← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
March Madness 2025 National Championship Recap- FLORIDA HAS EPIC COMEBACK TO BEAT HOUSTON, WIN TITLE
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- [00:01]
Gary Parrish
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- [00:50]
Cal Boone
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- [02:10]
Gary Parrish
Hey there, it's Gary Parrish. Welcome back to the CBS Sports Eye on College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss Campbell Fighting Dodo birds. Leaky Black Cal Boone is here with me. Matt Norlander might join us eventually. It's a mystery. We'll see if you're watching on YouTube. You know what to do to the like button shouts to Brandon Davies and if you haven't yet, subscribe to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel, please also do that while you're here. Let's get into it. Final score, Florida 65, Houston 63. The Gators are national champions. They accomplished this on Monday despite getting zero points in the first half from their star, Walter Clayton. They accomplished this despite trailing by 12 points with 15:26 remaining. They accomplished this by suffocating Houston late with a defense that held the Cougars to zero field goals in the final 2:28 of the game. Florida's offense gets most of the attention, certainly throughout this NCAA Tournament, but Florida's defense won this national championship game. Cal, Boone, thanks for staying up with me. Can you give me your thoughts on Florida's victory over Houston and the Gators becoming national champs for the third time in school history?
- [03:19]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. Good evening, G.P. glad to see you. And what a championship this was for Florida. The third largest comeback in NCAA tournament championship game history for the Gators. They were down by 12 points in the second half versus Houston. Come back and win this game. And I thought it was a fitting finish, right, for Florida. The way that they advanced in this tournament consistently was by, you know, putting themselves, painting themselves into corners consistently late in games and finding ways to win. There you go back to the second round. They beat UConn after trailing by six with under nine minutes to play. They beat Texas Tech in the elite eight after trailing by 10 with under 530 to play. They were down nine points to number one overall seed Auburn with eight, 1830 to play in the second half and then down by 12 with under 1630 to play in the second half versus Houston. They won all of those games is a worthy national championship for the Gators. And the way they did that, closing that out against a Houston team that, you know, I honestly thought if any team could, could build a big lead and sustain it, it would be this Houston team. They just kind of crumbled late. And I think that you have to credit Florida's defense, the way that they closed this game, that it was, it was a stunning finish. Florida wins at 65, 63.
- [04:48]
Gary Parrish
It was so weird in the sense that Florida flipped the game on Houston more or less the same way Houston flipped the game on Duke just two nights earlier. Because there were points in both of these games and honestly points in all at this Final Four, which is why this was the 22nd Final Four for me to attend in person. And this might have been the best in terms of quality of games. You get three every Final Four. How Good can the three be collectively? I don't know that I've been to one where the three games were this good, this compelling, this dramatic, this awesome. I know this one. The national championship game wasn't the prettiest. Again, final score, 65, 63. Nobody could hit a shot to open the game. It wasn't the prettiest, but it was obviously compelling. And I'm with you, and I said this earlier in the day. There was no scenario where somebody could win this national championship and we'd be like, yeah, I don't know about them. They just. There were four great teams here, four elite teams here. And by the time we got to Monday night, as I said on the pregame show on CBS Sports Network, it doesn't matter who wins it, they will go down as one of the greatest, statistically greatest college basketball teams, college basketball national champions in modern history. And Florida is that. And I would have said that no matter how they did it, but doing it this way was just super impressive. They obviously weren't dead, but I can just tell you the truth. The way we at CBS Sports Network, like, consume this game, we have to be on set, like immediately after the game. So we do not go inside the Alamo Dome. We watch it in a green room inside the Convention center. And then we go out to our other green room closer to our set. We're all together. We're all watching it together for the most part. And there was a moment, just like there was a moment Saturday night where we said, all right, we're done here. Looks like we're done here. Because if, when you're down 12 points to Houston, that's like being down 20 points to somebody else because of how great they are defensively and how slow they want to play and how slow they're going to typically make you play. So it felt like that 12 point deficit was down 20. So you're down what feels like 20 and Walter Clayton Jr. Is giving you nothing. It felt like we might be done here. And then they just. Same way Houston did with Duke the other night. Hung around, hung around, hung around. And then it gets close and now it's in striking distance and now Houston can't. I was going to say score, but forget that. Maybe that's setting the bar too high. Can't get a shot. Can't get a shot. Final four possessions for the Houston Cougars. Turnover, turnover, turnover, turnover. And I don't know if I, I don't know if, if, if you've heard this anywhere else yet, but I went and looked it up. In the first 38 minutes and 39 seconds of that basketball game, Houston only turned it over five times. 38 minutes and 39 seconds, five turnovers. That's it. In the final 121. Four more. They nearly matched their turnovers for the first 38 minutes in the final one 21. It's not all Houston being lost on offense or confused or offense or out of sorts on offense. A lot of it was Florida's defense. The closeout at the end where Sharp couldn't even get the shut off. Just excellent, excellent stuff. But I did think it was interesting that the way we will remember Florida's run will be Walter Clayton and points and offense. The way Florida becomes a national champion for the third time and for the first time under Todd golden, who's now a national champion at the age of 39. Youngest person to do that since Jim Valvano. The way all of that happened on this Monday night, that was defense.
