College basketball is only around a month away, and opening night features two must-watch games. Projected top-three pick AJ Dybantsa goes up against Villanova, while the reigning champion Florida Gators are home against a talented Arizona team. Here’s who to watch in the opening night Florida-Arizona matchup.<\/p>\n
Florida Gators<\/p>\n
Despite losing key players like Walter Clayton Jr, Will Richard, Alijah Martin, and Denzel Aberdeen this past offseason, Florida revitalized their roster — mostly through the transfer portal. Florida added multiple key transfers, including Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee. Fland averaged<\/a> 13.5 points, 5.1 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.4 turnovers per game as a freshman for Arkansas last season while recording an impressive 30.5 assist percentage as well. Fland has an opportunity to be a first round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. <\/p>\n Florida also picked up former-Princeton guard Xaivian Lee in the portal, a crafty primary ball-handler who averaged<\/a> 17 points and 5.5 assists in the Ivy last season.<\/p>\n Read More: Xaivian Lee Scouting Report<\/a><\/p>\n In addition to making waves in the portal, Florida retained two players who would have gotten drafted had they declared for the 2025 NBA Draft: Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh. Both players will be looking to solidify themselves as first round picks this upcoming season.<\/p>\n Condon is a 6-foot-11 big who averaged<\/a> 10.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.2 stocks per game last season while recording a 12.5 offensive rebound percentage, 19.3 defensive rebound percentage, 15 assist percentage, a steal percentage of two, and a 5.5 block percentage.<\/p>\n Haugh is a 6-foot-9 wing who averaged<\/a> 9.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.6 stocks per game while shooting 66.4%<\/a> at the rim (110 attempts), 29.6% on non-rim twos (27 attempts), 34% from three (103 attempts), and 79.4% from the free throw line (155 attempts).<\/p>\n Both Condon and Haugh’s production last season were enough for them to both meet the Productive Sophomore Query — 68%<\/a> of the 47 players who met the criteria play five-plus years in the NBA.<\/p>\n Read More: Productive Sophomore Query<\/a><\/p>\n Lastly, Florida also signed a top-thirty recruit in the 2025 high school class: CJ Ingram. He’s a 6-foot-6 wing known for his physical style of play, length, athleticism, and effectiveness in transition.<\/p>\n Arizona Wildcats<\/p>\n This Arizona team is a talented group, highlighted by their two top-ten recruit freshmen in Koa Peat and Brayden Burries. Peat is a 6-foot-8, 235-pound forward known for the productivity he’s had at every level. He’s known for his soft touch around the rim, has a solid feel for the game, and is likely to be impactful immediately at Arizona. Burries is a 6-foot-4 guard known for his ability to create for others off of drives and hit midrange pull-ups. Both freshmen have an opportunity to be first round picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n Other players to watch include 7-foot-2 big Montiejus Krivas, who is a rising junior, and 6-foot-3 guard Jaden Bradley, who is a rising senior. Krivas suffered a foot injury as a sophomore, limiting him to only eight games last season. However, the mobility at his size stood out his freshman season at Arizona. He hadn’t consistently put it together yet as a freshman, but he was impactful as a rebounder and showed flashes of rim protection — recording a\u00a014.7<\/a>\u00a0offensive rebounding percentage, 22.8 defensive rebounding percentage, 4.6 block percentage and 1.4 steal percentage. Krivas’ mobility flashed on the offensive end as a roller at times, and Krivas has knocked down a noticeable 75.3%<\/a> of his free throws during his college career (93 attempts).<\/p>\n