Five months of the 2025 college basketball season will meet its end in the next few days as all four No. 1 seeds in this year’s NCAA Tournament — Auburn, Florida, Duke and Houston — will meet up in San Antonio to finish off March Madness with a star-studded Final Four.
It’s the first time since 2008 all four top seeds are left standing in the final weekend of the tournament in a near-guarantee that goodness awaits us in the final three games of the 2024-25 season.
On the left side of the bracket, No. 1 overall seed Auburn faces SEC foe Florida with a potential first-ever trip to the title game on tap. Auburn is a narrow underdog in the game vs. the Gators after falling to them 90-81 in their lone regular-season matchup.
On the right side of the bracket, Duke, the favorite to win the championship, is also favored to advance in its Final Four matchup vs. Houston. Duke has CBS Sports Player of the Year Cooper Flagg leading the best show in college hoops, but the Cougars and their experienced, physical team stand in the way aiming to bust into the season finale.
Houston, like Florida on the other side, is no slouch and has saved its best ball for last. The Cougars have won 30 of their last 31 entering the weekend, while the Gators are 15-1 in their last 16 outings.
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Gary Parrish
My original bracket included Auburn and Houston in the title game — with Auburn winning it all. I’m going to stick with that, if you don’t mind, in part because moving off of Bruce Pearl’s Tigers only to watch them win the national title would be frustrating. So, yeah, I’m riding with the No. 1 overall seed even though this is the first time in the history of the NCAA Tournament that the No. 1 overall seed has been considered the least-likely of the four schools at the Final Four to actually win the national championship.
That’s a testament to the strength of Duke, Houston and Florida — each of which is now ranked ahead of Auburn at KenPom.com. But the Tigers were the best team in the country for stretches of this season, and I’m going to trust them to finish it with two more victories.
Matt Norlander
I took Houston on Selection Sunday. Why stop now? There’s no denying how great Duke is. But Duke has been beaten three times this season, and what’s more, two of those three losses came to teams in the top 20 of adjusted defensive efficiency.
This season, Duke is 1-2 in games vs. top-20 defense. Houston? The Cougars are 8-2 against top-20 defenses. And Duke hasn’t faced a defense anything like Houston’s. The same thing goes the other way, but Houston almost always dictates the conversation.