he longer than Cal? I think he is. I don't know off the top of my head, who has more seasons, Calor or Barnes?
Matty Cox
You know, I'm pretty sure it's Barnes.
Gary Parrish
Yeah. Obviously there's been a lot of March letdowns. You have to factor that in. You cannot. I. I just don't think you had Pope above 1. Above Miller, but then you had Pope above someone else that I was like, there's no shot. Who did you have?
Kai McKeon
I think I. I had him ahead of Pearl. That's probably the one you're gonna.
Gary Parrish
That's. That's indefensible. It is. I'm sorry. Like, that's objectively indefensible. Like he's a good coach. I think Bruce, Pearl and. And Kai's got Pearl at. You said two, right?
Matty Cox
I got two.
Gary Parrish
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I even think Todd golden, even with the national title, wouldn't allow himself to be ranked ahead of Pearl, who obviously.
Matty Cox
Yeah.
Gary Parrish
And help break them into the coaching business to a certain extent. That's a hell of a list. I'm going to tease our listeners if you want more on that. Again, three man Weave have an article up at I assume, will that be on Basket under review or we'll just strictly podcast. Strictly podcast content. I'll leave all the other defending of that stuff to. To their episode there. That is. That is spicy. That is a hard. That is a hard list to compile. And yes, the sec, obviously the. The coaching roster is mega, mega, mega deep. I was going to plan to do the. The Florida roster breakdown before the break and then get to that after with our guys thoughts, but you know what? Nada. Let's. Let's hop in now. We're going to take a quick break. After that, we'll remind you who's still here, who's gone. And then the Weave guys and their outlook on the Gators in 2526.
Matt
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Gary Parrish
Whoa.
Matt
Wait, you mean finance? Yeah, finance. Got pre qualified for a Carvana auto loan, entered my terms and shot from thousands of great car options all within my budget.
Gary Parrish
That's cool.
Matt
But financing through Carvana was so easy. Financed, done and I get to pick up my car from their Carvana vending machine tomorrow. Financed, right? That's what they said. You can spend time trying to pronounce.
Gary Parrish
Financing, or you can actually finance and.
Matt
Buy your car today on Carvana financing. Subject to credit approval. Additional terms and conditions may apply.
Gary Parrish
Are you feeling more fulfilled now that you're back to work on August 15th? No. I need a vacation. See the movie that critics are saying is an awesome look at that crowd pleasing, fist pumping all out brawl of a film. You're right about that.
Matt
They're coming after our family. Go fix this.
Gary Parrish
Oh my. Nobody 2 rated Ruby holding in theaters.
Jim Root
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Gary Parrish
Okay, Gators roster Notable names gone obviously. Walter Clayton Jr. A top three player in the sport last season. He's out. Elijah Martin gone. Will Richard out. Denzel Aberdeen off to Kentucky after Florida refused to meet his his lofty nil demands. Notable names back are all in the front court. Alex Condon, Reuben Chinliu, Thomas Hauck and Micah Hanlogden. New to the to the field here you got Xavian Lee and these are the most notable names obviously. And Boogie Flan Lee comes by Princeton. Flynn comes from Arkansas, Ohio. Ohio transfer A.J. brown also put up more than 13 a game last season. Freshman wise C.J. ingram is a 66 4, star wing ranked 19th in the class and Alex Lloyd, number 41 shouts to Dave Matthews Band and the 247 rankings is a 63 shooting guard. That's the roster. You guys take it away. And Kai, I'll throw it to you first. General thoughts on golden as a coach so far. You know he won the damn national title so some of this is obvious. But let's go as big pictures as we want from when he got the job to what it is now. All that thoughts on what he's done and and expectations with with the names that I just, you know, listed off as Florida attempts to be a team that gets back to the Final Four. We're talking about him now because Gary Parish has him six in his offseason rankings.
Matty Cox
Yeah, I mean, I think it's a top five team. And Todd golden, his whole philosophy and the way he builds teams is just how you should do it in this day and age. He. He targets specific needs in the portal. He didn't just accumulate talent like a lot of coaches around the country. He addresses specific needs, he uses analytics correctly in his evaluations and he takes guys that fill a specific hole on the roster. Like this season he brought in backcourt talent, he brought in talented superstar potentially in Flanders, an old veteran guy in Lee and then a steady veteran backup player in AJ Brown. Didn't need frontcourt players, didn't grab frontcourt players, so he knows what he's doing. The staff obviously has been talked about a lot. He has a little bit brain drain this summer with Hovdi and Andrecheck leaving, but I still think he did a great job building this roster. Have faith in Klatsky coming down from NYU and like I said, top five team for me. Arguably three of the top 30, 40 players in the country. There's a lot to like.
Gary Parrish
Jim.