- [08:51]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, Yeah, I know. I think that. I think that's a great point. The irony of Florida winning with defense for a team that was, you know, one of the most fun and explosive offenses in college basketball this season. A very ironic way and a fitting way for Florida to go out. And Sampson after the game, Kelvin Sampson, Houston's head coach, you know, basically, you know, talked a little bit about the, the final four possessions, four turnovers, four final possessions, and they. The final 81 seconds, and said, like, look, it was. It's incomprehensible was the word he used that Houston could not get a shot off, specifically in the last two possessions. And the, the way that game ended with Emmanuel Sharp going up for, you know, a potential game winning three, and Clayton just closed out and, and suffocated him. He had no room to get a shot off. And he knew he throws a shot off, it's. It's getting blocked, likely. So he throws the ball down and he knows he has the wherewithal to know that, you know, if he goes and gets the ball, it's, It's a, It's a travel. The game is over. You know, it's a mad dash to get the ball and the game ends that way. It's just. I mean, it's, it's truly stunning. And, you know, just to, to kind of highlight, as you mentioned, just the, the unlikelihood of Houston blowing this lead with 15:48 remaining in the second half. Houston led 42, 30 going into a timeout. ESPN's win probability had Houston with a 93.9 chance to win this game. So a fitting way for the Final Four to end because we had several comebacks on Saturday. Florida digs out of a 12 point second half deficit and wins this one in, in a, in a true, true, stunning, thrilling fashion.
- [10:36]
Gary Parrish
Yeah, like, if you're one of those people who really likes to preach, never give up, the game's never over. Well, this was the Final Four for you because all three winners trailed in the second half of, of all three games that were played here in the Alamo dome. Walter Clayton Jr. Was named the most outstanding player of the Final Four. No surprise there. He was terrific, broadly speaking. But Buddy, he had a rough one in this one. I mean, zero points in the first half, didn't score at all until he made two free throws with 14:57 left in the game. There was an 18 minute stretch within the game, like 18 basketball minutes where he got one shot off in 18 basketball minutes. And so on set tonight, like Brent Stover, our host at one point said, like, if I would have told you Houston would lose this game despite something, what would you have thought? I said, Stove, there's like a million of those. There's like a million of those. If you would have told Me Walter Clayton Jr. Scores zero points in the first half, I would have said Houston's your national champion. If you would have told me that Houston would be up 12 points with roughly 15 to play, I would have said Houston's your national champion. Had you told me before the game, GP Houston's going to take 16 more field goal attempts than Florida in the game. I said, Houston's your national champion. But all of that is a credit to Florida. Obviously they can win games being great offensively. I bet you Ty golden loves that they won this game this way. You know what people said? You can't get in a Houston game with Houston. You get in a Houston game with Houston, you're going to have problems. You get into a Houston game with Houston, that ain't the way to win a national championship. I don't think they wanted to get into a Houston game with Houston, but they got into one. And then down the stretch, at least it's not just the last two minutes, but certainly in the last two plus minutes, they out Houston, Houston in a Houston type basketball game. And those are a bunch of combo words that I didn't expect to put together, but I think you get the point.
- [12:53]
Matt Norlander
Yes, absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. It makes no sense, but it makes a ton of sense. Absolutely. Just the way that Florida was Able to keep hanging in this game. Just two days after, by the way, Houston was dead to rights versus Duke. They end up scoring nine. They go on a 9, 0 run in the final 33 seconds of the second half of that game, end up beating Duke and truly one of the most stunning comebacks ever. And you know, duke was at one point up 14, I believe it was 12 points, could have been 14 points in the second half of the game. Duke, Duke looked like, you know, they were, they were advancing now in this game, Houston's up big. Florida just continues to fight. They had some really good defensive sequences down the stretch. And you know, I think it was even, even funnier that Clayton not only 0 points in the first half on 04 shooting. Florida had a huge run in the second half when Clayton finally went to the bench. And, you know, I think that was a credit to, and probably some evidence to how Houston's game plan was defensively. You know, they were blitzing ball screens. They were taking the ball out of Clayton's hands and saying, hey, look, you're, you're, if you're going to win this game, Florida, you have to have someone else step up. And Will Richard was big in this game. I thought Alex Condon had some, some good moments and some terrible moments kind of mixed in, but you know, they just got just enough and they were able to match Houston's physicality to, to get over the edge and just to hang tight till the very end with some huge defensive stops and an interesting battle down to the end that, you know, it was a funny stat here that I'll throw at from the CBS Sports research team. Florida's largest lead in this game, GPS, just two points. This is the first title game decided by two or fewer points since Butler Duke in 2010. Florida's largest lead was two points. And according to Jared Burson, who, you.
- [14:58]
Gary Parrish
Know, of course he invented. He invented research.
- [15:01]
Matt Norlander
That's right. Second team ever to win a title without ever holding a two possession lead. First team to do that, loyola Chicago in 1963. Just incredible. Incredible.
