After the 66 March Madness Game, the men’s national championship game will be set after a stunning finale to Saturday’s Final 4 at San Antonio.
The Houston Cougars began their second half comeback to disrupt the Duke Blue Devils and score a shot in the national title. Kelvin Sampson’s team will play the Florida Gators who cleaned up the No. 1 seed Auburn Tigers in the middle of the night, clearing up the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seeded Auburn Tigers.
Read analysis from reporters on the Alamodome site. Additionally, read on how to play in real time from both games.
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Finals: Houston defeated Duke 70-67
How Houston Won: Saturday’s final four matchups between Duke and Houston seemed like another stop in the Blue Devils’ march to the National Championship. The inevitable seemed closer than ever after a free throw from Tyrese Proctor lifted Duke 14 points and left 8:17 in the second half. However, Houston remained true to its culture (defense, toughness, offensive rebound) in order to turn the game and Stun Duke upside down. The Cougars ran 9-0 in the final 35 seconds, leading with two J’wan Roberts free throws with 19 seconds remaining, and icing the game in 3.7 seconds with two LJ Cryer free throws. Flaggg was short on the turnaround jumpers owned up to the next end, and Proctor’s despair 3 pointer at the buzzer was long. Cryer led with 26 and 6 points three-pointers, but Flagg’s final college game was with 27 points, seven assists and four assists in the lost effort. The Cougars reached the title game twice in 1983 and 1984, but have yet to win a national title. – Jeff Bolzero
No. 1 factor that helped Houston reach the title game: Houston’s physicality wore a young Duke team.
Kelvin Sampson actually runs the drill, where he throws the ball onto the court, and a pair of players wrestling to grab it. That physical approach made the Cougars the best defensive team in America. Throughout Saturday’s game, it was clear that Duke had a size advantage in his roster with a fleet of players under 6-foot-5, but in the final minutes the overstaying and personal approach to defense Sampson adopted during his tenure with the Cougars were wearing the Blue Devils. To play in the game at 8:17, Duke took a 59-45 lead. Duke then fell apart, scoring just eight points in the remaining games, and Houston recovered. J’wan Roberts and LJ Cryer both hit the Big Free Throws stretches, so Joseph Tugler also had a key dunk late. Overall, Houston refused to break. And the same defensive power that led the Cougars to the Final Four helped to pull off the upset against the Blue Devils team, which had been preferred to win a national title for months. The first defensive team in the United States played like the number one defensive team on Saturday night. – Myron Medcalf
Final: Florida beat Auburn 79-73
How Florida Won: Every time things start to fall apart, Florida becomes a star – it’s at that moment when AP First Team All-American Walter Clayton Jr. appears. It happened again as Clayton ruined Auburn’s dream (again) on himself and took it into himself to send the Tigers home when he scored a game high 34 points. The late three-point plays – a free throw after a bucket and a foul – sealed the victory of the determined Florida team. Down nine points early in the second half, the Gators turned their eyes to the hero, and as the hero led Florida out of another hall, he extended his postseason exhibit as he led Florida out of another hall to help the program move on to the national title game on Monday night. – Myron Medcalf
Issue 1 that helped them to reach the title game: Walter Clayton Jr.
That’s always Walter Clayton Jr., right? According to an ESPN survey, the senior guard became the first player since Larry Bird in 1979 to produce a consecutive 30-point game in the Elite Eight and the national semi-finals. He finished with 34 points and five three-pointers, and Auburn was completely powerless about how to protect him. Florida appeared to be stagnant offensively with him on the bench in the first half, but came back to life when he went after the break. Auburn had no answer to his stunning shot-making abilities. Bruce Pal switched his big wings to Clayton, but that didn’t matter. Running out of the 3-point line, the fight shot still found a way. It was an incredible performance. – Jeff Bolzero
