Here's where Florida basketball's national championship win ranks among top 25 of 2000s
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
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New York Times
32 minutes ago
- New York Times
Astros rookie Cam Smith now takes the later bus to games — and it could shape his career
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The Astros' 22-year-old wunderkind is walking into uncharted territory, where such a dogged work ethic may do more harm than help. 'It kills him when we tell him that,' first-base coach Dave Clark said. 'He's just such a perfectionist. But he's taken to it. He's starting to understand a little bit.' Two months remain in what is already the longest season of Smith's baseball life, a fact reiterated to the rookie by those around him. Smith's preference is to not change a thing about the routine he's crafted, be it taking the first bus, being early to the batting cages or continuing to learn the intricacies of outfield play alongside Clark. 'Just tell him that he ain't f—ing doing it,' Clark said with a smile. 'Leave it at that. Say, 'Hey, you're not doing it. That's it. Go sit down. Go back inside.' Because if we left it up to him, he'd still be doing it. We just have to make sure we are adamant about what we tell him.' 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Even Smith's draft year only featured a combined 98 games and 384 plate appearances between college and the Chicago Cubs' minor-league system. Carrying him on the Opening Day roster this year all but assured Smith would shatter those benchmarks. He has already appeared in 88 games and accrued 349 plate appearances — and he's feeling the effects. 'He does not look as fresh as he did on Opening Day,' Clark acknowledged, claiming the club's recent trip through Colorado and Los Angeles took a bigger toll on Smith than others. 'He's getting used to it, but (if) we start to see maybe he's a step slower or his bat is dragging a little bit or he's not running like he normally runs, we'll just shut him down.' Houston does not have that luxury, but even if it did, it is far from the team's intent. Tailoring Smith's pre- or postgame workload is the priority. 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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
2026 NBA Finals contenders: Which teams elevated themselves this offseason?
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USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Big Ten's College Football Playoff plan is recipe for making season worse, not better
Tony Petitti says his preferred College Football Playoff format would make for a compelling November, and, on that point, I agree with the Big Ten commissioner. November, though, doesn't require a commissioner's help. That portion of college football's calendar already rocks, full of epic rivalries and crucial games that influence playoff qualifications and seeding. On a wild Saturday last November, Florida upset Mississippi and Oklahoma stunned Alabama in results that altered the playoff field. That same day, Penn State barely survived Minnesota, and Arizona State wriggled past Brigham Young in a thriller with playoff stakes. Regular-season television ratings peak in November. It's the rest of the season that could use a boost. That's where Petitti's controversial 4+4+2+2+1+3 playoff plan falls flat. Big Ten playoff plan would devalue non-conference games Petitti claims to want a playoff model that would improve the regular season, but his plan wouldn't achieve that goal. The surest way to improve the season would be to incentivizing teams to play tough non-conference games and reduce the feast of cupcake games that shackle the season's early weeks. Petitti, though, aims to devalue non-conference games. November would stay great in his plan, and play-in Saturday would generate buzz, but his idea to award more than 80% of the playoff bids based on conference standings and play-in games would diminish September and, to a lesser extent, even October. 'Fans will gravitate to' play-in games, Petitti said Tuesday at Big Ten media days. At what cost? One play-in Saturday is not worth deflating September. If the playoff became a Petitti production based mostly on conference results, interconference games like Ohio State-Texas, LSU-Clemson and Michigan-Oklahoma would become glorified exhibitions. ABSOLUTE POWER: Big Ten, SEC fight to shape College Football Playoff HOME FIELDS: Our ranking of toughest Big Ten college football stadiums Play-in Saturday could prop up average teams Petitti admits to wanting to prolong the playoff hopes of average teams. He sees the chance for an 8-4 Big Ten team winning a play-in game and cracking the playoff as an asset, not a detriment. I see a structure that would make the season's first two months less relevant. I'm envisioning a scenario in which Iowa loses to Iowa State in a September non-conference matchup, and the Hawkeyes slog to 8-4 before winning a play-in game to reach the playoff, while the Cyclones go 10-2, lose a play-in game and miss the playoff. That's how a playoff becomes a farce. Fortunately, Petitti's playoff plan is going nowhere fast. He's failed to gain support from other conferences. The playoff format for 2026 and beyond remains undecided. Petitti would like to diminish the selection committee's role and, as he puts it, allow playoff spots to be decided on the field and not in a boardroom. In practice, his plan not only would dimish the selection committee, but it also could dilute the influence of some November results. Alabama, Mississippi and Miami lost to unranked opponents late last November, results that bounced them from the playoff. If Petitti's model had been in place, the losing teams would have retained a playoff path through play-in games. I don't see how college football's season improves if Syracuse upsetting Miami on the final day of November carries no weight on the playoff picture. How to actually improve college football's regular season Petitti's playoff plan would earmark four automatic bids for the Big Ten and four more for the SEC – that's half of a 16-team field – while the Big 12 and ACC received only two automatic bids apiece. Is it any wonder why the Big Ten hatched this plan, and the Big 12 and ACC detest it? If Petitti wants to get serious about improving the regular season, then he's going about this backward by focusing on conference standings and propping up mediocre teams. Here's how you improve the regular season: Preserve automatic bids for conference champions, but keep most of the playoff bracket open to at-large bids, and devise a system in which the playoff committee values meaningful non-conference results while evaluating bubble teams. As it is now, Big Ten teams like Indiana and Nebraska are canceling their toughest non-conference games in favor of weaker schedules, and SEC teams cling to their Championship Subdivision games like a child hugs a security blanket. These gimme games bog down the schedule, particularly early in the season. To rectify that, task the selection committee to reward teams that schedule – and win – tough non-conference games and hold accountable bubble teams that beefed up their record purely by blasting patsies. Do this, and you'd spur more Big Ten vs. SEC games, of which there are only three this season. Likewise, only three SEC teams will play a Big 12 opponent. Generating more high-stakes non-conference clashes between Power Four opponents not only would become a boon for September audience, those games also would help the committee separate the wheat from the chaff come selection time. Imagine if Oklahoma played Oklahoma State this October, instead of Kent State, or if Texas played Texas Tech in September, instead of Sam Houston, or if Southern California opened the season against Missouri, instead of Missouri State. That's how you improve the season. College football needs a play-in Saturday in December less than it needs more significant non-conference games, some of which could restore rivalries that conference realignment interrupted. College basketball figured this out. The NCAA men's tournament selection committee values victories against opponents within the top quadrants and thereby rewards teams that schedule tough. Qualifying for March Madness isn't purely an exercise of assembling a fine record. Who you played, and who you beat, matters. Teams that avoid tough games are held accountable in bubble debates. Petitti claims he's got college football's regular season at heart in his playoff plan. He's wrong. His playoff plan would diminish and neglect the non-conference portion of the schedule that needs enhancement. Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