- [15:15]
Gary Parrish
Absolutely incredible. And you mentioned Will Richard. Like in a, in a game where nobody could make a shot. He was the dude that started making shots. He ended up four of seven from three. Florida only made six threes in the whole game and he had four of them. And if you're wondering how they were able to win despite shooting that poorly, in part because Houston was just as bad, 6 of 25 from 3. The Cougars end up shooting just 24% from beyond the arc. And that's especially troubling if you, Kelvin Sampson, because this is not who you are. Your basketball team was known for its defense, but the offense was still top 10 in adjusted offensive efficiency according to Ken Palm. And this was a team that is quite literally one of the best three point shooting teams in America. The best. Not anymore.
- [16:13]
Matt Norlander
Not anymore. Now it's number three.
- [16:14]
Gary Parrish
Yes, number one coming into the game. Number one. Now it's down to 39.4% on the season. And I guess since the season's over, it's just going to stay there forever. But yes, they were the best in the country. They're still top three after horrific performance, but they really did like, they picked like the. And I don't, I hate it when people say that. So let me put that back in my mouth. And I hate it when people say that because that's going to get clipped and be bad. What I'm trying to say is they didn't pick the bad night to have a bad shooting night. They didn't pick it. Florida made them do that, but it was the worst possible time to throw up a 6 or 25 from 3, particularly when you have spent this entire season being one of the greatest, if not, if not the greatest, three point shooting teams in the country, at least according to percentage.
- [17:04]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, yeah. And you know, even the way in which this game ended up finishing, right, like Houston all season has done such a good job crashing the offensive glass. They're really, really good at generating second chance points. And you know, they, they really. That was not the difference in this game where I thought it would be. Houston had 10 second chance points in this game. Florida actually had 11. And Houston had 15 offensive rebounds to Florida's eight. But, you know, Houston just had so many missed opportunities. And even after the game, Kelvin Sampson kind of alluded to this. He was asked a question about, you know, like, this was the lowest number of assists in the game since I believe 2020. And he said like, look, he kind of like went on a Torian Prince rant where he's like, hey, look, here's how assists work. Like, we had a lot of shots, we had a lot of opportunities down in the paint to score off passes that would have normally been makes for us, but we just, we did not convert at the level that we needed to. And you know, it's, it's, it was, it was a bad night to have a bad night. To your point, like, they had several chances in this game where, you know, if they make a bucket here, if they miss A layup and, and, and you know, convert at the rim here. Like this could be a totally different game. But that is, that is not how it went. You have to credit Florida for the way that they pushed Houston in this game.
- [18:32]
Gary Parrish
I thought Kelvin was really good post game, like really good.
- [18:35]
Matt Norlander
He's been good all week.
- [18:36]
Gary Parrish
Yeah. And like he first off, he just is good. He's just an interesting man to talk to. I enjoy every conversation I've ever had with him. And just for him to frame it properly in his own head because I think it's so easy. Certainly this is what fans do. I've seen other coaches do it as well. It's so easy to just, you either win or you lose and there's no nuance in it. You either passed or you failed and there's nothing in the middle. And rather than just say we lost a national championship that was within our grasp and we let it slip away or either they took it from us, one of the two, probably a little bit of both. But rather than just to focus on that, he was able to, and I think this is the right way to look at it, just sort of point out that over a, There was a 40 minute basketball game, you know, it was. Florida took 53 shots, Houston took 69 shots. There was a lot of stuff in this game that happened and they made one more play than we did. They finished with two more points than we had. I mean it was. And I said this pre game, I was talking to I guess Wally Zerbiak just before tip off and he was really excited, like, man, I can't wait. We were pumped to watch this game because we had two like elite college basketball teams. And sometimes you go into a high stakes game like this, it could be a national championship game in basketball. It could be a game seven of the World Series or NBA Finals. It could be a Super Bowl, I guess it could be anything. And you have two teams that are both within one win of a championship, but one is clearly better than the other. And so you start talking about how could this other team beat this other team? And it's like, well, they're going to need to this and that and probably try to slow down something. But you have to come up with like little ways to figure this out. And sort of where I was at before this game is Houston doesn't need to get lucky or play out of its mind or any of that stuff to beat Florida. It could just show up and beat Florida. Similarly, Florida doesn't have to get lucky or shoot well or whatever to beat Houston. Like they're good enough to just beat Houston. I didn't think anybody needed to play their A game to beat the other team. Like these were two basically evenly matched teams. I know Florida opened as a one and a half point favorite and might have closed there, I don't know. But the last place I saw the number was it was a pick them at some point about an hour before tip off. It was, it was at a pick. I think I then saw it move to maybe Florida back to one. But this was always going to be a coin flip situation that could theoretically come down to one shot or one stop. And that is quite literally what it came down to with 10 seconds left in the game. It was a two point game and the team down two had the ball with a chance to win. By definition, in that moment, it can go either way and it went Florida's way because Florida made the big play at the end. But I like the way that Kelvin was able to sort of make sense of that. It's we didn't play our best game. Oh, I'm going to be sick about this. It stings. But in a 40 minute basketball game where a million things happen, it really just came down to one thing here or there. You can pick the one thing here or there, make it the last thing that happened or the first thing that happened, but it really just came down to one thing. In a competition where a bunch of things happen. I like the way that, that, that makes sense to me in my head. Before we move on and talk about the coaches in a little more detail, I do want to take a quick break real quick. We got to make sure everybody can get paid around here. So let's get a word from our partners and we'll be right back at.