Kai McKeon
Yeah, I love the cue he took I kind of from Mark Few a little bit in his WCC days of play. Fast, dominate the rim and he's got multiple bigs on the floor at all times. They've probably got the best stable of bigs in the entire country with everybody they've got back from last season. And I think we saw how important handlogged in was when they pulled the medical record off him and he just gave them a whole new shot of life in mid February. So they're going to be awesome at the rim, defending it, scoring at it, getting easy points in transition and then from there, as Kai mentioned, is filling in the blanks around there. Let's get some ball handlers in there. Last year's team, I think the floor is high this year because of the bigs, but the ceiling was raised last year because of the shot making of Clayton, of Martin, of Will Richard and some of the stretches that especially Clayton could have and that's probably not repeatable, but you've got a couple guys that have a chance at it with Lee and with Flanders and there's, you know, some, some tinkering to be done with the lineup, especially at the three spot with, with the announcement or, you know, he said it's probably gonna be Tommy hauk at the 3 and playing a little bit more of a jumbo lineup, but they've got some bites at the apple for other guards, other wings, and I think that's important. It's not just reliant on one guy. There's four or five that could emerge and be that key piece to go with the bigs. And I think the point guards, the dual guard system will work well for them.
Gary Parrish
Here is golden just won a title in his third season. That's obviously rare. You you don't in the men's D1 ball for coach to step in to a high major program. Even however you defined a high major in the 60s and 70s when the landscape was different to be able to win it had been done before but it's not common to to get your first high major job and when it win the whole damn thing by year three obviously speaks to Golden's acumen overall year one 16 and 17. All right. Getting getting your sea legs with you. A year ago 7 seed get bounced in a really tremendous game against Colorado in the 7:10 game and then they get the one. We can keep looking ahead but I want to say that Florida was the fourth 1 seed in the pecking order and they really and I didn't have a disagreement on that, but they the ones were so good and it was so appropriate that they all made the final four which is the only second time that it happened that I actually felt at the time that if you really wanted to try and build a case for any of the ones to be the number one overall scene, you could do it. And for Florida having won the SEC tournament and all that they were, you know, a four loss team going in. They wind up going 36 and four and lo and behold look what he's done. But he did have the shooting last year. If you're a Florida fan, you're over the moon. Just big picture on this. Billy Donovan, who's getting formally inducted into the Naismith Memorial hall of Fame next month, you know he wins back to back championships. That was, you know, we did our top 25 stories over the past 25 years and that was a top 15 story. And prior to that Florida had made the final four in 2094 and it just, it had been a program that was like okay, we are a place where we think we're the second best to Kentucky. Like it's, it's us two and then everyone else. And there was obviously a dip under Mike White. You know, you Both got him 15 out of 16. He's now at Georgia obviously. But for golden to have brought Florida back and done it like who knows if you're ever going to win a national championship if you hire there Are very few head coaches. When they are hired, the fan base is like, okay, we will and we should win a national championship. Of course it happens occasionally, like, but most hires, it's like, okay, can we just have a team that's, you know, can be a top four team in our league more years than not all that stuff. Here's golden wins the damn thing in year three. And now as a result of that, Florida has reclaimed a place among the, in my, in my opinion, among the 10 to 12 most important programs in the sport. It just, it wasn't there three years ago, it wasn't there eight years ago. It was there. You know, Donovan obviously, of course also made another final four before he left for the NBA for good. And to see how this team and how golden and his staff move forward this season after having won the national title, I think is going to be really interesting. I had guys, I had a, I'll call him a high major coach of note, certainly one of the 10 to 15 most recognizable coaches in the sport. Okay. And we got talking a number of things on the recruiting trail and we got to talking about Florida. For whatever reason, I'm not going to say whether the coach is in the SEC or not. It could be, could not. But he said golden is so smart and they're so interesting to me. But what I'm fascinated to see with him is look at that roster. Look at Condon, look at what Hauk does. I think, I think the coach said, look at the, the really big kid who comes off the bench, meaning hand logged in. And then you bring in Lee who's a little bit undersized, and Fland who was erratic. And I'm going to paraphrase here, but the coach essentially said, are they going to always play with 3 non shooting bigs and how reliable is the shooting going to be from those two guards? Like what are they going to have next season from a shooting perspective? How are they going to overcome that? Is Florida going to need to be one of the three best defensive teams in the country? Last season they finished sixth in per possession. So long wind up for me, Jim, I'll throw it to you first. Is there, is there viable concern here that with a lack of steady proven shooting that most college basketball media is overrating Florida and this could prove to be a team that's, you know, not even top 16, top 18. Good, because it won't wind up having the perimeter shooting that's required to get through that SEC and beyond.
Kai McKeon
I'd be shocked if they fell that far Just because of the the rim dominance and being a top probably 10 team at the rim on both ends, both the offense and defense and last year they're above the 90th percentile and field goal percentage at the rim on offense and defense. But to Your point, all three of their wing took at least 10 threes per 100 per 100 possessions last year. So there's always guys ready to light up from deep and Clayton was one of the best in the country. Kind of was getting Steph comparisons at the end of it and this year like Lee and Flander right around that mark in attempts. But I don't get the same sense that they're as, you know, flamethrowers as the guys last year. And how started to shoot a little more. He hit some huge shots in that Texas Tech comeback that you mentioned. Kind of help set the table for Clayton to hit that giant shot. But he's not going to be that high of volume. He's not going to be a movement shooter. I think he's just kind of a. If my feet are set and they're too focused on the paint then it sets up well. But the fact that they never really even tried how get the three last year even when Hanlockton came back tells me a little bit that I think if you gave the Florida coaches true serum they'd want one more wing and would really want someone to emerge from that stable of Brown, Brown, Ingram, Lloyd or even clubs are and just have another guy that can shoot it. So maybe they're going to have to be a little more flexible and kind of self examine and try to figure out how to get better shots or more going towards the rim because yeah, as you said and last year you just kind of watched him Kai. I think the shot making that they had was so high level that it even offset sometimes if they got into a rut in their half court execution.
