“What we just did, nobody can ever take that away from us,” head coach of Florida Gators, Todd Golden revelled in the 2025 NCAA championship victory, where he became the youngest coach of the men’s program to clinch the title since 1983. But his victory was short-lived. What followed the highs was nothing short of a whirlwind of drama. As the drafts came closer, some of Golden’s promising players were prepared to step into the professional world of basketball, leaving the HC with no choice but to rely on the transfers portal.

And though Alex Condon and other players returned to stay with the program, Todd navigated through the portals to collect gems like Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland for the current roster. With one of the highest ranked players in the roster, Golden’s another year with the Gators look promising. But not without criticism from the other teams. Well, CBS Sports were the latest on the snub salt on Golden’s locker room conditions. They have ranked the reigning 2025 big dance champions sixth in a recent list released on top 25 men’s college basketball rankings. Not only that, they have placed the Gators just one rank below Dan Hurley‘s locker room.

Kentucky Insider, Lance Dawe provided his insights on his latest episode of Locked on Kentucky podcast and pointed out at the list where UConn Huskies ranked at number five despite losing to 2025 NCAA champions, who rank at number six on the list. Dawe disagreed with the program ranked that high and was of the view that UConn does not even deserve a top ten position. “UConn at number 5,” Dawe announced. “UConn is not a top 10 team They’re not okay.” Though the program managed to retain four of their top seven scorers in Solo Ball, Alex Karaban, Tarris Reed, and Jaylin Stewart, which is a great deal for any program- Dawe is not surprised.

Though the core players are joined by Georgia transfer Silas Demary Jr., Dayton transfer Malachi Smith, five-star freshman Braylon Mullins, four-star freshman Eric Reibe, and three-star freshman Jacob Ross as per the sports website, Dawe feels that Dan Hurley’s locker room is undeserving of the current position despite acquiring a solid recruiting class from this year’s transfer portal. “Awesome! You have Solo Ball back. You have Alex Karaban back- Tarris Reed, Jaylin Stewart,” Lance started.”And then you brought in Silas Demary- an inefficient guard, Malachi Smith, Braylon Mullins, Eric Reibe, and Jacob Ross.”

Referring to Demary as an inefficient guard, he said that the team is not going to play defence altogether and that can be problematic for the roster in the long run. Further emphasising on why the team is not deserving of the rank, he said, “This team’s not going to play defence. That’s the problem They’re not going to play defence. And if they play a little bit better, sure, awesome. That’s not deserving of a top five ranking. This is a top 15 team.” Dawe feels that UConn is more of a top 15 team instead of a top five program as of now. Especially when compared with Todd Golden’s locker room.

Adamant on Huskies being undeserving of the spot that the Gators should be standing at, Lance said, “This is not a top five team, especially over the over the NCAA reigning national champion Florida Gator at number six.“He feels that Gators deserve a spot in the top five instead of a program like UConn that refuses to play defence. Moreover, he provides reasons as to why Gators should be ranked higher this year.

“Think about this- they’re bringing back Chinyelu, Haugh, Condon, Klavzar, Handlogten. They have guys like Boogie Fland, Xaivian Lee in their back court, freshman like CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd. This is a great team. This is a top five team,” Dawe reasoned. “You got them behind the Huskies. Really the team that they beat in the NCAA tournament. I know the teams are different but still this makes no sense to me whatsoever. No sense at all.“

Talking about the ability of the team to retain five of their top ten scorers in Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu, Urban Klavzar, and Micah Handlogten, he indicates how the solid players were joined by Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee and Arkansas transfer Boogie Fland for strengthening the backcourt, along with and four-star freshmen CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd in the team. Comparing the core players of Gators with that of UConn, along with the recent recruits that both teams acquired from the transfer portal, Lance provides his insights on how Gators is a more efficient team.

Moreover, the Kentucky Insider feels that the Florida Gators have been wronged by the CBS Sports and that they deserve to be ranked much higher on the list, provided the team finished 36-4 and won the national championship title this year whereas the Huskies finished 24-11 before progressing to the second round of the 2025 March Madness tournament. While CBS Sports clarify that rankings are strictly based on the retention of players in each team, there is no denying the fact that Todd Golden deserves an upper hand that was snatched by Hurley.

UConn Huskies to participate in Jimmy V Classic this year

Despite a crushing blow to their Big Dance victory this season, head coach Dan Hurley and his team have not lost hope. And as the 2025-26 season comes closer, Hurley’s vision of a promising team becomes clearer. And if last year’s performance was not enough, Hurley recently admitted to participating in the 2025 Jimmy V Classic.

As one of the honourees at the Dick Vitale gala, Hurley gave fans an exciting news to keep them hooked to the Huskies! He publicly announced his aspirations of participating in the annual ESPN event. The Huskies are pumped up to set the Madison Square Garden on fire as they proceed to play on December 04, 2025.

While Dan Hurley failed to taste a championship victory this year, his staff and locker room looks promising enough to devour any team they’re pitted against in the offseason matchups, hungry for a win. The Huskies were last seen on the Classic hardwood in 2023, where they clinched a 87-76 victory against North Carolina.

The Jimmy V Classic is an ESPN an annual college basketball event since 1995 that honours the legacy of late ESPN commentator and head coach of North Carolina State University, Jim Valvano, and his immense contribution to the sport. Valvano’s ’93 ESPN awards speech, where he piqued, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up,” became the inspiration for the V Foundation, that aims to fund cancer research.