Former Illinois fan favorite rightfully calls out Todd Golden for bone-headed mistake

Last night, the defending National Champions, No. 1-seed Florida Gators, blew their shot at advancing to the Sweet 16 in a loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Gators were up 72-70, and Florida head coach Todd Golden told his team to play a full-court press, despite the fact that they simply had to stop the Hawkeyes from scoring a three-point shot, and Iowa had nearly nine seconds to bring the court all the way down the court.

Of course, the Hawkeyes drained a three to go up by one point and eventually win the game. The bizarre and unusual defensive call by Golden has already earned him quite a bit of flak, including from one former Illinois Fighting Illini: Coleman Hawkins.

"Why are you pressing, up 2, with 9 seconds left..." Hawkins wrote on social media, including a couple of well-placed emojis.

If Florida had just set up their defense at the midcourt line, none of its players would have had to sprint back to try to cover the now-wide-open Hawkeyes on the other end of the court.

Coleman Hawkins knows Todd Golden's choice to press blew it

Golden's decision to have his players run full-court defense was an unusual choice for a reason; it hardly ever works out in favor of the defending team with that much time left on the clock.

While Iowa still may have been able to find an open three-point shot with Florida in half-court defense, it would have been much more difficult and was much more unlikely to be a make.

Instead, Golden called the full-court press, Iowa's Alvaro Folgueiras sank the three-point jumper, the Hawkeyes advanced to the Sweet 16, and the defending National Champions were sent home way earlier than most people expected.

The best news for the Illini, other than the fact that their former player knows better than to attempt this bonehead defensive strategy, is that Illinois head coach Brad Underwood would never make the same mistake Golden did.

Hawkins played for Illinois from 2020 until 2024, before transferring to finish his collegiate career with the K-State Wildcats. During his junior and senior seasons, he played and started in 38 consecutive games for the Fighting Illini.