Winners and Losers from the 2025 Men's NCAA Tournament

The 2025 men's NCAA tournament came to a close on Monday night, with the Florida Gators earning a hard-fought 65-63 victory over the Houston Cougars for their first national championship since they won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007.

Despite one of the chalkiest tournaments we've seen in years, there was still no shortage of memorable moments, and so many top-seeded teams advancing deep into the tournament just made for a lot of highly competitive basketball.

Now it's time to slap a bow on this year's festivities with our biggest takeaways from the 2025 men's NCAA tournament, from the First Four games on March 18 and 19 through Monday's title game.

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Aside from the No. 10 seed Arkansas Razorbacks, who are far from a mid-major program coming out of the SEC, there were only four double-digit seeds that won a game at this year's NCAA tournament.

No. 10 New Mexico
No. 11 Drake
No. 12 Colorado State
No. 12 McNeese

All four coaches from those schools have moved on to a bigger job since their team was eliminated from the NCAA tournament.

Richard Pitino: New Mexico to Xavier
Ben McCollum: Drake to Iowa
Niko Medved: Colorado State to Minnesota
Will Wade: McNeese to NC State

In the case of Pitino (Minnesota) and Wade (LSU), it is a return to the major conference level, while McCollum and Medved will be steering the ship at that level of competition for the first time.

It's a good reminder that while March Madness is a great opportunity for players to audition for a potential pro future, it can also allow coaches to raise their profile and potentially cash in on the coaching carousel.

Only five double-digit seeds were still alive in the second round.

Just one double-digit seed made it to the Sweet 16.

No team seeded lower than No. 3 reached the Elite Eight.

All four No. 1 seeds made the Final Four.

There has been some great basketball played during the 2025 men's NCAA tournament, but if you were tuning in to see some of that famous "madness" that March basketball is known for, it has not been your year.

Arguably the biggest upset of the tournament was No. 2 seed St. John's falling in the second round, but even that loss came to an Arkansas team that no one would classify as a Cinderella story even as a No. 10 seed. After all, they were No. 16 in the preseason AP poll.

Maybe this year was simply an anomaly.

After all, it's not the first time all four No. 1 seeds have reached the Final Four, as it also happened back in 2008.

However, this could also be a direct result of the transfer portal era, in which the rich get richer by poaching the rosters of mid-major teams and the gap between the top contenders and everyone else continues to widen.

Buzzer-beaters and March Madness might just be the peanut butter and jelly of sports.

Kris Jenkins (Villanova), Jalen Suggs (Gonzaga) and Lamont Butler (San Diego State) have hit some of the most memorable buzzer-beaters in recent NCAA tournament history, and even without a long list of upsets, this year's tournament has still provided a pair of memorable game-winners.

It was almost Colorado State guard Jalen Lake who etched his name into March Madness history, as he knocked down a three-pointer with six seconds remaining to give the Rams a 71-70 lead over Maryland.

With a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line, Maryland star Derik Queen answered the call on the other end of the floor, banking in a fadeaway jumper from 12 feet out as time expired to stave off the upset and add a memorable NCAA tournament moment to his fantastic freshman season.

This year's other notable game-winner came on a simple inbounds play.

With 2.2 seconds left on the clock and the score tied, Houston was inbounding under its own basket, and head coach Kelvin Sampson drew up the perfect play to get the go-ahead bucket.

Point guard Milos Uzan threw it in to Joseph Tugler, who delivered a bounce pass right back to him for an easy layup with 0.9 seconds remaining, avoiding overtime and paving the way for the Cougars to advance to the Elite Eight.

There's nothing quite like the drama of a buzzer-beater in a single-elimination tournament.

Ride or die with your star player.

That's the mindset of most college coaches, but not Hall of Famer Rick Pitino.

RJ Luis Jr. won Big East Player of the Year this season, averaging 18.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.4 steals as one of the most improved players in the country, also earning second-team AP All-American honors.

He had 29 points and 10 rebounds against Creighton in the Big East championship game, taking home MVP honors in the conference tournament, and he poured in 22 points on 14 shot attempts against Omaha in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

However, he had just nine points on 3-of-17 shooting when he was subbed out of the team's second-round game against Arkansas with 4:56 remaining and the Red Storm trailing by two points.

He did not return to the game.

The Razorbacks went on an 11-4 run to close out the upset victory, and St. John's ended up being the only team seeded on the top two seed lines that failed to reach the Elite Eight.

Ultimately, Pitino skated around questions of why Luis spent the end of the game on the bench, and the junior guard declared for the NBA draft and entered the transfer portal in the days that followed so his time at St. John's is finished one way or another.