Matty Cox
Yeah, absolutely. And Walter Clayton. There's nobody on this roster that's Walter Clayton. He was incredible and there's no one on the roster that's Elijah Martin. He's got got the dog in him type of attribute. I mean he truly was incredible and I think his loss has been understated a little bit. Even Will Richard. But I, I agree shooting is a concern. I, I'm not selling how short on any development this off season. I think he could literally be all American good. Obviously that's what they want flam to be but I think that's why they brought in A.J. brown. They saw a guy who could make shots. I think that's going to be his role. Come off the bench, hit shots. I'm not sure he's going to do much else at this level but again, smart get by golden once again and as Jim kind of alluded to though, okay shooting, it's important. But if you're going to rebound at a top 10 rate on the offensive glass once again, it kind of makes up for it a little bit.
Gary Parrish
AJ Brown will have to he'll have to step up big. He was a 38 shooter overall last season but if you look at his tier A numbers career wise tier A now it's not a lot of you know, to to pill for your phrase, Jim. It's not a lot of bites of the apple. 36. 925 from three career other guys flanned now he missed some time obviously. 34 from three last season. We'll see on that. Xavian Lee taking a big step up career 3 point shooting 34 and definitely had some moments against bigger teams where he did not necessarily thrive. He's had some ups and downs, certainly an interesting talent. Also how they, how they choose to have the ball and Lee and Flan's hands. I actually do trust golden and his staff to get really creative. Kai, your Hauk point is super fascinating to me. Let's dig into this a little bit here. I do think he's got a really good shot. By pure coincidence I happen to write a fairly in depth on the road in the air feature. I was with golden and that staff a few years ago when we went from Atlanta to Chicago to Cartersville and just we bounced around over two or three days and the biggest name that they were recruiting that they thought that they were going to get was Hauk at the time and he was on the Under Armour circuit. He certainly he stood out but he was not like a whoa, okay. This guy's going to change Florida's program to get it was just, it was okay. Can see it can see how he'd be like a good 3, 4 year player. Lo and behold he's really developing into something I I Condon's got some NBA future potential. So between Condon Hauk and I think Fland, I don't and I say this all respect to Lee who I think is going to have some nice moments. I don't think Lee can be their best player. What do we think the most likely scenario is that Florida's number one, two, three in terms of overall value for best players next season. Jim, you go first.
Kai McKeon
I think it's Condon because the playmaking and the fact that they can kind of play through him and how it's a great passer too. But Condon's, he, he can. He had some moments against Houston where I was like, oh, connect. I never dribbled the ball again, please. But he was maybe better before he got hurt and he's the best player on the floor against Auburn when they won at Auburn. And I just think like the way he fits into the offensive rebounding that Kai mentioned, the top five, top ten in that he's going to be a big part there matching with the skill development he's had as a post scorer and just the passing, the playmaking, they can kind of run handoffs with him or make him the trigger man and some of the off ball movement that they have for their shooters. I'll put him narrowly at the top. But how it continues to develop like crazy. I think there's kind of an interesting comparison to be made between him and Alex Caravan coming off the two national titles rising into a junior. Is he the star for, for, for UConn last year?
Gary Parrish
You don't want to say it, but okay, fair enough.
Kai McKeon
Yeah, okay. You did say it.
Gary Parrish
Sure.
Kai McKeon
Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, like the four man for a national title where they were a crucial connector and really highly efficient role player. Do they rise into stardom? And it went okay for Caravan maybe not great. He had a bit of a shooting slump last year and I think Hawk is still going to be better as like a hypercharge second or third option. And, and Fland, I mean he played mostly in the non conference and then really sparingly at the end when he came back from his injury. I think there's, there's a big time player in there and maybe golden and staff can get it out Kai. So I think I'm gonna barely go Condon Fland Hawk but you know I'm not married to that.
Matty Cox
No, that's what I would say today, honestly. But like I said, Halk has so much potential for a leap. He, he hits every single category in the game, offense, defense. And he's fearless. Like this guy is tough as as nails. Podcast we're a clean podcaster and we've. I just think you saw the, the trajectory already from freshman to sophomore year. What his o rating was 133 and we know he was a solid defender. I just think his trajectory is insane. But for their ceiling to hit, I do think Flynn needs to be first team all conference level guy in the sec. You saw him I test wise when he played at the beginning of the year for Arkansas, I mean he popped for me. He was incredible. Their best player. Maybe not the best usage when Nellie Davis kind of sat on the bench and will not blame Flam for that necessarily. He didn't translate to winning. So that's a concern. But I'm not sure I'm putting that all on him. So I'll say the same at the end of the day for, for as Jim Condon slightly behind him, Flan slightly behind him. Hauk.
