On April 7, 2025, inside the Alamodome in San Antonio, the Florida Gators were crowned champions.
Confetti rained down from above as Todd Golden received the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship trophy after a 65-53 win over Houston. It was complete jubilation for the Gators, as they once again completed a comeback to seal an NCAA Tournament win — but this time, it was for the biggest prize of all.
While Florida was on top of the college basketball world after its victory in San Antonio, it wasn’t always that way. In last year’s tournament, the Gators were just another one of the 68 teams that compete in the Big Dance, but ultimately ended their run with a loss.
I was there for Florida’s 2024 tournament run, as I covered the first- and second-round games played inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Florida happened to be there and played Colorado in a 7 vs. 10 game in the South Region. The Gators lost that game, and I’d be lying if I told you I thought they’d be champions the year after — but what Florida showed on that brisk Friday afternoon in Indianapolis almost foreshadowed what it was capable of during its 2025 national championship run.
Colorado led by as many as 13 in the second half — doing so with as little as 4:30 to go — and its largest win probability during the game (according to ESPN) was over 98%. But what I saw Florida do right in front of me in Indy was eerily similar to what America saw the Gators do on the biggest stage in 2025.
The Buffaloes led 94–81 with a little over four minutes to play, but Florida immediately went on a 7–0 run to chop the lead by more than half. After that, the Gators got it to within a four-point game with a little over a minute to go, but Colorado responded to put the Buffs up by six with 51 seconds left.
This is where a familiar face would create his first memorable NCAA Tournament moment, as Walter Clayton Jr. allowed Florida to tie things up in a matter of possessions. He hit a 3-pointer, followed by a Florida steal that sent Clayton Jr. to the free-throw line on the next possession. He made one of two free throws, but after Colorado made just one of two on its next possession, the Gators had a chance to even the score with a shot from beyond the arc.
Clayton Jr. took that shot and buried it from 30 feet, sending Gainbridge Fieldhouse into a frenzy. On the next possession, K.J. Simpson made a go-ahead baseline jumper to send Florida packing, as Clayton Jr. couldn’t connect on a half-court heave that would’ve won the game.
While I was impressed with the way Colorado played throughout the game, my lasting impression was more about Clayton Jr. and the Gators. I thought to myself something like: “Wow, Walter Clayton Jr. is special.”
After the game, Golden agreed with my thoughts.
“Walt is a fantastic player,” Golden said. “Got a lot of heart, got a lot of belief. Along with these three up here, he believed the whole time that we could get back in the game. Did a great job attacking the rim late, obviously hit that big 3 to tie it up.”
Clayton Jr. 's 33 points led all scorers and it was his first 30-point performance in the NCAA Tournament, preceding his famous back-to-back 30-point games in the Elite Eight and Final Four of this year’s tournament.
“He's a stud, man. He's a Gator,” Golden said, putting bluntly what Clayton Jr. means to him and the team.
Golden looked to the future in the postgame press conference.
“My hope is that it'll continue to be that way as this group grows and as our program grows, but these guys have laid a great foundation for us that way for sure,” Golden said.
A foundation was certainly laid, as Florida showed something against Colorado — and what they, and particularly Clayton Jr., showed was an instinct of never giving up, never relenting and always knowing that they have a chance to win the game.
While the Gators walked off the court at Gainbridge with their jerseys over their faces, those same faces would be grinning ear to ear a year later, as their nature to fight to the very end was the reason they were crowned champions of 2025.
The Gators came back from six down against UConn in the second round, 10 down against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight, nine down against Auburn in the Final Four, and a miraculous 12 down to Houston in the national championship game.
When Clayton Jr. hit a 3-pointer to take the lead against the Huskies, or when he his back-to-back 3s against Tech to send the Gators to the Final Four, or most recently when the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player pulled up and nailed a 3-pointer to tie things up against Houston in the final moments, it was like I was watching him for the first time all over again in Indianapolis.
After defeating the Cougars to win it all, Will Richard, one of the returnees from the 2024 team, reflected on the team’s comeback ability.
“It's just a testament to who we are as a team,” Richard said. “I feel like we're going to fight till the end and do whatever it takes to give ourselves a chance to win.”
As a returner from last year, Richard was able to finish the job and avenge Florida’s defeat in the 2024 tournament — but someone who wasn’t able to share the championship with the rest of the Gators was Tyrese Samuel, a member of the 2024 team who was forced to leave after his eligibility expired.
Despite not being a part of the 2025 championship team, he saw the writing on the wall.
“I think we put on for Florida and we put Florida back on the map, and this is the foundation that's set, and the standards that are only going to get better from here,” Samuel said in 2024. He then added, “They'll be back next year and they'll be a lot better. I'm just excited to see what's yet to come.”
Samuel was right. Florida was indeed back this year and went all the way using the same mentality that almost earned them a comeback win in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
While Samuel wasn’t there to witness it, Clayton Jr. made the game-saving play in the final possession, while other 2024 returnees — Richard, along with Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh — were on the floor when the final buzzer sounded to end a tournament run littered with comeback victories.
But looking back 382 days before Florida won its third national championship in school history, the Gators showed flashes of what they would become. That’s the beauty of the NCAA Tournament — one year might end in heartbreak with fewer than 10,000 people in the stands, while the next ends in victory with more than 70,000 looking on.
Florida exemplified this, as the Gators’ defeat in Gainbridge Fieldhouse may have been a small part of college basketball history on the surface, but for the Gators, it was the precursor to something special.
