Gators No. 1 in final AP Top 25
There was never any doubt about where the Florida Gators would finish in the rankings after beating Houston on Monday night, 65-63, to win the national title. But now it’s official: UF has claimed the No. 1 spot in the final AP Top 25.
Houston was second, followed in order by Duke and Auburn, the two other programs in the Final Four. The Gators entered the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 3, but ended up as the champions of college basketball for the third time — but first time since 2007. Two teams Florida also defeated in the NCAA Tournament placed in the final top 10 — Texas Tech at No. 8 and Maryland at No. 9.
You can find the compete rankings HERE.
Florida, which finished the season 36-4, rallied from another halftime deficit to defeat Houston for the program’s third national championship and first since 2007. Trailing by 11 points with 14:07 left to play, the Gators reeled off a 14-3 run to tie the game and took their first lead of the second half on two Alijah Martin free throws with 46 seconds left.
Will Richard led the Gators with 18 points, while Alex Condon scored 12 and Walter Clayton Jr. added 11, all in the second half. Clayton earned Most Outstanding Player honors.
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“It’s a heck of an accomplishment,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “I’m super proud of everybody in my program, top to bottom. My staff, been together for three years, worked incredibly hard to help get our players to this point. Our players, they’ve been the difference all the way along. Been incredibly consistent all year. Have worked with a great work ethic.
Obviously we have an incredibly talented group, one of the most talented groups individually in America. I do think what separates us and has separated us all season long is our team talent, how our guys have played together and for each other all year. Because of that, we can call each other national champions for the rest of our lives.”
Houston certainly made the Gators work for it.
“I told our guys after the game to be disappointed you lost, but do not be disappointed in your effort,” Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Defeating Florida is difficult. They got a really, really good team. Coach (Todd) Golden runs great schemes over there. We guarded ’em. We held that team to 65 points. Thought if we held Duke to under 70, we’d have a good chance to win. I felt like if we held Florida under 70, we’d have a good chance to win. Saturday we found a way to win. Tonight maybe not so much. Two great teams. Two tough teams. We lost by two points. They made one more play than we did tonight.”
