Welcome to Gainesville, Boogie Fland!
Fresh off their first national championship in nearly two decades, the Florida Gators basketball program is now hungry to do what was done two decades ago—replicate one title with another.
Boogie Fland, once a highly-ranked five-star guard recruit from a stone’s throw away from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, has committed to Florida on the resale market. The move significantly lessens the impact of losing the entire backcourt from last year, including first-team All-American Walter Clayton and FAU Final Four veteran Alijah Martin. And it caps—or maybe just serves as the latest stop on—a wild ride for Fland throughout the SEC.
Fland initially committed to Kentucky, choosing to sign with the Wildcats over other top programs such as Indiana and Alabama. His decision was, to put it mildly, highly anticipated as he was considered one of the most promising talents in his class. And it seemed like Kentucky had imported another gem from the high school ranks.
However, after Kentucky head coach John Calipari left for Arkansas, Fland requested and was granted his release from Kentucky to explore other options. By “explore other options,” I really mean “follow the coach he signed up to play for,” because that’s what he did. Following Calipari’s move to Arkansas, Fland followed him to the Ozarks.
And Boogie Fland played well for the Hogs as a true freshman, dropping 13.5 points per game and 5.1 assists per game. He also averaged a steal and a half per game, and helped the Razorbacks pull off a surprise run to the Sweet 16 as the 10 seed in Florida’s West Region.
Fland then entered his name into the NBA Draft— and then the transfer portal. So everything was on the table for what he would do in his second year out of high school. It’s what the masses call “evaluating his options”.
Speaking of, Florida was doing that too, as every top college athletics program has to do in this day and age. The Gators did poach Xaivian Lee from Princeton and AJ Brown from Ohio—both of those guys will certainly play a key factor in how far Florida can go in 2025-26—but even still, something was missing. Florida needed one more huge pickup in the backcourt to really feel complete.
First, there was the case of Denzel Aberdeen, a role player for Florida last year who was expected to take a larger share of the workload this year. Aberdeen wanted more money than Florida was willing to pay. Todd Golden and the Florida Gators basketball program chose to not overpay him, let him walk, get his NIL payday doubled at SEC rival Kentucky, and look elsewhere for their replacement guard.
Then there was the case of Desmond Claude, a USC transfer looking at big time programs such as Florida, Alabama, and Gonzaga. The Gators got him on campus and Claude was apparently ready and willing to commit, but things started coming off the rails there and Golden and the Gators simply weren’t interested in playing that game. So they passed on him too, and meanwhile began to stealthily work on Fland.
And now we see the payoff. Boogie Fland is a Gator, and the hype surrounding this 2025-26 team is very, very real.
With the Gators’ entire frontcourt assumed to be back—Micah Handlogten, Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu are confirmed to be returning, and Alex Condon is widely presumedto be leaning toward a return—and now the backcourt replenished with Boogie Fland, Gator basketball once again has real reason for fans to be hyped—and real reason for opponents to be fearful.
In other words, we’re living in the good old days, where “it’s great to be a Florida Gator” is more than just a chant; it’s a direct reflection of how we feel about our basketball program. And after seven years of Mike White purgatory, that just feels so, so great.
