Houston comes back from dead to take down Duke, advance to national title game

LJ Cryer led Houston with 26 points as Cougars shocked Duke with nine points in final 33 seconds to upend Blue Devils and reach national championship game for first time since 1984. (Photo by The Associated Press)

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

SAN ANTONIO — Duke wouldn’t let Houston be comfortable.

Whether it was Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba coming off the bench and blitzing ball screens for a few minutes in the first half to change up the look, or Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach protecting the rim with four combined blocks and a bunch of key plays, the Cougars just couldn’t find a rhythm.

“They made it tough on us,” Mylik Wilson said. “They’re the tallest team in the country, so every position, they’re taller than us. They’re a great defensive team.”

But uniquely, Houston doesn’t need a rhythm to score points. It doesn’t need to create offense to have a good offense. All it needs is a hoop on either end and an opponent to defeat.

“When you put 40 minutes on the clock,” J’Wan Roberts said, “and you put Houston against whoever, they’re going to get our best shot.”

And much of the time, Houston’s best shot is a bad shot. Sometimes those bad shots go in, and on most of the others, the Cougars grab the rebound.

On Saturday night, they rose from the ashes, charging from 14 points down with no reason to believe to defeat one of the great teams in recent college basketball memory. Houston clamped Duke down, and made play after play down the stretch to defeat the Blue Devils, 70-67, and advance one game away from the program’s first-ever national championship

The separating factor for this Houston team versus past iterations under Kelvin Sampson is the three-point shot. The Cougars don’t take that many, but when they do, they make a higher rate than anybody else in the sport. And that showed on Saturday night. LJ Cryer kept Houston in the game, stepping into contested threes for the entire first half and through the early second half. He was the only reason why Duke couldn’t bury Houston early on.

Later in the game, it was Emanuel Sharp and his quick release launching and hitting shots, including one with 30 seconds left to cut Duke’s lead to three.

“We got the best guards in the country,” Milos Uzan said. “Eman and LJ can go get a basket whenever, and you don’t need to draw up a play for them. I feel like the way we pride ourselves defensively, we’re gonna find a way to get a basket.”

And he may be right about that assertion, even if their games don’t speak up the way other guards do, they’ve done exactly what their team needs them to do to win every single night.

Following Sharp’s three, Wilson got a steal on the inbound, dribbled out to the right wing, and unloaded a three-pointer. It didn’t fall, but JoJo Tugler flew in from the short corner with vigor and dropped the hammer on a putback slam, cutting the lead to one.

That was Wilson’s only three-point attempt of the night. He played just eight minutes. But he didn’t think twice about taking it.

“I just gotta shoot it,” Wilson said. “But JoJo just shows how we do things in this program (with the offensive rebound).”

Houston’s shooters keep shooting because they know that the Cougars will get the ball back. It’s a cheat code for shooter confidence.

But what J’Wan Roberts has done is no cheat code, it’s his pure work ethic that has driven him from a 51 percent free throw shooter last season to Saturday night, where he gave Houston the lead with two key free throws in the final 20 seconds of the game.

“We had our kids make 150 free throws seven days a week,” Sampson said. “I don't think J'Wan missed a day from June 2nd until we left on Wednesday. So Tuesday night, I looked at what he shot from the free throw line with his 150 makes. He shot 87 percent. That was his highest percentage he ever stopped. When he started this, he was at 66.”

So when he stepped up to the line in the biggest spot of his life, he was cool as a cucumber.

“I wasn't really nervous at all,” he said. “Because of all the work that I put in, just believing in it and trusting myself. I try not to get sidetracked by how big the stage is.”

While Duke couldn’t smell the blood in the water, Houston found every possible way to keep this game alive. Steals, offensive rebounds, threes, pressure, and so much more put an immense amount of strain on the Blue Devils’ process.

For Duke, it was a new late-game experience. But for the Cougars, it was just another night.

Houston had a similar comeback against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse in the final seconds. Even though they don’t stack points like the nation’s most explosive offenses (they still rank 10th nationally in offense, but don’t do it the same as some other teams), they can never be counted out.

“You just have to keep fighting,” Uzan said. “We’ve got so much belief in each other. The beauty about this team is nobody ever loses faith.”

And there’s just 40 more minutes and the Florida Gators standing in the way of that faith being rewarded for eternity.

Houston’s iconic comeback a testament to Kelvin Sampson’s throwback culture

J’Wan Roberts (13) and Emanuel Sharp (21) celebrate as Houston caps off stunning comeback to down Duke and advance to national championship. (Photo by USA Today Sports Images)

SAN ANTONIO — Jim Nantz has managed to find the right words for some of college basketball’s most iconic moments on its greatest stage over his 32 years as play-by-play announcer for CBS’ Final Four coverage.

Saturday night, his involvement came as a fan, with his alma mater, Houston, facing Duke with a spot opposite Florida in the national championship at stake. But as his beloved Cougars capped off a 25-8 run over the final 8:17 of regulation, scoring 15 of the game’s final 18 points and all of the last nine, the narrator of so many forever images over the years hit the mark again as he made the walk with his daughters and son to the Houston locker room.

“That was incredible,” he said in his mellifluous tone, tinged on this night with equal parts pride and disbelief.

Houston’s 70-67 takedown of Duke, the blueblood that was the perceived favorite to cut down the nets and leave the Alamodome with a sixth national championship, was indeed incredible for how it ended. For how it looked nearly impossible when the Blue Devils extended their lead to 14 points before the Cougars started the fifth-largest comeback in Final Four history. But to those within the flagship program of Texas’ largest city, it was not so much incredible as it was symbolic of what Kelvin Sampson has built in the 11 years since returning to the college game at the behest of his dying father.

