Ian Eagle put it best as Auburn salted the final seconds of its Elite Eight victory over Michigan State away: “chalk on the riverwalk.” All four No. 1 seeds are heading to the Final Four in San Antonio.
It is just the second time in NCAA Tournament history that the Final Four consistents entirely of the top-seeded teams in the field. 2008 was the other, which also took place in San Antonio. The Elite Eight also featured the lowest seed total in tournament history, matching the 2007 Regional Finals. With the best teams fighting to climb ladders and cut nets, college basketball’s biggest stars put on a show in the Elite Eight.
Now, with the bracket down to four teams and the dust almost settled, it’s time to unveil the Busting Brackets March Madness Elite Eight All-Tournament Team.
Walter Clayton Jr. is a big-time shot-maker. The First-Team All-American had proved it all season, but he may have put on his most impressive display in Florida’s come-from-behind Elite Eight victory over Texas Tech. Down 75-66 with 3:14 left, Clayton led the charge with two three-pointers as the Gators closed on an 18-4 run.
WALTER CLAYTON JR IS NOT HUMAN pic.twitter.com/0y3QLxaTGL
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 30, 2025
Clayton finished with 30 points on just 14 field goal attempts with a near-perfect 13/14 performance from the free-throw line. Florida was outmuscled by Texas Tech for much of the evening, but in the final minutes, the superior skill of Todd Golden’s team was the difference.
Cooper Flagg has been the best player in college basketball this season, but fellow freshman Kon Knueppel has become a star in his own right. The physical 6-foot-7 guard patiently probed the Alabama defense, throwing lobs and finishing around the rim as Duke scored 40 points in the paint against the Crimson Tide.
Knueppel plays at his own pace, he's never sped up, even by the fastest-paced team in the country on Saturday night in Newark. In what was a sub-par night offensively for Flagg, Knueppel took over on that end of the floor and with multiple high-level playmakers, Duke looks like the scariest of the four No. 1 seeds heading to San Antonio.
The SEC Player of the Year was a dominant force for the first 30 minutes of Auburn’s Elite Eight win over Michigan State. He was unstoppable in the post and killing the Spartans from the middle of the floor on the short-roll, then disaster nearly struck.
Broome went down awkwardly after attempting to block a shot, injuring his ankle and right elbow. The 6-foot-10 senior hobbled off to the locker room, and Auburn held its 10-point lead in his absence, but Tigers fans feared the worst. Then, Broome triumphantly returned not just to the bench, but to the floor and nailed his second three of the game, sending the Auburn-heavy crowd in Atlanta into a frenzy. The Tigers held on behind his highly-efficient 25-point 14-rebound performance, but with six days to prepare, will Broome be 100% for the Final Four matchup with Florida?
It took Walter Clayton Jr. a while to get going for Florida and as Texas Tech attempted to pull away throughout the second-half Thomas Haugh kept the Gators within striking distance. The 6-foot-10 sophomore was instant offense off the bench, knocking down a career-high four threes, including two on back-to-back possessions in the final three minutes to pull Florida within two of the Red Raiders.
While Haugh’s impact was huge on the offensive end, he was also Florida’s best answer for Texas Tech forward Darrion Williams, who bullied the Gators in the paint. Haugh stayed highly disciplined to the scouting report doing everything he could to keep Williams from getting to his right-hand out of the post and had the length to contest the sturdy frontcourt star at the rim. Florida has plenty of firepower and Clayton has lived up to his role as the closer, but without Haugh, the Gators would be heading home to Gainesville, not San Antonio.
Williams missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2:43 remaining and his Red Raiders ahead 75-69 to set off an avalanche of Florida offense but aside from that misstep, he was the best player on the floor for much of Saturday night. By the second half, head coach Grant McCasland recognized that Florida’s bigs were not strong enough to handle the 6-foot-6 225-pound Williams one-on-one in the post, so his gameplan devolved into clearing out and letting Williams work, and he did.
Williams finished with 23 points and five rebounds as Texas Tech manhandled Florida’s lengthy frontcourt for 95% of the game. The Red Raiders fell short of a Final Four appearance, but the junior blossomed into a star on the big stage and if McCasland can retain both Williams and Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin for 2025-26, then this team will be back in the mix next March.