March Madness is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college basketball tournament that takes place in March.
The event is a single-elimination tournament with a total of 68 teams competing throughout seven rounds, trying to make it all the way to win the Championship Game.
The tournament this year was one for the books and a very exciting and entertaining watch for everyone around the world. On Monday, March 7th, the University of Florida’s Gators and the University of Houston’s Cougars faced off in the Championship that took place in San Antonio Texas. It was a close and competitive game by the two teams with a final score of 65-63, the winners being the Gators who had an incredible season.
On top of the Florida Gators’ great season this year, they went on to prove themselves worthy by having one of the best tournament performances the Gators have had in school history.
The Cougars were leading against the Gators at the start of the game, which turned out to be the lowest-scoring first half of a men’s basketball national title game since 2011. The Gators, who trailed by as much as 12 points, came alive with seven minutes left and were getting closer and closer to completing the comeback. Gators player Walter Clayton Jr. was shut down by the Cougars’ defense and was held scoreless at halftime. However, Clayton was on fire in the second half with a great performance to bounce back and dominate against the Houston Cougars defense. His first basket of the game came with eight minutes left in the second half, from which he found his momentum and continued to show out in the biggest game of his career and one of the biggest moments of his life.
The Gators then completed the comeback, taking the lead with 46 seconds remaining in the game. It was the first time they had the lead since the score was 8-6 early in the game. In the final moments of the fourth quarter, the Gators’ defense forced a turnover on the next play, followed by a clutch free throw, a final defensive push, and a Houston turnover to secure the historic performance and a third national title for the Florida Gators. Florida only held the lead in the championship game for one minute total. The Gators spent the entire game trailing and being doubted, but they still got the job done with all their dominant plays.
There were many impressive runs in the tournament this year though. Many teams were on the road to making history with their big wins. This year’s final four teams consisted of the Florida Gators, Houston Cougars, Duke Blue Devils, and the Auburn Tigers all being the number one seeds in each of their conferences for only the second time in NCAA history.
For the Gators, this was the third time they had won the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Championship and the first time since winning back-to-back in 2005 and 2006.
