Florida will play Auburn in the NCAA Tournament Final Four in March Madness 2025.
The Gators secured their spot in the matchup with a comeback win over the Texas Tech Raiders, 84-79, on Saturday night and the Tigers did their part with a 70-64 win over the Michigan State Spartans Sunday night. The two SEC powerhouses met earlier in the year, with Florida coming out on top, 90-81, as the road underdog.
Florida should enter the matchup as an even match or favorite this time. The Gators are riding a 10-game win streak and don’t have to deal with the away crowd, and Todd Golden has already put together a winning game plan against a team he’s scouted all year. That doesn’t mean it will be easy, especially with both teams getting a week to rest up and get healthy, but there should be a great deal of confidence for the Orange and Blue coming into Saturday.
Besides the obvious SEC rivalry storyline coming into this game, there’s also the mentor-mentee relationship between Todd Golden and Bruce Pearl to consider. Golden served as Pearl’s Director of Basketball Operations in 2014, and the two of been open supporters of one another ever since. It’s safe to say that things won’t be so buddy-buddy on Saturday, and the student-versus-master relationship should be a key point of focus for the national media over the next five days. Pearl’s been here before with the 2018-19 Auburn Tigers, giving him the experience advantage.
There’s also the matchup between All-SEC forwards Johni Broome and Alex Condon. Two potential NBA draft picks this summer, Broome and Condon should go at it on Saturday night. Broom narrowly won the battle during the regular-season matchup with 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Condon had 17, 10 and four. Walter Clayton Jr. played all 40 minutes of that game, too.
However things end, Golden’s third season has been a resounding success. He’s put together arguably the deepest roster in the country, led Florida to its third-most wins in program history and delivered the program’s first Final Four berth since 2014.