Gary Parrish
Yeah. Lee and Flynn, how they play off each other, who has the ball in their hands the most, what responsibilities are handed out. I'll be really intrigued on that. And yeah, Flan can be streaky. I just, I want to see how he grows in his role. I should mention Urban. I think it's cloud jar is the way he pronounces it. I think he's probably their best shooter going into the season. He didn't play a ton last season. He's going to get more minutes and they might need him. I'm not, I'm not saying Florida will be devoid of three point shooting. I'm just saying the evidence isn't there right now that that's going to be. Let me see what they were last season. It's not going to be a top 50 team in 3 point accuracy next season. Last season. Well, how about this. Florida was 82nd in the country, 35.6 and they had better, I mean they objectively had much better shooting and more options there than they seemingly will have here. But we'll see what, we'll see what comes of it percentage wise guys before we get to the rundown for non conference and all that good stuff. Just percentage that Florida not even wins the national title. Although I think that should be. That's fairly on the table Final four run again knowing that the tournament can be a random results generator. We get all that but assign a seating. It sounds like you guys are of the mind that Florida, you know, two C3 seeds, maybe one of you guys thinks they're top four heading into the season. That can equate to a one seat if you believe but final four run for Florida in 2026. Both you guys give me a percentage. Jim, you're up first.
Kai McKeon
I will say 25 20. I'll go down to 20 because I, I think they're going to be in that mix for one or two seed which automatically gets you into. Not automatically sorry to 15 and 16 seeds but gets you into the second round very most. Most likely. And I think they have a high floor with the, the rebounding and, and the interior rim protection. So I don't think they're going to be super prone to getting upset. It just comes down to some of those late game bounces where they got a lot of them in this year's tournament run across multiple different games. It's hard to count on those again coming next year.
Matty Cox
Yeah, pretty similar. I mean, I'd say 4 to 1, 5 to 1, 6 to 1 ish.
Gary Parrish
I'm sorry, I'm going to need a percentage.
Matty Cox
20 to 20 to 30%.
Gary Parrish
I would say I need an exact percentage guy.
Matty Cox
25% chance that Florida makes the way.
Gary Parrish
That's extremely high.
Matty Cox
Well, here it's. Because the landscape, landscape of college basketball, in my opinion, there's a smaller amount of elite teams this season. I think it drops off really quick after Houston, Purdue, Florida. Throw Yukon in the mix there. I'm probably forgetting.
Gary Parrish
GP's got St. John's number one, by the way.
Matty Cox
Top ten. Sure. Number one. That's an absolutely insane GP. But.
Gary Parrish
Can we, can we embrace. I'm gonna ask Borzell about this, by the way, on the Monday show when we talk Texas Tech. Can we at least embrace, though, that there's diversity of thought? Like, isn't it a good thing?
Matty Cox
Oh, absolutely.
Gary Parrish
It's great. People that follow the sportier. I, I always say this. I'm a. I know I repeat myself every year. I want at least four or five teams getting acknowledgment to be potentially number one. Because I, I can't stand it when we get to October 29th and everyone's like, it's either team A or team B. And I know we're probably heading that way with Houston and Purdue, but, but I don't, I don't, I don't flinch at you giving GP a little bit of, A little bit of flack for that. I think he's starting. He had, we had Painter on the show and now he's starting to be like, what have I done? But anyway, continue.
Matty Cox
Yeah, almost finished. I think Florida is an elite team. There's not many of those this year and, and Golden's been there before. I think that really, really matters, the experience. He's got a couple guys back that have been there, done that. Now the national title, that's really hard to, I guess, tangibly say how much that means in college basketball, but I really think it does. I think it's important.
Gary Parrish
Fair enough. And I think we are all. I think we're all on the same page that we believe Florida will have a better season here. Now Yukon was coming off two straight titles, so it's not going to have a, it's unlikely to have a better season than, I mean Yukon24 is just outrageously dominant. But coming off a national championship, Yukon was obviously doing again last season. We think Florida will be better this season than Yukon was last season. We'll see if they can. I mean if we speaking as a reporter and someone who just loves the sport, if we actually got to be able to witness and cover and talk about and write about and podcast about getting to watch two different schools in four consecutive years win back to back championships, that's just. That would be wild. I don't think we'll get it, but it certainly is. It's on the table. So with that let's get to, let's get to the non con schedule portion and we're going to go regular season win total. So first of all we're going to queue up, we're going to queue up some little background music here. Okay. Set the mood fellas. You guys do any, any music cues on the old three? Man, we've pod mix that in yet.
Matty Cox
Production value is low.
Kai McKeon
Yeah, we're also, I think we're, we're always worried about you know, trademark, patent or trademark.
Gary Parrish
Well this is royal. This is royalty free my friends. Two words for you.
Kai McKeon
Smart man.
Gary Parrish
Craig Kilborn once said two words for you pizza delivery. I'm giving you two more royalty free.
Matty Cox
That's good advice.
