After retaining 10 players from last season’s team, including projected 2026 NBA Draft picks Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu, Florida has cemented itself as an early contender to win the national championship heading into the 2026-27 season.
As a result, FanDuel Sportsbook has the Gators as favorites, with 6-to-1 odds to win the national title.
While Florida has found success retaining many key pieces to its 2025-26 team that secured the program’s first regular-season Southeastern Conference title since 2014, many programs across the country have followed suit.
Here are four teams the Gators will face in the 2026-27 season that have had successful offseasons and pose a threat to UF’s quest for a fourth national championship:
Tennessee
After exiting the 2026 NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight to would-be champions Michigan, head coach Rick Barnes and Tennessee saw many key players leave, such as 2025-26 All-SEC First Team member Ja’Kobi Gillespie and conference All-Freshman Team member Nate Ament.
As a result, the Volunteers brought in 11 players, including seven from the transfer portal, five of whom are projected to start according to CBS Sports’ John Rothstein’s Rothstein 45.
Juke Harris, who transferred from Wake Forest, finished his sophomore campaign averaging 21.4 points and 6.5 rebounds on 44.4 minutes per game for the Demon Deacons, leading to the guard receiving second team All-ACC honors and being named the conference’s most improved player. He finished the season first in the conference in total minutes and second in total points, free throws made and free-throw attempts.
"Juke can take over a game and impose his will at any time,” Barnes said in a press release on May 4. “He is a versatile player who can handle the ball in transition and has the length to make an impact defensively.”
Harris will be joined in the backcourt by Virginia Commonwealth transfer Terrence Hill Jr., California transfer Dai Dai Ames and Notre Dame transfer Jalen Haralson.
To add size, the Volunteers brought in big men Miles Rubin and Christian Fermin. Entering his senior year after three seasons with Loyola Chicago, Rubin played over 100 games for the Ramblers. Last season, he averaged 11.3 points and 7.1 boards per game. Rubin was voted to the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Teams in two straight seasons.
"Miles is an ideal fit in our defensive scheme as a sensational rim protector who can also defend one-on-one in the post and guard on the perimeter,” Barnes said in a press release on April 13.
While the SEC schedule has yet to be announced, these teams will play at least once in conference play and potentially in the conference tournament. Last season, Florida won its sole meeting against Tennessee 91-67 on Jan. 10 in Gainesville, fueled by Boogie Fland’s 23 points. Overall, Tennessee leads the series 81-62.
Texas
Following an underdog run at the 2026 NCAA Tournament, going from the First Four to the Sweet 16, head coach Sean Miller looks to build on his first season in Austin. While he lost key players like reigning SEC Newcomer of the Year Dailyn Swain and Jordan Pop, Miller and the Longhorns reloaded during the offseason, looking to wreak havoc once again.
The Longhorns brought in 10 players during the offseason, including Texas Christian transfer David Punch.
A junior forward from Harker Heights, Texas, Punch finished his second season with the Horned Frogs, starting all 34 games and averaging a team-leading 14.1 points in addition to 6.8 rebounds per outing. Against Florida in the Rady Children’s Invitational on Nov. 27, he recorded 19 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals en route to TCU’s 84-80 upset win.
“I looked at Punch as an inside-outside guy, who could play the four,” Miller said May 28. “He’s really good at driving the ball, and in a pinch, would be big and physical enough to play the five.”
Away from the transfer portal, Texas assembled a strong first-year class, highlighted by five-star prospect Austin Goosby and consensus four-star Bo Ogden.
The Longhorns retained one of their more impactful players last season in center Matas Vokietaitis, who finished the 2025-26 season with 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds across the 36 games he started. Against Florida on Feb. 25, he scored 12 points and played a key role in getting Haugh and Condon into foul trouble.
“Matas is much more agile and mobile than he appears,” Miller said May 28. “As he got more experienced, what you saw is a higher ceiling than what probably anyone expected.”
As is the case with Tennessee, the conference schedule has yet to be released, but the Gators expect to face the Longhorns at least once during the 2026-27 season and possibly in the conference tournament.
