FIGHT FOR THE FINISH

7 Apr 2025 - New York Post

By ZACH BRAZILLER zbraziller@nypost.com

Never-say-die Cougars know they need title to make miracle vs. Duke matter

SAN ANTONIO — On a whiteboard in the Houston Cougars locker room inside the Alamodome, Kelvin Sampson wrote down his team’s record: 35-4.

Then, underneath it: “One more.”

The message was clear: The job isn’t done. As remarkable and thrilling and emotional and unbelievable as Houston’s Saturday night victory over favored Duke was, it didn’t end this team’s journey.

The job isn’t finished.

The crazy rally from 14 down with 8:17 left won’t mean nearly as much if Houston can’t follow it up with a victory over fellow No. 1 seed Florida Monday night for the school’s first-ever national championship.

“We didn’t want to overreact. That wasn’t our championship,” junior guard Emanuel Sharp said. “It was a great win and it put us in a great position. But we got to know that there’s still one more. We learn to flush it really quick.

“New day, new scouting report, new mindset. It’s good to get back focused on a game. The game was won, we beat Duke, all right, onto the next one.”

Monday night is 11 years in the making. In 2014, Sampson arrived at Houston, inheriting a program that hadn’t advanced in the NCAA Tournament since the days of Phi Slama Jama way back in 1984. He has turned it into one of the country’s very best. This season has marked the fourth straight 30-win seasons for the Cougars and their second Final Four since 2021. It is their third consecutive tournament as a No. 1 seed and the fifth straight time they have produced a top 10 defense in terms of efficiency. But the ultimate goal, a national championship, has eluded them.

There has been plenty of March heartbreak in recent seasons. The Sweet 16 loss to Duke last year, when star guard Jamal Shead was lost to a sprained ankle in the first half. The 2023 Sweet 16 setback to Miami. The 2018 second-round loss to Michigan and Jordan Poole at the buzzer.

“We deserved a break,” Sharp said. “It’s just been tough, year after year.”

For much of Saturday night, it looked like Houston was headed for more disappointment. But the Cougars refused to lose, stunning Duke and projected No. 1 NBA draft pick Cooper Flagg.

Monday night won’t be easy. Florida may have the best player on the floor in Walter Clayton Jr., and a big frontcourt that will tower over Houston’s.

“Duke had size over us, too,” J’Wan Roberts said with a smile. “Find a way to win.”

A key to Houston’s success — continuity — is a rarity in the sport these days. Four of their starters a year ago returned. While leading scorer L.J. Cryer is a transfer from Baylor, this is his second season as a Cougar. Sharp, Roberts, Joseph Tugler and key reserves Terrance Arceneaux and Ja’Vier Francis have never played for another school. They have all been developed by Sampson and his staff.

“We’re not the same as other programs. We’ve got a culture that not many guys want to leave,” Sharp said. “We win a lot every year and we’re always in a position to be a great team because of the coaching staff and how we work every day. Not a lot of guys leave here.”

A win Monday night would be for all those players who fell short, who helped Sampson make Houston into an annual March threat. Many of them will be in attendance at the Alamodome.

“I feel like there’s only one way for us to go out,” Roberts said, “and that’s to win a national championship.”

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Getty Images SENIOR MOMENT: 

Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. (right) has been dominant in the Gators run to the title game. 

Despite his age, he is starting to look like a firstround pick in the NBA draft.

Clayton, 22, threatening to crash kids draft party

7 Apr 2025 - New York Post

By ZACH BRAZILLER

SAN ANTONIO — It is the classic case of projection against production, an almost annual debate when it comes to the NBA draft.

The older college players rarely get picked high these days. Jalen Brunson, for instance, wasn’t a first-round pick. Zach Edey returned to school after he was the National Player of the Year in 2023 because he wasn’t going to get drafted high enough.

Which brings us to Walter Clayton Jr., the star guard out of Florida enjoying a magical NCAA Tournament.

