NCAA Final Four: Florida vs. Auburn - Game Analysis & Highlights

Tomorrow we have the greatest Final Four in the history of the NCAA tournament

And no, it's not just because we have all one seeds and they're the best teams in the nation

We've had that once before in 2008. Instead, it's because this is the most talented Final Four we've

ever had. ytically, according to Ken Palm's historical rankings, these teams are all in the

top 10 in all-time efficiency. You have Duke number two all-time with two Duke teams sandwiched

around them at one and three. At number six, you have this Houston team, which is actually more

efficient than last year's dominant UConn team. At eight, you have Florida, and at 10, you have

Auburn. So today in this video, I want to give you everything you need to know. Well, maybe not

everything. I don't pretend to be the smartest person in the world, but everything you need to

know before the final four tomorrow let's start with the first matchup the number one seed florida

versus the number one overall seed auburn and we'll start with florida's journey up until this

point florida started off this year going 13 and 0 they then lose three of their next eight so they

were 18 and 3 before finishing the season strong 15 and 1 the rest of the way winning the sec

tournament with the only loss in that stretch being to georgia now florida was not expected

to be this dominant of a team heading into the year they were 21st in the preseason top 25 but

as we sit right now they are third in ken pom's efficiency rankings second in offense and 10th in

defense and obviously being in sec auburn and florida have played once this year it was back

in february and it was at auburn with elijah martin out for the gators and florida pretty

much ran them out of their building. They were up 48 to 38 at halftime with a lead as large as 19

in the second half, winning 90 to 81. Alex Condon was phenomenal in this game. He had 17 points on

seven for eight from the field. Walter Clayton Jr. had 19 at nine assists and six rebounds

And Thomas Houth had 16 and six. On Auburn's side, Jani Broome did have 18 points, but he struggled

being efficient, going seven for 16 from the field. Miles Kelly had one of those Miles Kelly games, 22 points

but Denver Jones did struggle. He went just 0 for 4 from the field

And freshman Tahad Pettiford had 14 off the bench. Let's quickly talk about Auburn's case

up until this point in the year as well. So Auburn was the number one team in the nation

for a majority of the year. They went 27 and two in their first 29 games

with their two losses being to Florida in that game we mentioned already, and at Duke 84-78 at Cameron Indoor

And even in that game, they started out the game 13-2, but down the stretch of the season

Auburn loses their last three of four games, losing to Texas A&M 83-72 in a game

where they actually shot it better from the field than Texas A&M, but they gave up 24 offensive rebounds

losing to Alabama in overtime 93-91, and then losing to Tennessee in the SE tournament semis

70 to 65. So going into the tournament, even though Auburn was the number one overall seed

they were consistently probably the best team all season. They were at a low point

However, they responded well in the NCAA tournament, dominating Alabama state handling Creighton with Michigan They were on the ropes with 15 minutes to go dominate the rest of the game and then controlling that entire Elite Eight game versus Michigan State

So Auburn does seem to have regained their swagger in this NCAA tournament

But Florida, on the other hand, while they were dominant down the stretch of the regular season, winning the SEC tournament

they've had a little more trouble in the NCAA tournament, beating UConn 77 to 75 in the round of 32

and then having to complete a nine-point comeback versus Texas Tech in the Elite Eight

in the last just three minutes of the game. And that leads us to this Final Four matchup

Who do I think has the edge? Who do I think will win? And what do I think some of the keys will be

Like I said, according to Ken Palm, Florida has the second best offense in the nation, 10th best defense

Auburn, third best offense, eighth best defense. Remember, in that game at Auburn that Florida beat them

they didn't even have Elijah Martin. So a couple of keys for me. Number one, I do think with guard play

Walter Clayton Jr. is the best guard on the floor by far. Matter of fact, he's the best guard in the entire country