- [22:24]
Cal Boone
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- [23:01]
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- [23:43]
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- [25:06]
Gary Parrish
So we talk about Kelvin Sampson, and even though I think he was able to properly frame it afterward, I also know that he's going to wake up tomorrow and be sick. And this was one Steve Lapis is on set with this former college coach. Terrific career, and, man, you ever get to talking to him and he could tell you, there's these games, man, and they just stick with you forever. You carry them around forever. And you wonder how your life would be different if it went another direction. Like, would it have allowed you to keep a job a year longer than you kept. It would have allowed you to get another job that you never actually got. Obviously, Kelvin, like, he's not in that conversation. Kelvin Sampson will be the coach at Houston until he doesn't want to be the coach at Houston. But he was a shot away or a stop away from a national championship. And there was that clip from the locker room, I guess, on Saturday night. And I know he was sort of saying it tongue in cheek, but there's some truth in there, too. He said, I love you guys. I love you a lot more. We can win a national championship, but I do love you guys. And he said it again tonight, like, this was. He loves his team. This team will stay with him forever. And he is going to be in the Naismith Memorial hall of Fame someday, regardless of what happened tonight and regardless of if he were to retire tonight, which nobody expects to happen. I'm not even trying to put that out there. I'm just saying his career could end at any point, and he's a Naismith Memorial hall of Famer in my mind. And if your mind's different, we could argue about it and I wouldn't ever move over to your side. This is a Hall of Fame basketball coach agreement. But the truth is, there's a difference between being a Hall of Fame basketball coach who went to three Final Fours and never won a title, and a college basketball coach was in a Hall of Fame with a national championship, particularly at a national championship at a program that when he took it over, it was as in bad a shape as any historically prominent program could be in. Like, how different is Scott Drew's career if he never gets the championship at Baylor? Like, if he's just done amazing things at Baylor, Final Four, all that stuff, but not the title. It's different. We talk about it different for the rest of Scott Drew's life. Every time he is introduced to speak somewhere, it will be national championship coach Scott Drew. And deep down somewhere, Kelvin knows it was right there. It was right there. And honestly, I. I had this thought, with two minutes to go, it's tie game, two minutes to go. And I looked at Adam Zucker. We were all sitting together and. And I said, because they were showing ISOs, you know, solo shots, Todd and a solo shot of Kelvin. And I was like, there's two minutes to go. If we could start this game from this moment, and let's just say, hey, let's do best of seven from this moment, and we might get to a game seven. Maybe. Maybe Florida wins the first one, but then Houston comes back to win the second one, and then Houston was the third. It could have gone any direction. I often think about this with the North Carolina Gonzaga championship game, that when there's a couple minutes left, it can go either direction. And in that moment, somebody's life is about to change for the good in a dramatic way. And somebody's life is about to be a what if forever. And now both these men are going to have to live with that. Obviously, for Todd, it's going to be incredibly enjoyable. Kelvin is secure enough and all of that stuff where this isn't gonna, like, eat him up every day, but he'll think about this night for the rest of his life, and if there's anything he or anybody else could have done differently to. To create a different result.
- [28:58]
Matt Norlander
Yeah. And certainly, I think. I think that's a great point. I. And I also think it's. It's definitely not a black and white. Like, hey, he never won a championship, so.
- [29:07]
Gary Parrish
Right.
- [29:07]
Matt Norlander
You know, and I think Kelvin is, like, particularly good at talking about, you know, kind of the gray area where there's thin lines between narratives. Right. Like Cooper Flag and Duke, for example, one of the greatest college basketball teams ever. They go to the Final Four, they don't win a national championship, and people talk about Cooper Flag and, oh, is he clutch? Is he not clutch? Well, that statistics this season suggested he was one of the most clutch players in college basketball, but in the Final Four, he was not able to come up clutch. And so, like, you know, I. I think talking about the gray area of this is. It's tricky, right? Like Kelvin Sampson, one of the greatest college basketball coaches ever. He will be a Hall of Famer. And yet that is just a thing that is probably going to follow him. He's been to three Final Fours now. He's not made. He's not, you know, converted to win a national championship. And, you know, maybe he. Maybe he does do that, but this feels like maybe his. His best chance to have done it. I would say, though, Houston has a top five recruiting class.
- [30:14]
Gary Parrish
Yes.
- [30:14]
Matt Norlander
I mean, like, I have Houston, probably preseason number one. I don't know where you have them. It's just It's. It's a thing that could have changed Houston in some such a significant way. And on top of that, too, is that Kellen Sampson, his son, is the head coach in waiting. And what. What would that have done not only for Kelvin, but also for Kellen for the future of. Of building this program? Like, I think the program's in great shape. Obviously, there's no questions about that. But, yeah, certainly, like, just one or two plays changing potentially the entire career of. Of Kelvin, of Kellen. Like, it's. There's a lot of tension in the building in San Antonio as that game is ending, I'm sure. And part of that is just like history is. Is literally being written and changed right in front of your eyes. It's crazy.