Seven months away from turning 70 this November, Sampson is not the dynamic young coach garnering headlines the way his counterpart Saturday—Duke’s Jon Scheyer—or his next opponent, Florida head coach Todd Golden, has. The veteran boss is a throwback in every sense of the word, from his humility and respect for a game he has spent nearly a half-century in to the relentless defense he has instilled as the backbone of an old-school culture that still wins on and off the floor.

Last season, Houston lost to Duke in the South Regional semifinals, in a rock fight that was notable for Jamal Shead’s sprained ankle, but also significant for the Cougars shooting just 9-for-17 at the free throw line. Sampson’s response to the letdown at the charity stripe in the offseason was a time-tested method of reinforcement and teaching.

“We had our kids make 150 free throws a week,” he said. “Even though we only lost four games all year, the free throw line impacted two of those.”

There was no bigger beneficiary of the additional practice than J’Wan Roberts. Roberts not only made the biggest improvement in foul shooting on the team from last season to this season, the redshirt senior ended up hitting what turned out to be the go-ahead free throws as Houston rose from the mat and proceeded to knock Duke out.

“I don’t think J’Wan missed a day from June 2 until we left on Wednesday,” Sampson said of Roberts’ participation in his free throw drill. “When he started this, he was at 66 (percent). On his own, he went from 66 to 86. That wasn’t the coaches. He went to that free throw line every single day and made himself. In the moment tonight, when everybody was watching, he prepared himself when nobody was watching. So God bless him.”

“Looking at the time, looking at the clock, I feel like we just believed in ourselves,” Roberts said. “Coach always tells us (to) just keep playing, fight, never quit. If you lose the game and you didn’t quit, you didn’t really lose. Going into games like this, you never want to go down, but it happens. But once you don’t quit and you believe, anything can happen.”

The never-say-die mentality is just another part of Sampson’s rough-hewn upbringing in the sport and how it reflects in his team. In his first press conference upon arriving in San Antonio, the coach recalled his beginnings in the game as a graduate assistant for Jud Heathcote at Michigan State, when he and a then-twentysomething up-and-comer named Tom Izzo sectioned off part of the parking lot behind the old Jenison Field House to form a makeshift court. The necessity to find a way has followed him in all the twists and turns since, and even after a first half Saturday that he would probably love to forget, he knew how to fix it.

“Instead of ranting and raving at halftime, I was probably more calm and positive,” Sampson recalled. “I thought that’s what they needed. They know they played poorly, but we were only down six. It took us a while to become who we are. At some points, if you have a culture, quitting is not part of the deal. We’re not going to quit, we’re just going to play better.”

And play better, the Cougars did. After Cooper Flagg—the national player of the year—put Duke up by 13 with 10:31 to play, the Blue Devils attempted just nine field goals for the remainder of the game. Houston conceded just one make among those nine shots.

The Cougars came into the weekend as somewhat of an afterthought between Duke having the nation’s most efficient offense, Auburn being the champion of a historically dominant SEC, and Florida emerging as perhaps the most complete team of the final quartet. Yet here Houston stands, unbroken and unwilling to deviate from a style and culture that honors the game, and still yields dividends even when new methods of payment are more en vogue.

“Everyone has an opinion,” Roberts said of the perceived slights toward his team. “They can say what they want to say. When you put 40 minutes on the clock and you put Houston against whoever, they’re gonna get our best shot.”

“We don’t have to be mentioned in the greats or this and that. We’ll take the underdog spot and we’ll just do what we do.”

And what they do, on this night especially, is truly incredible.

Clayton’s 34 points propel Florida into national championship

Walter Clayton, Jr. scored 34 points to send Florida to national championship game as Gators held off Auburn. Clayton’s tally is highest in Final Four game since Carmelo Anthony in 2003. (Photo by College Sports Network)

SAN ANTONIO — Before he led Florida into a Final Four battle with Southeastern Conference rival Auburn, Walter Clayton, Jr. downplayed the idea of him flipping a switch to activate his notorious clutch play in the second half.

The senior point guard instead said he tries to let the game come to him in those moments, with some shots being open more than others.

On Saturday, the game found Clayton again, and once again, he raised a bar that was already situated above the clouds.

Clayton scored 20 of his 34 points in the second half as Florida erased a nine-point deficit down the stretch to defeat Auburn for the second time this season, prevailing in the first of two national semifinals, 79-73.

With the win, the Gators will play for their third national championship on Monday, and first since 2007, with either Houston or Duke awaiting them.

“I feel like everybody sees it,” senior guard Will Richard said of his teammate and his explosiveness. “He’s poised, calm and collected, confident in himself (and) we have that confidence in him. We see him practice, see his work ethic. We’re glad everybody else is getting to see him do it in a game.”

“Clayton was the difference,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl admitted. “He was, just flat out, the difference. We couldn’t contain him down that end. He’s a great player. He can go both ways, he can make tough shots.”

Clayton is the first player to score 30 or more points in a Final Four game since Carmelo Anthony—who headlined this year’s Hall of Fame induction class on Saturday—posted 33 points for Syracuse in 2003 when the Orange took down Texas on its way to the program’s sole national title. He is also the first player to have consecutive 30-point games in a regional final and Final Four since Larry Bird did so for Indiana State in 1979.

“I know I’ve got weapons around me,” Clayton said of his ability to get open. “(Auburn) was kind of showing hard all night, that kind of forced them not to stay as long on me. Like I said, the guys around me making plays allows my game to open up, and I appreciate them.”

