Rueben Chinyelu guarantees Florida national title: ‘What if? We’re winning it’
By Jacob Moss
Published:
The 2026-27 college basketball season is right around the corner, and all of the SEC’s top players are currently descending upon Birmingham, Alabama, for the conference’s annual preseason Media Days.
After failing to defend their National Championship crown last season, the reigning regular-season conference champion Florida Gators look to be on a mission to return to the mountaintop once again come March.
Senior big man Rueben Chinyelu is extremely confident in the Gators’ chances, going so far as to guarantee another Florida national title when talking to CBS Sports insider Matt Norlander on Wednesday.
A Nigerian native, Chinyelu was a key rotation piece on Florida’s 2024-25 National Championship squad, averaging 6 points and 7 rebounds a game off the bench for head coach Todd Golden.
He took a massive step last season as the starting center for the Gators, becoming one of the top glass cleaners in the nation and averaging an SEC-leading 11 boards a game while also adding 11 points per game for a 27-win Florida team.
This will be his last ride with the Gators, and he doesn’t appear to be content with going out with anything less than another National Championship banner in the rafters of Exactech Arena.