- [31:04]
Gary Parrish
I understand that Kelvin Sampson is.03 now in. In winning national championships after getting to the Final Four.
- [31:14]
David Cobb
Right.
- [31:14]
Gary Parrish
I understand that. And then that is one way to frame it. The other way I would frame it, though, is like he got Houston to the Final Four twice. Yeah. Once when it was in the American Athletic Conference, and then they moved it out of the American Athletic Conference, and they started having better records against the Big 12 than they had against the American Athletic Conference. Like, I don't look at Kelvin Sampson and go, I don't. I wonder why this guy can't win a national title. I look at this guy and go, how in the world has he built this into this? This is insane that Houston basketball has become the most consistent program in the sport. Six straight sweet 16s. And yes, you're right. Like, whether it's one or two or wherever, they're going to be right up there again, really high to start next season. And if you told me right now Kelvin Sampson was back on the stage next year, there's absolutely nothing crazy about that. It's hard to do because it's a single elimination tournament with a bunch of great teams. Hard to do. But he'll have a team capable of doing. And the reason he'll have a team capable of doing it is because he's the one running the Houston basketball program. They'll be. They'll be good enough to get back in this position again. I'm not ready to say this is the. The last time Kelvin Sampson ever actually has a. A true shot to win a national title. But undeniably, when you're up 12 with about 15 to go in the national title game, that's probably about as good as it ever gets. And particularly, let's. Let's even get more specific, you're up 12, 15 minutes to go with the number one defense in America. Yeah, just like I said the other night with John Shire, you're up. I guess that one was 14 with about eight to play. You've got the best player in the country and the team that's favored to win the national championship. You should close that out and if you don't, you're going to feel sick about it. Similarly with Houston, you got a 12 point lead, about 15 to go and you've got the best defense in America and the other team star is not really doing anything. You got to close that out and if you don't, it's going to sting for, for a while and, and maybe forever.
- [33:29]
Cal Boone
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- [34:31]
Chip Patterson
Travismathieu.com when you're with Amex Business Platinum, you have the card that works just as hard as you do. You give 150% to your business and so does your card. With 1.5 times Membership Rewards points. On select purchases, you earn rewards that can take your business further. And with complimentary access to more than 1400 lounges globally, including the Centurion Lounge, you can stay up to speed no matter where your business takes you. That's the powerful backing of American Express Terms and points Cap applied. Learn more@american express.com Amex Business let's flip.
- [35:05]
Gary Parrish
It to Todd Golden, 39 years old. He's a national champion. Like I said earlier, youngest since Jim Valvano. We don't have to get into It. Because this ain't the night to do it. But I bet you this has been a complicated year for him. Just how could it not have been? He faced a Title 9 investigation and it found no evidence of wrongdoing. Let's always point that out. But just ask anybody who covers the sport. When you hear a SEC coach is facing a Title 9 investigation, you can, you know, it's not good. Like, would you have bet a paycheck that you were certain Ty Gold would still be the coach of Florida by the end of the season? I mean, we were in a moment where everything was on the table. You saw him talking to Tracy after the game, and he said, I'm just so fortunate to coach these guys. And I know what he meant, but, like, quite literally on some level, fortunate to be in this position given where he was, you know, in the year 2024 and yet to end it cutting nets in San Antonio, particularly when you didn't have a preseason top five team, top ten team. You know, Duke was supposed to be great, Houston was supposed to be great, Florida was supposed to be good. And we'll see. And I give him all the credit in the world. He has gotten into the transfer portal, and I think probably recognized the value of the transfer portal over high school recruiting earlier than most or at least earlier than many. He emphasized it, he recruited from it, he prioritized it. And in what is. Again, I don't want to speak for anybody, but I'm just imagining has been a really, really tough year for him and his family. I assume he ends the college basketball season as, as the champion, holding a net, holding a trophy. And just like Houston, yeah, they got some backcourt issues to solve at the transfer portal, but is there any doubt they're going to solve them? I mean, you think Todd Golden's going to be hurting for nil coming off a national championship at the age of 39?
- [37:23]
Matt Norlander
No.
- [37:23]
Gary Parrish
You know, they got. They got enough of those front court guys coming back now. You get in the transfer portal, add some quality guards, and, you know, just like I said about Kelvin, if you told me Florida was back in this position next year, trying to go back to back just like Billy Donovan did it once upon a time. That's not crazy. I don't know that I'm predicting it, but I wouldn't call you stupid if you did.