Clayton’s latest virtuoso performance in a run that Florida fans hope becomes unforgettable Monday night has started to evoke memories of Kemba Walker during UConn’s magical surge to a national championship in 2011. Clayton watched that generational run growing up outside Orlando, but bristled somewhat at the idea that he was trying to imitate it.

“I try to be my own person,” he said. “But yeah, man. Kemba on one of the biggest stages was calm, cool and collected. Just watching that, I kind of admired that. He was able to just zone himself out, just play his game.”

Clayton has done the same the past year, and his teammates had only one word to describe it.

“Special,” Richard, Thomas Haugh and Alijah Martin concurred.

Amarri Monroe chooses to return to Quinnipiac despite multiple Power 5 offers

Amarri Monroe spurned chance to play at higher level Saturday, returning to Quinnipiac for senior season after entering transfer portal. (Photo by Quinnipiac Athletics)

By Ethan Hurwitz (@HurwitzSports)

HAMDEN, Conn. — An offseason ago, Amarri Monroe, formerly Tice, turned down six-figure offers to return to Quinnipiac. He parlayed that into the 2024-25 MAAC Player of the Year award and another regular season title for the Bobcats. So he was bound for an even bigger payday at an even bigger school after entering the transfer portal on March 14.

But he wouldn’t do it again. There was no way.

And yet, he did.

On Saturday afternoon, the forward announced via social media that he’d be withdrawing from the transfer portal and returning to Quinnipiac for his senior season. After averaging 18.1 points per game and 9.1 rebounds a game — including a MAAC-high 14 double-doubles — the Bobcats will get their captain back, and lock in two of next year’s starting spots (freshman guard Jaden Zimmerman announced he was staying on March 22).

“I came back because of my love for this program, this team, this community. It’s more than basketball to me,” Monroe wrote on social media. “They gave me a home when everyone forgot about me. I’m sticking with the people who helped me find myself again.”

Monroe had previously narrowed down his list to six schools (UConn, Rutgers, Miami, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, Kansas), and was reportedly planning trips to both Ole Miss and Memphis. Instead, he will remain in Hamden, Connecticut, where the Newburgh, New York, native will receive far less in NIL money.

So what will this mean for the two-time defending regular season champion Bobcats in 2025-26? At first glance, getting Monroe to stay should pencil him in for the preseason conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards.

Other stars around the league, like Merrimack’s Budd Clark and Bryan Etumnu, Marist’s Josh Pascarelli and Iona’s Dejour Reaves all left the MAAC by way of transferring. Deciding to stay, the Bobcats’ star has firmly placed the “best player in the conference” crown atop his head.

Monroe will be the star of the show. A member of the program’s 1,000-point club, the final shot will still be in his hands, and the defensive prowess makes him Quinnipiac’s most complete player — maybe ever. But in today’s mid-major world, retaining guys is hard and the Bobcats being able to return all five starters from two years ago won’t be happening again.

Sophomore Khaden Bennett, junior Ryan Mabrey and graduate student Doug Young all remain sitting in the portal. Graduate forward Paul Otieno, another member of the all-MAAC First Team, had previously announced he was headed to Saint Louis in the fall.

After Zimmerman, Monroe is the latest domino to fall in this Quinnipiac roster shuffle. According to a source, Otieno was a surefire exit after this season — he was either leaving via the portal or calling it quits from college basketball. There had also been rumblings that Bennett and Young were leaving as well. 

Now with Monroe comfortably slotted into the fold, do any of these guys choose to stay? Bennett had a major bump in playing time from his first season to his second, but is reportedly getting interest from Atlantic 10 programs. Already relegated to the bench, Young and Mabrey are likely out, especially with Trinidad State (CO) point guard Lateef Patrick already committed to come here. 

But because of roster uncertainties, Patrick announced just two days ago that he would decommit from the Bobcats and open his recruiting window back up. Already seen as the team’s primary point guard for next season, Patrick cited Monroe’s offers in the portal as a major blow to his chances to come to Quinnipiac. He won’t immediately recant his decision — a source said that it would be at least a week before he makes another commitment choice — but it leaves the door open for Patrick to still arrive in Hamden.

With two of the starting five already locked up, the Bobcats should still be in the mix next season for a title. Sure, they may not be as surefire as they were the last two years. But they’ve retained their best player — somehow — for another season.

For Quinnipiac, that’s as euphoric as it can get.

Walter Clayton, Jr. has made transition from MAAC to SEC look easy as former Iona Star leads Florida into Final Four

Walter Clayton, Jr., who began his career at Iona, now leads Florida into Final Four. (Photo by USA Today Sports Images)

SAN ANTONIO — Walter Clayton, Jr. began his Final Four weekend with a typical activity enjoyed by most college students.

Thursday morning, as the Florida locker room opened to the media, the Gators’ senior point guard was locked in on a video game—College Football 25, to be exact.

Clayton, who had played football in high school and received offers from FBS heavyweights the likes of Georgia and Notre Dame, wasn’t trying to relive his youth when battling teammate Cooper Josefsberg in the video game. And while the 27-14 score Clayton—playing as his alma mater—led by before he was pulled away for media obligations suggests that he may still know a thing or two about life on the gridiron, his revelation after scoring his last touchdown in the game masked that.

“I haven’t played this game in two months,” he quipped. “I don’t even have a console.”

As it turns out, video games are not the only thing Clayton has made look easy, as his transition from football to basketball has mirrored that over the past four years. Spurning the big-money lure of college football to play basketball for Rick Pitino at Iona, Clayton was named player of the year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference as a sophomore, sharing a backcourt with a future NBA player in Daniss Jenkins as Iona dominated the league and could have been a Cinderella story had the Gaels not drawn eventual national champion UConn in the first round.

