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00:00The final four in the 2025 Men's NCAA Tournament is now set.
00:05How do we arrive at the four teams still in the chase for
00:08a national championship in San Antonio on Saturday evening?
00:13That's what we describe here in this opening hour to recap all of our reactions
00:18from an elite eight weekend in men's college hoops.
00:21In Jovernary, it should be no surprise the four teams still dancing into San Antonio,
00:26the four number one seeds.
00:28And for the first time since 2008, second time ever in the history of
00:33the big dance, we see all four one seeds in the final four.
00:38It does not happen in a tournament often defined by its chaos,
00:42known for its madness.
00:44But this year, maybe we should have expected it.
00:47With all four teams on the one line, having a Ken Palm net rating of plus 35 or
00:53better, four of the best teams in college basketball we have seen in
00:58the last two and a half decades, so of course, all four get to San Antonio.
01:03Let's start with the number one overall seed, the Auburn Tigers in the South region.
01:08In South region, a final yesterday evening in Atlanta,
01:11Georgia against the two seed in Michigan State.
01:14Could Tom Izzo and the Spartans play, spoiler, Auburn,
01:17who had struggled down the stretch of the regular season into the SEC tournament,
01:21dropping three of their final four, entering the big dance.
01:25Would this be their undoing?
01:27Not quite, the Tigers win by six, 70 to 64.
01:31Auburn covers as a five and a half point favorite to claim the South regional crown
01:36in Atlanta, a total of 147 and a half, does stay well under as well.
01:43And Joe, we said it, that final score with Auburn still covering but
01:46only by the hook, not truly indicative of how dominant the Tigers were,
01:50really from about the 15 minute mark in the opening half until about the three
01:55minute mark in the second half when finally Jayden Aikens and
01:58MSU got going offensively.
02:01But it was mostly an all Auburn game in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday evening.
02:06It was all Tigers all day and
02:09we kind of knew that this was going to be the biggest test for Michigan State.
02:14That a team that, let's be honest here, Ben, could not shoot the three.
02:19What you had done a really good job of playing very bad in the first half,
02:24but managing to be able to limit the opponents in the second half to give
02:29themselves a chance to come back and win some games.
02:31But that was simply because other teams couldn't make shots in the second half,
02:36but that was not the case.
02:37I think Auburn won that game in the first half.
02:40I think at that point what you saw there, it was a different beast for
02:45Michigan State.
02:46They were not at any point to me coming back in that game in the second half.
02:50Yeah, Joe, and that was really the story of this game.
02:53Auburn had gotten off to some slow starts in the opening half and
02:57early in the second half, as was on full display in this week 16 Friday night
03:01against Michigan, trailing by nine points with about 12 and a half minutes remaining
03:05before they rallied to hammer the Wolverines, winning that game by double digits.
03:10At the 1550 mark in the opening half, a Cohen car dunk for
03:14MSU put Sparty in front eight to six.
03:18That was the last time Michigan State led in the game.
03:21Auburn responded with a 17 zip run and never looked back.
03:25The Tigers led by nine at the break, led by double digits for
03:29a good majority of the second half.
03:31Michigan State kept it close and respectable, but
03:34never really got into a single possession, Joe, at least what that deficit was
03:39throughout the final 20 minutes of regulation.
03:42The undoing for Michigan State was a slow offensive day
03:46where your veteran guards really struggled.
03:49Jaden Aikens really until the end of the game still ended at six of 17 from the floor.
03:54Jace Richardson, the freshman, very talented, but four of 13.
03:58You had Trey Holloman off the bench, 0 for 10, including 0 of 5 from deep.
04:03The Spartans as a team, shooting worse than 35%, 34.4.
04:08But one of the stories of the game, Joe, Jani Broome,
04:12the SEC Player of the Year in contention for the Wooden Award as well.
04:1625 points, 14 boards, had a double-double at the half,
04:21was injured though early in the second.
04:23A weird elbow injury where he, as he was walking off with the help of training
04:28staff for Auburn, looked at Bruce Pearl, looked at his players and said, I'm done.
04:33But he still did make his way back to help Auburn ice out a victory and
04:37winning that game again by six, 70-64.
04:41A good performance out of Jani Broome,
04:43even with that scary moment midway through the second half.
04:47Well, that's what leaders do.
04:48I mean, when he decided to come back for his 12th year in college basketball, Ben,
04:53I think it was inevitable that we'd probably get a moment like this,
04:57where we watch a 30-year-old roll out with a broken arm there and win a game for him.
