Insider Pete Nakos names major transfer portal target for Florida following national championship win

NCAA Basketball: Final Four National Championship-Houston vs Florida - Source: Imagn

After sealing their third national championship on Monday night, Florida are already getting ready to defend their title by building next season’s roster. The program is looking into the transfer portal to strengthen itself.

Todd Golden led Florida to their first NCAA basketball title since 2007, and the first of his coaching career. It was a great season for Todd and his team, and it had a fairytale ending as they overturned a 12-point deficit in the second half of the championship game against Houston.

However, the coach and his staff are not wasting too much time on celebrations, as they are already looking to recruit for areas of weakness. The Gators are losing Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard ahead of next season, and will need to add more firepower to level up.

According to reports by Pete Nakos of On3, Florida is already close to bringing in a guard through the transfer portal.

The guard in question is Ohio’s AJ Brown, who entered the transfer portal on Wednesday. Brown, who entered with a 'do not contact' tag, has been strongly linked to the Gators.

Florida will hope to leverage family ties, with Brown’s junior brother, Isaiah Brown, already part of the team.

Standing at 6-foot-4, AJ is a former MAC All-Freshman Team selection and a redshirt sophomore. He averaged 13.2 points per game this season and shot 38.8% from the 3-point range.

He averaged 10.3 points and 2.5 rebounds as a true freshman in 2022-23, but he missed a large part of the following season due to injury, playing just nine games.

Florida rise to No. 1 on the AP Top 25 Poll

After winning the national championship, the Gators have seen their stock rise. Florida was No. 3 in the AP Top 25 prior to the NCAA Tournament, but winning the title has now seen them rise to No. 1 by the end of the season.

Golden’s men were given all 61 first-place votes over No. 2 Houston. Duke, who were rated at No. 1, dropped to No. 3, while Auburn and Tennessee complete the top 5.

About the author

Babatunde Kolawole is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda with over eight years of experience in the field with Canoncrested.com, Garbersports.com, LiveScore Bet Nigeria and Pulse Sports Nigeria.

Kolawole studied Agricultural Economics on the tertiary level but delved into sports writing after school. Over half a decade later, the experience garnered helped him land this role.

Historically, the Alabama Crimson Tide stands out as Kolawole's favorite team as he was drawn to their rich history.

As for basketball, JuJu Watkins is Kolawole's favorite current player due to how much diversity she has in her game, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gets the nod for past players because of how he dominated with UCLA.

Kolawole has appeared on several TV and Radio shows as a guest analyst, and in his spare time, likes to watch movies (a sucker for the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and listen to a lot of music. He also loves to travel.

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Edited by Akshay Saraswat