Final Four field led by No. 1 seeds

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Jon Scheyer to uphold Coach K’s legacy with Duke’s Final Four berth

Jon Scheyer isn’t worried about the pressure of coaching Duke after Coach K, he’s looking to build on his legacy.

The stage is set for the Final Four of the NCAA men’s tournament in San Antonio, Texas.

This year’s national semifinals will feature a star-studded cast — and a chalky, historic one at that. For just the first time since 2008 and just the second time in NCAA Tournament history, the Final Four will be all No. 1 seeds: Florida, Duke, Houston and Auburn.

In Saturday’s first game, Florida will face Auburn for the second time this season. The Tigers took the regular-season meeting, winning 90-81 in early February. It’ll be the Blue Devils and Cougars in the second matchup.

The Gators booked their spot with a memorable Elite Eight comeback against No. 3 Texas Tech. Duke was dominant in shutting down No. 2 Alabama’s top-ranked offense. Houston bullied No. 2 Tennessee and Auburn pulled away from No. 2 Michigan State.

It was a bittersweet second weekend for the SEC, which had visions of sending four teams to the Alamodome but will settle instead for only half the field. This is the fifth time the conference has put multiple teams into the Final Four.

The biggest winner of the weekend has to be the Blue Devils, who are the team to beat after bulldozing through the East region to reach the semifinals for the first time under third-year coach Jon Scheyer.

Duke and the SEC lead the tournament winners and losers heading into the Final Four:

Winners

Duke

The Blue Devils’ 85-65 win against Alabama was a defensive masterclass. After setting a tournament record with 25 makes from behind the arc in the Sweet 16 against No. 6 Brigham Young, the Crimson Tide went just 8 of 32 from 3-point range against Duke, which was superb at closing out on defenders around the perimeter. This performance offset a less-than-stellar game from the Duke offense, which was bogged down behind an uncharacteristically weak game from…

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Source link : https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2025/03/30/march-madness-winners-losers-final-four/82733954007/

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Publish date : 2025-03-30 23:52:00

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