- [37:43]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, no. And, you know, I think the way in which golden and his staff particularly built this roster is probably not something we will see again in the future and may never see again in the NIL era. This was a Florida team that had zero top 100 players on it. You know, they, they basically built around guys who were from the portal. Walter Clayton Jr. From Iona, will Richard, I mean they, they, they got some of their stars out of the portal. They've got some guys who they've built and developed. And you know, I think it's been pretty clear for several months like the vision of this Florida team was always there. And golden has, you know, there, there's been multiple articles about it@cbssports.com about like leaning into analytics with his coaching staff. Earlier this season he did an interview with Adam Finkelstein, of course, our buddy at 247Sports, and talked about like, hey, like, I envision building this team, this scheme around how Golden State ran the, the prime warriors where everyone can pass, dribble and shoot. You know, it's, it's like prime time. They're super fun to watch. Everyone is very skilled. And that was extremely evident during the postseason. They won the SEC tournament, they ran through the NCAA tournament. And they had guys who could pass, dribble and shoot. And you know, they had some guys, bigs particularly, who struggled during the Instant Blade tournament. I thought Alex Condon would be a little better than he was, but Thomas Haupt stood up in a big way. They had Chinulou, had some big moments in the Instant Boy Tournament. And you know, the way that they built this roster just made a ton of sense. And Tommy, Tommy Lloyd, after Arizona lost to Duke in the Instant Boy tournament, talked about Duke and like the roster that was built around Cooper Flag, like basically saying that the pieces fit. And I think that's true too of Florida, like the pieces fit around what they built with Walter Clayton Jr. And I wasn't sure that they could survive a zero point first half from Walter Clayton Jr. The pieces fit around Clayton just enough that, you know, they got some big contributions from him in the second half. He finishes with 11 points. Well, Richard steps up and Richard fittingly was the guy who kind of kicked this off for golden as, you know, the first commitment for him at, at that school. And yeah, like, it's just, it's the culmination of a vision for golden that was clearly years in the making at Florida.
- [40:16]
Gary Parrish
I don't want to paint with a broad brush, but for a while in college basketball it felt like too many programs were just collecting talent or players with little regard for how they fit together. It's like we'll just get everybody here, then we'll try to figure out how it fits. And if these pieces don't fit, maybe they'll fit the next season or they'll just get in the transfer portal or whatever. And I'm really talking more pre transfer portal, where you just like collecting high school players, the best ones you could get. Then let's. The specifics of it might be broken down, like, yeah, we'll get some. We'll get some bigs and we'll get some. Some guards, and then we'll see. We'll get some wings, and then we'll see how it fits. My point is this. Todd is a smart guy, and he seemed to have a good idea of not just that he wanted a talent, the team, but very specific. What am I looking for exactly? What do I want here? In here and here right now? You know who's doing the same thing? Pat Kelsey at Louisville. They picked up three of the top 15 guys out of the transfer portal. They're all very different players. You know what they have in common? They all shoot above 41% from three like that. I don't think that's a coincidence. I don't think Pat Kelsey went out and added three players who all shoot up above 41% from three, and that's just like, oh, wow, that's a nice little coincidence. No, that's intentional. He knows what he's looking for to fit what he wants to do. And I think Todd clearly did that with his program and very early into his career at Florida and still very early into his head coaching career, broadly speaking, he's at the top of the mountain, man. There are. There are hall of Famers who never get here, hall of Famers who never do what he has done at the age of 39. Just an incredible accomplishment. And, you know, just. Just an incredible accomplishment. The last thing I want to say before we get out of here, because I don't think we need to keep anybody up past 2 in the morning. In New York City, earlier today on Inside college Basketball, I was riding a mechanical bull.
- [42:22]
Matt Norlander
I saw this. Yes.
- [42:24]
Gary Parrish
That was spinning around nonstop. And I was also having to shoot basketballs, catch passes and shoot basketballs. One hand holding a mechanical bull, one hand catching basketballs and shooting at a goal while spinning around. And also trying to talk on live television while you also have a producer in your ear. It's a lot going on. You see people on TV talking. The most they have to deal with is a producer in their ear. This was, I got a crown. I'm on a mechanical bull. I'm spinning around and I'm shooting basketballs like it was a high wire act. In the process of answering a question from Brent Stover, while doing all of these things, I said something along the lines of no matter who wins this game tonight, I know what the question Stove asked me was. He said, what will you think about this national championship? This national championship, this national champion after the game is done. And on some level it was like, well, it depends on who it is. But where I really settled was it doesn't matter who wins the game. This is going to be one of the greatest national champions we've had in a long time. Now, I want to be clear. If I were sitting on a studio, not spinning around on a mechanical bull and not shooting basketballs and not becoming dizzy, I would have hoped that I would have said it a little better. If I were writing what I tried to say, I would write it differently. But still what I said is that whoever wins this national championship game is going to be one of, not the greatest college basketball national champion we've had in a long time, but one of. And I don't know if you're familiar with the phrase one of. I can tell you people on Twitter, they're not all familiar with the phrase one of. But what I meant by one of is like, you know, this will be one of the greatest we've seen. There could be other greatest we've seen, but this will be one of them. Anyway, that got clip put on Twitter and you can imagine the reaction from some, some UConn fans. What are you talking, what are you talking about? This will be one of the greatest college basketball teams national champions in a long time. Did you forget about UConn last season? No. UConn is also one of the greatest national champions we have seen in a long time. But you ready for this? And I'm not trying to pick this fight. I'm just quoting something I'm not even telling you. I believe it's true. I'm just quoting numbers. Last year, Yukon, that awesome Yukon team that went 37. 3 and just ran through the Insta Play tournament, it finished with a net rating at Kim Palm of + 36.43. And that was amazing. + 36.43. Florida just finished its season. It's a national champion. Not as good of a record 36. 4 instead of 37. 3, but it's 36 and 4 after playing in the toughest league in the history of college basketball. And this is more to my point, their net rating, it finishes at plus 3.6.4, six better than UCONNs last season. In fact, you ready for this?
