It all comes down to the Florida Gators and the Houston Cougars in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. After epic comeback wins in the Final Four, the two schools will meet for only the third time ever in San Antonio as March Madness culminates in the championship game.
Both programs earned their spot in the final matchup of the Big Dance, having posted double-digit winning streaks stretching back into the regular season and including respective conference tournament championships. With five NCAA tournament victories under their belts, the two No. 1 seeds will play for all the marbles on Monday night.
So how does Todd Golden’s team match up with Kelvin Sampson’s? One way to compare the two is by looking at the regular-season data, which provides a much more sufficient sample size than the tourney, to see where each excels. Below is a breakdown of the two teams with a national championship title on the line.
Where Florida excels
The Gators were among the best in the business this season when it came to putting points on the board, ranking third in the country with 85.3 points per game, trailing only the Alabama Crimson Tide (90.7) and Gonzaga Bulldogs (86.4). Florida was also voracious when it came to crashing the boards, also ranking third among all D1 schools with an average of 41.9 per. The Illinois Fighting Illini (42.6) and, once again Alabama (42.4), were the only schools with a better rate.
Golden’s gang is also a top-five team when it comes to point differential, having averaged plus-15.5 points per game — just a smidgen ahead of their upcoming opponent and behind the Duke Blue Devils (+20.4), UC San Diego Tritons (+17.5) and Gonzaga (+16.4).
Where Houston excels
The Cougars, on the other hand, represent the defensive end of the spectrum, leading all programs in scoring defense with 58.5 points a game allowed during regular season play. Their ability to limit their opponents on that end of the floor has allowed them to post the fifth-best margin of victory — just behind Florida — at plus-15.4 points.
Not that Houston is completely impotent on offense. Quite to the contrary, Sampson’s squad led the country in 3-point shooting percentage nailing their shots from beyond the arc at a 39.9% clip. However, they only ranked 175th overall in points scored per game with 73.9, so efficiency is the name of the game.
What’s at stake for Florida
The Gators have a chance to earn their first national title since the back-to-back seasons in the mid-aughts while restoring the Orange and Blue to its previous status as one of the top programs in the country. The work that Golden has done in just three years at Florida has been a spectacle to behold.
The even bigger picture is that a win for UF would cement the Southeastern Conference’s claim as the top league in men’s college basketball. It would also be a victory for the NCAA transfer portal and NIL, particularly the former, as Golden’s roster is jam-packed with student-athletes who started out elsewhere.
What’s at stake for Houston
This is the Cougars’ third shot at a national title after falling short twice in the mid-’80s during the Hakeem Olajuwon era while also reaching the Final Four back in 2021. Sampson is one of the best coaches in the sport without a national title to their credit, and a win would cement him as one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history.
It would also represent a major feather in the cap of the Big 12, which stood in the shadows of the SEC and Big Ten this season. A Houston victory would truly bring the madness back to the Big Dance and reward a head coach who is unquestionably deserving of a title.
Breaking down Florida vs Houston in Tournament Finals
The Gators frontcourt might be the best corps in the country when it comes to depth and the physicality of their front line goes a long way in wearing down the opponents — not to mention their ability to get second-chance shots and turn defensive rebounds into fast breaks. But the Cougars have beef up front as well, which was instrumental in their nation-leading scoring defense.
Sharpshooting from beyond the arc has been a liability for Florida defensively this year and Houston is very capable of making those attempts. As evidenced by the Elite Eight matchup against the Texas Tech Red Raiders — who came out blazing, making six of their first seven shots from downtown — draining those outside efforts can throw the Gators’ gameplan out of whack quickly.
At the end of the day, this game will be determined by what happens inside of 15 feet of the basket much more so than the perimeter. Whoever owns the paint takes home the trophy.
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