Why 2025 Final Four of 1-seeds isn’t the 2008 March Madness bash

[ad_1]

Duke, Florida, Auburn, Houston punch their ticket to the Final Four

The madness continues as Mackenzie Salmon previews the Men’s Final Four matchups, which will feature all No. 1 seeds for the first time since 2008.

Sports Seriously

They’re saying this Final Four repeats the history of 2008, and, by seed, they’re right. In many other ways, this Final Four is so much different.Blue bloods populated 2008 Final Four, won by Memphis. Duke is only blue blood in this Final Four.The 2008 Final Four reflected teams’ blue-chip recruits flourishing. Now, transfers like Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. and Auburn’s Johni Broome are big party of college basketball’s story.

They’re saying this Final Four repeats the history of 2008, and, by seed, they’re right.

Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina and Memphis populated the Final Four that season, marking the first time four No. 1 seeds seized all the semifinal spots. Never had that feat been repeated until now. Auburn, Florida, Duke and Houston rumble toward San Antonio, which also hosted the 2008 Final Four.

The similarities mostly end there. In so many ways, this Final Four differs from the 2008. Here’s why:

∎ Only one blue blood this time. John Calipari joked in 2008 that if you combined the national championships won by UCLA and Memphis, they’d have 11. The punchline he left unsaid, of course, was that UCLA owns 11 titles and Memphis has none.

UNC and Kansas joined UCLA to supply three Final Four blue bloods. Back then, that trio owned a combined 17 national championships. Kansas and UNC won more titles since then.

Duke, winner of five national championships, supplies the only blue blood within this quartet.

Florida won back-to-back titles under Billy Donovan. Todd Golden joins Donovan and Lon Kruger as coaches to lift Florida to a Final Four.

Bruce Pearl is the only coach to take Auburn to a Final Four. He’s done it twice. Auburn pursues its first national championship.

Kelvin Sampson lifted Houston to heights unseen since coach Guy…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2025/04/01/final-four-teams-1-seeds-2008-march-madness-bracket/82740859007/

Author :

Publish date : 2025-04-01 10:04:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.