Gary Parrish
Old school Sports center reference by the way, non con schedule for the gators opening night November 3rd Arizona and Vegas. I love it. We're gonna have some, some real pop here and I'll keep on with the schedule. But just as an aside, the past couple of seasons overall for not non con stuff in college basketball has been really good. I gotta really take it all in. Give it a couple more weeks to see everything. I do feel like we might be heading toward maybe, maybe maybe our strongest non conference schedule in college basketball in a generation. Florida and Arizona will kick it off in Vegas there. Then Gators got their in state rival Florida State on Nov. 11. That's a home game. These are all high major games not including the buy games obviously. November 16 versus Miami and Jacksonville and Miami obviously has Jay Lucas, year one coach there. November 27 and 28 is the Rady Children's Invitational in San Diego. They're going to play TCU first and then either Providence or Wisconsin. So the way that Sets up. Right now it feels like Florida outclasses that field. December 2nd at Duke in the SEC ACC Challenge. You got Shire and Golden, two of the more talented, obviously prominent young coaches in the game. And then the final non conference game of note, and I love this is December 9th against UConn. So you have not only an NCAA tournament rematch, but the three most recent national champions playing. I mean, this is special stuff for college basketball. That's going to be at the Garden for the Jimmy V. So you got Zona, Florida State, Miami, TCU, then either Providence and Wisconsin at Duke versus UConn and then SEC. Keep an eye. Only 18 games schedule for the SEC. They open at Missouri on January 3rd. Here are your two plays for Florida. They get Kentucky, South Carolina and Georgia. Now South Carolina and Georgia are there every year, two plays and then the third team gets rotated in. So fortunately the sec. Frankly, I understand why Georgia's got to be there. Like they can boot South Carolina, make Kentucky never year to play. I agree. We can figure this out. Only at home. Guys, I don't know if you've dug into this yet or not. Florida last year it was tough and what they did was mighty impressive schedule wise. They had a lot of schedule this year they get Auburn, Bama, Arkansas, Tennessee in Gainesville. They don't have to go there. Their road, their two toughest road games are Texas and Ole Miss. Like last year it was Bama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Auburn, all on the road. I think they had a two play with Tennessee, right? Yeah, because they flipped those. They were both blowouts in respect to the other one. But last year was insane. This year it swings back all the other way. This is why I think it's going to affect what I'm going to put in the regular season win total. But that's broadly speaking what we're looking at here with the Gators. The goal is to predict what they will have in the win column heading into the SEC tournament. Kai, I will go to you first. What? In 31 games, what will be the record for the Gators next season?
Matty Cox
All right, I'm saying two losses in the non con.
Gary Parrish
Call them out.
Matty Cox
Duke, they're gonna lose a Duke and they're gonna lose to Yukon as well.
Gary Parrish
Okay, so they beat Arizona on the opening night of the season and no other hiccups there. Okay, got it.
Matty Cox
Yep, that's right in the sec. I think they'll lose four games. So they're gonna drop one of the two plays, probably Kentucky on the visit to Kentucky and they will split a road Game at Texas Ole Miss. So drop one of those and one of Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee will beat them in Gainesville. I will go with Alabama.
Gary Parrish
Okay. And that gives you how many wins, six losses?
Matty Cox
We're saying 31 games. 25 and six.
Gary Parrish
25 and six. That's mighty high praise, Jim. What do you got?
Kai McKeon
I'm gonna go with 24. And real quick, you mentioned this, man. I just want to give a shout out to like John Shire, Todd Golden, Nate Oats, Dan Hurley, all these guys. Schedule really difficult in the non conference. These coming off national titles. I love to see it. It's better for the fans, better for the sport. So quick hat tip to them. 24. I'm going to echo the 14 and 4 in the SEC, but I'm going to say they lose all three of the Arizona, Duke, Yukon. Really tough trifecta. That's tough travel to start the year. Going all the way across the country to Arizona and then they're back. Not to Arizona, to Vegas.
Gary Parrish
In Vegas, but yeah, still the same. Yeah.
Kai McKeon
Then they're back home. Then they go all the way back to California for that Children's invitational. It's a lot of traveling. We've seen some coaches lament the cross country work in conference.
Gary Parrish
You're going to have golden pull to Mick Cronin, but I'd love to see it.
Kai McKeon
Yeah, maybe not publicly, but I doubt he's real amped for it. I just think that those are really tough tests in tough places for a team that's starting to fit or still figuring things out in the backcourt early. I do think they'll be better than Arizona for the season, but going on there or going far away and figuring that out right off the top of the season could be tough. So three losses in the non conference out of that group, Arizona, Duke and Yukon in the league play, I am going to go with 144 as well. I almost went 15 and 3 because of how home tilted the schedule is and I do think they're a interesting look for a potential SEC title because of the way the schedule sets up. But I'll say split with Kentucky, lose at Vandy in that really unconventional road environment, lose at Mizzou Kai despite the revenge factor for losing at the Odom at home last year and then one home loss and that one's going to be to Tennessee, rick Barnes and company.
Gary Parrish
That would be 22 Tennessee wins in a row at the Odom. Right. Last year or do I have that?
Kai McKeon
I think they split. They each want it home and like.
Gary Parrish
Home but it was blowout fashion. Okay.
Kai McKeon
Yeah. Bare knuckle brawl type stuff.
