By JEFFREY BATTLE
The 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament concluded with a thrilling championship game, where the Florida Gators edged out the Houston Cougars 65–63 to claim their third national title and first since 2007. Congratulations to Florida, man. They deserve it and probably go against the toughest schedule in recent history. Let’s break it down:
Norfolk State: 16 seed, so don’t really count (Sorry Norfolk State, just my opinion in terms of the grand scheme of things)
UConn: Probably the toughest (maybe dirtiest) team to play against in this tournament as an 8 seed.
Maryland: It’s hard to see them, especially with that last-second win from Derik Queen, make it past a dominant Florida team that hadn’t shown any signs of struggle up to this point. As an outsider now not caring about his bracket (never will forgive Iowa St.).
Texas Tech: This team was underrated all year, and I had them going pretty far even in my brackets. They had a very tough game against these guys, and for the first time, Florida had looked human. However simply not enough to slow down Florida. They had some very good shots down the stretch to win by 5. This is where Florida facing Auburn would be a stretch.
Auburn: This game was a good one with a lot of good play from Florida. For some reason, they found the spark again. They were losing at halftime, and didn’t hold back. This was the Walter Clayton Jr. Game. This is what cemented him as a clutch basketball player in this tournament. With 34 points, on 11-18 shooting, and 5 threes. This guy was on fire.
Houston: This is a nail-biting game; both teams had different philosophies of playing the game of basketball. Houston for many years now, has been known for their staggering D, and the Gators were a red-hot offense mixed in with some good occasional defensive play. Walter didn’t have his best game, but the support was there.
Florida was an amazing team with a lot of great players, but again, Walter Clayton Jr was there. He made sure that this team wasn’t losing. A zero-star recruit out of high school had turned into one of the best players in this year’s March Madness. For that friends, he deserves a cookie.
Featured image: NCAA.com
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