17 things to know about this year’s Final Four and the people in it

San Antonio – Everyone is now collected, seeds 1, if the eye sees it. Final four with lots of bells and whistles. How to watch this weekend when they start throwing shiny numbers on each other in Alamodome?

Here are 17 designs.

• Calculate the stars. Walter Clayton JR, became Florida’s first ever All-American team. Johnni Broome is the first Auburn player to ever consensum all-American. On the other side of the Blueblood line, Cooper Flagg became the Duke 25.
• Brace for other SEC-RULES-the-WORLD speech. The conference added half the final four men and half of the women. One number should be considered in terms of Auburn or Florida vs. Duke at the Championship: SEC was 30-4 against ACC this season. “It was a battle every day, but that is what it did,” Florida Will Richard said about life in sec this season. “You know you had to bring the best every time you entered the pitch, and that’s what players dream of.”
• Choose parties generation gaps, because in every game he is a coach eligible social security against someone who could be his son.

A series of unusual events: History of male March Madness in San Antonio

For 37 years, Kelvin Sampson of Houston Kelvin Sampson at 69 vs. Duke’s Jon Scheyer. “My ass is always kicking. So I’m used to being defeated by younger boys.”

It is Auburn’s Bruce Pearl at the age of 65 against Florida Todd Golden at the age of 39. “Kelvin and I should have used it this time because we are clearly on the nine,” Pearl said. “I’m not on 18 yet. The hole, but we’re closer.”

There are connections that go through the difference in years. Pearl gave Golden one of his first jobs.

“I know he’s incredibly proud of me. I am incredibly grateful for him and his family and the opportunities they gave me,” Golden said. “I wouldn’t be here when I didn’t have my relationship and experience with Bruce and his son.

When Scheyer got the work of the Duke, he wanted to find a respected coach and a program for his first scrimmage. He called Sampson in Houston. “I’ll tell you how good Jon Scheyer was,” Sampson said on Thursday. “No one talks about him anymore and will replace coach K. He’s Jon Scheyer. He has his team in the finals four.”

If Duke beat Houston, Scheyer will have 90 wins in the first three seasons. More than anyone else in Division I.

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Sampson likes young Whippersnappers shares the scene. “I think it’s great for the game, because the game should always be about the future. We should honor the past, but we shouldn’t live in the past. Sometimes we do too much. I saw it in Houston. All people I talked about when I got there.

• Predict who will get their breakthroughs, because not the coach in this field has never won the Final Four.
• Admire the longevity of J’wan Roberts, who was at this age migration of Houston Cougar for a long time to win 148 games. He lost only 23. “If I want to take recognition, I give my coaches and my teammates a lot of credit,” he said.
• Note that Golden, Pearl and Scheyer have at least one thing in common – they are all members of the Association of Jewish coaches.
• Enjoy the rarity of the intraconference game in Final Four. Auburn and Florida will be the first SEC teams to have them. It happened only 11 times with other conferences, the last was the Duke vs. North Carolina in 2022.

Auburn and Florida met once during the season and Florida won 90-81. “No one cares about any revenge, that’s not our focus.” Auburn’s Dylan Cardwell said on Thursday. “We have to win games if you want to put your name in historical books.”

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• Go down with a memory stripe with the Duke. Saturday will only be for the second time in history Blue Devils played 5th April. The first was the game of the National Championship in 2010, when Blue Devils defeated Butler 61-59. That night was Jon Scheyer.
• Do not miss the latest mark of the transmission portal age. Only two players with two different schools – Bob Bender for Indiana and Duke at the age of 70 and Steve Krafcisin for North Carolina and Iowa in 1977 and 1980 have appeared in this season in the last four.

There are three in San Antonio. Florida Alijah Martin scored 26 points for Florida Atlantic in his loss of 72-71 in San Diego in 2023. Duke Reserve Mason Gillis played 48 minutes from the Purdue bench last April. Houston’s LJ Cryer played three minutes for Baylor in 2021 Final Four. The message of their travels in the transmission portal world? “You have to stick to it, put your head down, stay in the gym and improve,” Martin said. “You never know where you will be in six months.”

• Admire Auburn’s journey here. Tigers played 15 games this season against opponents who advanced to Sweet 16. They are 11-4. They played every other team now in San Antonio, and defeated Houston by five and lost to Duke by six and Florida by nine. 2014 Florida is the only other team in history that played all the other four participants during the regular season.
• Think if history is repeated. Kenpoma’s evaluation began in 1996 and this year’s Duke team bears the second highest ranking ever. The only better number belonged to Blue Devils from 1999 – who were disturbed in the title game by Uconn.
• Combine with Auburn, when it is mentioned as the first Tigers final ended in 2019, Virginia beat them on three Kyle Guy in the last second, after much claiming to have been missed with a double drib.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyhszyiccdu

Cardwell, the future recruit Auburn, watched on TV that night. “Virginia has seized.