Clayton then transferred to Florida to move closer to his Lake Wales home, nearly three hours south of Gainesville. The decision was not easy, as Pitino had made a play for him upon taking over at St. John’s, but once again, Clayton made the step up in competition look modest by comparison. This season, the first team All-American has picked up where he left off, averaging over 18 points and four assists per game as Florida prepares for its fifth Final Four this weekend, and first since 2014.

“I definitely enjoy it,” Clayton said of the big stage and his presence on it. “Not many people get this opportunity to play in this or go this far in the tournament, so I definitely enjoy it. I’ve been able to do it because I’ve got such a great team around me. We’ve got guys who kind of cover up each other’s flaws and weaknesses, and we’re just a great team, so that’s how I’ve been able to do it.”

Through this tournament run, Clayton—always a lethal knockdown shooter—has taken his clutch game to another level, knocking down 14 of his 31 attempts from 3-point range and singlehandedly clinching Florida’s wins over UConn and Texas Tech in the second round and regional final, respectively. When asked how he is able to flip the proverbial switch, Clayton dismissed the notion of finding another gear, instead crediting the game for finding him in the right moments.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say flipping a switch,” he said. “At the end of the game, some shots just become a little more open, you could say. I wouldn’t say it’s hard to believe. I’ve worked for it my whole life, and whatever opportunities have come, I’ve just tried to execute on those opportunities, make good on them.”

Clayton’s decision to transfer to Florida was a self-admitted close call, one in which his then-newborn daughter played a large role as he was thrust into a choice “between two families,” in his own words. Four years, two schools, and two sports later, every choice, every move, could be validated by reaching the summit of the sport.

“It’s definitely been a long journey,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of family with me. The nights have been rough, obviously, they didn’t think maybe I could do this, do that or stick with it. But it’s definitely been a long journey and I’m thankful for it.”

Duke’s dominance begets a Final Four frenzy ahead of showdown with Houston

Khaman Maluach hoists East Regional trophy to send Duke and its precocious young roster back to Final Four. (Photo by Yahoo Sports)

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

SAN ANTONIO — When Jon Scheyer sat down at the podium for the first press conference of his first Final Four week as the head coach, the first question that he faced had nothing to do with basketball.

“What is your favorite Cooper Flagg commercial?” A reporter asked the third-year Duke boss.

It’s easy to forget that Flagg is just 18 years old, as he’s one of the most poised and talented players we’ve seen in the college game in years, but also his ubiquity in the media has surpassed any collegiate player since Zion Williamson.

For what it’s worth, Scheyer said that his favorite commercial is the “Bingo” one. That’s the correct answer.

Flagg and the Duke freshmen have never played on the Final Four stage, but they grew up in a media environment that watched their every move on and off the floor, and they aren’t shaken by anything.

No team that starts three freshmen should be as well-oiled of a machine as the Blue Devils are. Last year’s UConn team started three underclassmen, but one was a third-year sophomore (Alex Karaban) and also had two fifth-year seniors (Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer), and a coach in Dan Hurley who had already won a national championship as a head coach. Duke is more dominant (according to KenPom) with a third-year head coach and a roster driven by its youth.

“I think that’s the thing you try to do always, try to set a new standard for what you can do,” Scheyer said. “Now, we've had some pretty special classes, some freshman classes. I think this group, the way they’ve been so mature with really just being up for any challenge, the way they compete, the way they understand the game. They’ve been mature.”

Of course, that all begins with the prodigious Mainer himself, whom you cannot go five minutes without seeing in the college basketball space. He’s the best player in the country, and tackles everything that comes with it with the class that one aspires for. At its heart, he’s just another kid from Maine.

“I mean, I think I’m a regular kid,” Flagg said. “I’m okay at basketball, I guess. Just doing normal things that any teenager, any kids like to do. Not acting a certain type of way, being humble, being who I am, how I was raised by my parents. So yeah, I think just being normal and knowing I’m no different than anybody else.”

On Friday, Flagg was honored with the USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year award, and it felt like just another day, as the Blue Devils are just two wins away from a national championship.

Duke hasn’t faced a team like Houston, and Houston hasn’t faced a team like Duke, but the Blue Devils’ incredible size, athleticism, and poise seems to be the perfect matchup to go against Houston’s blitzing ball screens.

Flagg will only play a maximum of two more games in a Duke uniform, but he’s left a massive mark on the legacy already, having added his name to the team’s list of National Players of the Year, ACC Players of the Year, and Regional Most Outstanding Players.

But there’s still one more weekend to cap off the storybook season.

Houston, now at full strength, is back in Final Four and doing it their way

Kelvin Sampson and Houston have gotten back to full health and been rewarded with Final Four run after injuries compromised Cougars in each of the past two seasons. (Photo by the Dallas Morning News)

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

SAN ANTONIO — It was supposed to be Houston’s year in 2023.

Marcus Sasser returned from injury to be one of the best point guards in the country. The Cougars brought in Jarace Walker, the best freshman the program had seen in many years. Tramon Mark was back, as was Jamal Shead, and the team was coming off a trip to the Elite 8.

The Final Four was in their home city, and it was the last ride for the legendary Jim Nantz, a Houston alumnus, as the voice of the NCAA Tournament.

But it wasn’t to be.

Houston got banged up by the end of the season. Aside from the Ramon Walker injury in December, Sasser wasn’t 100 percent, and the Cougars, as the No. 2 overall seed, bowed out in the Sweet 16 against a scorching hot shooting performance from Miami.

