NCAA Tourney: UConn's attempt to 3-peat effort cut short by Florida

March 24, 2025 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

After the opening weekend of 2024-25 NCAA men's basketball tournament play, 32 teams have been eliminated. None bigger than UConn which was trying to become the first men's team to 3-peat since UCLA's incredible run of seven straight titles from 1967-1973.

The Huskies, who entered the tourney as 8-seed in the tough west region, fell 77-75 to the 1-seed Florida Gators in Raleigh. UConn head coach Dan Hurley didn't wait until a press conference to let his thoughts be known, yelling to the Baylor players about to take the floor against Duke, "I hope they don't (f) you like they (f'd) us".

Hurley may have been complaining about the officiating, or he simply could have been reflecting on the fact that UConn's 8-seed was tough to overcome as his team faced Oklahoma in the opening 8-9 game before having to battle one of the tournament's over-all favorites.

Florida coach Todd Golden received a different message as the two shook hands following the final buzzer. Golden said Hurley "was very gracious and very respectful and gave a great message of, hey, congratulations.”

The win by Florida meant 3 of the top 4 seeds advance from the bracket with only 2-seed St. John's being eliminated.

Rick Pitino's squad dropped a 75-66 decision to John Calipari and 10-seed Arkansas in a game that was painful to watch, at times, due to some horrendous shooting. The teams combined to go 4-for-41 from beyond the arc. The Red Storm, as they say, couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, connecting on just 28% of their shots.

Florida will battle 4-seed Maryland on Thursday at 7:39 p.m. ET in San Francisco at the Golden State Warriors' Chase Center. Arkansas and Texas Tech will take the same court in the nightcap.

Of those four teams, Florida is favored to advance. The Gators only trail Duke as national favorites, according to action on the FanDuel.com Sportsbook.

The Terps advanced out of the Seattle pod, but it took Derik Queen's buzzer beater to secure the 72-71 victory and escape the upset bid by 12-seeed Colorado State.

Texas Tech moves on after dashing Drake's hopes for the continuation of a dream season. The Bulldogs fell 77-64 and will have to wait at least another year to crack their first Sweet 16 since 1971 when they concluded a 3-year run of NCAA tourney success that included a 1969 Final Four loss to Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and UCLA.

Florida is making its first Sweet 16 trip since 2017 when they lost to South Carolina in the elite eight.

This will be the fourth appearance by the Red Raiders in the Sweet 16 in the last seven tournaments. They were eliminated by eventual champion and 1-seed Villanova in an Elite Eight match in 2018, fell to 1-seed Virginia in the national championship game in 2019, and lost to 1-seed Duke in the 2022 Sweet 16 at the same venue as this Thursday's game at the Chase Center.

Arkansas now has four Sweet 16 appearances in the last five tourneys after missing last season completely when they finished just 16-17 over-all and 6-12 in the conference. This year, they improved to 19-12 in the regular season, but were still just 8-10 in SEC play. Arkansas was bounced in the Elite Eight in 2021 by eventual champion Baylor, and again in the Elite Eight in 2022 by Duke. In 2023, the Razorbacks fell in the Sweet 16 to eventual champ UConn.

Maryland is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016 and will be look to advance for the first time since 2002 when the Gary Williams-coached Terrapins won the national championship as a 1-seed over 5-seed Indiana, 64-52. The Terps had been eliminated in the previous season's Final Four by eventual champion Duke to give Mike Krzyzewski his third title. At the time, the two schools were ACC foes.

The Sweet 16

Seven teams remain from the SEC with at least two in each region except the East (E):
Auburn (S)
Ole Miss (S)
Florida (W)
Arkansas (W)
Alabama (E)
Tennessee (MW)
Kentucky (MW)

Four teams are from the B1G:
Michigan (S)
Michigan State (S)
Maryland (W)
Purdue (MW)
Note: The South region is all-Big Ten/SEC bracket.

Four teams are from the Big 12:
Texas Tech (W)
Arizona (E)
BYU (E)
Houston (MW)

One team is from the ACC:
Duke

Sweet 16 Regional Brackets

South:
(1) Auburn vs. (5) Michigan
(2) Michigan State vs. (6) Ole Miss

West:
(1) Florida vs. (4) Maryland
(3) Texas Tech vs. (10) Arkansas

East:
(1) Duke vs. (4) Arizona
(2) Alabama vs. (6) BYU

Midwest:
(1) Houston vs. (4) Purdue
(2) Tennessee vs. (3) Kentucky