By Woodrow Carroll
With a 65-63 victory over Houston in the title game, the Florida Gators laid claim to the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. The title is third for the Gators, who captured back-to-back crowns in 2006 and 2007. For the Houston Cougars, it was another close, but, no crown!
In both 1983 and 1984, Houston reached the title game of the men’s tournament only to falter. The 1983 championship loss was hard to swallow because the Cougars were the pick to win. Instead, North Carolina State ended up nudging the Cougars, 54-52.
There was good reason to favor Houston going into the 1983 title game. The North Carolina State Wolfpack, coached by Jim Valvano, was only 25-10 at game time. Hardly the record to strike fear into an opponent. But, any team good enough reach the title game must have had something going for it. And, the Cougars found out the hard way.
In 1984, there were no late heroics needed because Georgetown proved the superior team taking the titular contest, 84-75.
As the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament moved along this season, it was rather obvious that no real shocking upsets were about to appear as the tournament ran its course. If you were seeking confirmation of that statement, all you had to do was check out the four survivors who reached the Men’s Final Four last Saturday in San Antonio: Auburn, Duke, Florida, and Houston.
You have to walk the walk before claiming the title. Many a well recognized college basketball program lost in the championship game of the men’s final before winning a title.
The very first men’s champion was crowned in 1939 at Northwestern’s Patton Gym, where Oregon beat Ohio State 46-33 for the title. It took 21 years before Ohio State made another appearance in the championship in 1960. This time the Buckeyes were far more successful downing defending champion California, 75-55.
Those who have followed college basketball to any extent are familiar with Kansas and what the Jayhawks have done come tournament time. However, Kansas was less than successful in its first title go around back in 1940 falling to Indiana, 60-42.
Those first three years of the men’s tournament were good ones for the Big Ten. Ohio State a runner up in 1939 followed by Indiana and Wisconsiwinning it all in 1940 and 1941.
Why not bring up North Carolina among the basketball programs that had to learn the hard way. In 1946 the North Carolina Tar Heels made it to the men’s Championship game of the 1946 men’s tournament. The title game of the 1946 NCAA Men’s Tournament was played in New York’s Madison Square Garden. North Carolina was pitted against defending National Champion, Oklahoma A&M (Oklahoma State today). The final saw Oklahoma A&M winning, 46-43.
Not to be left out, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four played in Tampa last weekend was certainly not lacking in brand names. Connecticut, South Carolina, Texas, and UCLA made up the Final Four for the Women’s Final. In the title game, the UCONN Huskies beat South Carolina, 82-59, for the women’s crown.
It was the 12th title for the Connecticut Women ending a drought going back to 2016. Meaning, the third year in a row for the school as National Champion when you stop and think about it. Keep in mind that the Connecticut Men took home the top prize in 2023 and 2024.