School basketball’s nonconference schedule is loading up properly for the 2025-26 season, with the newest addition coming to kind in latest days. Reigning nationwide champion Florida has agreed to play UConn on Dec. 9 at Madison Sq. Backyard within the Jimmy V Traditional, sources advised CBS Sports activities.
That is two faculties with a mixed 9 nationwide titles in males’s basketball — together with the three most up-to-date.
UConn-Florida can be a high-profile sport because of its high-profile coaches. Coincidentally sufficient, Huskies coach Dan Hurley and Gators coach Todd Golden each attended Dick Vitale’s annual gala to fund most cancers analysis in Sarasota, Florida, final Friday. The occasion is closely linked with ESPN; the trail to get this sport finished was laid in latest weeks, per sources, shortly after Florida received the nationwide title. The faculties declare the three most up-to-date NCAA crowns in males’s school basketball — and are additionally the 2 most up-to-date packages to win back-to-back nationwide titles (UConn: 2023, 2024; Florida: 2006, 2007).
Including to the plot strains, the sport will function a rematch to one in all Florida’s harder video games on its championship run. The Gators wanted to maneuver previous UConn in final season’s NCAA Event, with Golden’s top-seeded squad beating No. 8 UConn 77-75 within the second spherical. It was one in all 4 NCAA video games that featured a second-half Florida comeback.
The Jimmy V Traditional has existed for 3 a long time and usually attracts in at the least one compelling matchup every December, however uncommon is the case when two lively coaches with nationwide championships match wits on this occasion. The sport will broadcast on ESPN and is anticipated to be the nightcap of a doubleheader that will even function Clemson vs. BYU on the undercard. BYU also needs to be a draw with AJ Dybantsa, a five-star recruit who might be the No. 1 choose within the 2025 NBA Draft.
In Gary Parrish’s offseason High 25 And 1, UConn is ranked fourth, BYU fifth and Florida fifteenth.