Ty Watches the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Final

The men's title game came and went last night. I missed the first half, I was out to dinner with my family. But I did make it home for the second half and my son and I dipped in and out.

When we turned it on Houston was in the lead. They actually built that lead up to ten points early in the second half. It looked like they could have run away with it. But that didn't happen. Houston went stone cold and got kind of stagnant. And Florida did what they have done all tourney long and clawed and scratched their way back to take a late lead. They eventually had a two point lead near the end of the game, but it was Houston's ball. It was shaping up to be an epic finish, but I should have thought differently after watching Houston slowly blow their lead. Houston didn't even get a shot off. They had over ten seconds to tie or take the lead, but they never put the ball anywhere close to the hoop. That's brutal, especially in a title game. And while I felt a little bad for Kelvin Sampson, he should have had his team ready to shoot the ball. They had to have the best possible play call at the time. But they didn't and it cost them.

Taking a big step back and looking at the game as a whole, it was indicative of what I have an issue with basketball at the current moment. This was a sloppy, sloppy game. Sure, I have to assume the players were tired, but this is the title game between two number 1 seeds. This should have been a far, far better game. Houston and Florida were both atop the rankings pretty much all season. They both have college basketball stars on their teams. Florida has a young savant as a head coach and Kelvin Sampson is one of the best to ever do it. But all of that did not matter on the court. Both teams shot poorly from the field. Florida shot 39 percent from the floor, Houston was even worse, at 34 percent. The three point shooting was even worse. Florida made 6 of 24 threes. That is good enough for 25 percent. Houston, they went 6 of 25, good enough for 24 percent. The two teams combined to shoot 12 of 49 from three, which comes out to 24 percent. The free throw shooting was askew as well. Florida made 17 of 21, which is solid. Houston went 9 of 14. That's not great, but still okay. But, Florida had more makes than Houston had attempts. When that happens I get annoyed. It showed a clear favoritism. And it wasn't like Houston was fouling to extend the game. I feel like officials are getting way too involved, and when they decide to favor one team, that takes a ton away from the game for me. The shooting was rough, the free throw shooting was messy and the lack of explosive plays, minus one early dunk, made for a very boring and dull game.

After the tourney was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, I craved it. When it came back in 2021, I remembered how much I missed it. And watching UConn run the sport for the past two years was kind of cool. But, the game last night was a reminder of what I dislike about current basketball. It took me back to when Duke was winning titles. I wasn't moved or impressed with hardly anything. I know that I have my personal issues with the game, but the poor shooting and insertion of the refs made this tough for most to watch I have to imagine. Oh well. I guess I have to hope that the NBA playoffs are better. Fingers crossed. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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