The most anticipated Final Four in NCAA Tournament history fittingly delivered the most dramatic final weekend in March Madness history as the Florida Gators prevailed Monday in a 65-63 thriller over the Houston Cougars in San Antonio.
The Gators erased a 13-point second-half deficit to stun the Cougars in a frenetic finish, completing the third-largest comeback in NCAA national championship game history. It was the fourth time in six NCAA Tournament games the Gators had to dig out of second-half deficits after trailing by six to UConn in the second round, 10 to Texas Tech in the Elite Eight and nine to Auburn in the Final Four.
“We did what we did all year,” Florida coach Todd Golden said postgame on CBS. “We stayed the course.”
Florida became the second champion since Louisville in 2013 to cut down the nets after trailing in both its Final Four games. It closed the game on a 35-21 run after trailing 42-30 with 15:30 remaining.
That was a theme not just of Florida’s fabulous push to the finish line but also of the Final Four. With all four of the tournament’s No. 1 seeds advancing into the final weekend for the second time ever and first time since 2008, the final three games of the 2024-25 season were jam-packed with mayhem.
Auburn-Florida set the table for us Saturday with the No. 1 overall seed Tigers, coming off their best regular-season in program history, putting Florida on the ropes. Auburn led 49-40 with 17:49 remaining in the second half before Walter Clayton Jr. — the Final Four MOP — did Walter Clayton Jr. things.
He outscored Auburn’s entire team 10-8 in the final 4:30 of play and had 20 of his career-high 34 points in the second half.
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Remarkably, that turned out to be the second-best game of the evening at the Alamodome.
Duke-Houston delivered even more sizable theater as Houston chased down the Blue Devils from a 14-point second-half deficit. The Cougars trailed by 14 points (59-45) with 8:17 remaining and by nine points (64-55) with 2:06 remaining. They then reeled off a 15-3 run to close the game, culminating with a flurry of nine points over the final 33 seconds to seal it.
Yes, that’s right: nine points in the final 33 seconds. A surefire loss for Houston flipped to a stunning win.
Per Opta Stats, Duke became the first team to have a higher field goal percentage, more free throw attempts, more assists, fewer turnovers and more steals than its opponent and still lose. Teams to previously do that were 335-0 in the NCAA Tournament.
If there was any doubt about it being that this Final Four was approaching GOAT territory, Monday sealed it. Houston led for nearly 31 of the game’s 40 minutes but it was a single-digit game for all but five minutes.
Houston would throw a haymaker.
Florida would counter.
Florida would step on its own toes with a bench technical.
Houston would take advantage only to get an upper cut to the dome from Florida climbing right back in it.
ESPN’s win probability metric gave Houston a 93.9% chance to win the game with 15:48 remaining and the Cougars leading 42-30 going into a timeout. That was when Florida put it in high gear for a 35-21 closing run, punctuated by a game-sealing defensive play from Clayton Jr. as Houston improbably could not get a shot off in the final minute.
The NCAA Tournament always delivers in some form or fashion. Cinderellas routinely waltz into our lives and bust our brackets. Stars become folk heroes enshrined into the pantheon of March Madness lore.
But this NCAA Tournament’s finale? Led by supernovas in Clayton Jr. from Florida, LJ Cryer from Houston, Johni Broome from Auburn and Cooper Flagg from Duke?
With this good a finish?
We’ve never gotten anything this good. And so it is that the tournament that is synonymous with madness delivers again, on the biggest stage, with four of the best teams.
We may never see another final weekend this good.
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