Overall, the Gators lead the series 5-4, including two straight wins since Texas joined the SEC in 2024-25.
Houston
For the first time in program history, Florida will take part in the Players Era 8 Tournament in Las Vegas, competing against some of the strongest programs in college basketball to kick off nonconference action.
Houston is one of eight programs in the tournament and would face Florida Nov. 18 if the two take down their first-round opponents: Notre Dame for Florida and Rutgers for Houston. This matchup would not only be the first time the two met since the 2025 national championship game, but also a contest among two teams that have reloaded for the 2026-27 season after failing to reach the Final Four.
In the 2026 NCAA Tournament, the Cougars reached the Sweet 16, where they fell 65-55 to Illinois. Since then, six players departed the program, replaced by two incoming freshmen and four transfers.
One of Houston’s more pivotal acquisitions in the portal was former LSU point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. Despite playing just 16 games after suffering a season-ending left foot injury, the senior averaged 15.3 points and 6.5 assists per game. Before LSU, he played his first two seasons at UNLV.
"Our point guard position has been the strength of our program,” Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson said in a press release on April 22. “We have never not had a great point guard. Now, we slide to Dedan Thomas Jr., and we will just keep going. DJ is a point guard's point guard. He can manage the game, and he understands the game at a freakishly high level."
Like Florida, Houston retained much talent from last season in Joseph Tugler, Mercy Miller, Chase McCarty and Kordel Jefferson. Tugler enters his senior season after a 2025-26 campaign where he averaged 8.4 points and 5.3 rebounds across 37 starts.
The Cougars also welcomed freshmen Arafan Diané, who was the No. 1 center in the class of 2026, and Ikenna Alozie, who was the No. 40 overall prospect in the ESPN100. Overall, the Cougars have a 2-1 lead in the series, with the Gators looking to tie it up if they meet in November in Las Vegas.
Miami
After exiting in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament in its first season under head coach Jai Lucas, Miami looks to build off a 2025-26 campaign that saw drastic improvement from the season prior.
Lucas and his staff were active in the transfer portal to overcome the losses of key rotational players Tre Donaldson, Malik Reneau, Ernest Udeh and Tre Washington. As a result, the Hurricanes brought in center Somtochukwu “Somto” Cyril from Georgia and guard Acaden Lewis from Villanova.
Cyril faced the Gators twice last season with the Bulldogs. He was ejected in the first meeting between the two teams after getting into an altercation with Florida's Chinyelu. In the second contest in Athens on Feb. 11, Cyril was limited to 10 points and two rebounds in 18 minutes of action. He finished the season averaging 9.3 points and 5.4 boards per outing and was named to the SEC’s All-Defensive Team.
“Somto is someone who fits exactly how we want to play,” Lucas said in a press release on April 16. “He is a gamechanger on the defensive end and someone who immediately elevates our presence at the rim. He is one of the most disruptive players in the country, and offensively, he is incredibly efficient.”
Lewis received Second Team All-Big East and Big East All-Freshman team honors after the 2025-26 season, where he averaged 12.2 points and 5.3 assists per game. He set a program record for first-year students with 176 assists and 63 steals.
The Hurricanes retained Dante Allen and Shelton Henderson from last year’s team, as the two are projected to be part of the starting lineup. Henderson started all 35 games last season for Miami, averaging 13.7 points per game and shooting 56.7% from the field, which ranked third among all first-year players nationally.
Finally, the Hurricanes landed freshman forward Caleb Gaskins from Melbourne, Florida. Gaskins was named a 2026 McDonald’s All-American, leading Christopher Columbus High School in Miami to its fifth consecutive state championship. He was ranked the No. 11 recruit by Rivals.
Miami and Florida will face each other to open the 2026-27 season against Tampa on Nov. 2 as part of the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic. UF goes into that contest winners of three straight against UM and having a 47-23 advantage in the in-state rivalry.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is a summer 2026 sports enterprise reporter and a third-year journalism sports & media major with a media, management and production minor. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams
