March Madness 2025: How Duke, Florida, Auburn and Houston built their loaded Final Four rosters

The four teams participating in the Final Four this weekend in San Antonio are a perfect microcosm of the new era in college basketball. While a team such as Duke has built its roster with former blue-chip recruits such as Cooper Flagg, Tyrese Proctor and Khaman Maluach, other teams such as Florida have hit on the margins to create a team just two games away from winning the title.

Since Duke coach Jon Scheyer took over the program for Mike Krzyzewski in 2022, he has maintained the excellence on the recruiting trail that made the Blue Devils one of the best teams in the sport for decades. Flagg headlined the No. 1 overall recruiting class in the 2024 cycle, and Duke’s 2023 recruiting class finished second only behind Kentucky.

During the same stretch, Houston finished with the 22nd and 49th-ranked classes in the 2023 and 2024 recruiting cycles. The Cougars returned four starters from a team that won the Big 12 title during the 2023-24 season and replaced All-American guard Jamal Shead with Oklahoma transfer Milos Uzan, who has emerged as a potential NBA Draft prospect and one of the best players in the conference.

National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome is also a former transfer. Broome transferred to Auburn from Morehead State after the 2021-22 season and helped the program reach the Final Four for the second time ever with a win over No. 2 seed Michigan State. The Tigers are one of the most experienced and oldest teams in the sport.

Here is how every Final Four team built their roster.

How Duke built its roster

The nucleus of this Duke roster comes from one of the best high school recruiting classes in the modern era. Having Flagg as Duke’s building block is a luxury every other team wishes they had. Putting the right roster around Flagg was the key to making a deep run. The Blue Devils saw two starters from a team that reached the Elite Eight last season (Mark Mitchell and Jeremy Roach) hit the transfer portal. Other members of Duke’s star-studded 2023 recruiting class also entered the transfer portal.

Five members of Duke’s 2024 class see consistent minutes in the rotation: Flagg, Maluach, Kon Knueppel, Patrick Ngongba ll and Isaiah Evans. In some sense, the makeup of this Duke roster is somewhat similar to its 2015 title team. That Duke starting lineup had three freshmen and two veterans, which is the exact lineup combination the 2024-25 team has. Proctor is a three-year starter at Duke, while Tulane transfer Sion James has played a critical role in his first and only season to round out the tallest starting lineup in the country. 

The goal was to get bigger, more athletic and taller. Duke accomplished that by adding James, Purdue forward Mason Gillis and Syracuse forward Maliq Brown. Gillis is the first player in college basketball history to go to the Final Four in back-to-back years with two different programs. Having Flagg makes Duke a contender, but the strategic roster-building by Scheyer and company has made this Blue Devils team the team to beat in San Antonio.

Recruits

Transfers

How Houston built its roster

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson is one of the best in the sport at maximizing talent on his roster. This roster isn’t full of former blue-chip recruits, but Sampson has the right players in place. When Shead left for the NBA last offseason, Houston had to work quickly to find a replacement in the starting lineup to join the other four returners. That player ended up being Uzan, who’s become one of the most underrated players in the sport. Uzan is shooting 44.5% from the 3-point line, while backcourt mate L.J. Cryer is connecting on 41.5% of his triples. Houston has the top-ranked 3-point shooting offense in the country.

The other four starters from last year? That would be Cryer, J’Wan Roberts, Emanuel Sharp and Ja’Vier Francis. After starting 37 games last season, Francis has come off the bench in favor of Joseph Tugler. Cryer, Houston’s leading scorer, is a former transfer from Baylor who spent the first three years of his career in Waco. Sharp, Terrance Arceneaux, Francis and Tugler are all homegrown stars who have played the entirety of their college career for Sampson. The identity of this team is defense.

Recruits

Transfers

How Auburn built its roster

Auburn’s roster building has cumulated in a starting lineup full of experience. Broome has started 162 games in his career. Chad Baker-Mazara, a member of San Diego State during the 2021-22 season, has appeared in 101 games. Former Georgia Tech star Miles Kelly has played in 132 games (95 starts) and Denver Jones was a starter at FIU before transferring to Auburn in 2023. The longest-tenured homegrown star on this roster is big man Dylan Caldwell, who has appeared in 165 games in his career, all for Auburn. 

Key reserves Chaney Johnson, Chris Moore and Tahaad Pettiford have played the entirety of their respective careers with the Tigers. The key to success started with Broome blossoming into one of the best players in the sport. Pettiford, a former highly touted recruit from the 2024 recruiting cycle, is as valuable as anyone on this roster. Having a player of Pettiford’s caliber off the bench is a testament to coach Bruce Pearl’s ability to blend experience with the youth on the roster.

Recruits

Transfers

How Florida built its roster

The head of the snake of this Florida roster is All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr. Once upon a time, Clayton was a star at the mid-major level for coach Rick Pitino at Iona, and he has since taken a star turn to become arguably the top guard in the sport. Clayton’s backcourt mate, Alijah Martin, is spending his final season of edibility with the Gators after being a former star at mid-major FAU. Martin will become the first player in college basketball history to start in the Final Four with two different teams.

Will Richard, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu round out Florida’s starting lineup. Richard began his college career at Belmont before transferring to Florida in 2022, while Chinyelu transferred last offseason after one year at Washington State. Condon and Thomas Haugh were part of Florida’s 2023 high school recruiting class. Micah Handlogten, another key member of one of the best frontcourts in the country, transferred in the same year after one season at Marshall. Florida coach Todd Golden has found success on the margins with players who weren’t blue-chip prospects. It’s why the Gators have gone from first-round exit to the Final Four in only his third season.

Recruits

Transfers