- [45:28]
Matt Norlander
I'm ready.
- [45:29]
Gary Parrish
At Ken Palm, net ratings, Duke, Houston and Florida all finished with a higher net rating than UConn did last season. No, I'm not telling you that means any of those teams or even the national champion Florida would beat last season's UConn team or is better than last season Yukon team. I'm just saying at Ken Palm, what that algorithm tells you is that Florida did have. I don't even want to put those words out into the universe. I'm just saying Florida entered. Florida ended its season with a higher net rating at ken palm than UConn ended last season with a net rating at Kenpa. Those are just facts. I'll let you guys argue. I'll let you guys argue about them if you want to. Cal Boone, thank you for staying up. Honestly, thank you for everything this whole season, man. This is the last one we're gonna do until we all, all of us here in San Antonio get back home and, and settle in and unpack our suitcases. And I'm going to actually burn mine, just as it's symbolism. I just want to burn my suitcase also, like, the zipper is kind of broke and I need a new one anyway. But I'd like the symbolism of, like, burning a suitcase. There is no, there is no better feeling, or at least among the good feelings of, you know, somebody who is lucky enough to do this for a living. It's awesome. Like, I genuinely wake up every day and go, man, this is crazy that this is my life. All right? But, like, it's a lot of nights on the road and to, to know, like, after tonight I don't have to get on a plane again for work for a while is like a pretty awesome feeling. And throughout the season, there are moments, man, where you don't know. I do always know I'm going to get through it, but it doesn't always feel that way. And, and yet we get. We do it. We do it every year. And what I'm trying to say is we couldn't do it without you helping out, without David Cobb helping out, without Nada being willing to work crazy hours all the time. Eric K. Debo like, we have a strong support system here and a loyal audience, and we built this thing into something that, I don't know, that we thought it would become. I don't know that I thought much about it. I just sort of said, yeah, let's put a microphone, let's see what happens. But it's just been super cool to be able to spend this entire season, these ridiculous late hours with you, with David, with Norlander, with nada, but also like with the fans who are here right now and who are here consistently and most of whom I know will wake up tomorrow and get this, they're not, you know, people got to work tomorrow and they don't all get the same hours as us. But this is just a long winded rambling way of me saying thank you to you and thank you to everybody else because this is a lot of fun, man. This is a lot of fun to get to do this and I don't take it for granted. And it's another awesome season that, that ended with a just about as good of a Final Four as you can get.
- [48:32]
Matt Norlander
Yeah, I, you know, I don't know if it, it's the best season, but GP I would say it's one of the best seasons that the ion college basketball season has had. One of the best.
- [48:45]
Gary Parrish
Oh, I got you. I got to do that. Certainly there's going to be somebody on Twitter who's going to want to argue with you about that. But you know what? You know what I'm learning to do. You can ignore it if you, if you, you know, if you, if you, if you want to seriously, thank you guys everybody for being here so late at night. Thank you to everybody who is getting to this the next day. In all seriousness, the plan, I believe is for, you know, me and Norlander to travel home tomorrow. I imagine he'll get home before I do and then like catch our breath on Wednesday and then I think we're going to jump back on this thing on Thursday and that's when we'll discuss the preseason top 25 and 1. I imagine there'll be some big transfer portal way transfer portal decisions getting made day after day after day. That's the thing. The season is now over. But like the top 25 and one will publish tomorrow. And like I told our boss Marcus Nelson, I I think I will update it Wednesday and need to update it again Thursday and need to update it again Friday and need to update it again Saturday and need to update it again Sunday. We will have updates perhaps every day for the foreseeable future. The transfer portal doesn't even close till April 22nd.
- [49:59]
Matt Norlander
Yes.
- [49:59]
Gary Parrish
And it's sort of like, yeah, I was talking to Adi Joseph about this last night. Like you just get version 1.0 out there just to get you a place so you can go to version 2.0 and 3 but 1.0 will be irrelevant very quickly. I don't care who your favorite team is. Just know that by the time we get to November, it won't look anything like it looks right now. It might look better, it might look worse, but it won't look the same. Nobody's favorite team is currently constructed. Nobody's. There's no teams. No team is currently constructed as it will be in November. It's a fascinating time to be a college basketball fan. I don't know that every aspect of it is great, but it'll keep the off season interesting, at least for a little while. So, again, kb, thank you for being here. Let's get out of here. Shouts to Devin Downey, Chester, S.C. terry Teagle. He's a legend. Hook and Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching and listening to the Ion College Basketball Podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe every anywhere. You can subscribe to podcasts. Apple, Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them. That needs to be reflected in the comments. So you guys do that. I'm gonna travel back home and the plan is to talk to you again on Thursday. Till then, take care. Hey there. I'm Gary Parrish. Welcome back to the CBS Sports I Am College Basketball podcast. We sometimes discuss Campbell Fighting Dodo Birds and Leaky Black. Matt Norlander is here with me. Cal Boone is here with me. David Cobb is here with me. Look at there. Chip Patterson's here with me.