Gary Parrish
Okay, fair enough. Okay, so you got him. So Kai's got him at 25, Jim's got him at 24. I'll keep the pattern. I'm going to say 23 now. I want to say 24 because Florida's SEC schedule is I think now I haven't looked at all of them. I think it's about as advantageous as any team in the league just with the way that everything's breaking down with all that. And before we get out of here, I'm going to ask the guys how many bids they think the league will get next season. The situation Jim just laid out, if we have a three loss Florida or even call it like you didn't say this, but if we had like a four loss Florida team going into league play, be interesting to see just a discussion around them and you know, if they lose to Arizona, Duke, Yukon, those are, I think objectively those will be the three toughest teams they played just a discussion around. Okay, can they settle in here? What's the sec? Golden challenges himself. And they, they'll, they'll be steady, I'm sure. But, but if that scenario does play out, I think that'll be pretty interesting. Open. I think they open and close on the road, by the way. So they open that Mizzou and they close, they close on the road as well against Kentucky, I believe I actually don't have that up in front of me, but I think that I, yeah, I will go, I will go 23 and 8 with them losing only twice. Duke and Yukon, I'll say they beat Zona. I don't think the SEC will be as good next season, but I still think it's going to be tough. And like I think they get picked off at Texas, I think they get picked off at Ole Miss, they get picked off somewhere else. So that's five and then you know, 12 of Tennessee, Arkansas, Bama, Auburn and and primarily it goes to what we talked about before, that that front court is going to be stacked and it might be a just shoot it, pick up the garbage, insane offensive rebound rate, take advantage and we even just see like even Chin liu is like 15 better of a player. If they are all of that and, and, and they are outperforming what I think they might be from the perimeter, then I'm going to be wrong. But I just want to see how the pieces all come together and I want to see how Lee and Flan play off each other. And how they play off the ball and everything that comes with that. So I will go 23 and 8, but a good 23 and 8. The best 23, 18. That'll be there in the sport next season. I'm not. GP's got him. Six, respectively. Where do you guys each have. Have Florida right now?
Kai McKeon
Third for me.
Gary Parrish
Third.
Matty Cox
I think I was three as well. Wow. I don't know my rankings, but, yeah, we are so the same.
Kai McKeon
Yeah. So much for the diversity of opinion.
Matty Cox
Coming from Hive Mind Weave. We've mine.
Gary Parrish
Correct. Correct. Well, I'm here to. I'm here to mix it up because I'm sure Matty Cox would have been like, yeah, I'm taking them three as well. No, not happening. I will again. I don't know where I'm gonna put them. I'll Release my top 101 rankings in October. Broadly, I would think I will have Florida somewhere between 9 and 13 or 14. They've got plenty of promise and belief to think that they can be one of the best teams in the country, but I think there is room for them to slip. And as you guys know, like, every year, just pluck two or three teams in the preseason top 10, they're not going to meet expectations. It's hard for us. Like, once you go through an entire off season, you do all the. The research, the writing, the podcasting, and you talk yourself into, yeah, this, this looks good. You know, that's not how it works sometimes. It can be, unfortunately, because of injuries or other factors as well. Florida will truly be the hunted next season. We'll see how that works. All right, let's wrap up with this sec. 14 bids last season. It's borderline impossible that they're going to get 14 again, but maybe you guys are going to surprise me right now. Jim, you first, then Kai. How many bids for the SEC in 2026?
Kai McKeon
I'm going with 11. I've got 12 teams graded as, like, NCAA within, inside the. The number, but I think they'll be, you know, the snake eating its tail a little bit. Those 6 and 12 sec records won't look as good. 7 and 11, not as good next year. And I think, like, the ACC will be a little better and the Big Ten will get a ton of teams. Maybe not the Big east, but I. I think down to 11 next year for me. Kai, what do you. What do you say?
Matty Cox
I was going to say 11, Jim, but I went.
Kai McKeon
Yeah, you better not.
Matty Cox
I. I went 12 because the big east will be pretty bad, and I think There's a chance they could get three teams. I go get four, but probably three. So I think the SEC still gets the benefit of that. ACC is better, but still not really great in the grand scheme of things. I think the Big Ten will get another bid or two. So 12. 12 seems right. Who misses? Really good question. I have A M in Georgia missing the cut. South Carolina, LSU.
Gary Parrish
Okay, fair. I will go. I think I'll go 10. 10's still a healthy number. You know, Big 12 only got seven teams in last year, guys, right? It's gonna be better. Big 12 will get more than that next season. I, I find it hard to believe that it wouldn't. Find a way, some way somehow to. To make that happen. And we'll have, I think we'll have a team or two pop up and, and make some noise that might be even a little bit unexpected. 14 is an outrageous mark. It really is that, I guess, you know, if, if they actually decide to go against the will of the American populace and expand the tournament with the 7016 tournament, like we will see it again at some point, but it'll still be hard to do. There's just no way to expect that they can do 14 again. I think 12 is on the table. 10 is probably the least likely. So maybe it winds up being 11. Still be another. You know, got a lot of talent here, a lot of money spent, a lot of really good coaches. We went over that as well. How the SEC follows it up will be interesting, but it is objectively coming off the greatest single season in the history of college basketball. No conference had ever had that. No conference not only had that many teams, no conference had accounted for that high of a percentage of its league making the tournament, regardless of the size of the field. In the 80 plus year history of the NCAA tournament. And then not just that, you get two year teams in the Final Four and you have your team win the whole thing. So yeah, you know, you hit your apex, you've peaked. Sec, I don't know what to tell you, but certainly something to be proud about before we get out of here, guys. Promote away everything and anything. Take it away. Mike's yours.