Believe it or not, that was the healthiest of Houston’s last three March runs before this season. But now, it’s been full go from day one, and the Cougars are back in the Final Four, ready to face Duke on Saturday night just a few hours from home and from where fate wouldn’t be their friend two years back.

In last year’s Sweet 16, facing the same Duke team, Shead—the All-American point guard who head coach Kelvin Sampson consistently called the player who impacts winning more than anybody else in the sport—went down hurt. The energy and life were sucked out of the Cougars, and they fell in a 54-51 slugfest.

But he wasn’t the only one that went down.

“Everybody talked about the Jamal Shead injury,” Sampson said. “But the injury that hurt us more than any other was JoJo Tugler not playing.”

A freshman last season, Tugler was extremely valuable on both ends, and as a healthy sophomore, has become one of the best defenders in the sport. He has only scored in double figures twice since January, but Houston cannot be Houston without him. He has the seventh highest block-rate in the country at 12.5, along with holding opponents to just 50.8 percent at the rim when he’s on the floor, five percent lower than without him.

His go-go-gadget arms help him play significantly taller than his 6-foot-8 frame, and have launched him onto NBA Draft boards. But for now, he’s just the consumate Houston player.

Another classic Cougar who didn’t get to play in last year’s Sweet 16, Terrance Arceneaux, has played a key part in this tournament run. He suffered a season-ending injury in December of 2023, and when he returned this season, he picked up right where he left off, helping Houston win.

Helping Houston win is what these players have been groomed to do. It’s what they were recruited for, it’s all they know. Playing that unique system of basketball, emphasizing ball screen blitzes and offensive rebounding to make the other team uncomfortable, the Cougars have been the most consistent program in the sport over the last five years.

But it’s also the charm of the Cougar program retaining and developing their guys.

“When J’Wan Roberts came to us, he was 17,” Sampson said. “Jamal Shead was 17. Ja’Vier Francis was 17. JoJo Tugler was 17. All our guys come in as freshmen and they stay.”

And their guys have stuck with them, pushing through to the Final Four. The Elite 8 win was exactly what Houston does, grinding it out and picking up a 69-50 win over Tennessee. It’s going to be much harder to do that against Duke, a team that will beat you at whatever game you want to play.

But if there’s any team that can dictate the game against the Blue Devils, it’s the Cougars.

Auburn is No. 1 overall seed, but still somewhat under radar in Final Four

Bruce Pearl is bullish on his Auburn team even if Tigers are not commanding attention most overall No. 1 seeds do at Final Four. (Photo by Luca Flores/The Auburn Plainsman)

SAN ANTONIO — From a basketball history perspective, it would be easy to dismiss Auburn ahead of this weekend’s Final Four, seeing as how the Tigers are on this stage for just the second time in school history.

When comparing the SEC champions to their competition in San Antonio, it becomes even easier. Florida, who Auburn will face Saturday with a national championship game appearance on the line, has two titles in its trophy case. Houston lacks hardware, but is now in its seventh Final Four and has reached the final game twice. Then, there is Duke, the most accomplished of the remaining quartet, with five championships and chasing a sixth.

But for head coach Bruce Pearl, Auburn’s status as something of an afterthought is actually refreshing for a proven winner who simply hopes to sustain the first real taste of hardwood success on The Plains.

“What I’ve tried to do all year long is demonstrate that this is uncharted waters for Auburn men’s basketball,” Pearl said Thursday. “We had some great moments in our history, great coaches—Sonny Smith and Cliff Ellis—great players in Charles Barkley and Chuck Person, (but) no real sustained, great success. Here we are at the Final Four.”

“We come in as the overall No. 1, but we’re probably considered the fourth-best team here right now. There’s nothing new. I prefer the underdog role rather than having to prove we’re as good as we say we are, so we’re going to take that underdog role into the Final Four and see if we can capitalize on it.”

Auburn was knocked for hiring Pearl amid a show-cause penalty that still existed when he took the job in 2014, stemming from the infamous barbecue he hosted in 2008, in which Aaron Craft—then a high school junior before signing with Ohio State—attended despite NCAA rules prohibiting him from doing so. Now over a decade later, with Auburn basketball seemingly having overtaken football as the marquee sport on campus, the decision has paid off handsomely. Still, Pearl is appreciative of the chance to reach a national semifinal, and also eager to prove that the Tigers are far from lightly regarded.

“You don’t know that you’re ever going to get there once in your career, so you feel incredibly blessed and grateful to have a second opportunity,” he reflected. “To be able to come out of (the SEC) as a regular season champion was quite an accomplishment.”

“The question then was, is there anymore step up in your game? Because that’s what you have to do in March. I thought that through the Creighton, Michigan and Michigan State games, we demonstrated that we had more in the tank.”

Auburn will look to avenge a home loss to Florida suffered in February, when Walter Clayton, Jr. led the Gators to a statement victory at Neville Arena. Pearl considers his conference brethren the team to beat by virtue of its current form, but refuses to count his own squad out.

“I think Florida’s playing the best basketball of anybody in the country,” he said. “Is that a slap in the face to Duke or to Houston, or to my Auburn team? No, it’s not, but that’s how I’ve felt. Does that mean we can’t beat them? Of course not.”

“There’s a level of desperation knowing tomorrow could be our last game every single time for this group. They don’t want this to end.”

