Also — I just watched the 1963 game — Cincinnati got absolutely hosed. Clear as day goaltending on Loyola not called which would’ve put Cincinnati up 5 with 25 seconds to play. Should’ve gone to the monitor.

Florida’s largest lead tonight was 2 points. The Gators are the 2nd team to win a National Championship Game without ever holding a 2-possession lead — Loyola Chicago’s largest lead was also 2 points in the 1963 Final.

This year’s 3 Final Four games were decided by a combined 11 points, tied for the 3rd-smallest margin in Final Four history. 1950 and 1982 each featured a combined 10-point spread between the 3 games.

No freshmen played in the national championship game for the first time since 1989.

On the other side, Houston lost 5 games this season by a total of 16 points.

Of the 48 national champions since Indiana went undefeated in 1975-76:. - All have lost at least twice.- 40 have lost a game by double digits.- 7 have lost a game by 20+ points*.- 1 lost a game by 30+ (2013-14 UConn). *Florida lost by 20 to Tennessee on Feb. 1.

Duke’s Cooper Flagg this season:. 709 pts.277 reb.156 ast.52 stl.50 blk. No player has ever had more pts, rebs, ast, stl, and blk in a season. In the Tournament:. 105 pts.38 rebs.25 ast.10 blk.3 stl. No player has ever had more pts, reb, ast, stl & blk in a single Tournament.

Houston’s LJ Cryer is the first player with 25 points and 6 3-pointers in a Final Four game since Bobby Hurley in 1992. J’Wan Roberts is the first player with 10 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 stocks in a Final Four game since Grant Hill in 1994.

Just two perfectly normal wins over the AP Preseason and Postseason Number 1 teams…

Walter Clayton Jr. finishes with 34 points, the most by any player in a Final Four win since 1981, when North Carolina’s Al Wood scored 39 in the National Semifinals.

Full list of players to do that:. Clayton this year.Bird in 1979.Ernie DiGregorio in 1973.Jerry Chambers in 1966.Jerry West in 1959.Wilt Chamberlain in 1957.Clyde Lovellette in 1952.

Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. is the first player with a 30-point game in the Elite 8 and National Semifinals of the same NCAA Tournament since Indiana State’s Larry Bird in 1979.

Long live The College Basketball Crown!. UCF’s Darius Johnson drops 42 — the most points in an April game in Division I history—in a win over Villanova…and the game ends with 3:30 left in the first half of Game 1 of the Final Four.

The Final Four — Am Yisrael Chai 🇮🇱. Auburn coach Bruce Pearl: proud Jew & supporter of Israel. Florida coach Todd Golden: Jew & Israeli citizen who played in Haifa. Duke coach Jon Scheyer: Jew & Israeli citizen who played in Tel Aviv. Houston star Emanuel Sharp: Israeli citizen

Auburn’s Johni Broome tonight:. - 25 points.- 14 rebounds.- 10-13 FG (76.9%).- 29 minutes. He’s the first player with 25 points and 10 rebounds on 75% shooting to send his team to the Final Four since Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984.

Duke is the 2nd team in NCAA Tournament history to shoot at least 50% from the field and 80% from the foul line in 3 straight games — North Carolina did it in the 1982 Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and National Semifinals.

Freshman teammates, that is (I think it’s implied, but nonetheless it should say).

Duke’s Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel are the first pair of freshman to each have a 20-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist game in the same NCAA Tournament. Flagg on Thursday vs Arizona.Knueppel tonight vs Alabama.

Duke is the first team to score 85+ points in each of its first 4 games of the NCAA Tournament en route to the Final Four since Indiana in 1992. The Blue Devils now have 22 wins this season by 20+ points, tied for the 5th-most in Division I history.

It’s boring, but the free throw line ended up the difference:. Florida was the 210th team to attempt 25 free throws in an Elite 8 game — and just the 3rd of those teams to cash in 90+%. No team has ever lost in the S16 or later when outscoring an opponent by 18 from the stripe.