{"id":140434,"date":"2025-05-20T12:16:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T16:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=140434"},"modified":"2025-05-20T12:16:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T16:16:23","slug":"florida-lands-former-5-star-guard-is-it-a-good-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/20\/florida-lands-former-5-star-guard-is-it-a-good-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Lands Former 5-Star Guard: Is it a Good Move?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an unsurprising move announced Tuesday morning, former five-star guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/boogie-fland-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Boogie Fland<\/a> announced his decision to commit to Florida next season. Fland played one season under John Calipari at Arkansas. After sustaining what was believed to be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/22\/boogie-fland-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a season-ending injury<\/a>, he helped lead Arkansas to the Sweet Sixteen <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/22\/arkansas-st-johns-upset-whats-next\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">following an upset of St. John&#8217;s<\/a>. Florida, on the other hand, knocked off reigning champions UConn en route to a national championship. Fland wanted a school that would realize his potential, and Florida needed players to rebuild their squad. But is this a good fit for both sides?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Arkansas transfer Boogie Fland has committed to the defending NCAA champion University of Florida and head coach Todd Golden, Fland told ESPN. Fland, the 6-foot-3, former McDonald\u2019s All-American, finds a new home in Golden\u2019s uptempo system. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/k0pZv0bzCJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/k0pZv0bzCJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1924842560348160045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Florida Lands Former 5-Star Guard Boogie Fland: Is it a Good Move?<\/h2>\n<h3>Why Florida Makes Sense for Boogie Fland<\/h3>\n<p>As a former five-star, trying a year under Calipari&#8217;s system makes sense. Calipari has a reputation for getting elite players into the NBA. However, Fland struggled at times in the system to consistently put up NBA numbers. Standing at only 6-foot-3, Fland needs to show elite tools for his NBA future. He will need to show more consistency with those tools to play at the next level as soon as next season. Fland would have been a second-round pick if he had been drafted at all this past season.<\/p>\n<p>Florida may be the best possible place for Fland. Their up-tempo offense finished <a href=\"https:\/\/kenpom.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second in offensive efficiency last season.<\/a> Fland will join forces with<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/16\/florida-clayton-jr-replacement-xavian-lee\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"> fellow transfer<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/xaivian-lee-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Xavian Lee<\/a> in the backcourt. With Lee set to run point guard, it allows Fland to show off his off-ball skills and turn into a primary scorer. While Fland will have to continue to show playmaking to have any success at the next level, his ability to score off the ball will show another dynamic to his game. With his size, he will need to show every skill possible, so this is important for his development as an NBA prospect.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_140457\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-140457\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25168209_168404824_lowres.jpg\" target=\"_self\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-140457\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25168209_168404824_lowres-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25168209_168404824_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25168209_168404824_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25168209_168404824_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25168209_168404824_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25168209_168404824_lowres-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25168209_168404824_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25168209_168404824_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-140457\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan 11, 2025; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks guard Boogie Fland (2) dribbles during the first half against the Florida Gators at Bud Walton Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Is Fland the Missing Piece for Florida?<\/h3>\n<p>If <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/alex-condon-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Condon<\/a> withdraws from the NBA Draft, they will have good players at every position. However, I can&#8217;t help but look at their lack of size and strength in the backcourt. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/walter-claytonjr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Walter Clayton Jr.<\/a> wasn&#8217;t the tallest player, but he had elite speed in combination with good strength. His incredible shotmaking ability helped. Lee will run the offense, but Florida is relying on Fland to be that shotmaker. Fland could be that player, but it is important to remember he only shot 37.9% from the floor.<\/p>\n<p>Todd Golden hopes that his system will give Fland easier shots. However, Fland needs to take a huge step forward to give Florida a chance to repeat as national champions. Clayton played his way into a likely first-round pick. Fland could take a nice step forward, but the competition level will remain the same. It&#8217;s important to remember that Fland missed most of SEC play last season, so he hasn&#8217;t proven himself against that competition twice per week.<\/p>\n<h3>What is Florida&#8217;s Ceiling?<\/h3>\n<p>Depending on whether Condon returns, the addition of Fland cements Florida as an automatic NCAA Tournament team, likely obtaining a top-five seed. However, I don&#8217;t see this squad as a national championship contender yet. Lee and Fland have both been inefficient and lack the size to get easy buckets in the SEC. Looking at some of the other serious contenders like Duke, UConn, and Kentucky, Florida&#8217;s roster doesn&#8217;t strike the same fear. Golden is a great coach, but they might need a proven, efficient scorer to take that next step: Clayton won&#8217;t be back.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Featured image: \u00a9 Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an unsurprising move announced Tuesday morning, former five-star guard Boogie Fland announced his decision to commit to Florida next season. Fland played one season under John Calipari at Arkansas. After sustaining what was believed to be a season-ending injury, he helped lead Arkansas to the Sweet Sixteen following an upset of St. John&#8217;s. Florida, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5370,"featured_media":140458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773,3],"tags":[777,50027,1436],"class_list":["post-140434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","category-news","tag-florida-gators","tag-ncaa-transfer-portal","tag-sec-basketball"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140434"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140459,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140434\/revisions\/140459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}