March Madness is the biggest tournament during the NCAA season for both men’s and women’s basketball teams. The final rounds of the tournament took place in Tampa, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas.
March Madness is a tournament that the NCAA hosts every season for D1 basketball teams. The tournament has a women’s and men’s side. There are a total of 128 total teams split evenly between the men’s and women’s tournaments with 64 teams in each bracket. Many people around the world fill out brackets for both sides, either for fun, for betting, or just to have a friendly little competition.
The tournament for the men’s teams started on March 20th, and the women’s teams started playing one day later on March 21st. The teams compete in a series of five rounds before the championship game, the round names are, first round, second round, sweet sixteen, elite eight, and the final four.
The final four teams competing for the men’s were the University of Houston, University of Florida, Duke University, and University of Auburn, the final four teams for the women’s were the University of South Carolina, University of Texas, University of California Los Angeles, and University of Connecticut. The final four matchups were Houston vs. Duke, Florida vs. Auburn, South Carolina vs. Texas, and UCLA vs. UConn.
The two teams competing for the women’s national championship title were South Carolina and UConn. South Carolina defeated Texas 74-57 and UConn beat UCLA 85-51.
Going into the national championship game the two teams had media days, practices, and pre-game interviews. The game started at 3 pm ET and the Gamecocks and the Huskies came ready to play. The first quarter was a very back-and-forth game with South Carolina Senior Te-Hina Paopao scoring the first point of the game with a three-pointer. Quickly Azzi Fudd responded and started scoring left and right with assists to teammates Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong. The first quarter ended with a score of 19-14 UConn ahead by five points.
The second quarter started about the same as the first quarter with both teams still fired up and wanting to play hard. UConn outscored the Gamecocks throughout the quarter. The quarter quickly ended with a score of 36-26 UConn in the lead. Freshman Olivia Todd thought “UConn for sure has the momentum going into the second half, though I could see the South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley giving her team a pep talk to get them fired up.”
Coming out of the half both teams came running out to shoot a little before starting the third quarter. With UConn being up by 10 at the half the Gamecocks had to come up with a plan to try and tie it up and take the lead. Even though both teams and fans were cheering each other on it wasn’t enough and the Huskies kept a strong lead ending the third quarter with a score of 62-42.
Going into the last and final quarter of the game it was going to be nearly impossible for the Gamecocks to take the lead and finish the game strong. Yet neither team was giving in to the other. Once the Huskies took an over-25-point lead, both coaches began putting in subs so all players could get the national championship game experience. The final score of the women’s national championship game was 82-59 UConn becoming the 2025 Women’s National Champions. Freshman Kynnedi Schweighart says, “If you were rooting for the Gamecocks it was definitely a disappointing game, though I’m glad that UConn finally got a win, especially for their seniors because every year they were so close but couldn’t finish.”
The final two teams competing for the men’s national championship were Florida by defeating Auburn, 79-73, and Houston beating Duke, 70-67.
Tip-off began at 8:50 pm ET. Both teams came out with tons of momentum and were ready to play. The first half was a very fast-tempo game and was very back-and-forth. Throughout the first half, the referees were letting both teams just play it out with only calling three fouls for the whole half. Usually, the first half in men’s games averages a minimum of 10 fouls, sometimes even more. The first half finished with a score of 31-28 Houston in the lead. However, the Florida Gators were far from done. Student at Champaign Central High School, Landon Gray says, “Even though Houston is in the lead at the half and they do have the momentum I can see Florida having a huge comeback.”
Coming into the second half the Cougars had the lead and the momentum, though that didn’t stop the Florida Gators from backing down. As soon as the clock started for the second half both teams were back at it again. Houston and Florida were not backing down. The referees were beginning to call fouls left and right unlike the first half. Both teams ended up having over ten fouls by the end of the game. In the final play of the game, Florida was up by two. Houston passed the ball in and had enough time on the shot clock to set up a play. Though they were not able to get the shot up and tie or win the game, ending with Florida as the 2025 Mens Nation Champions. The final score of the game was 65-63 Florida.
Overall both games were highly anticipated and energetic National Championships. After a big and successful tournament like this, all fans should be excited and look forward to seeing what next season offers for their teams.
