Jay Bilas Names Program That Was Better Than Florida's Championship Team

The Florida Gators won their first national title in college basketball since the 2006-2007 season after beating the Houston Cougars 65-63. 

However, ESPN's Jay Bilas believes that the Gators are not better than a certain recent national champion. Bilas stated that the UConn Huskies' consecutive national championship teams from the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons were better than Florida's. 

In the 2022-2023 season, UConn was the No. 1 seed, taking down the Purdue Boilermakers. The Huskies were a No. 4 seed when they beat San Diego State in the 2023-2024 campaign. 

Last season, UConn made the NCAA Tournament but was eliminated in the Second Round by Florida. 

"I think the 2025 Florida national champions compare favorably to a lot of the championship teams we've had in the recent past," Bilas said. "Is Florida better than UConn's championship teams the last two years? UConn's back-to-back? I'm not sure I would say that."

UConn is not the only college basketball powerhouse to have won consecutive national titles. Florida did the same in the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons. 

Both programs had dominant NCAA Tournament runs on their way to winning a national title. UConn's largest margin of victory was 39, while its smallest was by 14 points. 

Florida won by double digits in each NCAA Tournament game until the Elite Eight. 

After the highs of winning a national championship, Florida must reload its roster. The Gators are losing Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard, Denzel Aberdeen and Alijah Martin. 

Florida has added Xaivian Lee (Princeton) and AJ Brown (Ohio) from the transfer portal. Four-star shooting guards CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd are coming to Gainesville via the 2025 class. 

Related: Todd Golden Names Florida Transfer That Was 'Tough' to Lose