05:02But honestly, I didn't have that on my bingo card.
05:04I thought they had more than enough without him, even to go ahead and
05:09beat what Michigan State was putting out on the court, which was just not enough
05:13shooting, Ben.
05:13I mean, it just, you get to be a lead eight with that kind of team with
05:18Michigan State and Izzo, but are you really gonna get beyond that?
05:22Are you gonna win anything when you can't hit threes when it matters the most?
05:26Just not a great shooting team for Izzo this year.
05:29That was the bottom line.
05:31Yeah, it certainly was.
05:32And listen, for Michigan State to get back to this point after a few down years
05:37in East Lansing, I think it reinforces the legend that is Tom Izzo.
05:41Even appearing in the Elite Eight for the 11th time, the most for
05:45any head coach in the last 30 seasons in college hoops,
05:48when Izzo took the mantle, of course, in East Lansing.
05:51He got the 360 career Big Ten wins this year,
05:55the most Big Ten victories in the conference of any head coach ever.
05:59Just came up short for MSU based on a poor offensive performance.
06:04But Joe, for Auburn to get to the Final Four, maybe expected through a good
06:08majority of this college basketball campaign, and
06:11certainly is the number one overall seed.
06:13But the way the Tigers were performing entering the Big Dance,
06:16losing three of their Final Four, there were questions.
06:19And Auburn did not necessarily look crisp in their first three games of
06:23the tournament until yesterday, playing with that fire and
06:27passion once again in pulling off a performance.
06:30The Tigers, 32 and five.
06:33They were a slight favorite to get to the Final Four to win the South region
06:37when the tournament got underway.
06:39You see the numbers, though, before this year got started.
06:4120 to 1 to win a national championship.
06:44Auburn into a Final Four for just the second ever time in program history,
06:48both under the guidance of Bruce Pearl.
06:52Listen, they were the number one team in this country, Ben.
06:55It feels like for three quarters of this season,
06:57despite what you saw down the stretch, they exhaled a little bit there.
07:02But when it matters the most, number one teams tend to show up and
07:06they have shown up.
07:08Still a 5 to 1 price on the Tigers,
07:10the longest of the four to win a national championship in San Antonio.
07:15We'll take an early look at those matchups on Saturday night a little bit
07:18later on.
07:19We continue our recaps next.
07:22Our Elite 8 Sunday recap continues live right here on a Monday morning
07:27on the early line on Sports Grid.
07:29He is Joe, I am Ben.
07:31So the Auburn Tigers, the number one overall seed victorious in
07:35Atlanta, Georgia, in the South Regional Final.
07:38That was the final game of Sunday.
07:40It got started in the afternoon hours, a little bit before 2.30 PM Eastern time.
07:45Midwest Regional Final in Indianapolis, a matchup of the top two teams
07:50in that portion of the bracket that play a very similar style of basketball.
07:56Elite defensively grind you out, Houston and Tennessee.
08:01And for a second time, Joe,
08:03in the last five seasons, Kelvin Sampson and his Cougs continue their dance
08:08all the way to a Final Four.
08:11Houston took an early lead, four zip over the Vols, and never looked back.
08:16From tip to close, all Houston yesterday in Indy, inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
08:22A stifling defensive effort against the Volunteers as Houston wins by 19,
08:2869 to 50, easily covering as a two and a half point favorite.
08:32And again, indications of what this game would be just in the pregame over under.
08:38Closing at 126 and a half, it stays well under because of that Cougars defense.
08:44Listen, Ben, it got steamed, that total yesterday.
08:48Cuz it was down as low as 122 and a half, 123.
08:52And all of a sudden, the over money, people going, absolutely not.
08:56We're gonna get a ton of points.
08:58And then Tennessee shows up and drops a total of 15 points in the first half.
09:03Yep, that's Houston.
09:05Not to mention the amount of Tennessee money that was also steamed late yesterday.
09:09Ben, dropping Houston down to what, two and a half in that game?
09:13There were a lot of folks that thought, because then this is where recency bias
09:18in this tournament comes into play, Ben, which is so dangerous.
09:21Everybody watched Tennessee bulldoze Kentucky and saw, of course,
09:26Houston barely get by Purdue, who was playing in their backyard, by the way.
09:31Yeah, what a difference a couple of days makes in the NCAA tournament, Ben.
09:37Not the greatest draw for a team on the one line to be in the Midwest regional
09:41semifinal and have to play a road game against Purdue in Indianapolis.