Despite Florida’s early-season criticism, Gators arrive in San Antonio validated as Final Four nears

Florida celebrates West Regional championship before arriving at Final Four, validating Todd Golden’s belief that Gators once again belong on biggest stage in basketball. (Photo by the Gainesville Sun)

SAN ANTONIO — The beginning of the journey for Todd Golden started three years ago, when the then-San Francisco head coach was tapped by Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin to replace Mike White as the leader of a Gator program searching for a way back to the national elite after winning back-to-back national championships with Billy Donovan in the mid-2000s.

The turning point in the process came on January 4, when an undefeated Florida team went into Rupp Arena against a Top 10 Kentucky outfit. Although the Gators fell six points short that night in Lexington, the end result exceeded the margin on the scoreboard.

“I honestly was as excited as you can be after that game, after a loss,” Golden recalled Thursday. “In a way, it gave us confidence moving forward. Three days later, we beat Tennessee at home, No. 1 in the country, by 30. I think that week with those two contests explained to us, and built a lot of belief within our program, that we belonged at the top of the SEC.”

Florida’s road back has been paved to build to the moment that meets the Gators on Saturday, when they face an Auburn team it defeated on the Tigers’ own home floor in February. From a 16-17 first season that ended in the NIT, to a shootout loss against Colorado in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year, to the present day, the analytics behind Golden’s personnel decisions may command attention, but the groundwork started with the men he and his staff brought to the Sunshine State.

“The process of building this roster started three years ago, when we got down to Gainesville,” he said. “I point to Will Richard as being the starting point for us. He was the first young man that committed to our program when we got the job. I can’t say enough about what Will has done for us as a program since he’s been here.”

“After the first year, we were very active in the transfer portal. We were fortunate enough to get Walter Clayton, Zyon Pullin, Tyrese Samuel, Micah Handlogten, and had some unknown freshmen at the time that we got that I don’t think a lot of people outside our building appreciated. I point to Tommy (Haugh) and (Alex Condon) specifically, and Denzel (Aberdeen) kind of growing up.”

This season, Richard and Walter Clayton, Jr. have led the way in the backcourt, but there was still something missing to turn Florida back into a national power. Golden saw an opportunity to get stronger, found the necessary pieces, and constructed a new masterpiece headlined by Alijah Martin, who reached a Final Four two years ago at Florida Atlantic.

“We felt like we needed additional layers of toughness, physicality and experience to bridge that gap for this nucleus we had returning,” Golden admitted. “The addition of Alijah, Rueben (Chinyelu) and Sam (Alexis) just really finished this team. It goes back to the players. They’ve been incredibly unselfish, allowed us to coach them, they’re very consistent. Three years in the works, I’m really happy with the success we’ve had.”

Since a 64-44 loss to Tennessee on February 1, Florida has won 16 of 17 games going into the Final Four. After each of their four losses, the Gators have responded with a double-digit victory each time, albeit in the confines of their own home each time. This atmosphere is different, but Golden was unfazed by the challenge and remains confident in his players’ ability to carry their momentum into a crowd of approximately 70,000.

“You look at the way we’ve played all year, we’ve been a very consistent team,” he said. “We’ve always been able to bounce back from losses the right way, make sure we get back to who we are and playing well. Our guys are not going to be satisfied going home Saturday night. It will be a great season regardless, but if we lose on Saturday, we’ll have a bad taste in our mouths. I point to the collective unity of this group as the main reason why we deserve to (be here), and we’ll do what we need on Saturday night to stay here.”

UConn lands point guard as Silas Demary transfers to Huskies from Georgia

Silas Demary, Jr. announced transfer to UConn Thursday. Former Georgia point guard has two remaining years of eligibility as he joins Huskies. (Photo by Georgia Athletics)

Dan Hurley has found his point guard of the immediate future.

With Hassan Diarra graduating next month, the Huskies needed a floor general to replace the sixth-year senior in Storrs next season and join the returning Solo Ball to anchor the backcourt.

Enter Silas Demary, Jr.

Demary, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, entered the portal in March shortly after his Georgia team ended its season with a loss to Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament. The native of Wake Forest, North Carolina averaged 11.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game over two years with the Bulldogs, and will have two years of eligibility remaining as he joins a program gunning for a third national championship in four seasons after UConn’s three-peat bid was thwarted by Florida.

“I just want to be the next great point guard,” Demary said in a Zoom call Thursday. “Obviously, guys that won back-to-back, great guards like Tristen Newton, Stephon Castle…you look back even further, Shabazz Napier, Kemba Walker. I want to be one of those names. I want to be part of a program that’s been about winning.”

Demary has drawn comparisons to Newton in particular, the most outstanding player of last year’s Final Four who led the UConn offense to back-to-back national titles. He did not bristle at the similarity when addressing the media, in fact, he embraced it.

“It’s a fair comparison,” he said. “That was the mold (the coaching staff) showed me.

“Silas is the type of big guard we love at UConn, and we can’t wait to get him in the mix,” Hurley said in a release. “He can score from all three levels, playmake, and use his length to guard multiple positions. Silas comes from a great family and will fit our championship culture to a tee.”

Demary is the fifth member of the Huskies’ incoming class, and the first transfer, joining freshmen Darius Adams, Jacob Furphy, Braylon Mullins and Eric Reibe. He was prioritized almost instantly in the portal, however, with assistant coach Kimani Young making it known that Demary was a part of UConn’s plan.

“Man, there goes my point guard,” Demary said of Young’s initial encounter. “Hearing him say that gave me a lot of confidence in myself, and it just made me feel secure with who I was and secure with him knowing he’s going to be there for me. He’s going to be that guy.”