Kai McKeon
All right, we've got, yeah. Basket under review. We talked about it at the top. That's, that's the big thing we're working on right now, the top 50 countdown. We've got, you know, a thousand plus word previews of every single team in that top 50 countdown, releasing one a day, Monday through Friday. Every day we're at, we'll have released 3650 through 36 to this point. So definitely want people to join in and join the discord and discuss with us there. There's an easy forum to critique us, especially the coach rankings. If you did not like them, you can come straight to us, basically straight to our desks and slam your fists on it and tell us why we're wrong. So join the basket under review. $10 a month and that'd be the best way to support us. And Kai, listen to the Three Man we pod too, right? What else did I miss?
Matty Cox
Three Man Weave podcast, live Fridays, usually 7am Central on YouTube or, you know, wherever you get your podcasts.
Gary Parrish
That was extremely efficient, Kai. You could have even gone more. Listen, follow these guys. Matty Cox as well, when he's back in the fold. I think he's in the middle of a move again, so congrats to him. And I know he's. He's gotten his life together. So I really appreciate you guys coming on and helping us. You know, GP and I are, you know, we don't typically have a lot of guests on, but our, our boss has said, hey, why don't you guys not worry about having to do every single summer shooter on just one of you. Be on every single show, bring your guests on and it's been really well received and I know this one will be as. Because you guys do incredible work. For anyone watching on YouTube or listening that is not familiar with three men, we first of all, you're way in the dark. These guys have been doing amazing work for nearly a decade now. And they are as well rounded and analytically sound in their approach, both with the written word and, and on YouTube and with their podcast and all that stuff as, as any that you could possibly ask for. So you got a really smart following, intelligent following. I hope they, I hope they appreciated this, this, this collab, if you will. And it was my pleasure having you guys on. Not that you'd ever want it, but if you need me to return the favor and make an appearance, I'm more than happy to do so. And I hope to, I hope to cross paths with you guys at some point this season before, you know, before we get to the final four. But nonetheless, it's always great to see you, you know, at the season's culmination.
Kai McKeon
We appreciate you having us. Yeah, I mean, we, we send people your way whenever there's stuff that's too smart for us over our heads on the weave, we send an eye on cbb. So pumped to be here and yeah, very happy we were able to collab.
Gary Parrish
Well, thank you so much to everyone watching, listening, appreciate you again. Reminder auctions, you've got now less than a week and get in there and bid right now. As of when I, when I did the PSA earlier, all three auctions have bids. They are all from the same Alabama fan who registered under a different name. So please get in there. And we do want to raise money for St. Jude and we, I can speak for Parrish and I on this. We love finding out which team wins. It can because it can be anyone. I mean Bellarmine won one year and we went and bought Bellarmine shirts and we're, it doesn't matter if you are a fan of a Division 1. I got to be clear about this Division 1 school that we're, we're more than happy and, and, and willing to accommodate. So get in there. Please bid. The auction ends on, ON on August 14 at 5 Eastern. There are three different ones. One is 5 Eastern and then it's if you lose on that one, there's one that ends at 6 Eastern and then there's the third one that will end at 7 Eastern. So you'll have plenty of opportunities if you lose out on the first or second one. That's it for me. This is probably going to be the longest shooter on episode, but I want it to be because. Why? We just ran, we just ran a three minute weave. We ran a 15 minute three man weave. Keep it locked here. The next episode will be on the Texas Tech Red Raiders and we're bringing back an old friend to the podcast. Who is it? You'll have to wait for Monday show to find out. Until then, take care.
Matt
Paramount podcasts.
Gary Parrish
Now Streaming. Hi again, TV's quirkiest crime solver.
Matt
I'm Elspeth Tasiouni. I work with the police.
Kai McKeon
It's on the case.
Matt
I like my outlandish theories with a.
Gary Parrish
Heavy dose of evidence and ready to.
Kai McKeon
Go toe to toe with a cavalcade of guest stars. Are you saying that this is now a murder investigation?
Matt
It's starting to look that way.
Kai McKeon
Don't miss a moment of the critically acclaimed hit Elsbeth.
Gary Parrish
All episodes now streaming on Paramount plus and returns CBS fall.
Matt
That sounds like fun.
Gary Parrish
Obviously murder's not fun.
Podcast Summary: Eye On College Basketball - ’25 Summer Shootaround
Episode Title: ’25 Summer Shootaround: Filtering through the fascinating fortes—and flaws—of the Florida Gators after their nat’l title (Three Man Weave crossover ep!)