09:46But they handle that courtesy of one of the most beautiful inbounds plays
09:50you will ever see, Milo's Yuzan delivering the winner for Houston on Friday night.
09:55It was everybody for the Cougs on a Sunday afternoon.
09:58Emmanuel Sharp, huge at the end, 16 points in a couple of clutch made threes.
10:03He started one of seven, buried his final three to ice out Tennessee late in that
10:09second half when the Vols did cut it to an 11 point deficit.
10:12And LJ Cryer, the veteran who had 30 points against Gonzaga in the round of 32-17
10:18yesterday to lead Houston.
10:20And Joe, to your point, the volunteers were atrocious yesterday offensively.
10:26They finally get to 50, but they shot 29% from the floor,
10:30five of 29 from beyond the arc.
10:34And a lot of those made threes in the second half.
10:37They only had one in the opening half.
10:39They only had 15 points in the first 20 minutes against the Cougs,
10:44the most efficient defense in college basketball all year long.
10:49Joe, those 15 points scored by the volunteers in the opening half,
10:53the fewest amount of points by a one or two seed in any half in the history
10:59of the NCAA tournament on the most significant of stages in NLEA.
11:05That's a difficult pill to swallow if you are the volunteers as Tennessee as
11:09a program still hunting down that first ever appearance in a final four.
11:15But Ben, from our perspective though,
11:17it's kind of hilarious that it's a Rick Barnes coach team that ends up scoring.
11:2215 points.
11:24I'll say it.
11:25I know you're thinking it, so I'll say it, Ben Stevens.
11:28Say it.
11:28Yes.
11:29Shocker to nobody that a Rick Barnes coach team ends up being that ridiculously
11:35bad in the biggest moment on the biggest stage in the biggest game of the season.
11:41And they missed their first 14 shots from three point range.
11:45And they weren't even trying to get it into paint.
11:48They knew they couldn't score into paint against Houston.
11:50Crazy.
11:50Second?
11:51Yeah, second consecutive trip Joe for Tennessee to an elite eight under Rick
11:56Barnes still looking for that first ever final four appearance Rick Barnes.
12:00This was his 29th time leading a team to the NCAA tournament.
12:05Only one final four birth to show for
12:07it way back in 2003 guiding the Texas Longhorns.
12:11Meanwhile, for Kelvin Sampson, Rick Barnes is good friend.
12:14They grew up in North Carolina.
12:16They played collegiate basketball against one another.
12:19Kelvin Sampson has led Houston to a second final four bid in the last five years.
12:24So if the Cougs had to go to Indianapolis to play a road game in this week 16,
12:30at least they head back to their home state in the heart of Texas to San Antonio.
12:35For a final four run a little bit more on Houston and
12:39their opponent in the final four and two up next.
12:42The final four in San Antonio for the 2025 men's NCAA tournament is now set.
12:48And just for the second time ever in the history of the big dance,
12:52it is all four of the one seeds that make up the final four.
12:57Yesterday's elite eight action Midwest regional final in Indianapolis,
13:01Houston dominant from the very start, all the way through 40 minutes to the very end.
13:06They blow out Tennessee winning by 1969 to 50.
13:10Joe, we said it right before the break.
13:11The coaching relationship between Houston's Kelvin Sampson and
13:15Tennessee's Rick Barnes was a storyline entering yesterday.
13:19They are great, great friends.
13:20They both grew up in the state of North Carolina.
13:23They played collegiate basketball against one another.
13:25They coached against each other in the Red River rivalry back in the days of
13:29the big 12 between Oklahoma and Texas when Sampson was in Norman,
13:34in Barnes, of course, in Austin.
13:36So facing off yesterday, a huge storyline.
13:39The two winning as active D1 men's basketball head coaches without
13:45a national championship trophy to show for it on their shelf.
13:49Rick Barnes entered yesterday with 836 career wins, only one final four berth.
13:55Kelvin Sampson entered yesterday with career win 797,
14:00make that 798 still in the hunt for that national championship.
14:04And what he has done in H-Town, and in his 11 years there as the head coach,
14:10reinvigorating a proud Houston program that under Guy Lewis in the days of
14:15five slamma jamma, and you had Hakeem, and you had Clyde,
14:19you had some of the greatest basketball we had seen in the mid 80s.
14:23Houston brought, or Kelvin Sampson brought Houston back to a final four.
14:26For the first time since 1984 in 2021, they will now reach the final four for
14:32a second time in a five year span.