Kevin Willard quote book: Villanova introduction

On his first four days as Villanova head coach:

“The last couple days have been great. I mean, the Villanova community has been so welcoming and tremendous. It’s just been a little bit overwhelming with how much support and how much excitement we’ve been getting, but the last couple days have been great. I went to see our women’s team play in Indianapolis, which was phenomenal going to support them, sat down with the team Monday night, got to meet those guys—all six returners, a great group of kids—got to watch the game yesterday out in Vegas, met with a bunch of donors, took a redeye back here, walked in on campus, did some HR stuff and a lot of portal stuff, and now I’m talking to you guys.”

On his message to the Villanova community:

“I think the simple message is I’m going to embrace the Villanova community and embrace the Villanova way. This is a special culture that Coach Wright really built, I think that (president) Father (Peter) Donohue has built on this campus. I’m excited to join that community and join that culture, and then from a basketball standpoint, we’re going to keep building on what got us there. That’s the biggest thing, we’re just gonna keep building. I’m excited to be back in the Big East, be back in a great basketball conference. I’m excited to get everyone engaged again. I think that’s been the message, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”

On Villanova being a better job than Maryland:

“I don’t look at it that way. I look at it as two great programs, two great jobs. For me, Villanova was a great fit for me and my family. I’ve known ’Nova—for three years, I played in the Big East, the 12 years I coached in the Big East, I’m very good friends with Jay, I’m very good friends with a lot of alumni—so they’re both great programs. I was blessed to be at Maryland. It’s a great spot, I loved it, but for me, Villanova is just a great fit for me and my family.”

On his comments during the NCAA Tournament:

“Everything I said during the press conference was because at Maryland, I was very passionate about my job. Very simply, I was trying to get the best for my players and the best for the program. I’m going to do the same thing here at Villanova. My comments were just about having an opportunity to get…to try to make Maryland the best program we could make it. I’m always going to try to make our programs better. I’m very passionate about my job, passionate about my players, it’s as simple as it was. I’m always going to fight for my program, I’m always going to fight for my players, and that’s as simple as it was.”

On NIL and revenue distribution factoring into his decision to leave Maryland:

“I can’t comment on anyone else moving. I can say I moved because this is a great fit, it’s a great culture, it’s an unbelievable university, and it’s a phenomenal basketball program.”

On speaking to Jay Wright before taking the job:

“I talked to Jay Saturday night, I guess five days ago, Saturday night after I met with Father Donohue and (athletic director) Eric (Roedl), and yes, I just asked him. I said, ‘Jay, would you be okay if I did take this job?’ And Jay was great, he was like, ‘I’m 100 percent behind you,’ he said, ‘I think you’d be great there.’ He sold me on Villanova, and I would not have even thought of taking this job if I had not talked to Jay and he had not sold Villanova the way he did.”

On winning championships at Villanova:

“Yeah, absolutely. I think this is a place that has proven—not only during Jay’s time, but you think about 1985 and the Big East, you think of what UConn’s done, obviously what Jay’s done. I think the Big East has always been a basketball-centric league, so coming back into this league and seeing what they’ve done over the last eight, nine years in college basketball, this is a place that—definitely—we can get back to winning championships.”

On his memory of Villanova’s success and what he wants to emulate from it:

“I think two big things: I think the guys they were able to recruit—you look at all the pros that Jay was able to bring in here and develop—I think that’s something that every coach during that time, especially in the Big East, really kind of respected what Jay was doing from a recruiting standpoint, but most importantly from a player development standpoint. I think that’s something that we’re really going to focus on now that the portal has kind of changed. We want to focus on high school kids and develop them, making them a priority again. And at the same time, I think everyone really realized systems work, and Jay had a really, really good system. He’d space you out, jump stop and pivoting, all that stuff. So I think learning from what Jay had done, seeing what he had done here, we’re going to try to do the same thing.”

On whether or not it was strange to wear Villanova gear for the first time:

“Yes. I’m not gonna lie. I’m still very close with a large group of Seton Hall supporters, and I had to get their blessing too, because this is a—we’ve had so many great battles. I talked to Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson already, and those guys, we start talking automatically about how great those battles were, how much we respected each other. So as much as I love wearing this right now, the first time I put it on was a little bit of a shock.”

On putting his own stamp on the Villanova culture:

“Absolutely. No one’s ever going to be Jay, and what I mean by—Jay and Villanova created a culture with their players, the brotherhood, that I think any coach in the country has to embrace and has to understand how powerful it is. I’m not going to fight the culture, it’s probably the best basketball culture in the country. My job now is to, in that new world of NIL, transfer portal, is to put what I’ve learned into how we play offensively and defensively, and kind of adapt to the new style of college basketball. So as much as I’m going to embrace the culture and the Villanova way, I have to now get Villanova to adapt now to a new era of college basketball, and that’s really where my stamp has to come into this program.”

On a prospective staff:

“I’m not going to talk about staff right now, or players, just because our team plays tomorrow night. They’re trying to win a championship. I think Mike (Nardi) was phenomenal last night, I know all those guys, I respect all those guys, I think everyone needs to respect what they’re doing right now. They’re still playing. We watched the game last night, we’re gonna watch it Thursday and support them, and right now, that’s all I’m focused on right now.”