A disappointing end to the year for one of the players who defined the 2024-25 college basketball season.

A 5-star recruit and the top freshman on an experienced Auburn team heading into the season, Tahaad Pettiford did not always have a clearly defined role, disappearing at times.

He had a three-game stretch in February against Arkansas, Georgia and Ole Miss in which he scored a combined 10 points on 3-of-16 from the field and 1-of-10 from beyond the arc.

He was even held scoreless in 18 minutes of action during Auburn's loss to Tennessee in the SEC tournament, but by the time his NCAA tournament run came to an end, he was left looking like a potential All-American candidate for next season if he does not opt to go pro.

Over five games, he averaged 15.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists, connecting on eight three-pointers and giving the Tigers offense a major spark off the bench while averaging 27.8 minutes of action.

After tallying just four 20-point performances in 33 games entering the NCAA tournament, he reached that mark twice during March Madness, turning in standout performances against Creighton (23 points) and Michigan (20 points).

Pettiford has declared for the NBA draft, but he is maintaining his college eligibility, and if he does return there is no question where he will be suiting up next year.

"If I return, it will be to Auburn," Pettiford told reporters. "I can't leave this type of situation. I trust BP with all my heart, so I will roll with him. Loyalty is important to me."

His stock is up, but it has the potential to climb significantly higher if he returns for his sophomore season.

Cooper Flagg has a chance to be a generational talent at the next level, and he put together one of the greatest freshman seasons in college basketball history this year en route to National Player of the Year honors.

He filled up the stat sheet in Duke's matchup against Houston in the Final Four, finishing with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals, and he averaged 21.0 points over five games in what will almost certainly be his only trip to the NCAA tournament.

However, he had a chance to further add to his Duke legacy.

With the Blue Devils trailing by one point with 17.2 seconds remaining, the final play was drawn up for Flagg, and while his 12-footer was contested, it was a good look considering everyone in the arena knew who was going to take that shot.

"It's the play Coach drew up," Flagg told reporters. "Took it into the paint. Thought I got my feet set, rose up. Left it short, obviously. It's a shot I'm willing to live with in the scenario, going up on the rim, trust the work that I've put in."

Houston pulled down the rebound and LJ Cryer hit a pair of free throws to seal the victory, capping off a 9-0 run over the final 33 seconds in a 70-67 win.

Falling short of the national championship game takes nothing away from the season that Flagg put together this year, and the Blue Devils don't get to that point without his contributions this year, but the storybook ending was right there on a platter.

The Houston Cougars had made it to the NCAA tournament just once in the last 22 years when Kelvin Sampson stepped into the head coach seat prior to the 2014-15 season.

In his fourth season, the team returned to March Madness for the first time since 2010 and won a game in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1984, but that was only the beginning.

The Cougars may have come up short on Monday night, but Sampson has built the program into a national powerhouse, laying a foundation built on tough defense and plugging in players who fit his philosophy rather than simply chasing talent like so many other teams today.

Houston set a school record with 35 wins this season while earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the third year in a row. It was just their third trip to the national championship game, and their first since they made back-to-back trips in 1983 and 1984.

LJ Cryer and J'Wan Roberts are both out of eligibility, while Milos Uzan could head to the NBA, but the team still figures to return Emanuel Sharp and Joseph Tugler alongside a terrific recruiting class.

They came up short this time around, but don't be surprised if Houston is right back in the title game at this time next year.

The Florida Gators were something of an afterthought on a national level when the season started, checking in No. 21 in the preseason AP poll and sixth in the SEC media poll.

With Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard back the team had returning talent, but Zyon Pullin had moved on to the NBA and Tyrese Samuel graduated, leaving holes to be filled on the roster.

One of those holes was addressed with the addition of Alijah Martin in the transfer portal, and he joined Clayton and Richard to form a lethal trio of guards that allowed the Gators to run and gun their way to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and ultimately a national championship.

A 13-0 start to the year during non-conference play vaulted them into the top-10 in the AP poll, and they ended up going 14-4 in the gauntlet that was SEC play before beating Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee by a combined 45 points to claim the SEC tournament title.

The road through the NCAA tournament field was not an easy one, as they survived close games against UConn (77-75) in the second round, Texas Tech (84-79) in the Elite Eight and Auburn (79-73) in the Final Four before pulling out a two-point victory over Houston (65-63) on Monday night.

Clayton took home Most Outstanding Player honors, but it was a total team effort, with big Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Thomas Haugh providing support to the team's standout guards and Denzel Aberdeen serving as an offensive spark off the bench.

The Gators beat nation's No. 1 defense in Houston, according to KenPom, making them well-deserved national champions in a season where the upper-echelon of teams was simply on another level.