- [51:35]
Cal Boone
We're bringing back an old buddy from the other side of the planet. The one, the only, Sam Vasini is right here. A stink bug literally just flew into my shot. Was that on? A stink bug is literally on my desk right now. What is going on?
- [51:50]
Matt Norlander
Do you know why we use the term nut?
- [51:52]
Gary Parrish
Cutting time beside me, Doug.
- [51:55]
Cal Boone
Get your hands off HR HR it really has. Doesn't mean that Houston can't be beat. It can. But if you're going to beat Houston, you're going to lose some vital organs along the way. And most of the time, you're just not going to do it.
- [52:08]
Matt Norlander
Jerry, I know where you're going with this. You were ready to lead a riot outside the NCAA headquarters because of the. The miscarriage of justice that would have been. That would have been Louisville playing a, quote, home game against Auburn in the second round.
- [52:21]
Cal Boone
He was incredible. And hey, Rob D, you're going to fly in the wrong direction.
- [52:26]
Gary Parrish
I do it all the time. I do them all the time.
- [52:29]
Cal Boone
This is so stupid.
- [52:29]
Gary Parrish
I fly the wrong way all the time.
- [52:31]
Cal Boone
How many hours are you adding to your trip?
- [52:33]
Gary Parrish
I don't care.
- [52:33]
Cal Boone
You don't care? Delta for life. Insane. Insane decision by you.
- [52:38]
Gary Parrish
I thought you were gonna let me go dancing. Chad Baker Mazar. Not thick.
- [52:48]
Matt Norlander
Not thick.
- [52:49]
Gary Parrish
Not thick. I never even really thought about it, but now that I'm thinking about it for the first time. Not thick.
- [52:55]
Cal Boone
What is it with me and the animals?
- [52:57]
Gary Parrish
No, I don't know what nut cutting time means exactly, except I know what it means. That's like one of my. Oh, look who it is. Yeah, it's Parish.
- [53:07]
Cal Boone
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [53:09]
Gary Parrish
What's up with you? How are you? You've done this before.
- [53:11]
Cal Boone
I. I did it on his show once before, so he's getting me back there. It's live podcasting. It's okay.
- [53:16]
Gary Parrish
The other day, he's like, gp, I heard every word you said this morning. I said, bro. I didn't even said it. I didn't even get on the phone. He said, no. I listened to you do a whole show this morning. You can hear every. Everything in between the W. So that's what stuff. Like, last night, I was as we're doing the show at 2 in the morning. I'm aware, like, the people on both sides of me. I'm 100% sure I woke everybody up. It was like that night where Drake released that one track and then Kendrick came right back on the top of it 15 minutes later with Meet the Grams. That's what I felt. Felt like happened to me. Like I was like, this is my moment.
- [53:49]
Cal Boone
You're the Drake of cbs. All right, you said it.
- [53:51]
Gary Parrish
And he was in a position to win the whole thing. And. Oh, he left you hanging. He left you hanging.
- [53:57]
Cal Boone
Santa left me hanging.
- [53:58]
Gary Parrish
Should he consider taking part of his nil and getting a bbl? Nil to a bbl?
- [54:05]
Matt Norlander
Hello.
- [54:05]
Gary Parrish
You think nil gets you a bbl? Chad Baker Mazar comes back next year with an extra year of eligibility, and he's thick.
- [54:16]
Cal Boone
So he's. He does the interview right here, and I'm like, typing, and I'm right here and I hear, norlander. Norlander pick against us again. You better be picking against. He's screaming it at me to the point where I thought it was going to be picked up on the broadcast here. Let it later, fellas. Out of here. And it was.
- [54:37]
Gary Parrish
How many of them are there with Urban Cowboy? So, you know, I was made for this plush. When I was young enough to go to clubs down in Memphis, Tennessee, they had one that had a mechanical bull inside of it. You get a couple of drinks every once in a while and then you jump on that thing and get thrown off pretty quickly. Special shouts to denim and diamonds Rest in Peace. It's game three. Thursday, 9:39pm Eastern it's Duke, Arizona inside the Joe Pesci Center. Does that surprise you? Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta, both from Newark?
- [55:11]
Cal Boone
Not surprised whatsoever.
- [55:23]
Chip Patterson
Paramount Podcasts when you're with Amex Business Platinum, you have the card that works just as hard as you do. You give 150% to your business and so does your card. With 1.5 times Membership Rewards points. On select purchases, you earn rewards that can take your business further. And with complimentary access to more than 1,400 lounges globally, including the Centurion Lounge, you can stay up to speed no matter where your business takes you. That's the powerful backing of American Express Terms and Points Cap Applied. Learn more@americanexpress.com AmExBusiness.