Last week, I wrote that, despite the chalk throughout this year’s NCAA tournament, the Final Four between four No. 1 seeds was bound to be one of the greatest of all time. Unsurprisingly, I was correct. The two Final Four games both showcased phenomenal, high-level basketball. The national title was no different — Florida stormed back from a 12-point second-half deficit, claiming its third national championship in program history.
Since these were the last important games of the 2024-25 college basketball season (disregarding the College Basketball Crown), it feels only correct for me to share my reactions of the games.
Gators reign supreme in the SEC
Florida defeated Auburn once in the regular season, but the Final Four win had much more at stake and was far more difficult.
The Final Four started out with a gem of a game, with thunderous dunks, clutch threes and heated moments. It was all anyone had been asking for in this tournament.
Florida’s senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. led the charge for the Gators, dropping 34 points and hitting clutch bucket after clutch bucket. His high-level showing in the Big Dance might be a fluke, as he is an undersized shooting guard with minimal playmaking ability, but he just has that dawg in him. His shot-making ability may not translate to the NBA, but he should be a lottery pick off the eye test alone.
Anyway… Back to the game.
While the Gators continued to be the comeback kids, this one was not in under three minutes like the Texas Tech game. Still, coming back from down nine in the second half to a very good Auburn team is no small feat.
The most impressive feat by the Gators was holding Auburn’s senior forward Johni Broome, who had 13 points in the first 25 minutes, to zero points in the final 15:12 of the game. Florida did a fantastic job of locking up Broome in those final 15 minutes, forcing other guys to step up, who, in the end, could not.
Florida made shots when it needed to and Auburn could not; that’s what it came down to. It led to a fantastic game the Tigers still could have won. The difference was that Auburn did not have a player like Clayton Jr., who was hitting fadeaway corner threes and weaving through defenders for and-ones in the final two minutes.
The Gators advanced to the Finals, and kept my streak alive of picking the correct champion in my bracket every year since 2022.
The greatest comeback in Final Four history
Kelvin Sampson did it again.
Houston’s head coach put on another masterclass in late-game planning. Down six with 34 seconds to play, the Cougars proceeded to go on the most improbable 7-0 run over the next 15 seconds, taking their first lead since 14:43 to play in the first half.
This wasn’t just a fluke lead, however, as it was a testament to coach Sampson and his game plan.
Everyone all tournament questioned what would happen if someone finally put the screws to Duke and if the Blue Devils would crack under late-game pressure, and they did exactly that. The Cougars’ No. 1 trait has been their defensive pressure and boy did they crank it up. After hitting a triple, the full-court press was on and it worked immediately, as graduate guard Sion James lofted a 50/50 ball into play, which Houston snatched away. Then, after a missed Duke 3-pointer, a tip-in made it a one-point game.
Sampson’s ability to trust his team and dial up the pressure on a relatively inexperienced Duke team in the waning moments of the game is what makes him a great coach and is what allowed the Cougars to complete the largest comeback in Final Four history.
The play which put Houston on top was controversial, as freshman forward Cooper Flagg was called for an over-the-back after a missed free throw. I believe it was a “let them play” moment, but it put the Cougars on the line and flipped the script of the game.
While Blue Devil fans can blame the refs all they want, Duke lost this game because it didn’t make a field goal for the final 10 minutes of the game. The concern with this team was if they played in a close game, would they succumb to the pressure? The Blue Devils did just that and let the pressure get to them.
I did pick the Blue Devils against Florida in my finals, but I loved seeing Sampson get the win. He’s a phenomenal coach who deserved every moment of this. It was even better to see legendary sports commentator and Houston alum Jim Nantz as a happy man.
I may not have picked Houston, but the Cougars are just so dang likeable. I love a good comeback, and so it was really hard for me not to root for them against Duke. Then we got to the national championship.
The comeback kids strike again
In a bizarre ending, the Florida Gators did the unthinkable and out-hustled Houston on the final possession, forced a turnover and cut down the nets in San Antonio.
The national title was everything fans had hoped for. There were high-flying dunks, hard-nosed defense and all the drama you’d expect from the two best teams in the country.
Houston’s tough defense proved difficult for Florida through three quarters of the game, holding Clayton Jr. to just two points through the first 32 minutes of the game, but he came alive in the late second, helping the Gators cut a 12-point Houston lead to a tie ball game.
From there on it was back and forth, with Florida taking the lead with 46 seconds to play. The Gators led for just over a minute in total during the game, but it was those last 46 seconds that proved to be the best. Florida clamped down on Houston for its final two possessions and Florida walked away with the national title.
This game lived up to all the expectations. Two of the greatest statistical teams matched up, just like in the Final Four, and it had all the drama everyone had hoped for. The final sequence was a bit confusing, as it looked like Houston’s redshirt junior guard Emanuel Sharp did not walk as he bounced the ball, but I’m not CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore, so what do I know.
The Cougars played tough, physical basketball throughout the whole game, but just couldn’t close like they did against Duke.
You’ve got to feel for Houston, and Coach Sampson could not have picked a more likable team. That said, I finished top five in every single bracket group I was a part of with my Florida pick, and finished with 1,400 points in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge.
While people moaned much about the lack of upsets, this was a phenomenal Final Four and national title, which is really what everyone should want in the end, and I reiterate once again…I was right.
I guess I’ll just be counting down for another *checks calendar* seven months…
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