Backing The Cougars, But Not Feeling Great About It

Florida vs. Houston, 8:50 ET

Yesterday, the Women's College Basketball Tournament took center stage. It wasn't a really interesting game, and it was pretty predictable that UConn would hoist the trophy again. They had the best players on their team and they had one of the best coaches of all time at the helm. It makes sense. Tonight, the men take over for the women, and to be honest, the attention will obviously be brighter, but the game should be significantly closer than what the Huskies did to South Carolina yesterday. Tonight we have Florida taking on Houston for the National Championship.

If you've watched Florida this season the biggest story about them has been the emergence of Walter Clayton Jr. He has been amazing, hitting big shots over and over, finding ways to get the offense going when no one else was doing it. Florida has been a team we've made a nice amount of dough on over the course of the season, but I was wrong about the last game. In the Final Four, I had them losing Auburn. Auburn didn't really choke the game away, but it also wasn't the most impressive performance in the second half, and that is was led Florida to victory. Clayton Jr. contributed 34 in that one, his second straight game with 30 or more points. They did win by six and covered the spread. This was the second time that Florida won over Auburn this season. Now they have to take on one of the team's with one of the best defenses in the nation. 

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - APRIL 05: Walter Clayton Jr. #1 of the Florida Gators celebrates after the second half in the Final Four game of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament against the Auburn Tigers at the Alamodome on April 05, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

If we are comparing the last game that both team's played, Florida's win seemed relatively tame compared to that of the game against Duke. For all those complaints about the lack of upsets and everything else, we got some great Elite Eight and Final Four games that made me not care about any of those first round matchups. The majority of teams that were seeded three or lower this season would probably have all lost by 10+ points in the Final Four to any of the Final Four teams. Enough about that, though. Duke was up by double-digits with less than 10 minutes in the game and Houston won. Duke had a lead with less than 30 seconds, and lost. Houston did that to Duke. How did they do it? That's a good question. Partially Duke went cold, and part of it was that Houston was able to string together stops and turnovers. With 47 seconds left in the game, Houston blocked a Duke shot, then hit a three on the other end. They went from down six to down three. Next possession, another steal for Houston, two point tip in and suddenly in 22 seconds, Houston went from down six to down just one. Tyrese Proctor couldn't hit the 1-and-1, and Houston got the rebound. After two free throws, Cooper Flagg missed a jumper and that was basically it. 

I said before this game I was going to take Duke or Houston because I expected Florida and Auburn to beat the crap out of each other and be in bad shape for this one. It doesn't appear that is the case. Instead, Houston had a dramatic come-from-behind win. The thing is this team feels a bit different. They seem to be poised and I think that winning against Duke wasn't enough for them. This is one of the hardest games for a National Championship I've seen. I'm going to take Houston to win it. Defense wins championships, and theirs is the best. 

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