In March, college basketball belongs to teams that get hot at the right time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right now, that team looks like Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Gators just topped Kentucky March 7 to extend their win streak to 11 games, secured their first SEC regular-season title since 2014 and put together consecutive 100-point games in SEC play for the first time since 1975.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Florida hasn\u2019t lost in over a month \u2014 which is roughly how long it takes to camp outside the O\u2019Connell Center for a seat in the prized student section.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But rewind the tape to November 2025, and the Gators\u2019 season looked very different.<\/p>\n
The defending national champions stumbled out of the gate. Shots weren\u2019t falling, and fans panicked early and loudly. At the time, the Gators might’ve been, by their own admission<\/a>, \u201cthe most hated backcourt in the whole country.\u201d But when doubt rushed in from the outside, they never let it enter the locker room.\u00a0<\/p>\n And here\u2019s the reality: Those early season losses may have been the best thing that happened to this team. That, and the game against Vanderbilt where senior guard Xaivian Lee forgot his correct jersey.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fans love the underdog story. But less talked about is the other side of success: the challenge of defending the crown.\u00a0<\/p>\n When you\u2019re the reigning champions, every team circles your name on its schedule. Every missed free throw feels magnified. Florida started the season with a target on its back. But the Gators kept their heads down, stayed at work and did what they needed to do: trusted one another and played better.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe first four or five games, it was just ridiculous,\u201d said Lee<\/a> in a YouTube video Jan. 14. \u201cI was missing the wildest shots.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Haugh\u2019s response to his teammate?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even think anything of it, bro. Everybody has confidence in [Lee].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n Enjoy what you’re reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n That right there is belief. The kind built long before the sold-out student sections and Boogie Fland’s infamous haircut<\/a>. It\u2019s a trust built during grueling pre-season workouts in the summer Florida heat, led by strength and conditioning director and Marine veteran Victor Lopez.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cV-Lo always said brotherhood is built through the sharing of pain,\u201d said senior center Micah Handlogten in another video<\/a>, posted by the Florida Gators channel Oct. 30, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Talent makes highlight reels, but trust wins in the long run. Trust wins in March.<\/p>\n On the tennis team, it\u2019s the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n When I\u2019m battling in a third set, Gabia \u201cGabs\u201d Paskauskas will run over and give me a high five, saying, \u201cYou\u2019ve got this, girl.\u201d Or if someone\u2019s having a rough day at practice, the rest of us are right there to lift her through it.\u00a0<\/p>\n When you trust the people beside you \u2014 when your teammates are your family \u2014 pressure doesn\u2019t feel isolating. It feels exciting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s March, and the Gators are one of the hottest teams in college basketball. Their timing couldn\u2019t be better.<\/p>\n Their focus shifts to the postseason, beginning with a chance to defend their SEC Tournament title in Nashville this Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Watch one of Cooper Josefsberg\u2019s postgame TikToks of him and his teammates dancing and you can see it: They have the moves, and they\u2019re ready for The Big Dance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re peaking at the right time,\u201d said assistant coach Taurean Green in a March 3 video<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n March isn\u2019t just about talent. It\u2019s about rhythm, confidence, chemistry and trust. Right now, the Gators have all of those.\u00a0<\/p>\n Which raises the only question that really matters this time of year: Can the Gator boys stay hot this March?<\/p>\n