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Florida Gators atop final USA TODAY coaches poll

On3 imageby: Keith Niebuhr04/08/25On3Keith
Florida Gators
USA Today Sports

Following the Florida Gators’ 65-63 win over Houston in the NCAA basketball championship game Monday night in San Antonio, Texas, it comes as no surprise that UF has finished No. 1 in the final USA Today coaches poll.

As USA Today noted, “It is the first No. 1 ranking for Florida since the 2014 season, which also marked the program’s last Final Four appearance. Not surprisingly, the Gators were voted first by all 31 voters.” Houston was the unanimous choice at No. 2. Duke finished third, 17 poll points ahead of Auburn, the team Florida beat on Saturday in the national semifinals.

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.

All told, eight SEC teams made it. Tennessee came in at No. 5, followed by Alabama, another SEC program, at No. 6. You can find the complete Top 25 HERE.

The Gators were No. 3 in the final regular-season rankings.

The Florida Gators had to come from behind to win Monday

 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.

“I understand that if it ain’t my night, somebody going to pick me up,” Clayton said. “Tonight was nothing different. The way we won tonight, it’s just an exclamation mark on the year. It’s great to win like that, knowing the fact that we’re a brotherhood together, and we’ve been picking each other up all year.”

Todd Golden becomes the second coach to lead UF to a title after Billy Donovan went back-to-back 18 years ago. Florida’s 36 wins this season tie the most in school history (36, 2013-14).

Florida closed out the year with a 12-game winning streak and victories in 18 of its last 19 contests. The Gators went 8-2 this season in top-10 matchups. 

UF extended its single-season record with its 12th top-25 win, 10 of which have come vs. teams in the top 12. Nine of those ranked wins have come since March 1.

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