Teams are listed in ascending order of their seed in the 2025 NCAA tournament, with one selection coming from each of the top eight seed lines, just to ensure some warm/hot takes on what were some of the best teams in the season that just ended. Players Graduating: Cameron Matthews, Claudell Harris Jr., RJ Melendez

Madness tournament came to an end Monday night as the Florida Gators took home the NCAA men's basketball championship.

But Florida would not be denied. The Gators looked cooked when Houston opened up a 42-30 second-half lead. But Florida persevered and rallied for a 65-63 win to secure the program's third national championship. The victory denied Houston and head coach Kelvin Sampson each their first.

The Florida Gators downed Houston, denying the Cougars their first-ever title. Florida, one of a record 14 Southeastern Conference teams to make the men's tournament, won its third NCAA championship.

The Florida Gators are the 2025 NCAA Tournament champions after finishing off a legendary season with a comeback win over Houston.

The 2025 men's NCAA tournament is down to the final two teams. Florida narrowly defeated Auburn in their Final Four game, winning 79-73. But that's practically nothing compared to Houston coming back to stun Duke 70-67.

Houston Cougars defenders harassed the Duke Blue Devils, holding the cast of NBA prospects to just one made field goal over the final 10:30 to steer a rabid Final Four comeback victory Saturday in San Antonio.

Does defense win championships? Houston is putting that theory to test in this year's Final Four. After surviving Duke and the Kenpom No. 1-rated offense Saturday, Houston's top-rated defense gets Florida and the No. 2-rated offense Monday in the national championship.

The first NCAA men’s basketball tournament was held in 1939 and saw Oregon emerge from a field of eight as the inaugural champion. In the decades since the tournament’s inception, 36 different teams have won a championship, but no team has won more than UCLA, which has 11 — 10 of which came a span of 12 years from 1964 to 1975.

The 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament will be available across CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. (1) Florida vs. (1) Auburn, 6:09 p.m. on CBS