On the right balance between high school players and transfers:

“That’s really the magical question. I do think that the COVID years getting out, the sixth-year guys getting flushed out of the system, so to say, I think the portal’s going to shrink dramatically in the next couple of years, so I think it’s really important to develop young men. That’s our job as college coaches, I enjoy that aspect of coaching more than anything, so we’re still going to recruit high school kids and we’re going to develop high school kids because I think they can help you—year to year—develop your culture, keep your culture. It’s very hard to just bring transfers in every year and keep a culture that you want to work, so I think there has to be a balance. And I had one of the best freshmen I’ve ever coached this year in Derik Queen, and he helped our culture. He came in and he was great. I also had Julian Reese, that stayed with me for three years, and he taught our culture to the younger guys, so I think there has to be a fine balance of it. I don’t think it’s the same year in and year out, I think some years, you’re gonna recruit some freshmen, you might have a four-man freshman class, some years you might have two. It just depends on, in all honesty, who transfers and who stays.”

On which players might stay:

“I had a great conversation with them on Monday night, but I told them: I want you guys to concentrate. You’re still playing. It’s a great opportunity for all of them, again, to try to win a championship. You’ve got Mike out there, first time coaching, give him everything, and I said when we get back on Monday, we’ll have a team meeting and we’ll go from there. But I want them just to thoroughly enjoy playing, thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to try to win a championship.”

On working with general manager Baker Dunleavy:

“I’m looking forward to working with Baker. He has been really good so far with me. I didn’t have a GM at Maryland, so it’s kind of nice that he’s been back doing this for two years and understands the agent side, dealing with the money side, and I think we’re going to continue to evolve. I don’t think you can have one set way. I think every year, more and more agents are getting involved, the transfer portal changes, the timeline changes, so I think the one thing we’ll be is very flexible, and continue to evolve as the rules change and the House settlement kicks in. Things are going to change dramatically, maybe on April 7th, so you have to be able to adapt and evolve, and Baker’s been great because he’s been doing this for the last two years and he’s got a great basketball mind. He understands what my vision for this program is, so I’m looking forward to working with him.”

On defense being important to winning games:

“The easiest thing to do when you get a new team is to teach defense, and I think the way we go at it and really concentrate on it early in the season is really just to concentrate on the defensive side, just because once you set those boundaries and you get good defense in practice, you can have good offense going against good defense. So I’ve always been a little more on the defensive-centric side because we play so fast offensively, and I give a lot of freedom to my guys. The one thing I always feel that you can control as a player is your effort and your defense. That’s a non-negotiable with me. I know my players are going to give me great effort, I know they’re going to play good defense, because that’s the one thing—when they come here—that’s kind of the contract. You come play hard, you come work hard, you play defense, you get to do what you want to do offensively. So I think that’s one reason why my teams have always been good defensively, it’s just because my guys understand if they do what they’re supposed to do on the defensive end, a) they won’t come out and b) they have the freedom to play offense.”

On his coaching philosophy:

“I would say, to be honest with you, Mia, my coaching philosophy is constantly changing as the world of college basketball has changed. What I will say is I understand the Villanova way, I understand the Villanova culture and the attitude, and the former players, former coaches. And my coaching style will fit in with the fact that we’re going to play hard, we’re going to play in a way that respects the guys that came before us, the coaches that came before us. I feel like my style can fit really well here with what has been done in the past.”

On being back in the Big East and what fans can expect:

“It feels great. I think the Big East is obviously—if not the best—one of the best basketball conferences in the country. I played in the Big East way back in the day, I coached 12 years, the Big East tournament by far is probably the best five days of college basketball, it is an event in and of itself, so just to get back to the Big East tournament is really exciting. And my message to fans would be to get excited. We’re going to bring a great group of guys in here, they’re going to play hard, we’re going to play a fun style. I just want the fan base to—I know it’s been a tough couple of years, but like I said, Kyle and his staff have done a phenomenal job trying to navigate a very tough situation—I just want the fan base to get excited again. We’re going to play a fun style, we’re going to get after it, and we’re going to try to get this program back to where it belongs.”

On advantages from the House settlement:

“If you understand the House settlement and cap space, and all that stuff, I think the Big East is situated in a really unique situation where we’re probably never going to have to worry about the cap. I think football-centric schools or football conferences are going to—basketball schools are going to run into the fact that if you give $16 million to football, you only have a $3 million cap where in the Big East, you just don’t have that issue. So I think the Big East has really positioned itself to be in a really good position with the House settlement.”

On his empathy for how Maryland fans may feel about his departure:

“Obviously, I think some of my comments during the NCAA Tournament really could have been a little bit less abrasive, but unfortunately, sometimes my passion for my program and my passion for my players comes out and I get a little excited. The only thing I’m going to say is normal fans don’t understand what went on. I had such a great team, I was so focused on my team, so focused on my players. Man, those were two close games, hitting the buzzer-beater against Colorado State, being out west with my team for 12 days was such a great experience for me, we had so much fun out there. The timeline, no one knows it, no one understands it, I can’t change that, I’m not worried about that. All I’m going to say is that I know they just got a great coach in Buzz (Williams). I’m really happy for him and I’m super excited to be back in a great basketball conference here, and I just think it’s time that everyone moved on.”

On recruiting the Philadelphia area:

“I’ve recruited Philly for years, and I think Philly’s toughness—they know how to play the game, that’s what I love about Philly guys. I loved coaching Hakim (Hart), I’ve already talked to Donta (Scott), he’s super excited, so when he comes back, he can come hang out. Donta’s going to be a guy I rely on because he’s such a great kid. I love Philly players, I think their coaches run great AAU programs in this area, great high school programs in this area, so I’m just excited to be part of that Philly basketball scene.”

On being part of the Big 5:

“I’m super excited about that. I’ve always been really jealous about that, what a unique situation in college basketball that this area has and that all these teams get to play against each other and compete against each other. So for me, this is really cool to be joining that Big 5 and being part of that. I’m really excited about that.”