Final Four Woes: Why Teams Fail to Repeat
With Florida eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the second round, its dreams of being back-to-back champions have long been dead.
But something more interesting happened this year. That is, no team that made the Final Four last year made it again this season.
Florida, Auburn, Houston and Duke all departed early on, Duke being the only outlier as it was eliminated in the Elite Eight. So this year’s Final Four features all new teams – UConn, Illinois, Arizona and Michigan.
And the Final Four featuring all new teams seems to be a trend that’s unique to this decade. UConn is the only recent outlier, going back-to-back in 2023 and 2024.
The obvious question: What’s causing this trend? The immediate answer is that teams just aren’t sticking together anymore. An example: After Baylor won the 2021 title, it had seven returning players, all of whom were either freshmen or sophomores during the championship campaign.
The year after, Baylor didn’t even sniff the Final Four. It was eliminated in the second round by the eventual runner-up, North Carolina. The winner of the 2022 championship was Kansas, which, in an ironic twist, was eliminated in the second round of the 2021 tournament by USC.
The version of Kansas that won in 2022 had 11 returning players, but once again, it was eliminated during the first weekend by Arkansas. The winners of the 2023 title, UConn, is the only team this decade to have won in back-to-back years. The first time in 2023 came against San Diego State. In 2024, the Huskies beat Purdue. For that matter, Purdue didn’t make the Final Four the previous year, and San Diego State University didn’t make the Final Four the next year.
In its repeat bid, UConn brought back eight players, most of whom were underclassmen during the previous season.
Of course, we know Florida won the 2025 National Championship. In a move reminiscent of previous years, every team who made the Final Four in 2024 didn’t get close to it in 2025. UConn was eliminated by Florida in the first round and Purdue was eliminated by Houston in the second round.
For Florida, this year’s team had eight returning players, most of whom, yet again, were freshman or sophomores when Florida won last year. Most notable, however, is that the Gators’ star, Walton Clayton Jr., declared for the NBA draft after the season was over. Déjà vu? Florida’s leading scorer this year, Thomas Haugh, is expected to declare for this year’s draft in the coming weeks. Olivier Rioux, the tallest college basketball player in the world while a redshirt freshman for the Gators, announced he would enter the transfer portal, as well. With so much time left in the offseason, there’s no telling who’ll transfer, both in and out of Florida.
What may seem most strange here is that most champions, even if they didn’t play in the Final Four the year before, seemed to retain some portion of their roster from season to season. There’s a simple explanation for that — they kept the underclassmen while their upperclassmen either declared for the draft or transferred out. The trend is noticeable when looking from season to season, even in the outlier, UConn.
Another explanation is that repeat attempts frequently collapse via pressure. After reaching the mountain top the previous season, there’s expectations from coaches, fans and even the players themselves to continue with the same during the next season. But eventually teams unravel under that pressure, leading to mid- and late-season breakdowns and early exits in the tournament.
What remains to be seen is how this trend will continue as college basketball’s governance continues to evolve. None of the teams in the Final Four this year made it last year. Maybe history will just keep repeating itself.
Category: Basketball, College Basketball, Gators Men's Basketball
