This CBS college basketball analyst thinks Florida basketball can make deep March Madness run

Veteran CBS and Turner Sports college basketball analyst Dan Bonner is high on the potential for Florida basketball to make a run in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The reason? Offense.

The 7-seed Florida Gators (24-11), led by the explosive backcourt duo of Walter Clayton Jr. (17.1 ppg) and Zyon Pullin (15.6 ppg, 4.9 apg), rank third the SEC and sixth nationally in scoring offense at 85.1 points per game.

"If you can score in today’s game I think you can put pressure on a lot of other people and with a guy like (center Tyrese) Samuel, guys like Clayton and Pullin, even a guy like (Will) Richard, that can make 3s and that can attack the basket, and so being able to put points on the board, I think is really important," Bonner said.

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"Coaches always talk about defense and I agree eventually you’ve got to be able to guard somebody. But in my mind a good defensive team is one that can get a stop when they need it, and it doesn’t matter whether you get that stop when the score is 90-88 or 40-38. You don’t have to be a 40-38 and I don’t think Florida is."

Bonner said the only thing that worries him about Florida is the season-ending injury to starting center Micah Handlogten, who went down last week with a broken leg in the SEC Tournament finals against Auburn. Freshman forward Alex Condon will make his first career start in place of Condon on Friday.

"It’s not like he’s scoring 30 points a game and grabbing 20 rebounds," Bonner said. "But he was a starter, he was a key point defensively and they’ve got to shift their (frontcourt) rotation around a little bit, and this is a hard time of year to do that.”

Bonner also thinks Florida will have a challenging first-round matchup with 10-seed Colorado. The Buffaloes rallied late in the second half to knock off Boise State 60-53 late Wednesday night in the First Four, behind 20 points from forward Tristian DaSilva and 13 points and 6 rebounds from 6-foot-10, 265-pound center Eddie Lampkin.

"Tristian DaSilva is a guy who is probably a legitimate NBA prospect, he tested the NBA waters and he came back to school," Bonner said. "Lampkin is a guy inside who certainly is a difficult matchup."

Dan Bonner will call Florida basketball-Colorado matchup on Friday on TBS

Bonner, a 40-year broadcast veteran and former Virginia team captain, will call the Florida-Colorado game on Friday on TBS with Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy and sideline reporter Andy Katz. Bonner and Harlan, in particular, have emerged as a much-watch duo in the NCAA Tournament based on their consistency and chemistry.

"Kevin and I have worked together for over 20 years," Bonner said. "We are very good friends and we’ve done it long enough that we sort of know one another so well, it’s like working a game with one of our wives ...

"It’s very hard for anybody and I put myself at the top of the list here, to look bad when they work with Kevin Harlan," Bonner said. "Kevin is just like a complete pro and he orchestrates the whole thing and he’s just a pleasure to work with."