Steven Pearl, auxiliary coach and Bruce’s son, watched from the bench. “Brutal to be honest,” he said of the moment. He stood in the dressing room on Thursday and told every game in the last 20 seconds and then stopped by sarcasm. “I don’t remember the detail for detail. It’s not something that chases me in my dreams.”

“In fact, to sit down and make himself watch it, it took a year or two,” he said about the belt. “It was disappointing, but I think it lit fire, why we do it.”

• Beware that Houston’s defense takes a tax on the Duke’s highly octane offense. Cougars allow an average of under 26 points in the first half. Tennessee had 15 half -time last weekend. “It’s frustrating,” said Houston’s Milos Uzan that he was facing his team’s defense. “Even in practice, when I go against these people, it’s frustrating.”

Scheyer noticed it in his film study. “I didn’t sleep much. This is a loan for Houston,” he said on Thursday. “But I will force myself on the next few nights”

• Understand the extraordinary revival of Kelvin sampson in Houston. Cougars defeated Virginia 49-47 in overtime in 1984 by Final Four to advance to his second consecutive national championship competition, but that would be 34 years to win another NCAA tournament. Sampson ended the dry charm in 2018 and has since won 18 tournament games.
• I wonder how bare picks are family basketball games in the Knuepel house in Wisconsin. The Duke Nováček Kon Knueppel comes from a family that has earned more than 4,500 career points on university basketball. So far he has 547, his father KON scored 2,064 as the second lead shooter for Wisconsin Lutheran and his mother Chari is Green Bay’s All-Time Scorer with 1,964. Dad, Mom and Son go to Saturday with a family career average and play. By the way, four other younger brothers are coming.
• I wonder again the power of all this. 1 seed fields. It is so loaded, Pearl could offer an offer to the Auburn-Špičké team throughout the tournament-to be here on Thursday and no one blinked. “We come as overall No. 1, but we are probably considered the fourth best team here. Nothing new is new. I prefer the role of losers than to prove that we are as good as we say.
• He applauds some of the remarkable statistics represented in court.

Auburn is the only team that defeated Houston this season in regulation and that was five months ago.

Auburn’s Broome is the only player in DI history with 2,500 career points, 1,500 rebounds and 400 blocks. Last weekend he had double double before the half.

This quartet is in the calendar year 2025 90-10. Duke and Houston are 49-2. “These are the heavy teams that beats. We are also,” Houston’s Saan said.

FINAL FOUR JOUNEYS: This year’s last four teams prove that there is more than 1 way to get to San Antonia

Houston captivated the best percentage of the target defense in the field for six NCAA tournaments in a row.

Florida became only the fifth team in history, which in the same season defeated two different teams of AP No. 1 and defeated Tennessee and Auburn. It is possible that Gators could do it three if the dumes play.

Duke’s Sion James and Freshman Cooper Flagg share the same starting lineup. When James played his first college game in 2020, Flagg was only 13 years old.

Houston has more big 12 seasons and tournament titles (3) than it has years in the league (2). Cougars has been the first team since 1922 to join the main conference and won its first two seasons.

UCLA destroyed No. 1 Houston 101-69 in the Four 1968 final. The biggest stop of the team’s highest rating team for 57 years since the victory in Florida over Tennessee, 73-43, in January. 25 days later Gators lost to the VOLS ’64 -44.

Florida had a 27-0 run against Wichita this season. Auburn had a 17-0 run against the Michigan state in Eight Eight. Duke has 39 runs 10-0 or more this season.

Saturday will only be the second meeting between the Duke and Houston. It will be 177. Between Auburna and Florida.

• Finally, in the last four loaded with older players and young phenomena, who will soon head for the NBA design, they appreciate the urgency that pushes all four teams. For example, Auburn begins with four seniors and a student of Grad.

“That’s the last chance we have. We are all old boys,” Cardwell said.

“That’s it. We’re running out of one shining moments,” Bruce Pearl said. “We are doing it now or as Dylan Cardwell said: This is the last free breakfast. Every morning was ready to wake up and had no free breakfast. We want Dylan to continue food for free.

Nobody divided here. But it will be Monday evening.