Release Date: August 8, 2025
Hosts: Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander
Guests: Jim Root, Kai McKeon, and Matty Cox from Three Man Weave Podcast
The episode begins with promotional segments and advertisements, which are subsequently skipped to focus on the main content. Gary Parrish introduces the transition of hosting duties from himself to the regular trio, welcoming Jim Root, Kai McKeon, and Matty Cox from the Three Man Weave Podcast. Parrish reminisces about meeting the guests at the 2019 Final Four and praises their analytical prowess in college basketball analysis.
Gary Parrish (04:57): "The three Man Weave podcast is as reliable of a college hoops pod for nitty gritty analysis as literally any that you will find in the space."
Gary announces upcoming bonus episodes for schools not currently featured in the Summer Shootaround series. Fans have the opportunity to bid in auctions to secure episodes dedicated to their favorite schools, with the deadline set for August 14th.
Gary Parrish (01:16): "Download Today before we get going on today's summer shoot around..."
The discussion shifts to the Florida Gators, the reigning national champions. Parrish provides a recap of their championship run, highlighting key victories, including the thrilling win against Yukon and the narrow escape from Houston in the title game. He emphasizes Todd Golden’s achievement as the youngest coach to win a national title at age 39.
Gary Parrish (08:14): "In fact, I asked Carlin Hartman what was the toughest test of them all and he was like well they're all tough but if you like made me pick one pretty sure he told me that the Yukon one was indeed it."
Parrish also introduces a trivia segment, debating the youngest coach to win an NCAA championship, ultimately revealing that Branch McCracken was the youngest at age 31 when Indiana won in 1940.
Kai McKeon presents his rankings of SEC coaches, excluding player acquisition metrics to focus on talent maximization and coaching acumen. Highlights include:
Matty Cox and Gary Parrish engage in a spirited debate over the rankings, particularly concerning Dennis Gates and Bucky McMillan. Parrish questions the placement of certain coaches, advocating for a more defensible ranking system.
Matty Cox (10:15): "I'm a Mizzou alum, so... we've got a lot more high quality on the microphone this time..."
The segment underscores the depth and competitiveness of the SEC coaching roster.
Parrish provides a detailed breakdown of the Florida Gators’ roster, noting key departures such as Walter Clayton Jr., Elijah Martin, and Will Richard. He highlights returning frontcourt players like Alex Condon and introduces new talents including Xavian Lee, Boogie Flan Lee, and A.J. Brown.
Gary Parrish (16:59): "Notable names gone obviously. Walter Clayton Jr. A top three player in the sport last season. He's out..."
The discussion delves into the strengths of the current roster, emphasizing the backcourt’s depth and the frontcourt’s stability. The guests discuss potential concerns, particularly regarding perimeter shooting and the need for additional wing talent.
Matty Cox (19:14): "Todd Golden, his whole philosophy and the way he builds teams is just how you should do it in this day and age..."
The conversation turns to Todd Golden’s coaching strategies, praising his analytical approach and ability to target specific needs through the transfer portal. Kai McKeon compares Golden’s playstyle to Mark Few’s, focusing on rim dominance and efficient use of analytics.
Kai McKeon (19:15): "I've kind of from Mark Few a little bit in his WCC days of play. Fast, dominate the rim..."
Matty Cox highlights Golden’s ability to maximize player potential and address team weaknesses, particularly in the backcourt.
The trio discusses their expectations for the Florida Gators in the 2025-2026 season. They analyze Florida’s strengths in rebounding and interior play while expressing concerns about perimeter shooting consistency.
Gary Parrish (24:39): "Is there viable concern here that with a lack of steady proven shooting that most college basketball media is overrating Florida..."
Kai McKeon and Matty Cox provide percentage-based predictions for Florida reaching the Final Four, estimating around a 20-25% chance. They also predict Florida’s regular-season record to be in the range of 23-25 wins with 6-8 losses.
Matty Cox (33:05): "I'm saying two losses in the non con... 25 and six."
The discussion shifts to the number of SEC teams expected to receive NCAA tournament bids next season. Kai McKeon forecasts 11 bids, while Matty Cox suggests up to 12, highlighting potential misses like Auburn and LSU.
Kai McKeon (46:14): "I'm going with 11. I've got 12 teams graded as, like, NCAA within, inside the..."
Gary Parrish concurs, estimating around 10 to 12 bids, acknowledging the SEC’s historical strength and the challenges of maintaining high bid totals.
Gary Parrish (47:00): "12 seems right... 10 is probably the least likely."
As the episode nears its conclusion, Gary Parrish promotes upcoming collaborations and episodes, including shout-outs to the Three Man Weave Podcast and their ventures. He reiterates the auction opportunities for bonus episodes and emphasizes support for St. Jude.
Gary Parrish (50:19): "What else did I miss?... It's extremely efficient, Kai, you could have even gone more."
The hosts wrap up with final promotional segments, bidding announcements, and teasers for future episodes focusing on teams like Texas Tech Red Raiders.
The episode offers an in-depth analysis of the Florida Gators' championship season, their roster changes, coaching strategies, and projections for the upcoming season. The collaboration with the Three Man Weave Podcast enriches the discussion with diverse analytical perspectives, making it a comprehensive resource for college basketball enthusiasts.
Note: Advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content segments have been omitted to focus on the substantive discussions and insights provided during the episode.