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Florida's Todd Golden Gives Honest Thoughts on 2022 Eligibility Issue
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- Florida's Todd Golden Gives Honest Thoughts on 2022 Eligibility Issue
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
The University of Florida finds itself in one of the best positions in all of college basketball, though there were still some concerns about the possibility of not bringing back some players.
One of those guys was Denzel Aberdeen, one of the top players on what's expected to be the best team in America during next season.
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Florida's season starts in about a month, and there's a lot of hope this team has a real chance to win a national title. Aberdeen played for Florida from 2022 to 2025, before going to the University of Kentucky for 2025-2026.
He now returns to the Gators for his second stint, and everything sounds more than fine in terms of his relationship with the school.
All Aberdeen and head coach Todd Golden are looking to do is ensure that he's in a position to play, which he currently is, and that Florida has a chance to win a national title.
"I truly just believe that the Class of '22 athletes deserve to play, especially at this point with everybody starting school," he said of Denzel Aberdeen and others.
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"Everybody is in the middle of their semesters. There are not guys or girls just hanging out there waiting to see if [the Colorado federal case] wins to jump back and reenroll and play. We're long past that conversation that was taking place in May and June. And so at this point, the NCAA is trying to argue that they're trying to prevent chaos, but they're really causing it…
"He's eligible right now. He won his temporary injunction. The NCAA is trying to keep him from playing just like any other person in that class, which is a conversation for a different day. But we remain very confident," said Golden, per ESPN.
The entire 2022 class is still somewhat in a weird position. There are certain state lawsuits that are allowing guys to play, while others aren't.
The NCAA has already made its feelings known, suggesting it doesn't want 2022 class players to play.
That doesn't look likely, so it should benefit Florida and other top college basketball programs.
