Soon a guide to the final of men: Auburn vs. Florida and Duke vs. Houston

Final Four Men’s Final Four is set up – and that’s all seeds No. 1 for the first time since 2008.

The Florida Gators and AUBURN TIGERS On Saturday he will open the semifinal event at 18:09 et, followed by Houston Cougars and Duke Blue Devils at 20:49 ET (both on CBS).

With all the chalks on a walk of San Antonio River Walk, who sees our university basketball experts facing the National Championship on April 7?

They break as each team has achieved the National Semifinals of the NCAA tournament and its keys to advance to the title game and also predict the winners. (Tip: Agree with one match but not on the other.)

Go to: Auburn vs. Florida | Duke vs. Houston

Final Four Preview

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What to know about Florida

Factor No. 1 that helped Florida to achieve Final Four: No team in America was able to turn games to their advantage with the devastating leadership as Gators have.

After nine points with 3:14 to play against Texas Tech, they ended the game at 18-4 run similar to those we saw from them several times this season. It was in this tournament that Maryland 47-33 surpassed 16 in the second half of their sweet victory and had 53 points in the opening round in less than 17 minutes against the state of Norfolk.

They launched the same knockout strikes against other elite teams. At the SeC tournament championship, Florida was tied to Tennessee at the age of 16 with 11:30 to play in the first half. Eight minutes later, Gators had a 12-point lead.

Florida is a university basketball equivalent to home Hitter at the bottom of the ninth shift. It has never ended with Gators because of the way they can entertain control over games, even though they seem to be out of reach.

FLORIDY key against Auburn: Walter Clayton Jr.’s brilliance.

Final Four is about the stars. Teams that have players shining under the brightest lights are teams that eventually reduce networks and win national championships. There is a reason why we mention Anthony Davis, Carmelo Anthony, Kemba Walker, Mateen Cleaves and Jay Williams when we are discussing the biggest NCAA tournaments. Star power rules. And next to Cooper FlaggFlorida can have the biggest star of all in Clayton Jr. His complete will and talent could be the decisive facts of whether Gators wins the title. – Myron Medcalf

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What to know about Auburn

Factor No. 1, which helped Auburn to achieve Final Four: Tightening defensively.

When Auburn had struggles in the section of the season, he lost three out of four games, the tigers basically disintegrated defensively. In all three defeats they allowed at least 1.13 points to hold, committed too many fouls and tried to defend the edge. However, since the NCAA tournament leaned, they have looked much more like a team that started the 27-2 season. The Bruce Pearl team did a much better job with limiting easy opportunities, which only allowed Creighton to reach one point for possession.

Denver Jones is one of the elite peripheral defenders in the ground, the tigers defend the three -point arch incredibly well and John Broome and Dylan Cardwell to protect the color. However, foul restrictions will be crucial.

Auburn’s key to Florida: John Broome.

Broome took an unpleasant fall in the middle of the second half of Sunday’s elite eight victories over the Michigan state and immediately went to the dressing room and offered words of encouragement Chany Johnson And gives their parents an update on the way. It seemed that his night – and maybe more – ended. But Broome came out of the dressing room after only five minutes of the action and checked back and then quickly buried the 3-proofer to strengthen Auburn.

This Saturday looked sufficiently healthy enough to perform at a high level, but would have to be 100 percent to compete with a deep and talented frontcourt in Florida. – Jeff Borzello

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Florida vs. forecast Auburn

Jeff Borzello: Florida Wins, 82-79
Joe Lunardi: Florida wins, 85-80
Myron Medcalf: Florida Wins, 88-84

Florida led the first meeting between these teams by up to 21 points before won 90-81 on the road. Gators made 13 3 with against tigers sec-the best 3-point defense and in Florida Walter Clayton Jr. He strengthened his case as the best guard in the country. Florida has not slowed down since then, nor Clayton, who in this NCAA tournament performed at one of all time of the shot. Can Denver Jones Limit Clayton’s clean look?

Gators have size and depth inside to make life difficult John Broome And it can win more ways than tigers can. – Jeff Borzello

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What to know about Houston

Factor No. 1 that helped Houston to achieve Final Four: 3-point shooting.

