The 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was nothing short of electric; a month of buzzer-beaters, upsets, and standout performances topped off with the Florida Gators cutting down the nets. With a 65–63 victory over the Houston Cougars, Florida claimed its third national title. Here are the highlights, some upsets, key players, and stats that prove that March Madness is truly “madness”.
Early Upsets
While this year’s bracket saw fewer deep Cinderella runs, the early rounds still featured several surprising upsets. No. 12 Colorado State shocked No. 5 Memphis with a 78–70 victory, thanks to 11 three-pointers to Memphis’ 6 throughout the game. Another thrilling upset was No. 12 McNeese edged out No. 5 Clemson in a thrilling 69–67 game. Coming into the tournament, McNeese wasn’t on many radars despite finishing 30–3 and winning the Southland Conference. But under the leadership of head coach Will Wade and hype surrounding their Team Manager Amir Khan, they were able to force 14 turnovers on a potential Final Four favorite, Clemson. Clemson was down big in the first half, but rallied back in the second, but ultimately fell short of their potential run deep in the tournament. One of the last upsets in this year’s tournament was when No. 10 Arkansas beat No. 2 St. John’s 75–66 in the round of 32. St. John’s, led by veteran coach Rick Pitino, was stifled by Arkansas’s relentless defense that limited St. John’s to only shooting 5/23 from beyond the arc. This win for Arkansas put them into the Sweet 16 for the third time in four years, adding to their impressive resume.
Final Four
This year’s Final Four was loaded with elite talent and familiar names. All four No. 1 seeds, Florida, Houston, Duke, and Auburn, advanced to the semifinals, and this was the first time that’s happened since 2008. In the semifinals, Houston, down by as much as 14 in the game against Duke, put together a thrilling comeback with 33 seconds left, down by 6 to beat Duke 70–67. The NCAA player of the year, Cooper Flagg, dropped 27 points in his potential final college game, but it wasn’t enough to beat this Houston squad led by L.J. Cryer, who scored 26. Houston’s defense and late-game spark of energy were the reasons they were able to make this incredible comeback that will be remembered for years to come.
Florida punched its ticket to the championship by beating Auburn 79-73, led by Walter Clayton Jr. The Gators’ path to the title game included many comeback wins from behind, which was the story of their season. The gators in the Elite 8 vs Texas Tech and in their Final Four game found themselves down by 10+ points, but they still were able to engineer amazing comebacks to make it to the NCAA championship game.
The Championship Comeback
Led by second-year head coach Todd Golden, the Florida Gators proved that they aren’t scared of playing from behind. In the national title game, they overcame a 12-point second-half deficit and only led for 64 SECONDS the entire game, but that didn’t stop them from finally pulling it out at the end. Walter Clayton Jr., who was scoreless in the first half, became the hero in the second, scoring 11 clutch points, 4 of which came off the old-fashioned three-point baskets, which brought the energy back to Florida. Although he may have seemed silent most of the game, his energy late was the reason Florida had the chance to win.
Overall, the 2025 March Madness tournament was nothing short of entertaining, and even though we didn’t see as many upsets this year as years past or a perfect bracket yet, we got to see some of the best teams in the country battle it out on college basketball’s biggest stage.