14:35Here in 2025, heading back to their home state, heading to San Antonio in a final
14:39four.
14:41Yeah, I mean, and that you're right, that program there, Ben,
14:44has gone through some heartbreak, right?
14:45Most final four appearances without a national title,
14:48that's seven now Houston has been to.
14:50But there is something very, very different about this Houston team
14:56than what we have gotten in recent past here with Coach Sampson.
15:02And that is, we've always known they're capable of limiting you to 15 points and
15:06a half, Ben, and ending the game in the first half.
15:08They do that better than anybody, absolutely anybody.
15:12But it's there, what most people haven't figured out or
15:16didn't know was that Houston's the best three point shooting team in the country.
15:20They have shooters this year, Ben, that they've never had in the past.
15:24When you're converting almost, what, 38, 39, nearly 40% of your threes on a season,
15:31we don't know that from Houston, but that's what this Houston team is,
15:35which makes them extremely dangerous and
15:38extremely undervalued right now, thanks to the Duke Blue Devils.
15:43And Joe, because of it, Houston is a much better team than they have been in
15:47this six year consecutive run, which is now the longest active national streak
15:52of reaching the Sweet 16, that is what Houston has done.
15:56And in the last six years, they have three elite eight bursts to show for it, and
16:01now two spots in a final four.
16:03But in the five years prior to this one,
16:06they did not rank inside the top 100 nationally in three point percentage.
16:11They're efficient offensively because of how slow they play.
16:14That's been the story the last couple of years,
16:16top 20 in offensive efficiency each of the last five seasons.
16:20But this year, Joe, entering yesterday at 39.8% from three,
16:25best three point shooting team by percentage in the country.
16:29But they were playing inside a football stadium this past weekend.
16:32Maybe that will help them with the sight lines inside the Alamo Dome,
16:36another big arena in San Antonio.
16:39They didn't shoot the three all that well.
16:41Emmanuel Sharp at the end, great.
16:43LJ Cryer found his footing a little bit yesterday as well.
16:47Houston is a very dangerous team who will be an underdog against Duke.
16:52The Cougs, though, entered this year tied for the fourth best price to win
16:55the national championship at 12 to run alongside conference mate and
17:00preseason number one in Kansas.
17:03The Cougs will be there.
17:05What a dominant, dominant stretch for Houston in the Big 12 and
17:09beyond that, led by Kelvin Sampson.
17:11But Joe, the team we expected to be in San Antonio,
17:14the team we expected to be a national championship front runner all season long
17:20and even before the big dance, that is the Duke Blue Devils.
17:23And that is who Houston will see on Saturday night.
17:26Duke absolutely dismantling Alabama in the East regional final
17:31on Saturday evening in Newark, New Jersey.
17:33The Blue Devils blowing Alabama, winning by 20, 85-65.
17:38Duke covers as a six and a half point pregame favorite.
17:41A pregame total of 174 and a half stays well under because of brilliant
17:47defense by Duke and a very off shooting night for Alabama.
17:51That may be used up all of their three point prowess, setting that record of 25
17:56made triples on Thursday night in the Sweet 16 against BYU.
18:01Yeah, and by the way, just as a side note, keep in mind, this Houston team,
18:06majority of this team was also there a year ago when Duke knocked them out
18:10in the Sweet 16 because they didn't have Jamal Sheed healthy and they lost 54 to 51.
18:17That's gonna be an interesting motivating factor coming into it here.
18:20But Duke is not the same team from a year ago either.
18:23This is a much different team, much more stacked, much more offensively efficient.
18:31This is a machine.
18:32That's basically what Duke is.
18:34They're long, they're athletic.
18:37The IQ, Ben, just watching them play against Alabama, it's just unbelievable
18:44the basketball IQ that we're witnessing here.
18:47And even though Cooper Flagg, we all agree, is the number one pick in the NBA draft,
18:52right, if he wants to go.
18:54Even though he didn't have the best shooting night, the way he was able to affect
18:58the game, doing everything else from assists, to defense, to blocking,
19:02to getting other guys involved, this is a very, very scary team.
19:07This looks and feels a lot like some of those Christian Leitner Hurley teams
19:13all the way back then for Duke.
19:15Purely dominant and just a cut above everyone else is what they look like.
19:20Yeah, certainly so, Joe.
19:21Alabama set an NCAA tournament record on Thursday against BYU with 25 made threes.
19:28They were 25 of 51, 8 of 32, 25% against Duke.
19:34And that was a cold night for sure.
