Big dose of analytics leads Todd Golden and Florida Gators to NCAA title

The Florida Gators won their third NCAA championship Monday night, beating Houston 65-63

At 37 years old, Todd Golden became the youngest head coach to win the title

since the legendary Jim Valvano did it in 1983. The Gators were one of the top offensive teams in the country all season, averaging 85.3 points per game

But after the win, Golden, he preys on the Gators' defense, which shut down the Cougars in the final few minutes and on the final possession of the game

He spit out the numbers like a mathematician. Houston got the better of us in the first half

but it was really just a disparity in the turnover count. We had nine, I think they had two in the first half

and as I look here, we had four in the second and they had seven. Our defense won us a game tonight

We got nine straight stops at one point in the middle of the second half. To your point, we held them scoreless the last 220

Nerd alert. Game stats are just part of the equation for Golden and his staff

They use data-driven decision-making in almost every aspect of their program, from recruiting to health and wellness to in-game decisions

like when to sub players and even when to foul. Before the Final Four began, Golden was asked why

We try to run and operate our program like it's a business. We hire staffing to do different roles

We recruit players to assume different roles. And in a game that is changing dramatically by the year I think it as important now than ever to be on the cutting edge of you know just kind of having an ytical mindset in the way you approach what you do on a day basis The idea is to help the players be as efficient as they can be

but Golden admits they can nerd out sometimes, so they try to simplify the message when coaching

Golden and his staff even use numbers to evaluate players in the transfer portal

a massive part of how he built this championship roster, including his leading scorer in the title

game, Will Richard. This guy sitting next to me was the first one, man. The first one that, you

know, we saw him hit the portal and we look at his numbers at Belmont and, you know, incredibly

efficient as a freshman, high usage player, great rebounding rates, great steal rates, great block

rates. And then we go meet with him in Nashville and the kid is just an incredible light bulb and

an incredible human being. Usage rates, steal rates, a light bulb. Golden is unique, winning a

title in just his sixth full season as head coach. He may have also shined a big spotlight on

ytics as a way to run a basketball program, much the way baseball general manager Billy Bean

did in 2002 with the Oakland A's, the team that inspired the book and movie Moneyball

Golden will certainly need to use all his ytical tools to compete in 2026

Richard, Walter Clayton Jr., Elijah Martin, and Alex Condon are all on their way to the

professional ranks. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis