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SAN ANTONIO — The Post breaks down Monday night’s national championship game between two top seeds — Florida and Houston — at the Alamodome.
Backcourt
Each team starts three guards, and both units are explosive, the three leading scorers on each side.
Alijah Martin, Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard average a combined 46.3 points and 8.1 assists for Florida, while L.J. Cryer, Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan produce 39.9 points and 7.1 assists per game for Houston.
Each of the Cougars’ trio shoots over 40 percent from 3-point range for the nation’s top long-distance shooting team at 39.9 percent.
Cryer kept Houston in the game against Duke, scoring 26 points and hitting six 3-pointers Saturday night, but he won’t be the best guard on the floor against the Gators.
That honor belongs to Clayton, the former Iona star who became the first player to score 30 points in the Final Four since Carmelo Anthony 22 years ago.
Clayton is averaging 24.6 points and shooting an absurd 48.7 percent on 7.8 attempts from beyond the arc in the tournament.
Edge: Florida
Frontcourt
It was a tale of two halves on Saturday for Florida big men Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu: overwhelmed in the first half, and terrific after intermission in shutting down SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome.
Houston’s J’Wan Roberts will pose another formidable test, a gritty big man with a motor that never stops.
He limited Duke phenom Cooper Flagg down the stretch Saturday.
The Gators frontcourt has, at times, been soft in the paint, and Houston is known for its physicality and relentlessness.
Edge: Houston
Coaches
It will be experience against youth, 69-year-old Kelvin Sampson of Houston on one bench, 39-year-old Todd Golden of Florida on the other.
Neither has reached this point before.
This is Sampson’s third Final Four in his 36th season as a Division I head coach.
This is just Golden’s sixth year running his own program. Before this season, he had never won a tournament game.
Edge: Houston
Bench
Florida has the two most impactful reserves in versatile forward Thomas Haugh and shotmaking guard Denzel Aberdeen.
The 6-foot-9 Haugh has been terrific in the tournament, backing up his 20-point, 11-rebound effort in the Elite Eight with 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks against Auburn.
Houston has leaned heavily on its starters offensively.
The bench has produced just 35 points in the last four rounds.
Senior forward Ja’Vier Francis is an underrated piece for the Cougars, a tenacious rebounder and defender.
Edge: Florida
Prediction
These programs are a combined 38-4 since the calendar turned to 2025.
They are second and third in KenPom, both with top 10 offenses and defenses efficiency-wise.
Each school has had close calls in the tournament, Florida needing late rallies to get past Connecticut in the second round and Texas Tech in the Elite Eight.
Houston pulled off the shocker of March Madness, rallying from 14 down in the final 8:17 to get past Duke in a national semifinal.
This is a toss-up between mentally tough teams, and in a toss-up, take the best player.
Clayton completes his storybook season with another breathtaking performance.
Florida 74, Houston 72