19:36But Duke was making nothing easy for the Crimson Tide.
19:40Not for Mark Sears, not for Chris Youngblood, not for Aiden Holloway off the bench.
19:45It was that brilliant Duke defense on display.
19:48Second lowest scoring output for the Tide this year, just 65 points for
19:54a team that led the nation with more than 91 points per game entering this weekend
19:59in college basketball, and a very balanced effort for Duke on the other side.
20:03Cooper Flagg, 16 points, 9 boards, 3 dimes, but
20:07it was his fellow freshman, Con Canipple, 21 points to lead the Blue Devils on Saturday night.
20:13Again, when we look at this Duke team, third year of the John Shire era in Durham.
20:19Of course, taking over for his former coach, and
20:22one of the greats to ever do it, in Mike Krzyzewski.
20:25But this is the first time under Shire, Duke will be in a Final Four.
20:29Expected, but realized.
20:31Because Joe, when you set goals, and when you have the odds to be the national
20:35championship favorite before the year gets started at plus 950,
20:40will you maximize that opportunity the Blue Devils have?
20:44And the Blue Devils will enter San Antonio at a very short plus 105 price to win
20:49a national crown.
20:51Yeah, and I'd like to say it's ridiculously overvalued, but they're not.
20:56They should be the favorite, given what we have seen from this team,
21:01the health of this team, the competition that they've had to go through.
21:06It doesn't matter that they play in the ACC anymore, does it, Ben?
21:09Even though it was the worst ACC season on record, it doesn't matter.
21:13They're beating everybody in their path, and
21:15they're doing it systematically, which is even more impressive.
21:19It really, really is what this Duke team has.
21:22They have the five outstanding freshmen, led by Cooper Flagg, Con Canippal, and
21:26Khamon Malawatch in that starting five.
21:28But they've got the veteran experience to blend with Tyrese Proctor,
21:31with the transfer from Tulane and Sion James.
21:34The transfer from Purdue in Mason Gillis,
21:36who will play in his second consecutive Final Four.
21:39And probably some more help on the way this weekend in Texas,
21:43with the return of front court depth in Malik Brown.
21:47We think that he should be available to go for the Final Four.
21:51Duke opens as a four and a half point favorite against Houston.
21:55Just the second game this year for the Cougs booked as an underdog.
22:00Plenty more on the early line, up next.
22:02Continuing to recap Elite Eight weekend and the 2025 Men's NCAA Tournament.
22:08How all four spots in the Final Four were acclaimed, featuring for
22:12just the second time ever in the history of the big dance.
22:16All four won seeds in the Final Four.
22:19So we showed you Auburn in the South Regional Final yesterday.
22:23They were the one seed, number one overall seed in this NCAA Tournament field.
22:28Houston, the one seed in the Midwest region.
22:31A victory in dominant fashion over Tennessee in Indianapolis.
22:34Then back to Saturday, Duke dominant against Alabama.
22:38The one seed in the East Region.
22:41And how about that one seed out West, taking on the only three seed in the Elite Eight.
22:46That being Texas Tech.
22:48And for a while, Joe, it did seem as though the Gators might be the first one seed
22:52to be plucked off, to be sent home.
22:55They were down by ten points, with just about five and a half minutes remaining.
23:01Down by nine, with fewer than three minutes left in regulation.
23:05But there goes Walter Clayton Jr. in the clutch once again.
23:09Florida ends the game on an 18 to 4 run against the Red Raiders to win 84-79.
23:15Now Texas Tech does cover as a six and a half, seven and a half point underdog.
23:20A total of 157 and a hook does find its way over.
23:26But Florida emerges victorious.
23:28Back into the Final Four for the first time since 2017.
23:33A big victory for, excuse me, 2014.
23:36A big victory for Florida, led by Walter Clayton Jr.
23:40The clutch 30-point performance.
23:41And Thomas Houck, 20 points off the bench as well for the Gators.
23:46Depth, always one of those things that I've been saying, Ben.
23:50That is an absolute plus for this Florida team.
23:54That they can have guys coming off the bench who can drop double digits.
23:58We saw a couple of games ago, Walter Clayton not be anywhere to be found.
24:02Didn't matter.
24:03The Bigs ended up winning the game along with the bench.
24:06They've got a lot of different ways and
24:08a lot of different guys that can beat you on this Florida team.
24:12And don't forget, as good as Walter Clayton was in this game, and
24:15big players make big plays in the big spots, right?
24:17We see it every tournament, right?
24:20We saw it with UConn over the last couple of years.