The 6-foot-3 Clayton has the topseeded Gators in the national championship game for the first time since 2007, averaging 24.6 points and a ridiculous 48.2 percent from 3-point range on 7.8 attempts per game. On Saturday night, he became the first player to score 30 points in a Final Four game since Carmelo Anthony in 2003. But Clayton is a senior. He’s 22 years old. You don’t see his name in the lottery of most mock drafts.

His former coach, Rick Pitino, believes teams are starting to look at him differently.

“I think he’s put himself in the lottery. If you look at it, there are similarities to what Steph Curry did at Davidson,” Pitino said on Sunday. “You watch him play, he goes by people, he has great burst, he’s 6-3, he shoots it incredibly with range, drives to the basket well. He’s earning and deserving of what he’s getting.”

“You’ve got to be ready for the NBA, and Walter is. The NBA is all about shooting, and he’s a guy ready to play in the NBA.”

Florida assistant coach John Andrzejek added: “If he doesn’t get picked [in the first round], there’s something wrong with the NBA at this point. I know he’s old, there’s stuff to knock, but he’s the best player on a team that can win the national championship.”

Clayton was more known as a football recruit in high school, before switching his attention to basketball as a junior. He only had mid-and low-major scholarship offers when he committed to Pitino at Iona. At the New Rochelle school, he blossomed into the MAAC Player of the Year as a sophomore, then transferred to Florida following that season.

He enjoyed a strong junior year at his hometown school, but took a bigger step this winter as a consensus AllAmerican. He’s raised his play even more over the past month.

“I’m very proud, very happy for him, and his future more so than anything else,” Pitino said. “Very pleased that he has a chance to be in the national championship.”

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THE MATCHUPS

7 Apr 2025 New York Post

By ZACH BRAZILLER

NO. 1 FLORIDA (35-4) VS. NO. 1 HOUSTON (35-4) 

San Antonio • The Alamadome • Tonight, 8:50 • CBS

SAN ANTONIO — The Post’s Zach Braziller breaks down Monday night’s national championship game between two top seeds — Florida and Houston — at the Alamodome.

Backcourt

Each team starts three guards, and both units are explosive, the three leading scorers on each side. Alijah Martin, Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard average a combined 46.3 points and 8.1 assists for Florida, while L.J. Cryer, Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan produce 39.9 points and 7.1 assists per game for Houston. Each of the Cougars trio shoots over 40 percent from 3-point range for the nation’s top longdistance shooting team at 39.9 percent. Cryer kept Houston in the game against Duke, scoring 26 points and hitting six 3-pointers Saturday night, but he won’t be the best guard on the floor against the Gators. That honor belongs to Clayton, the former Iona star who became the first player to score 30 points in the Final Four since Carmelo Anthony 22 years ago. Clayton is averaging 24.6 points and shooting an absurd 48.7 percent on 7.8 attempts from beyond the arc in the tournament. Edge: Florida

Frontcourt

It was a tale of two halves on Saturday for Florida big men Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu: overwhelmed in the first half, and terrific after intermission in shutting down SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome. Houston’s J’Wan Roberts will pose another formidable test, a gritty big man with a motor that never stops. He limited Duke phenom Cooper Flagg down the stretch Saturday. The Gators frontcourt has at times been soft in the paint, and Houston is known for its physicality and relentlessness.  Edge: Houston

Coaches

It will be experience against youth, 69-year-old Kelvin Sampson of Houston on one bench, 39-year-old Todd Golden of Florida on the other. Neither has reached this point before. This is Sampson’s third Final Four in his 36th season as a Division I head coach. This is just Golden’s sixth year running his own program. Before this season, he had never won a tournament game. Edge: Houston

Bench

Florida has the two most impactful reserves in versatile forward Thomas Haugh and shotmaking guard Denzel Aberdeen.

The 6-foot9 Haugh has been terrific in the tournament, backing up his 20-point, 11-rebound effort in the Elite Eight with 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks against Auburn. Houston has leaned heavily on its starters offensively. The bench has produced just 35 points in the last four rounds. Senior forward Ja’Vier Francis is an underrated piece for the Cougars, a tenacious rebounder and defender. Edge: Florida