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Florida Gators National Championship win was the first of its kind and it's really impressive

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Tyler Forness | Last updated Apr 8, 2025 8:03 PM ET

The Florida Gators only led the Houston Cougars for a total of 64 seconds, but it was enough to get the win to secure the third national championship in school history with a 65-63 win.

Head coach Todd Golden led a talented, resilient squad to the win after being down by double digits in early in the second half. Not only that, but the Cougars held All-American point guard Walter Clayton Jr. without a field goal until the final six minutes of the game.

Florida Gators achieve milestone in National Championship win

It wasn't the prettiest win for the Gators on Monday night. The teams started a combined 0-12 from three-point range and needed time to settle into the game. Once they did, the Gators found a way to eliminate the deficit.

What made the entire season, where the Gators went 36-4, winning the toughest single conference in NCAA history, so special was the roster. Golden didn't have a single player on the roster that was a top 100 recruit, making the Gators the first team ever to win a National Championship without one.

For parents worrying about their kid’s rankings, stop, take a moment to review “rankings”. Rankings don’t define a players ability or skill. More than 1/2 of pros weren’t ranked. @gatorsmbk is the first team to win without a Top 100 recruit on the roster. Development never ends!
— Jon Beck (@CoachJonBeck) April 8, 2025

That speaks to a couple of things: talent development and identification in the transfer portat. Clayton came from Iona, guard Alijah Martin from Florida Atlantic, who was the first player ever to start for two teams in the Final Four, and guard Will Richard came from Belmont.

It kind of stinks that this is where college basketball is heading with the transfer portal, but it's an unintended consequence for making sure the players get what they deserve. It also means that talent identification through the transfer portal is going to be come so much more important than ever before.

Luckily for the Gators, they seem to have figured it out.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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