Transfer guards Xavian Lee & Boogie Fland have ‘really impressed’ Todd Golden
Inside College Basketball Now with John Rothstein.
How often does Florida Gators basketball coach Todd Golden think about going back-to-back after winning the national title in April?
“Little bit,” Golden said on this week’s edition of Inside College Basketball Now with John Rothstein. “And it’s generally because of people bringing that up to me. I tell our staff all the time, this is a little bit of a new team. We get a lot of great returners coming back. Especially our front court, I think, has a chance to be one of, if not the best front court in America.
Fland and Lee are incoming transfers who have the task of replacing four departed guards from last season’s national championship squad: All-American point guard Walter Clayton, starters Alijah Martin and Will Richard, and backup Denzel Aberdeen.
Fland a rising sophomore listed at 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds, was On3’s No. 1 point guard in the class of 2024 out of Archbishop Stepinac in New York. At Arkansas last season, he averaged 13.5 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.2 rebounds in 21 games (18 starts). He shot 37.9 percent from the field and 34.0 percent from three, with just 1.4 turnovers per game—strong numbers for a freshman primary ball-handler.
Lee, a rising senior from Princeton, brings poise and polish. He averaged 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.5 assists, shooting 43.9 percent from the floor and 36.6 percent from three. His assist-to-turnover ratio stood at an impressive 2.5:1, and he knocked down 78.9 percent of his free throws.
“I’ve been really really impressed and really happy with both these guys [Fland and Lee],” Golden told Rothstein.
And Xavian Lee has kind of been better than I expected to be honest. He’s an offensive juggernaut. He’s really talented on that end of the floor and has great ball skills, can really dribble, pass and shoot it. I think those two guards with those three guys playing the three, four, and five—we’re going to have a pretty formidable starting lineup.”