The Florida Gators will never be national champions again.
The Gators, the No. 1 seed 1 in the South Region, exited the NCAA men’s tournament in the second round after losing 73-72 to No. 9 Iowa Hawkeyes.
After trailing by 12 points in the second half, Florida led a furious comeback, taking a 72-70 lead after Isaiah Brown made two free throws with less than 10 seconds left.
Then came the decisive game sequence.
On the next inbounds play, the Gators’ defense lost track of Bennett Strtz in the backcourt, and the Hawkeyes guard raced down the field to find forward Alvaro Folgueiras in the right corner for a go-ahead 3-pointer. In Florida’s end zone, guard Xaivian Lee drove under the hoop and with nowhere to go, threw a desperation pass that turned into a loose ball as time expired — meaning the Gators never had a shot.
“On the last play, we wanted to play hard to prevent them from going three-and-out, and they got away from us,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said in a postgame press conference. “We couldn’t take it and they dropped it, so they’re borrowing from that. It’s just a tough way out.”
Iowa coach Ben McCollum said of his team: “They’re just tough kids. They fight. They compete. They stick with it. They’re the epitome of what we’ve been looking for in Iowa basketball. They’ve laid the foundation that we’ve needed so much, and we couldn’t be more proud of them.”
The Gators were looking to repeat for the second time in school history, after winning the men’s championships in 2006 and 2007. Florida is one of only two programs to repeat as a champion in the 21st century. The only school to do so since 2000 is Connecticut, with the Huskies winning in 2023 and 2024.
Here are some highlights from the first weekend of the tournament…
Two of the NBA’s top three prospects are out
The Gators weren’t the only school to come away with a last second bucket.
The 4th seed Kansas Jayhawks were edged out 67-65 by the No. 5 St. John’s in the hitting zone is guard Dylan Darling.
Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, who many think will be the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, scored 21 points in the loss. He finished the tournament averaging 24.5 points in two games. Most importantly for Peterson, he averaged 36.5 minutes after injury problems plagued him during the regular season.
Joining Peterson coming out of the tournament is AJ Dybantsa, a BYU forward who is also in contention for the top pick. Dybantsa scored 35 points for the Cougars in the first round loss to Texas.
Duke’s Cameron Boozer, another highly regarded prospect, is alive and well as the Blue Devils head to the Sweet 16.
A tale of two conferences
The Hawkeyes’ win was important for the Big Ten.
The conference sends six schools – Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, and Iowa – to the Sweet 16, the most since 1975 and tied with the 2016 ACC for the second most schools from one conference in the Sweet 16 ever. (Though conferences are big these days…)
On the other hand, the current ACC has sent eight teams to the men’s tournament…and only one, Duke, will reach the second weekend of play.
Not a good Cinderella weekend
Has the NIL ruined the college game?
Expect to hear that question in sports talk this week after a hot opening weekend in the men’s and women’s championships.
In the men’s bracket, seven of the top eight seeds are still alive, and the remaining bottom seed is No. 11 in Texas. While a double-digit seed in the Sweet 16 is nothing to scoff at, the Longhorns are hardly a plucky underdog given their record as a program this century.
On the women’s side, the chaos has subsided considerably. Only three lower seeds have won since Sunday night, and two of those have come at No. 9. vs. No. 8 matchups.
On a happy note, though, that means the biggest stars in the women’s game are still alive, preparing for a potential clash between players like Connecticut’s Azzi Fudd, UCLA’s Lauren Betts, and Texas’ Madison Booker.