So the Gators clearly have the edge there. Can Tahod Pettiford, the freshman off the bench for Auburn

play up to Walter Clayton Jr.'s level? I mean, he definitely could

He's been balling in this NCAA tournament. They're going to need him to score in this game and create

But another key to me is this Janai Broom-Alex Condon matchup. Who wins it

I mean, I know Jani Broome did have 16, 9, and 6 in that first game, but Condon won that matchup

in my opinion. Broome missed 9 shots, went 7 for 16 from the field, and if Auburn is going to win

this game, he's going to have to score 25 plus, in my opinion, on a good, efficient night

Meanwhile, Condon cannot score 17 points on 7 for 10 from the field, which is what he did in that

first game, but just in general, Auburn has to be better on the interior. Florida went 18 for 31

from two in that first game so for me i'm gonna say florida wins this one and not a hot take at all

walter clayton jr like i said he's the best guard in this tournament i don't think auburn has guard

play that can keep up i also don't think that jenny broom is going to be extremely successful

versus condon and how plus thomas how just had the game of his life versus texas tech can he keep

that play up in this final four game i'm gonna say walter clayton jr has 25 and 7 in this one

Alex Condon has 16 and 10 and Thomas Howe finishes with 20 points. Elijah Martin and Will Richard

obviously very important players. I think they both have 12 apiece. And Florida moves on to the

title game for the first time since they repeated as champions in 2007. Now, if we want to talk

about how can Auburn win this game, because obviously they can. If you're a Tiger fan here

I'm not saying this is a foregone conclusion. Absolutely they can win. But if they're going

to win i think jenny broom needs to be the star of this game the best player on the court he needs

to put up 25 minimum on extreme efficiency let's say 12 13 rebounds he needs to dominate alex condon

on both sides of the floor also todd pettiford has to have at least 15 ideally closer to 20 maybe 18

and then lastly a huge key i don't know if many people are talking about auburn needs both denver

Jones and Miles Kelly to be on. It feels like in this tournament at least only one of them has been

on in any given game on the offensive end. They need both guys to have three plus threes in this

game So anyways either way this is going to be a phenomenal game I so excited for it and now we going to talk about the second game in the final four number one seed Duke versus number one seed Houston These are the top two teams in Ken Palm but with two drastically

different styles, you have the number one offense versus the number one defense. Let's talk about

Duke first. Like I said, number one offense in the country, number five defense in the country

second most efficient Ken Palm team in NCAA history behind that Elton brand 1999 Duke team

And what's crazy is Duke struggled early. They went just four and two in their first six games

losing to Kentucky 77-72 and to Kansas 75-72. After that, they would lose just one game the

rest of the year, going 31-3, losing to Clemson 77-71. Now you do have to admit the ACC is

incredibly weak. Two of those teams that they played earlier in the season that they lost to

were SEC teams. However, Duke led that Kentucky game the entire game until the end, and they've

proven that they are this good in the NCAA tournament, dominating Alabama 85-65. Cooper

Flag has been phenomenal in this tournament. They beat Mount St. Mary's by a ton, defeated Baylor

89 to 66 even the sweet 16 versus arizona winning 193 that game was double digits almost the entire

second half and duke's offense is not skewed one way or the other when it comes to how they score

they're the eighth best team in the country in three-point percentage sixth best in two-point

percentage they're even better at defending inside the arc third in the country and they're led by

three freshmen in Cooper flag con caneple and come on malawatch who will all be top 10 picks

in the upcoming nba draft it also helps when you have a guy like tyrese proctor who can go off for

25 points on any given night and a guy like cian james who is obviously a good three-point shooter

a bigger guard at 6'6 and can defend well but let's take a look at the houston side because at

the same time this is going to be by far the best team duke has played all year like i said they are

second overall in Ken Palm and they are the sixth best Ken Palm team of all time. This Houston team

had a huge loss last year in Jamal Shedd, the best defender probably in the country and someone who

