By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Just because there’s no Cinderella, doesn’t mean there won’t be a storybook ending.

In 2025, the crown will go to a No. 1 seed, as all four top dogs — Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston — advance to the Final Four for the second time in tournament history.

The Blue Devils face the Cougars, while the Tigers take on the Gators, both in San Antonio on April 5th.

The dominance of the SEC has loomed over March, with the conference breaking  one record 14 NCAA Tournament bids, then breaking another with seven teams in the Sweet 16. The SEC is also the first conference to have four schools in the regional finals.

Two SEC teams remain, and they’ll meet in one semifinal, while an ACC and Big 12 matchup awaits us on the other side of the bracket.

Florida-Auburn tips at 6:09 p.m. ET, and Duke-Houston follows at 8:49 p.m. ET, both on CBS.

As far as the betting odds go, Duke is the early favorite at -110.

In case you’re new to the madness, let’s review the few remaining teams.

Auburn had three slow starts in their first three games. Against No. 5-seeded Michigan (Sweet 16), the Tigers clawed back from a nine-point deficit in the second half. Auburn closed the game on a remarkable 39-17 run en route to the Elite Eight.

Once there against Michigan State, the Tigers flipped the script, putting together a complete game to end Tom Izzo and the Spartans’ season while surviving a major scare in the process.

Senior forward Johni Broome, the SEC player of the year, went down with an elbow injury with 10:37 left to play and the Tigers leading by 10. He walked off the court shaking his head as he headed to the locker room, but returned five minutes later after his X-ray came back negative, per CBS.

In very March fashion, the Florida Gators almost lost before the Final Four. Florida had to erase a double-digit second-half deficit against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight due to Walter Clayton Jr.’s clutch shot-making.

The 6-foot-3 senior guard finished with 30 points — eight of them in the final 107 seconds — to send the Gators to their first Final Four since 2014. Clayton leads the team in both points (18.1) and assists (4.2).

“There’s not another player in America you would rather have right now than Walter Clayton with the ball in his hands in a big-time moment,” Florida coach Todd Golden said after the Elite Eight comeback.

The Duke Blue Devils walked into the NCAA Tournament fresh off an ACC tournament victory, which they conquered without their leader Cooper Flagg, who sat out of the competition with an ankle injury.

Since Flagg’s return for the first round, Duke has won comfortably for the most part. It bested three of their four opponents by double digits, crushing Mount Saint Mary’s in the first round by 44 points. The team then dialed up its top five defense in the Elite Eight against Alabama.

While Flagg leads the team in points (18.9), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.2) and steals (1.4), it was the team’s defense that carried the Blue Devils to ACC regular-season and tournament titles- in addition to the No. 1 ranking and the No. 1 seed.

It is Duke’s first Final Four under coach Jon Scheyer and the program’s 18th overall. The Blue Devils last reached the Final Four in 2022.

Houston had to get past Tennessee. It did so in the Elite Eight, with one of the most impressive defensive performances in NCAA Tournament history.

The Big 12 Conference champions contained the Vols to just 28.8 percent from the field, forced 14 straight missed 3-point attempts to open the game and (yes, you’re about to read this right) held Tennessee to only 15 points in the first half. It marked the lowest scoring first half by a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament history.

For the Cougars, performances like this are  typical. Houston has not lost a road game this entire season. Led by coach Kelvin Sampson, the program’s holy trinity of defense, rebounding and ball management, always travel well and it’s been well utilized on Houston’s path to the Final Four. Houston had a tough schedule in the Midwest region, knocking off No. 2-seeded Tennessee (69-50), No. 4-seeded Purdue (62-60), No. 8-seeded Gonzaga (81-76) and No. 16-seeded SIU Edwardsville (78-40).

In Sampson’s third Final Four of his career, his Cougars’ reward is Duke, and for the first time in a long time, they’re the underdogs.