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Here's where Florida basketball's national championship win ranks among top 25 of 2000s

Here's where Florida basketball's national championship win ranks among top 25 of 2000s

USA Todaya day ago
Florida basketball's run to the national championship trophy this spring culminated in one of the greatest games in the history of the Gators' hoops program. It was also among the best over the past 25 years, according to The Athletic's college basketball staff in their recent rankings.
According to the group, the Orange and Blue's 65-63 comeback victory over the Houston Cougars to seal the university's third NCAA title is the 18th-best game played since the turn of the millennium.
"Houston fans are not going to want to relive this. The Cougars led by 12 with just over 16 minutes to play. They had held Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. in check and the Gators were out of sorts offensively," contributor Lindsay Schnell begins.
"But Florida slowly chipped away and took its first lead of the second half with 46 seconds left. On Houston's final possession, Clayton made a brilliant defensive play, forcing Houston's Emanuel Sharp to pause in the middle of his shooting motion. Worried about traveling, Sharp dropped the ball and watched it bounce, and the Gators pounced. Florida captured its first title in 18 years."
The Gators also got an honorable mention for their 84-83 win over the Wisconsin Badgers on March 24, 2017, in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. Chris Chiozza's coast-to-coast game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer finished off one of the greatest games in Florida's hoops lore.
The Athletic's top 25 best men's college basketball games of the 2000s
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
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