24:23We're seeing it with Walter Clayton right now with Florida.
24:26But I think there is something to be said about a team, Ben,
24:30that has been pushed and has their back up against the wall in these spots.
24:36And knows how to win games when it matters the most.
24:38I don't know of the other three teams.
24:41Have we seen any of them be pushed like Florida's pushed and
24:44have to dig deep in order to be able to come back and win?
24:47There's something to be said here with two games remaining.
24:51How are the other teams fair if they're down in that same situation there, Ben?
24:56That's a big question.
24:57I don't think we have a question anymore with what Florida will do.
25:01I think there's a big question with what the other three remaining teams would do.
25:05And Joe, Florida was the best cover team of all the one seeds.
25:09In fact, if any of the top teams on the one or
25:12two line entering the big dance, 26 and eight against the spread.
25:16A magical run to win the SEC tournament title.
25:19They had won 12 of their last 13 games entering the NCAA tournament covering and
25:25all 12 victories.
25:26In fact, they've only covered once so far in their four wins in the big dance.
25:30That dismantling of Maryland in the second half in the sweet 16 did not cover
25:36as a 29 and a half point favorite against Norfolk State in the opener.
25:40Still won that game by 26 were tested by UConn.
25:44They needed Walter Clayton Jr down the stretch and
25:47that one against the two time reigning champs in the round of 32.
25:50Again, they did hammer Maryland but only were up by two at the break against
25:54the Terps and of course rallying from down by ten points
25:57with less than five and a half minutes remaining.
26:00And it was Walter Clayton Jr and Thomas Howe combining to make four triples
26:04in the last five and a half minutes to provide that comeback spark for the Gators.
26:09Joe, for Texas Tech, a valiant effort.
26:12And of course, they completed the improbable comeback against Arkansas
26:16down by as many as 16 points in the second half, down by 13 with four and
26:21a half minutes remaining in the sweet 16 against the Razorbacks
26:25on Thursday night out in San Francisco.
26:28And it was Darian Williams, the hero on Thursday.
26:3223 points to lead Texas Tech on Saturday night, but
26:35a big miss three that would have tied the game with about a minute and
26:39a half remaining.
26:40A great run for Texas Tech and some very helter skelter performances
26:45down the stretch in their final two games of the big dance.
26:48They do go out with a cover as a six and a half, seven and a half point underdog.
26:52But Florida gets the victory and heads to a final four.
26:57And Joe, of all the one seats, from where they stood in the preseason,
27:01to where things are right now,
27:03the Gators were the least expected of all four to get to this point.
27:08Tied for the 20th best price at a 60 to 1 number to win a national championship
27:13before this year got underway.
27:16Tied for the 20th shortest number at 15 to 1 to reach the final four.
27:20And here the Gators are for
27:22the first time since the end of the Billy Donovan era.
27:25He last led Florida to a national semifinal in 2014.
27:29Todd Golden in his three years in Gainesville now has the Gators
27:33embarking to a final four here in 2024-25.
27:38Yeah, I mean, listen, they weren't exactly looked at very highly
27:44early on in the season and even preseason.
27:46But what we watched was a team,
27:48it felt like, playing in the toughest conference in the country.
27:52Boy, not only did they start to look really good, but you had mentioned it,
27:56they were the best cover team.
27:58And they were, I mean, they were covering games left and right.
28:02They were an ATM machine all year long.
28:05And it felt like here comes the coming out party from a bunch of guys,
28:09by the way, that transferred in from, oh, I don't know, places like Iona, Belmont.
28:15These were all guys that did not play with one another a whole heck of a lot.
28:20And all of a sudden they showed up and Golden puts it together.
28:23And now they're in the final four.
28:25And keep in mind, by the way, they only come back in that game against Tech.
28:29Making the shots is one thing, Ben, but you gotta get stops.
28:33Defensively, nobody talks about how good this Florida team is when it matters
28:37the most.
28:38Absolutely so, Joe, and they got stops.
28:40And they have some of that veteran experience led by Elijah Martin,
28:44who was a part of the FAU magical final four run just a few years ago.
28:50So it's an all SEC final four matchup in our opening game of the night next
28:55Saturday in San Antonio.
28:58And Florida is the favorite against the number one overall seed in Auburn.
29:02The Gators a two and a half point favorite.
29:05These two conference mates only met once this year.
29:09It was on the road for the Gators on the planes in Auburn in four to one
29:14outright as a ten and a half point dog, 90 to 81.