2025 Final Four preview

The Men’s NCAA Final Four tips off on Saturday. The Alamodome in San Antonio will host its first Final Four since 2018 and fifth time overall. This year’s games have received both positive and negative reactions from the fans.

For the first time since 2008, the Final Four will be all No. 1 seeds - Auburn, Duke, Houston and Florida. The 2008 group featured Kansas, North Carolina, Memphis and UCLA, with Kansas defeating Memphis in the national championship.

Without Cinderellas, or even lower seeds, these games should still be a treat, as we instead get to witness the four best teams battle for a title.

So, let’s preview the contests.

Florida Gators vs. Auburn Tigers - 6:09 p.m. EST

Many assumed these two SEC teams would be on a collision course with one another, and that’s the case.

Auburn entered the tournament looking less dominant than expected, but has rattled off some quality wins as of late against Creighton, Michigan and Michigan State.

Florida, the SEC champs, have continued their hot stretch into the tournament, defeating the back-to-back defending champion UConn Huskies, as well as Maryland and Texas Tech.

This matchup will feature a duel between two of the SEC’s best players, Auburn’s Johni Broome and Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. Broome has turned it up a notch, scoring 22 and 25 points over his last two games after notching 22 total in his first two March Madness contests.

Clayton Jr. has been on a tear the entire tournament. He’s scored at least 23 points in three out of his four March Madness games, including 30 points against Texas Tech. He’ll be a tough player for the Auburn defense to contain.

This is also an awesome battle of supporting casts. The Tigers have four double-digit scorers in addition to Broome. Chad Baker-Mazara averages 12.2 PPG, Tahaad Pettiford posts 11.7, Miles Kelly records 11.4 and Denver Jones adds 10.9.

The Gators only have three scorers in double figures for the year alongside Clayton Jr., but Alijah Martin slots in as the third-best scorer in this matchup at 14.5 PPG. Then, Will Richard posts 13.3 and Alex Condon averages 10.8.

One last interesting note about this game is the coaching matchup. Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, the head coach at the school since 2014, had a young assistant on his staff in his early years at Auburn. That young assistant’s name? Todd Golden, who’s been the head coach at Florida since 2022.

Houston Cougars vs. Duke Blue Devils - 8:49 p.m. EST

While Auburn vs. Florida has the potential to be cinematic, Houston vs. Duke is the game everyone will have their eyes on.

Houston’s two-way style of play has taken over the tournament, and helped them narrowly get past Gonzaga and Purdue before destroying Tennessee.

Meanwhile, Duke’s offense has been impossible to contain. They are blowing out teams, with Arizona giving them their toughest test in a 100-93 Duke win. The Blue Devils have won every other matchup by at least 20 points.

The player matchup to watch in this one is L.J. Cryer vs. Cooper Flagg. Cryer, a fifth-year senior at Houston, averages 15.4 points on 40.9% shooting from the field and 91.6% from the free-throw line. His best game of the tournament was a 30-point performance against Gonzaga in the Round of 32.

Then we have Flagg, maybe the best player in college basketball. The Duke freshman has scored in double-digits every game of the tournament and amassed 30 points against Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen. He’s averaging 18.9 points on nearly 50% shooting for the season.

Besides Cryer and Flagg, there are other players to watch in this game. Emanuel Sharp, Milos Uzan and J’Wan Roberts all post between 10.7 and 12.7 PPG for the Cougars.

For the Blue Devils, Kon Knueppel averages 14.4 PPG and Tyrese Proctor posts 12.5, including 25 points against Baylor in the Round of 32. One more player to watch for Duke is big man Khaman Maluach, who grabs 6.8 boards and posts a team-leading 1.3 blocks.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson is in his second Final Four with the program and second overall in his coaching career. In his last trip, 2021, they lost to Baylor, the eventual tournament winner.

This will be the first Final Four for Duke coach Jon Scheyer. The last time the Blue Devils made it this far was the legendary Mike Krzyzewski’s final year on the sidelines. A win for Duke would send them to their first national championship game since the 2015 tournament.

Adam Pietrzak is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email app5940@psu.edu.