The easy answer would be D – and we get to the elite defensive unit of the Cougar. However, the biggest difference between this year’s team and the previous iterations of Kelvina Sampson is the ability of the Cougar to be constantly shooting from the perimeter. They lead Earth in 3-point shooting, so almost 40% of their shots from behind the arch, with three appetizers shoot 42% or better.

Houston has an average of nine 3s in the NCAA tournament and was able to remove his life from Tennessee in Eight Eight with Dagger 3 after a dagger 3 late in the game. Cougars hit five trees on Sunday at the last 5:30, which destroyed any chance of returning volunteers.

Houston’s key against the Duke: Defense> A crime.

Saturday’s last four clearing against Duke will present the most effective offense in the Kenpom era (since 1996-97) against the best defense of the nation. Can bombs slow down blue devils? Duke organizes teams throughout the season, capable of defeating opponents in different ways, be it via Cooper Flagg3-point shooting or using your superior size to complete around the edge.

Houston will have to shuffle the game, make sure it will mostly remain in half the court environment, and then try to rely on their experience and physicality to get Duke’s young stars out of their rhythm. Will the best defense be better than the best offense? Houston must hope that this is the case. – Jeff Borzello

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What to know about Duke

Factor No. 1 that helped Duke to achieve the finals: Duke is just more talented than any other team.

Cooper Flagg and colleagues of the NBA prospects Khaman Maluach and Kon Knuepel It deserves most of the loan, but the fleet of talent down with the list has improved everything the coach Jon Scheyer has done.

They were more competitive practices. This allowed the team to overcome the adversity (see: win the title of ACC tournament with Flagg injured). And this means that in the last stage of the season, players coming from the bench would be appetizers for many other teams – Caleb Foster was the Top-30 recruiting in high school, Isaiah Evans can be selected at the beginning of the second round of this year’s NBA Summer Design, Mason Gillis helped Purdue to achieve a national title game a year ago and Patrick Ngongba II was 26. Place in ESPN in the recruitment class 2024. How many teams bring players of this pedigree from the bench?

Above, there is simply no team in the field that can build a comparable collection of elite players.

Duke’s key against Houston: Blue Devils ability to protect the edge and defend color.

This Duke team has one of the best defensive units in the recent program history. Against the Alabama team, which produced 25 3 3-proofers in Sweet 16, Blue Devils forced Crimson Tide to unpleasant, beyond balance. Alabama plays at the fastest pace in America, but Duke transformed this pace to chaos and limited the Alabam’s possibilities around the edge.

Blue Devils are assertive with their interior defense, be it Khaman Maluach Changing and blocking shots, Cooper Flagg Snoring players for 90 feet or others call on the opponents on the perimeter and then feed them to big men Blue Devils. Alabama was on Saturday outcored in double digits, partly because Duke does not give enemy teams space to get comfortably in the post. – Myron Medcalf

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Houston vs. Duke’s predictions

Jeff Borzello: Duke wins, 70-68
Myron Medcalf: Duke wins, 74-70

It will be an incredible contrast of elite crimes versus elite defense, which represents one of the youngest teams in Versus one of the oldest teams. The problem for Cougars is that Blue Devils also have an elite defense to go with their historically good offense.

Duke can switch everything and is able to run a good shooter from a 3-point line with Khaman Maluach In the color to protect the rim. Houston will try to disrupt the Duke, but the Blue Devils offense has been almost anything throughout the season. This will continue San Antonio. – Jeff Borzello

Joe Lunardi: Houston wins, 75-70

Duke of freshmen Cooper Flagg, Kon Knuepel, Khaman Maluach and Patrick Ngongba II Create as a good front as every college coach might want. They are also 18, 19, 18 and 19 years old. Houston will face J’wan Roberts (Age 23, 170 Career Games), Ja’vier Francis (22, 128 games), Terrance Arceneaux (22, 83 games) and Joseph Tugler (20, 66 games). It is a huge difference in experience and basketball maturity.

In general, I would still choose talent over experience, but it is not like Houston boys were unfinished. Cougars won 159 games in the J’wan Roberts-Kelvin Sampson era. This is their second finals four together. Cougars, in 17 victories in a row, can also claim the longest winning strip of the nation. Since November, they lost only once and lost only once in regulation throughout the season.

This is a wonderful match in all directions, but I take experienced veterans over the most talented freshmen in the tournament. – Joe Lunars