I think was their second leading scorer last year. At the end of the day, he was their leader, but

Kevin Sampson has developed such a culture at Houston that it's almost getting to the point

where it doesn't seem to matter who his personnel is. He's just going to continue to churn out

elite eight teams year in and year out like i said first defense in the country at 87.4 points

per 100 possessions the 10th best offense they also struggled out the gate in this season going

just four and three to start the year losing to auburn losing to alabama and overtime and then

losing to san diego state and overtime as well in that game versus auburn it was all the way back

in November and they were actually leading 41-32 with 14 minutes to go. In the Alabama game

they were up 77-73 with a minute left and lose in overtime. And in the San Diego State game

they led a majority of this game, but at the end up two, they actually fouled San Diego State

which allowed them to tie the game and send it into overtime But since that night on November 30th Houston has gone 30 and one in the rest of their games finishing the regular season 30 after winning the Big 12 tournament Just that one loss occurred to Texas Tech in overtime 82

As for their journey in the NCAA tournament, they beat 16-seed Southern Illinois Edwardsville

They beat Gonzaga by five after almost collapsing versus Gonzaga late in that game. Same thing

versus Purdue 62 to 60. They barely won that game on a crazy inbounds play by Calvin Sampson

And lastly, they destroyed Tennessee, which was an incredible performance on the defensive end

69 to 50. So let's talk about this game for a second. I know that come on Malewatch has really

come on lately. He's seven feet tall. The draft buzz is crazy, but I wonder what guys like Juwan

Roberts and Joseph Tugler have in store for him physicality wise. They're both only listed

at 6'8", but they obviously play a lot bigger than that. As for the guard play, it's going to be

Milos Uzan, LJ Cryer, Emmanuel Sharp versus Khan Knipple, Tyrese Proctor, and Sian James. I do think

Houston has the edge in the guard play outside of Khan. I just don't trust Sian James or Tyrese

Proctor over these Houston guards. Uzan's actually a transfer this year from Oklahoma. Sharp and Cryer

were on that incredible Houston team last year that got beat by Duke in the Sweet 16 after Jamal

Shedd sprained his ankle and could not return. So with that being said, I don't think you stop

Cooper Flagg. I think the question is, can you stop Tyrese Proctor? Can you stop Khan? And can

you limit, come on, Malawatch's impact offensively? I really think they do take Malawatch out of this

game. I think the physicality of Tugler and Roberts, they're two of the best defenders in

the nation. I think Cooper Flagg and Con Canipple are going to be largely effective still. However

can LJ Cryer, Emmanuel Sharp, and Milos Uzan offset that by outplaying Tyrese Proctor and

Sion James? My prediction for this game is going to be that Duke wins. Cooper Flagg finds a way to

get it done. I think this game goes a little too heavy scoring than Houston's comfortable with

I'm going to say Duke wins 72 to 70, but I'll tell you what, if this game does not break into

the mid to late 60s, Houston's winning. If they can keep it in the low 60s, I really do believe

in their defense to execute and just their offensive execution down the stretch. Kelvin

Sampson has proven himself to be an absolutely unbelievable coach, but John Shire has been

phenomenal as well. Again, these are the best two teams in the nation via Kempom. Two of the best

teams all time with two completely different styles of play. Either way, what I think doesn't

really matter this is everything that you need to know about these games it's gonna be a fun one

just enjoy it guys at the end of the day this is going to be such a fun final four so just enjoy it

obviously if you're a fan of one of these teams it's going to be a wild ride an emotional roller

coaster but even though this march madness has been a little disappointing from the upset and

even buzzer beater lens we did have a couple buzzer beaters but the upset lens at least we

have gotten the four best teams by far in the nation into a historic final four where there

isn't going to be any blowouts lord willing and there's going to be just some unbelievably high

level basketball being played that's what i'm excited for thank you guys so much for watching

this video we'll be back sunday with a recap of these games and as always we'll see you